No More Uniden Digital Scanners

[rustynswrail]

We really need a brainiac to hack the USA firmware to work in the Aussie models! Anyone got a XT from USA and using it here?? How does it go?? Is the P25 better??
I hear the USA ones are missing some 800mhz stuff, anything in particular?

J,

The hacking of a 996XT or 396XT is not that hard. It really only requires re-alignment of the frequency bands, channels step and receive modes. I saw it done with the UBC245XLT when they were imported into the country.

As far as the 996XT is concerned I have owned one and currently do own a couple of 396XT's. They are a vast improvement over the older model. Audio generally is better, sensitivity is also much improved. The debate as to whether the P25 is better is somewhat subjective. For my ear I did not have a problem with the 396, others did. Therefore I cannot tell the difference either way. Even including my GRN XTS5000 it all sounds like crap. Analogue rules!

As far as missing the 800 MHz, our bands are TX 865-870 MHz, the American band stops at 869 MHz, so the last 1 MHz is missing. That is why you would keep a 396 etc to cover that band.

Russell

[jaskel]

oh ok wicked, thanks champ....anyone up for a hacking challenge?

[Sigint]

I hear the USA ones are missing some 800mhz stuff, anything in particular?

The top 1 MHz of the Australian 800 MHz Trunked Radio Band, specifically 869.0125 to 869.9875

--
Sigint

[jaskel]

is there much on that 1 mhz?

[rustynswrail]

is there much on that 1 mhz?

That is the unknown question. If for example it is being used as voice then you will not hear that part of the conversation when the CC the transmissions to those 869 MHz channels. If it is being used as the CC then obviously the system will simply not trunk at all.

The decision to buy an XT scanner largely depends whether you can live without that 1 MHz of 800 MHz. Otherwise the units are perfectly suited to Australian conditions.

Russell

[jaskel]

yeah as far as I know therre isnt anything on that 1mhz block...sounds like a plan!

[Longreach]

hi all, dunno why anyone would worry about 800mhz smartnet anyway from what i hear on it in canberra the sole last user is a courier company, not exactly high pressure listening.
as for the 996XT im backing rusty. brought one in for a mate. Beautiful radio P25 audio sounds better than 996t (it still sounds good too). does all the oz bands and the alert function is great. when programmed the display changes colour to the service your listening to eg i had NSWFB come up red). am considering on myself. with the 25000 channels too i'd doubt you'd run out of room. the radio id feature is a plus too like what the GRE 500/600's have.
only problem i found is that the software is different to the old 't' models so its a bit of fiddling to get your stuff across to the XT software.
cheers
Matt

[Bigfella237]

~ only problem i found is that the software is different to the old 't' models so its a bit of fiddling to get your stuff across to the XT software. cheers Matt

Not if you use ProScan! The one program does pretty much all Uniden scanners and a whole heap of other brands too... you just connect to and read from your 996T then connect to your 996XT and write (although there are a few extra features on the 996XT (such as alerts) that you might want to update before writing).

Andrew

[jaskel]

yeah I use proscan too...so should be easy!

[Chrisco]

For those who don't 'like' Uniden Australia facebook page
had this posted on the 27/10/11
"For those customers that have been asking Uniden for a digital scanner....look out in the next 3 months when Uniden will introduce it's new Digital Handheld Scanner"

and

Justin Lenczewski; Will it have any new features over the BCD396XT?
Thursday at 22:26 · LikeUnlike

Uniden; It will....stay tuned on the Uniden facebook over the next couple of months for product details