Trouble with digital system in my 396

[crackerjohn]

Hi:

I programed the digital systems in my 396 using P-25 and entered all the freqencies, groups and talkgroups and received nothing. I looked at the frequencies and did hear the control channel. Someone told me that I need to start a new system as 800 standard, use the control channel menu and enter the control channel. That worked. Now, do I then have to re-enter all the talkgroups. That's ok when I 'm located but I drive thru Delaware a lot and there must be a million talkgroups. Is there a way to use the talkgroups from the system that doesn't work?
I haven't updated the firmware yet.
Thanks.

Crackerjohn

 

[troymail]

No - I don't think so. When you enter a system, one of the first things the 396 asks is what type of system it is... and then it asks you to confirm it... I believe once you do that, it's locked in and you can't change it.

Whenever I'm first starting out, I enter the system type, enter a CC (or all of them) and then hit SCAN (in ID SEARCH mode) and make sure all is well before proceeding to enter TG IDs....

You may be able to do something with external software etc. but not directly from the radio...

Best bet is geting some software that let's you download all those talkgroups from RR.com

 

[ka3jjz]

Yeah, there's the free BCTool and FreeScan - and getting a premium subscription will get you connectivity with the database so you can pull talkgroups and freqs. You can find the software links on our 396 wiki article...

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/BCD396T

and as for the premium subscription;

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/subscription/

A pretty good rule of thumb - if there's any analog in the trunked system it is NOT a P25 system. There's only a few of them in this area - most everything else should be programmed (at least for 800 mhz systems) as a type 2 800 Moto system, and make sure you turn on the P25 mode to 'auto' so the scanner will detect the digital audio.

73 Mike