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| Bearcat BCD396T or BC246T http://interceptradio.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=1839 |
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| Author: | BrianH [ Fri Dec 07, 2007 7:34 am ] |
| Post subject: | Bearcat BCD396T or BC246T |
I am wanting to move from my present old BC245XLT to either the BCD396T or BC246T. It looks like the main difference is the 396 gives you more trunking choices. So for the southern part of King County including Kent, Federal Way, Auburn, Renton and also Seattle, is there any benefit to spending more money? I would appreciate knowing because this needs to be ordered right away for a gift. Thanks all. |
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| Author: | SpudGunMan [ Fri Dec 07, 2007 9:24 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
well the "main difference" is the P25 decryption, they will each trunk the same systems the 396 will decode P25. Other facts of interest are the BNC vs SMA on the 396. So if this gift is for a current scanner owner, the SMA would need to be adapted to current antenna's possibly. If your not looking to decode P25 (which only federal gov. uses P25 primary today in NW, and there isnt a bunch of it) I do know that P25 compatible radios are being deployed to LEO so likely that within 2-5 years TAC's and SpcOps will be P25 if not encrypted. If price is a concern the 246 is a great radio for the NW you can listen to every city major police in WA and OR, I would also recommends getting ARC246 software or checking out the free beta-BCTOOL for programming. The 246 is a nice step into dynamic memory. if price is no object then spend the extra 300 on the 396 its currently compatible almost everywhere but some places on the east coast. but for the NW there is no need for it for the casual scanner, there arnt any features that are so awesome that the 246 lacks that the 396 has (for the casual scanner, and for your first dynamic memory radio) they each have the close call. my personal complaints about the 246 are the lack of a backlight for the buttons, the lack of 99 group memories (like the 330/369/996/15 have) other then that its an awesome radio that I have along with a bc15, I do want a 996 for P25 but waiting on GRE's new base to see if its worth the beans. but until 2013 (approx system change over for NW) im not too worried about paying P25 tax since the cheaper analogs will work for 5-7 years eham reviews on them http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/4753 http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/5242 |
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| Author: | cowboymike1971 [ Fri Dec 07, 2007 2:40 pm ] |
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Spudgunman, ya think we are looking at 2013 or around there till a change over to P25 Dig? |
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| Author: | SpudGunMan [ Fri Dec 07, 2007 8:36 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
I know they are handing out new radios with P25 decoders on them, so I would say we will hear P25 on the Spec-Ops and TAC before then. My last info was ~2013 for the new "P25v2" system |
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| Author: | cowboymike1971 [ Fri Dec 07, 2007 10:24 pm ] |
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yeah and hopefully they don;t start encryption on Tac channels or any others for that matter... |
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| Author: | SpudGunMan [ Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:30 am ] |
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yes, one can only hope. I understand for NARC and SpcOps but I always like TAC traffic. hey at least we dont have opensky! |
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