Scanning Philly - Getting Started

[jblatman]

Hi Everyone!

I haven't been on here for a long time... I'm looking for some help getting my new Bearcat 396XT set up to scan Philly and MontCo P25, as well as a bunch of conventional stuff.

I've made the big leap to digital... and have no clue how I actually program this blasted thing!

Can anyone help me get over this n00b-ness?

Jon
N3VZG

 

[fourthhorseman]

can you receive philly down there?

once you get the programmin down you need to get the
philly area communications guide,,every thinng oull want from delaware
through SE-Pa and southern jersey,,well worth the expense,and i wish i
would have got it sooner..

 

[jblatman]

Not sure about out here... but when I go into the city (1-2x a week) I can

 

[ka3jjz]

To fill in a few holes...the Phillyscanner eBook is available via Scanner Master. It's a one time subscription, and has many things we can't store here on RR for various reasons...

You might also want to join the Phillyscanner Yahoo group that discusses that area (and south Jersey)

As for learning about DMA, I would start by using our Wiki. Go up to the blue toolbar under the Scanner Master ads, float your mouse over Wiki then select FAQs Select the Uniden DMA FAQ from the list of articles. The XT also has a complete PDF based reference on the Uniden TWiki site, but it's huge - and likely too much information all at once for a newcomer. Still the link for that and much more can be found here (all links are in blue)

BCD396XT - The RadioReference Wiki

73 Mike

 

[jblatman]

Alright.

I've got the PhillyScanner eBook already - had it for a couple of years (using it for conventional scanning) Great stuff.

Thanks for the wiki links

any suggestions on programming software?

 

[captclint]

I'm looking for some help getting my new Bearcat 396XT set up to scan Philly and MontCo P25, as well as a bunch of conventional stuff.

I've made the big leap to digital... and have no clue how I actually program this blasted thing!

If you are doing it without software , then this may help. It's not for the XT, but most everything is the same for basic programming. Easier to Read BCD396T/UBCD396T Manual I strongly recommend you get FreeSCAN (it's free) Once you have that, you can take one more step to avoid frustration and many hours of keypad entry by becoming a paid subscriber to this site to get the automatic down loads of digital and conventional systems into your software and scanner, This is also very reasonable($7.5 for 3 months), and can save you countless hours of programming and frustration.
You will probably need a serial to USB converter from Uniden http://tinyurl.com/2cqyu4 or Radio Shack http://tinyurl.com/8dbgdj. Another source is http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10311&cs_id=1031104&p_id=2276&seq=1&format=2, for quite a bit less. It is reported to work.

 

[ka3jjz]

Those USB links, and a few others, along with specific tips about loading drivers and such is described here..

Connecting scanners via USB - The RadioReference Wiki

73 Mike