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Special Report

The Uniden-Bearcat BCD996XT Digital Scanner

Features, Operation and Competition

A Scanner Master Ultimate Review

Introduction

The Uniden Bearcat BCD996XT is the follow-up to Uniden's premier mobile scanner, the BCD996T, which has been discontinued. The 'XT

has more memories (up to 25,000 channels!) and many new features while retaining the 996D's DIN form factor and price. The BCD996XT

directly competes with the GRE PSR600 and Radio Shack Pro197.

The BCD996XT adds such new features as allowing up to 500 talkgroups per trunked system (compared to 200 for the 996D), NAC decoding,

Fire Toneout Search and GPS Support. Some of these features have never been available on any scanner before. In addition to all this the latest

firmware version even allows individual Unit ID's for identifying specific radios in trunked systems.

The BCD996XT uses Uniden's Dynamic Memory Architecture (DMA) instead of fixed Banks and Channels. This method of programming was

introduced a few years back with the BC246T and is also used on such scanners as the BCD396T and BCD996T. While it has a similar effect

as the GRE "Memory Object" system, the Uniden method is somewhat easier to fathom and program for many people. DMA allows you to

program as many Channels, Systems and Groups as you can until the memory runs out instead of locking you into a fixed amount of banks and

channels.

The radio resembles the BCD996T but has a black faceplate. Otherwise the general layout is identical, with a single multi-function control

knob on the right, 17 button keypad on the front and 2 side buttons alongside the multifunction knob. The front panel has the same computer

interface jack and earphone jack, the earphone jack is on the bottom next to the multi-function knob. The back of the radio has a RS-232 serial

port that is intended for GPS units, but it could also be used for programming if used with a null-modem adaptor. (It is much simpler to use the

front port for programming.) Also on the back of the radio is separate external speaker and record jacks as well as a BNC connector for the

antenna.

Also in the box is the same antenna, serial programming cable and DIN sleeve as the older radios. The radio includes a cigar cord and special

power cord to allow connection into the vehicle dash light wiring to allow dimming of the display with the car's interior lights. The owner's

manual for the radio is contained on a CD-ROM, in PDF format. There is no printed manual.

Features & Functions

System, Group & Channel Memory Architecture

The BCD996XT allows you to program up to 25,000 channels. (Remember the days when 20 channels were plenty?) While few would ever

need this many available channels, it leaves a nice cushion to allow you to program in all your local and travel scanner frequencies and still

have plenty of room left over to explore new channels. The actual total channel capacity is based on total memory usage, so the amount of

alpha tags and other items you have programmed will affect the total number of channels you have available.

Average users will likely never fill up the radio but you can have many systems kept in the radio for future use without worry that you will run

out of memory space. You can see what percentage of available memory you have by using the menu system. Go to the Settings menu and

select "%Memory Used" to see how much memory the radio has in a percentage basis. If you are running low you can delete unused Systems.

With the DMA style programming you do not waste memory on unused channels since bank sizes are not fixed. Instead, Systems only use the

amount of memory needed, space is not wasted on unused channels. On older scanners if you had a bank reserved for railroads in your area and

they only used 10 channels the rest of the 40 or 90 channels would have been unused and the memory space wasted.

Summary of content (18 pages)

PAGE 1
Special Report The Uniden-Bearcat BCD996XT Digital Scanner Features, Operation and Competition A Scanner Master Ultimate Review Copyright 2009, Richard Carlson/Scanner Master Corporation Introduction The Uniden Bearcat BCD996XT is the follow-up to Uniden's premier mobile scanner, the BCD996T, which has been discontinued. The 'XT has more memories (up to 25,000 channels!) and many new features while retaining the 996D's DIN form factor and price.
PAGE 2
The BCD996XT uses two special buttons, labeled as "Function" and "Menu". (The Function button is actually the Multi-Function knob that you press.) The Menu button starts various programming tasks, and will bring you to the various menus pretty much no matter what the radio is doing. When in the Menus the Menu button acts as a Back button.
PAGE 3
FMB is used on FM Broadcast and TV audio channels. The Auto mode selects the mode that is most often used on that range of frequencies, due to new rules, many operations will be converting to narrower bandwidths over the next few years so you may need to change the mode. The radio automatically detects P25 audio when the channel is programmed to FM or NFM mode. You can set the radio to monitor analog, digital or both as the situation requires.
PAGE 4
Weather Alert Most scanners these days, the BCD996XT included, allow you to set them up to alert on NOAA Weather Radio channels with SAME or single tone codes. SAME codes allow the radio to monitor weather alerts for a specific area, on a county basis. Enter the SAME FIPS Codes (available from NOAA's website) for your county and, if you want, other nearby counties to have the radio alert you when there is a severe weather alert in your area. Up to 8 county codes can be entered.
PAGE 5
The 996XT and some other Uniden scanners have a Search feature that allows you to look for Motorola or P25 trunked system control channels and then track the systems it finds. Since Motorola and P25 systems control channels transmit the information needed to track the system in most instances the radio will automatically track the trunked system and display active talkgroups. When editing a Custom Search set the "CCH Only" option in the Search Options menu to make this feature work.
PAGE 6
Networked trunking systems use the same talkgroups at a number of trunking sites that use different frequencies. Multi-Site allows you to set up these systems with an additional layer within a System called "Sites". This allows you to share a single set of talkgroups among many Sites instead of having to have each Site programmed as a System like older radios. Since the Talkgroups are the same across the entire Networked System this saves you from having to duplicate the Talkgroup list.
PAGE 7
For these reasons scanners of Rebanded Motorola trunked systems in the 800 Band will need to use the Custom Tables feature of the BCD996XT to monitor rebanded systems. Programming a Rebanded System When setting up the scanner for a Rebanded System in the 800 MHz. band you set the radio up for Motorola trunking then select "Custom" in the Band Plan section of the Menu. You then set the Base Frequencies and other parameters as shown below: Band Plan 1 2 Base Freq Lower 851.0250 851.0125 Base Freq Upper 854.
PAGE 8
Now you can include trunked systems and ID's in your Priority settings. You are no longer limited to conventional channels for Priority. Preemptive Priority on Motorola analog systems When scanning Motorola trunked systems you can set a channel (talkgroup) to Priority to force the scanner to go immediately to that channel even when the radio is already engaged on another voice channel.
PAGE 9
When you set the radio to "Close Call Only" mode the display shows the numbers 1 thru 7, and relative signal strength bars. When a signal is found the number that corresponds with the number flashes, so you can tell what band the hit was from. When you press a key the frequency is displayed, along with the CTCSS, DCS or NAC code if that mode is on. The bands are numbered: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 VHF Low VHF Low Aircraft VHF High VHF High UHF 800 25 to 54 MHz. 54 to 108 MHz. 108 to 137 MHz. 137 to 225 MHz.
PAGE 10
Railroad Air CB Radio FRS/GMRS Racing FM Broadcast Military Air Special (all low-power walkie-talkie frequencies) * This is a general search through the popular public safety bands which does include what is now UHF TV in some areas and public safety in others between 470-512 MHz, this can cause the search to lock up in areas where TV signals are used in this band.
PAGE 11
Band Scope The BCD996XT also has a bandscope that allows you to view active band segments during searches. Bars on the screen display the active frequencies relative to the current channel. This allows you to see if there is an active frequency above or below the current one. While not a true spectrum display it is a great way to see where other active freqs are quickly and get a visual indication of activity on the band. Band Scope is set via the Search menu items and can be set to one of the Search Keys.
PAGE 12
Like other Uniden radios introduced in the last few years the BCD996XT has the popular Fire Tone Out feature. This allows you to set up the radio to act as a pager like those carried by firefighters. The radio will remain silent until there is a fire call preceded by tow-tone codes. While in this mode the radio cannot be used for other purposes. Fire Tone Out Search The biggest problem with the Fire Tone Out feature is figuring out the tones used.
PAGE 13
Groups can be assigned to Quick Keys (GQK) but only work within a System. You can tie together multiple Groups to a single GQK if you want. You can assigned Quick Keys from programming software or manually from the keypad. System /Channel Number Tagging This allows you to set a tag to any channel or system and quickly send your radio to it by pressing a couple buttons. For example, your police department uses 4 channels, called "Channel 1" and so on.
PAGE 14
Trunked systems have one more item to program, these are "Sites" While simple trunked systems may have just one Site, networked or wide are systems might have several or many. Networked trunked systems can share a single list of talkgroups, and you can program multiple Sites with different frequencies. (See the GPS section for how you can use this.
PAGE 15
What's NOT in the box is a paper owner's manual. There is a CD that contains a PDF version of the manual. The PDF manual is well bookmarked with web style links that make it pretty easy to find what you are looking for. Some people will miss the printed manual, the older radios' manuals were compact and fit the glove box well. Buyers of the BCD996XT will have to deal with viewing on a computer or printing the manual themselves. The manual however has not been optimized for printing, at least not yet.
PAGE 16
I monitored a local simulcast P25 trunked system in the Chicago area side by side with a BCD996XT, a BCD996T and a GRE PSR600 for several days. The GRE/RS scanner heard the system almost flawlessly, the BCD996XT was close behind, while the 996T dropped out occasionally. This was a similar result to the same experiment conducted with handheld versions of these radio series.
PAGE 17
The Fire Tone Out feature is an ingenuous addition to the Uniden line of scanners. The new FTO Search makes it even better. I wouldn't suggest spending $500 for the BCD996XT just for this when you can get a BCT15X with FTO for half the price but it allows you to do most anything with one radio. The added memory allows one to program almost as much on the BCD996XT as you can in all the V-Folders on the PSR600.
PAGE 18
Recommended Accessories Recommended Accessories When people invest $500 for a scanner, they probably want to protect it, get some accessories to go with it or otherwise add to the experience. Scanner Master (http://www.scannermaster.com) has a full line of scanner accessories such as cases, antennas, cables, power adaptors and references to make your scanner more enjoyable.