What am I doing wrong? (BCD396T)

[brandonbv]

I have been playing around with my new radio since the UPS man delivered it today. It is the first trunking scanner that I have owned.

I must be doing something wrong because I am not following the conversations during police transmissions. According the the RR Database my area (Daviess County, KY) uses EDACS. I attempted to program the trunked Owensboro Public Safety & City Government System.

I selected "Program System" in the menu and entered in all of the frequencies listed. I then proceeded to enter group names and the talkgroup numbers in decibel format.

When i scan the system, nothing happens.

I am thouroughly confused. I don't know what the heck I am doing and am frustrated. What am I doing wrong? I keep flipping through the manual to try to figure it out.

HELP!

PS - did you have to manually lock out all of the preprogrammed frequencies so that it would not scan? I did and am wondering if i was supposed to. I live nowhere near any of the preprogrammed cities in the 396.

 

[mciupa]

It is the first trunking scanner that I have owned...

I (programmed) the Owensboro Public Safety & City Government System.
I selected "Program System" in the menu and entered in all of the frequencies listed. When i scan the system, nothing happens.

Hey brandonbv , congrats on the new scanner... wish I could get my hands on one !

If you are new to trunking, one of the biggest things that throws people
off when trunking EDACS is not having the freq's in LCN order.
In other words, when you punched those freq's in did you start at the
first channel in the bank ?
It just won't trunktrack properly if the freq's start mid-way in the bank.
Try again using this link http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=TRSDB&sid=1414
starting at 1 , 101, 201 ... etc. and see if that helps.
Rather than closed mode , try open mode and see if you get any of
the services using the system, just as a check.

 

[brandonbv]

When I programmed the frequencies, I did it in the order as listed on this site (Left to right.) After I entered the frequency the scanner asked me LCN. I put in the small two digit number listed my each frequecny in the RR database, ie 01, 02, 03 etc...Should I put them in another order?

I am not sure what you mean by open and closed mode.

Please pardon my ignorance.

 

[brandonbv]

OK, I deleted what I had and reentered the frequencies just like I had them before. This time I did not enter any of the talk group id's. It was my understanding that i was supposed to do that.

Now it is trunking the system fine and it shows the talkgroup id in AFS or decimal, depending on what i chose in the menu of the scanner. What is the point of having the option of entering group id's if it won't trunk with them entered?

This is very confusing to me.

 

[brandonbv]

BTW - I also selected WFM mode instead of NFM.

I also just entered in a talk group ID and it is still trunking.

I think changing the FM mode is what fixed the problem.

 

[Voyager]

BTW - I also selected WFM mode instead of NFM.

I also just entered in a talk group ID and it is still trunking.

I think changing the FM mode is what fixed the problem.

WFM is definitely the wrong mode for trunking. WFM is only used on FM and TV broadbast.

Joe M.

 

[brandonbv]

My scanner allowed me to choose between Wide, Narrow, and SCAT. Narrow did not work. Although i picked Wide, it says FM on my screen. That fixed the problem and everything is working well now.

 

[loumaag]

...If you are new to trunking, one of the biggest things that throws people off when trunking EDACS is not having the freq's in LCN order. In other words, when you punched those freq's in did you start at the first channel in the bank ? It just won't trunktrack properly if the freq's start mid-way in the bank.
Try again using this link http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=TRSDB&sid=1414 starting at 1 , 101, 201 ... etc. and see if that helps. Rather than closed mode , try open mode and see if you get any of the services using the system, just as a check.

mciupa:
While I am sure you were trying to be helpful, it is not a good idea to post information when you have no idea about the problem. You obviously knew what scanner he was talking about as you say you wish you could get your hands on one.

Working backwards:
Uniden scanners don't have Open or Closed modes.
The BCD396T doesn't have banks or channel numbers.
The BCD396T uses dynamic memory allocation and can put any LCN with any frequency in any order you choose.

 

[nexus]

My scanner allowed me to choose between Wide, Narrow, and SCAT. Narrow did not work. Although i picked Wide, it says FM on my screen. That fixed the problem and everything is working well now.

There was a terminology break down here..
You didn't choose WIDE FM versus Narrow FM....

EDACS WIDE and EDACS NARROW have nothing to do with FM...

Do NOT use NARROW. 98% of the EDACS systems used today are going
to be WIDE. If you program in your LCN's using EDACS NARROW then it
won't work. Always choose WIDE.

 

[Voyager]

My scanner allowed me to choose between Wide, Narrow, and SCAT. Narrow did not work. Although i picked Wide, it says FM on my screen. That fixed the problem and everything is working well now.

There was a terminology break down here..
You didn't choose WIDE FM versus Narrow FM....

EDACS WIDE and EDACS NARROW have nothing to do with FM...

Do NOT use NARROW. 98% of the EDACS systems used today are going
to be WIDE. If you program in your LCN's using EDACS NARROW then it
won't work. Always choose WIDE.

That's EDACS WIDE for the sytem type - choose FM for the modulation type (not WFM).

Joe M.

 

[GTO_04]

My scanner allowed me to choose between Wide, Narrow, and SCAT. Narrow did not work. Although i picked Wide, it says FM on my screen. That fixed the problem and everything is working well now.

There was a terminology break down here..
You didn't choose WIDE FM versus Narrow FM....

EDACS WIDE and EDACS NARROW have nothing to do with FM...

Do NOT use NARROW. 98% of the EDACS systems used today are going
to be WIDE. If you program in your LCN's using EDACS NARROW then it
won't work. Always choose WIDE.

I can verify that! I must have chosen EDACS narrow too, because I'm not hearing anything on my EDACS system. When the RR database says standard EDACS, that is EDACS wide, not narrow.

Do you have to choose wide or narrow on the PRO-96? I don't remember having that issue with it. Maybe I just lucked out and chose EDACS wide. I never had that problem with my 245 either. I'm not complaining though because I really like the 396!

Now is there any way to go back and change my EDACS system without starting over and reprogramming?

GTO_04

 

[loumaag]

I can verify that! I must have chosen EDACS narrow too, because I'm not hearing anything on my EDACS system. When the RR database says standard EDACS, that is EDACS wide, not narrow.

Do you have to choose wide or narrow on the PRO-96? I don't remember having that issue with it. Maybe I just lucked out and chose EDACS wide. I never had that problem with my 245 either. I'm not complaining though because I really like the 396!

Now is there any way to go back and change my EDACS system without starting over and reprogramming?

GTO_04

EDACS Narrow is the exception. Almost all EDACS systems in existance are 9600 baud WIDE systems. If the system was a narrow system (4800 baud) it would so state here in the DB.

You didn't notice having to make a choice on the Pro-96 because the Pro-96 cannot monitor EDACS Narrow systems.

As for fixing an existing system, it is just easier to open the "xxx.usd" file associated with the system (use Notepad or some other pure ASCII editor) and at the top you will see the first line starts like this:

SystemCT,EDN,"...

Change that line to read:

SystemCT,EDW,"...

Save the file, then using the software upload it into your scanner. Don't forget to erase the copy in your scanner first.