[Scan-DC] CC Do Not Disturb Re: PRO-197 Update

[Andrew Clegg]

That's what I'm thinking.
  -----Original Message-----
  From: Dewey3 [mailto:dewey3 at gmail.com]
  Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 6:12 AM
  To: Andrew Clegg
  Cc: W4NNG; scan-dc at mailman.qth.net
  Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] CC Do Not Disturb Re: PRO-197 Update


  Andy... I can't see why the XT will not have it.  It was added to the 396
in one of the previous firmware updates.

  Dewey


  On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 9:23 PM, Andrew Clegg <w4jecom at w4je.com> wrote:

    Sorry for assuming everyone knew! Close Call is a feature that will lock
on
    and tune into a strong "local" signal. It works about several hundred
feet
    away from a low-power handheld, perhaps a mile or two from a high-power
base
    station, and farther under some circumstances. I have had luck with it
    locking onto and tuning into airplanes passing overhead at 25,000+ ft!
It is
    a really nice feature, supported by the Bearcat scanners, and by the
    GRE/RadioShack scanners under a different feature name ("Signal
Stalker").
    Say you visit a mall, or a sporting event, or a museum, where you have
no
    idea what the local venue is using. If you turn Close Call on, it
usually
    eventually finds the signals.

    On the 996 (and 215 I believe) base/mobile model scanners, Uniden went
one
    step further, and added a feature called Close Call Do Not Disturb. This
    feature searches for local signals to lock onto, but only when it isn't
busy
    listening to something else. This is unlike the 396 and some other
models,
    where you can use Close Call while scanning, but when you are actually
    monitoring a signal, Close Call would cause regular drop-outs while it
went
    and did its thing for a short period. So when I am driving around in the
car
    with the 996, I leave CC DND on, and when the scanner is scanning and
    otherwise silent, it is looking for local signals, but when it is
stopped on
    a normal programmed channel, CC does not cause annoying drop-outs. It is
    really cool -- I have captured police mobile repeaters, people passing
by
    with FRS radios, local business comms, lots of baby monitors and
cordless
    phones, airplanes overhead, you name it.

    I like CC DND so much, but unfortunately, none of Uniden's (or
    GRE/RadioShack) models supported it in a handheld model. I am really
hoping
    that the 396XT does. There was mention on the 396XT Yahoo site that
Uniden
    will issue a firmware upgrade for the older 396 that will add CC DND, so
I
    presume this means that by default the newer 396XT will support it
    out-of-the-box, but I haven't yet found somewhere where it says this in
    black-and-white. In the list of features for the 396XT on the RR forum,
it
    does not specifically mention CC DND, but it does mention lots of other
    features similar to the 996, like support for GPS, support for the
remote
    head, etc.

    Anyway, given that the older 396 street price is slightly more than
$500, I
    can only imagine the street price for the 396XT will be well over $600,
    maybe approaching $700. Ouch! But with 25,000 channels, dynamic memory,
band
    scope, signal strength meter, CC DND (I hope...), and lots of digital
    trunking enhancements, it may be "worth it" (at least that's what I will
be
    telling my better half).

    Happy listening,
    Andy
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