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follow the steps to transfer the data from the Radio Reference sheets to the appropriate work sheet, finally programming the data
into the scanner.
You can visit one of the Radio Reference forums and potentially learn of someone in your immediate area who has programmed the
same model scanner in your area. Then, by using the Clone feature or by exchanging files that you each have transferred to a
computer using the
Uniden Advanced Scanner Director (UASD) software
you can install the programmed data into your scanner.
Once you have either programmed or selected the option that lets you start experiencing scanning, spend the next few minutes
learning the basics of trunk tracking for an even more complete listening appreciation.
After you read the following material, you should have a more comfortable approach to the text on pages XX through XX in your
Owner’s Manual.
Understanding Scanning and the BCD996T
This section provides you with additional background on how scanning works and how your scanner provides that feature. You don’t
really need to know all of this to use your scanner, but some further background knowledge will help you get the most from your
BCD996T.
Understanding the Scanner’s Memory
Your scanner’s memory is organized in an architecture called
Dynamic Allocated Channel
memory. This type of memory is
organized differently and more efficiently than the bank/channel architecture used by traditional scanners. Dynamic Allocated design
matches how radio systems actually work much more closely, making it easier to program and use your scanner and determine how
much memory you have used and how much you have left.
Instead of being organized into separate banks and channels, your scanner’s memory is contained in a
pool
. You simply use as
much memory as you need in the pool to store as many frequencies, and talk group ID’s as desired. No memory space is wasted,
and you can tell at a glance how much memory you have used and how much remains.
With a traditional scanner, when you program it to track a trunked system, you must first program the frequencies. Since you can
only program one trunking system per bank in a traditional scanner, if there were (for example) 30 frequencies, the remaining
channels in the bank are not used and therefore wasted. Also, since some trunked systems might have hundreds of talk groups, you
would have had to enter those types of systems into multiple banks in order to monitor and track all the ID’s.
Understanding Quick Keys
Traditional “Banked” scanners let you select and deselect banks by pressing a single digit on the keypad. The BCD996T uses a
similar method to turn on and off scanning sites and systems. When you program a system or site, you assign a quick key
(System/Site Quick Key, or SQK) from 0 to 99. You can use the same quick key for multiple systems, so that the systems are turned
on and off together. To turn a system/site on or off, just press the digit corresponding to the assigned SQK. For two-digit SQK’s, first
press
[.No]
, then enter the two-digit SQK.
The BCD996T lets you assign another quick key to a group of channels within a system. This group quick key (GQK) can be from 0-
9. To turn on and off channel groups, you press [Func] while the scanner is scanning the system containing the channels, then press
the GQK within 2 seconds. Systems can have up to 20 channel groups, and multiple channel groups can be assigned to the same
GQK.
What is Scanning?
Unlike standard AM or FM radio stations, most two-way communications do not transmit continuously. Your BCD996T scans
programmed channels until it finds an active frequency, then stops on that frequency and remains on that channel as long as the
transmission continues. When the transmission ends, the scanning cycle resumes until the scanner receives another transmission.
What is Searching?
The BCD996T can search each of its 13 service search ranges and up to 10 custom search ranges to find active frequencies. This is
different from scanning because you are searching for frequencies that have not been programmed into the scanner’s channels. You
set the upper and the lower values of the range and then the scanner searches for any active frequency within the limits you specify.