BCD396XT and BC346XT Updates Available

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davidmc36

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Well you beat me this time. Bloody Messenger, haven't been able to sign in for a week now and I forget to check when it doesn't pop up automatically.:D
 
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al95

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This was fast an update for the BCD396XT. When will they release another for the BCD396T or will they not we would have to wait and see. You lucky guys owners of the BCD396XT you have an update in less then two months since it was release I hope they continue releasing updates that fast for newer scaners models.
 

billybob

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Control channel only option

With control channel only option gone on Motorola systems say good bye to the activity monitor on display mode 3… Now that I updated it’s gone. If Uniden replace display mode 3 with radio ID’s I’ll be happy.
 

W4ELL

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Yeah, display mode 3 is useless now. It has ONE blinking indicator (I assume for the CC) and it never changes. (I have ALL the trunk frequencies for this system programmed just for the purpose of using display mode 3.) Maybe this is just a bug of the new firmware?

I hardly ever use this display mode so I won't miss it too much. It seems like a waste to have it as one of the official three display modes of the scanner... if it isn't just a new bug that is. :)
 

W4KRR

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Yeah, display mode 3 is useless now. It has ONE blinking indicator (I assume for the CC) and it never changes. (I have ALL the trunk frequencies for this system programmed just for the purpose of using display mode 3.) Maybe this is just a bug of the new firmware?

I hardly ever use this display mode so I won't miss it too much. It seems like a waste to have it as one of the official three display modes of the scanner... if it isn't just a new bug that is. :)

Mine only showed one indicator BEFORE the firmware update. Still shows just one.
 

billybob

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The control only has to be in the off position for it to work and all the frequencys for the system programed. Now that we can no longer select between control channel only on or off, we no longer have that option with the new update. It was kinda cool to see how busy the system was or to show a friend how the trunking system works.
 
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W4ELL

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Display mode 3 has definitely worked on the 396xt before today. I can't find the documentation to confirm it, but for it to work properly:

1. You had to program ALL trunk frequencies into the scanner... not just the CCs.
2. You had to have CC only mode OFF. (Which is now not an option.)

What I am hoping is, there is some way to correlate the channel usage using CC data or channel table data so that the display mode 3 trunking indicators will work properly, even in CC only mode.
 

dwlipp

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I think that the relevant reference that explains this issue is below:

From WhatsNew < UnidenMan4 < TWiki

"We've released firmware updates today for two of our newest models, the BC346XT and BCD396XT. These updates take care of a few minor issues that were found late in beta testing, but weren't serious enough to require us to hold up releasing the product. Specifically, the updates:

Remove the option for Control Channel Only for Motorola systems. All Motorola systems are trunked using Control Channel Only...this setting is unnecessary."

For display mode 3 to work the scanner cannot be trunking in the Control Channel Only mode. By removing this option it would appear that the option to use display mode 3 for Motorola systems has been removed (either intentionally or unintentionally). For my $.02 I like display mode 3 for the same reasons mentioned above so I am not planning to apply this update so I don't loose the functionality.

Dallas
 

randybcd396t

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Trouble with the update. This is the same problem I had with the last update to
my BCD396T. I dropped back to BC_VUP v2.0.0.3 and everything worked perfectly.

BTW: I'm using a Vista PC.
 

DaveIN

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Trouble with the update. This is the same problem I had with the last update to
my BCD396T. I dropped back to BC_VUP v2.0.0.3 and everything worked perfectly.

BTW: I'm using a Vista PC.

What are you using for the serial connection? Uniden USB-1 cable, serial/USB adapter? What COM port is it using?
 

randybcd396t

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What are you using for the serial connection? Uniden USB-1 cable, serial/USB adapter? What COM port is it using?

I'm using the standard cable & drivers from Uniden. The Scanner talks to the PC just fine when communicating with my scanner software. I'm using COM 4. It just fails when I try to do the firmware update.

By dropping back to the older version, the firmware updated on the first try. I had this problem before, using the same version of BC_VUP on my BCD396T. UPMan suggested dropping back to an older version which I did and it worked perfectly. I'm just passing this on as a tip to anyone else having problems.
 

Danny6569

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396 xt update

i updated mine and for some reason one of my systems would not work anymore i checked everything nothing was locked out it was one of my systems that was an 800mhz type 2 motorola trunked system and it worked before i did this update i can hear the control towers noise and all and if i hold onto one of the control channels i could see the talkgroup ids coming up but could not pick up any talkgroup ids at all while scanning the system and from what i can remember with my 396 t this happened to that also with some updates before the same exact problem with certain systems i was just wondering if anyone else had this issue i had to reprogram the system and now it works fine anyone ?
 

DaveIN

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i updated mine and for some reason one of my systems would not work anymore i checked everything nothing was locked out it was one of my systems that was an 800mhz type 2 motorola trunked system and it worked before i did this update i can hear the control towers noise and all and if i hold onto one of the control channels i could see the talkgroup ids coming up but could not pick up any talkgroup ids at all while scanning the system and from what i can remember with my 396 t this happened to that also with some updates before the same exact problem with certain systems i was just wondering if anyone else had this issue i had to reprogram the system and now it works fine anyone ?

One of the firmware changes is for Motorola systems to use the control channel only method exclusively, you should check your system settings, and control channel frequencies in your "site" location, to be sure that your settings are as they should be.
 

Danny6569

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firmware update

Hey dave what part in the setting or site are you talking about exactly ? i see adjust audio agc set c-ch output etc... and in the site i see edit band plan set frequencies set modulation set att set hold time which one of these could have been changed by the update im lost here or which one could have messed up my radio i checked it last night before i reinstalled the system that i lost and everything seemed to be the same as it is now ?
 

daveharpe

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Did the update and had a similar problem to Danny's. My MOT systems were NOT set to control-channel only before the update but they worked fine. After the update I started having the scanner unsquelch on control channels. It would usually happen after a couple of transmissions...I'd hear voice, then it would unsquelch on the control channel.

I went into freescan, loaded the programming set that I'd saved before the firmware update, set the "Control Channel Only" option on all of my MOT systems and reuploaded. Now everything works fine.

My guess is although the firmware update eliminates the option, if you had a MOT system set to something other than control-channel only before the update it'll cause problems.
 
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Danny6569

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updates

Hey daveharpe thanks for verifying this i thought it was just me for a min there doing something wrong but the way mine was is that right after i did the update i lost one of my systems it was a motorola type 2 system what happend was i put one of the control channels on hold and i could see the talkgroup ids coming up when i had it on hold but when i went to scan it nothing happened it didnt stop on one talkgroup id at all i had to reprogram the one system and i remember this happening with the 396 t before also a few times
 
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