Retro Review - Uniden BCD396T (USA Model)

A retro review of the Uniden BCD396T (USA Model), I wrote this in 2006.

----------------------
Uniden BCD 396T Digital Hand Held Scanner
Here’s my review of the new Uniden BCD 396T scanner.
Some of the more important specs:
25 MHz – 1300 MHz coverage
AM / FM/ NFM /WFM Modes
Steps from 5 kHz to 100 kHz
6600 channels – up to 400 systems
100 quick keys to access systems
Trunk Tracker IV operation
APCO 25 Digital decoding
Close Call
CTCSS / DCS decoding
Channel Alert tones
Text Tags
10 Custom search ranges with Auto Store.
PC Control / Programming

Here’s what you get with it out of the box:
Uniden BCD 396T unit:
This is a mid sized unit and is built quite well, it runs off 3 x AA cells and these seem to last quite a while.

Belt Clip:
This is a very professional setup and comes in two parts, one is attached to the back on the radio and clips on the second part on your belt, and this means the unit has to be turned upside down to get it off, reducing the chance of it falling off by accident.

SMA Aerial

AC Adaptor / 3x 2300Mah AA Cells
This is a 6v 800Ma unit and charges the 3 AA cells in 16 hours; it also powers the radio while it is charging.

Programming Cable
This allows the radio to be programmed via a PC; the software is a free download off the Uniden website and works very well.

Manual
This is a must have item as this is a very complex unit to set up and use.

Programming the unit:
Before using this unit you MUST have an understanding of how it is setup as it is very different to all other Uniden scanners.
You have a pool of 6600 channels by default, instead of banks you have systems which you can have to 400 of.

As you build each system it takes the channels from the pool and assigns them to the system, this means that to program the EDACS Mt Barrow site in to system 1 you take the 9 channels from the pool and add them to system 1, you can them add the 11 channels to build the system for EDACS West Launceston to system 2, this means that you are not wasting channels like you do on a Uniden 780 where you use 1 bank of 50 channels for a EDACS site with only 11 channels.
As you can have up to 400 system’s setup, you could have EVERY EDACS site in Tasmania programmed and still have over 6000 channels spare to put in your normal two way stuff like the Air band or UHF CB, with the UHF CB you could build a system with only the 40 channels required for it, by doing this you don’t waste any channels.

How I have my bcd396t setup is like this:
System 1 – 000 Services
System 2 – Air band / HAM Radio
System 3 – Business Band
System 4 – UHF CB
System 8 – EDACS Mt Barrow
System 9 – EDACS West Launceston

Using it for the last few days after programming it via my pc shows that it has every feature you could want in a handheld and that so far it seems to work very well both on the EDACS trunking and on normal vhf / uhf channels.

Having 6600 channels and custom system sizes allows a great level of freedom to set it up just how you want.

The only problem with a unit like this is that is VERY COMPLEX to setup and use, if you find a Uniden 245 or 780 hard to program / use , this will really test you out as it has so many feature and options you need to have a good understanding of it.