[TrunkCom] scanner recommendations?

Thu Feb 20 12:22:22 EST 2014

They say first quarter, which means we got six more weeks until it's
officially late.

On Mon, 3 Feb 2014 06:30:07 -0500, you wrote:

>The IOS App has not yet been released for the radio as of yet. Not sure 
>exactly when that is supposed to take place. As you stated, the app is 
>supposed to give you the ability to see what is quote playing on the radio 
>as well as control the radio from the app. I've been more of a GRE user, 
>but, I don't think that there is really much of a learning curve with the 
>newer scanner radios at all. You just have to change the way that you think 
>about their set up. & forget how you've done things & thought of things 
>before.
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Steve Matzura" <number6 at noisynotes.com>
>To: "Discussion of Monitoring Trunk Radio Systems" 
><trunkcom at mailman.qth.net>
>Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2014 09:58
>Subject: Re: [TrunkCom] scanner recommendations?
>
>
>> That's a question that can only be answered subjectively. For me,
>> there was no curve at all. I couldn't wait for scanners like the
>> BC245, the first digital trunker Uniden ever made, to drop the bank
>> concept. The follow-up, the 246, went some way toward solving it, but
>> it was a bad hybrid, wasting an entire bank on a trunk system even if
>> that system only had four or five channels in it. The BCD996T and its
>> portable sibling, the 396, dropped the bank memory model altogether,
>> going to the much more efficient system model. When you think of a
>> system as a variable-sized bank, the learning curve, as you put it, is
>> flattened considerably. A system is nothing more than a collection of
>> frequencies, some conventional, some trunked, which you can
>> selectively lock in or out, and within each system, you can
>> selectively lock specific frequencies or trunks in or out as well. The
>> new BCD436 and 536 Home Patrol models add the Uniden "Home Patrol"
>> feature, making it easy to get started listening simply by supplying a
>> ZIP or Canadian postal code, rather than accepting some subset of
>> national frequencies when you first turn the unit on. The rest of the
>> machine works very similarly to the 996/396. The system memory model
>> is the same.
>>
>> The initial setup was simple enough, once I got through the horrible
>> gobble-dee-gook that is the manual. Some things, like the initial and
>> Wi-Fi setup screens, are mentioned in two sentences with no
>> accompanying graphics at all. As I said in my first message about this
>> radio, if it weren't for my trusty faithful Optacon, I don't know if
>> I'd've been as successful with it as quickly, but once I figured it
>> out, I've been publishing the information just as fast and as widely
>> as I can on how to do it without sighted assistance, which is
>> definitely doable once one knows the deal. Like a friend of mine says,
>> you have to get into the head of the person who designed the firmware
>> so you can understand how things might work if and when it comes down
>> for you to interact with it directly, as you must do with the initial
>> startup/setup screen.
>>
>> Something that has truly confounded me is the missing portion of the
>> PC software for setting up the Wi-Fi stuff on the computer instead of
>> on the scanner, which indicates to me that such information is not
>> stored on the MicroSD card, but in the radio's non-volatile memory
>> only. Hopefully a firmware and software revision will remedy this
>> clear oversight somewhere down the line, hopefully sooner rather than
>> later.
>>
>> Of course, what I'm waiting and actively looking for is the iOS app,
>> which seems not to have been released yet. Or if it has, I've not been
>> able to find it in the App Store. If it does what I'm thinking,
>> hoping, it does, it will give me access to the machine's display in
>> real time, making it possible for me to tell what I'm hearing. As soon
>> as it's available, or I find it, whichever comes first, I'll repolrt
>> back.
>>
>> On Sun, 2 Feb 2014 04:01:25 -0500, you wrote:
>>
>>>For some reason, I favor the portable versions of scanners. I haven't had 
>>>a tabletop scanner in years. What is the learning curve like when going 
>>>from a traditional scanner with banks and channels to this newer type 
>>>format?
>>>
>>>Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>>> On Feb 2, 2014, at 3:23 AM, Steve Matzura <number6 at noisynotes.com> 
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> JAWS primary, because it's what I'm used to. Window-Eyes as secondary,
>>>> which works better with some things than JAWS does. The BCDX36
>>>> software works well with both.
>>>>
>>>> The 536 is the mobile (tabletop) version. The 436 is the pocket one,
>>>> also without the Wi-Fi feature.
>>>>
>>>>> On Sat, 1 Feb 2014 14:38:36 -0500, you wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> I forget, what are you using screenreader wise? Is this the portable or 
>>>>> the tabletop version?
>>>>>
>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Feb 1, 2014, at 11:32 AM, Steve Matzura <number6 at noisynotes.com> 
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I got mine earlier this week and, with a little help from my Optacon,
>>>>>> got past the initial setup screen. Now I have to download the profile
>>>>>> from the radio and see exactly what agencies it picked and how it
>>>>>> arranged them. Then it's on to customization.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Might try the iOS app later today.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Sun, 15 Dec 2013 21:23:25 -0500, you wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>  Hi everyone, I am just wondering with regard to the newer scanners 
>>>>>>> that are coming out soon.  I am wondering that if at some point I 
>>>>>>> should get the portable or the desktop with the I Phone app?  It will 
>>>>>>> be interesting to note what advantages and/or features will be the 
>>>>>>> most accessible.  With regard to the desktop with the app will the 
>>>>>>> app work with the cellular network with regard to monitoring/control? 
>>>>>>> I know that the literature I read mentioned other wifi networks that 
>>>>>>> it will work on.
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>
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