[TrunkCom] BC296 on Hamilton County

[dmccorm]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the update! I was thinking the BC296D was going to be vaporware
or delayed until the Cub's win. So it will indeed do the CQPSK. That is
great news!

Don't know if you can answer this or not but, did you still have to manually
adjust the digital sound quality?

Let's see if GRE will follow Uniden's lead and add CQPSK to the DSP
firmware.

73's,
Dave K9DV


> Norm Schrein and I took a little jaunt down to Cincinnati today with a
> BC296D prototype unit to test for proper function on the Hamilton County
> trunked system. Before I get into this further, let me say that I have
> *no* information on release date for these scanners, nor any other
> details. This was a testing trip to make sure the dang thing would work.
>
> That being said, the BC296D works on Hamilton County, and works quite
> nicely. The audio was nice and clear (such as it is; it's digital),
> although since it apparently does not do the digital AGC like the Pro-96
> the audio sometimes wasn't quite as nice as the Pro-96 when in fringe
> areas. However, I'm sure that will be corrected in the production units.
>
> Numerous talkgroups were logged, and several were confirmed using the
> information available on the MONIX web page. Here is the list:
>
> 1 FD EAST?, Fire dispatch - patched to 33.90 (all fire traffic other
> than unit-to-unit was here)
> 2 FD CENT? (I'm guessing here based on the PD talkgroups, this talkgroup
> was not active)
> 3 FD WEST? (I'm guessing here based on the PD talkgroups, this talkgroup
> was not active)
> 51 LE EAST, Police Dispatch
> 52 LE CENT, Police Dispatch
> 53 LE WEST, Police Dispatch
> 58 Police car to car, heard Robert 8 and Robert 16
> 63 Police car to car
> 72 Police
> 90 Unknown
> 116 Police - unit "John 15"
> 122 Unknown
> 134 Unknown
> 137 Police
> 185 Delhi Twp PD local?
> 205 Evendale PD local, maybe dispatch? (an Evendale car was dispatched
> on this TG to an MVA at Glendale-Milford Road and I-75 at the same time
> as fire station 40 - sounded like an interesting grinder).
> 206 Unknown
> 214 Police
> 226 Unknown
> 241 Unknown
> 258 Heard Engine 64 - possibly Madiera/Indian Hill FD local
> 262 Water Department? - heard Station 4, units 500, 516 working on
> hydrants, etc (didn't sound like an FD)
> 263 Public works?
> 269 Unknown
> 271 Unknown
> 297 Encrypted
> 298 Encrypted
> 300 Unknown
> 315 Unknown
> 316 Sharonville FD local (Medic 86 & Squad 87 car to car)
> 352 Police
> 356 Unknown
> 365 Fire/EMS dispatch of Squad 47 (possibly Valley Fire Dispatch?)
> 377 Unknown
> 378 PD - heard 5 John 81 (Amberley Village PD)
> 393 Jail - sounded like admin
> 394 Jail primary
> 530 Comm Center all county broadcasts, possibly AW-6
>
> Soapbox mode on.
>
> I can make some pretty good guesses on what some of the other talkgroups
> might be, playing "fill-in-the-blanks" based on common sense, logic and
> the Motorola radio templates on the MONIX web page, but I'm not even
> going to try. Common Sense, Logic, and Public Safety are all too often
> mutually exclusive items.
>
> Soapbox mode off.
>
> Anyway, it was a very productive trip. I've got a Pro-96 in hand to
> review for National Communications, and I'm looking forward to getting a
> BC296D again for review. Very nice radio, and it being nearly identical
> to the BC250 means that the learning curve will be very easy.
>
> Tom WA8PYR