Hello Dick.
Thank you for your welcome and offer to help. I think I will need plenty. To be honest I found it sort of intimidating to program this thing.
Rarely am I intimidated but this time I am.
That's a pretty normal reaction so don't feel like you're the only one. There's an awful lot to learn so just take it a bit at a time and it will allow you to enjoy the scanner and the learning process as well.
So, I got the retailer to program it for me at a cost of $50.
If one is in the U.S.A. most units come programmed for the area but not so here in the Toronto area of Canada.
Even in the U.S. most of us have had to reprogram our scanners to cover our local areas. The preprogrammed stuff is meant to give people a starting point, but is seldom going to be the finished programming. In fact, I think most of us consider programming to always be a work in progress. I spent a number of hours last night revising the programming for my 396XT and will adapt that data for my 346XT when I get a chance.
Anyway, they gave me a print out of the various agencies in this area that I asked for.
I now have
21 QUICK KEYS and
61 GROUP KEYS
These cover the Greater Toronto Area emergency services, Plus 2 Toronto area airports.
The Ontario Provincial poh-leece is not included because it is digital or else I would be looking at several more Keys.
Here's something that I've posted elsewhere regarding the system and group quick keys which I think might be helpful.
System Quick Keys (SQKs) allow you activate and deactivate systems for scanning. The single digit SQKs are toggled between active and
inactive by pressing the corresponding key on the keyboard. The two digit SQKs are toggled between active and inactive by pressing the
./NO key followed by the two digits on the keyboard.
The display
S0:1234--7**0 indicates that SQKs 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 0 are active; SQKs 8 and 9 are inactive; and SQKs 5 and 6 are unassigned.
S1:12---678** indicates that SQKs 11, 12, 16, 17, and 18 are active; SQKs 19 and 10 are inactive; and SQKs13, 14, and 15 are unassigned.
Etc. to S9:12345678790
There can be more than one system assigned to a SQK.
Each system can have up to 10 Group Quick Keys (GQKs). The indicator for the GQKs is the line below the SQK line and works the same way
except that it only has ten possible values and therefore is only single digits.
GQKs can be toggled active and inactive by pressing FUNC and the keyboard number while the scanner is scanning the particular system
which contains the groups that you are controlling.
Software programming isn't necessary to use SQKs and GQKs, but it can be used to set up the various SQKs and GQKs and to set the initial state of the SQKs and GQKs.
The programmer told me to use FreeSCAN to load into the computer what he programmed and burn it on a CD as a program backup.
I can't do it, so I'm hoping my son will do it for me. Any tips?
It's too bad that they don't give you a CD with the data already on it. It would only take them another few minutes to do that for you. In any event, you'll want to get the scanner working with FreeScan anyway, so it's not too serious that they didn't do it.
If your computer has a serial port, you can use the cable that came with the scanner to connect it to your computer. If you don't have a serial port, then you'll need either a serial to USB adapter or the Uniden USB-1 cable which has the adapter built into the cable. If you use an adapter or the USB-1, be sure to install the drivers before connecting the cable to your computer.
Once you've got the appropriate cable connected, run FreeScan and set the Comm Port to match whatever port your cable is using at the computer. If you don't know which port it is, FreeScan will search and find the port for you using its autodetection feature. Once you've got the scanner and computer talking to each other, you can then download the data from the scanner to the computer. It's then just a matter of saving that datafile to your hard drive and burning a copy to a CD as a backup if you want to do that.
You'll find that having the data in FreeScan lets you see the way it's organized and that makes understanding all of this much easier. You can also make whatever changes you desire to the data and upload the new data to the scanner. You may choose to add some additional agencies or frequencies or to rename some of them so that they are the way you want them.
Meanwhile Dick, I'm trying to figure out how to make use of the printout he gave me.
Are you familiar with this scanner?
For example ;
QUICK KEY 4 is Toronto poh-leece Service , NORTH
It has 5 GROUP KEYS, 1,2,3,4,5,
Would you be able to run me through the steps so I could listen in to say GROUPS 1-5 ?
And only these groups, thus temporarily L/O everything else.
I'm afraid that by doing something I may "damage" the program that's in place.
While you're not too likely to "damage" the programming unless you go into the menu system, it is possible to do so. I'd suggest the backup using FreeScan for peace of mind before you go much beyond the system and group quick keys.
I've printed out the Uniden operating controls and they sure are not the easiest to comprehend.
Lots of agreement there. I think that they could have done a better job of explaining things than they have. It seems like all the information is in the materials somewhere, but it isn't easy to find at first. Sort of like the kid that has trouble using the dictionary to find out how to spell a word because he has to know how to spell the word to use the dictionary.
Unfortunately MARKSSCANNERS.COM doesn't have the simplified instructions for this new unit.
No, but the simplified instructions for the 396T will be very similar for many of the functions and many people find them useful.
Another question I have for you is, should this scanner be "program protected" in order to avoid
screwing it up? I read this somewhere in my travels on the net in case one were to give the unit to someone who may
screw up the program. Actually, I'm probably that person!!!
Then again if it is protected doesn't that mean the keypad is locked?
If you lock the keypad, that will only leave you the HOLD, BACKLIGHT, and SELECT-VOLUME-SQUELCH which is enough for listening once you've set the system and group quick keys the way that you want them, but it doesn't give you any flexibility until you again unlock it.
Do you know of any websites or even video that would be a learning tool? I mean no disrespect for your superior knowledge.
I don't know if I'd say my knowledge was "superior", but in any case, no problem with wanting other sources as well. RadioReference.com has a series of forums which I find very helpful. The Uniden forum and the New User forum would be particularly helpful for the kinds of things you would likely want. There is also an excellent wiki at that site which has a number of articles that I think you would find helpful. Each person learns differently, so an explanation that works for one person may not work at all for another.
Dick, thank you for your help and understanding. Your help is greatly appreciated.
You're very welcome. This has gotten pretty long, but don't let that bother you. Just take the various sections at whatever pace is comfortable for you and stop back with whatever additional questions you have.
Dick
Just Bought a BC346XT, having it programmed by retailer