I purchased a 996T

[IzzyEng4 427]

Well I bought myself a belated Christmas present today, The Bearcat 996T scanner. I liked the 396T so much that I decided that I would also get this as well. Out of the box it is an impressive unit. It came with a reprint of "Pop Com" article from Nov 2005 & Jan 2006 on scanner programing, an order form from scanner master and a National communications mag subscription leaflet. Not too bad for the literature.

Browsing through the owner's manual, 139 pages minus the index and memo pages, it is laid out great for the installation and initial setup but programing needs a few extra minutes of reading time if you do not have the software (I don;t have it for this scanner yet, but more than likely I'll be going with ARC's version like I have for my 780 & 396T).

It comes with the programing cable with a 9-pin serial interface. I purchased a serial to USB adapter some time ago for my other scanners which works great. DIN sleeve (yes you can mount this in you car's radio slot!) is a standard one like the sleeves that come with an after market car stereo. The standard mounting bracket is quite large, larger than the XLT series mounting brackets found on the 780, 785 & 790's, but its sturdier than previous models. A standard BNC adjustable whip antenna, AC power adapter, cigarette lighter adapter and mounting hardware are all packaged nice. One surprise was the DC power cord, which is a three-lead like most communication trans-receivers (think the old Radio Shack CB's). It's the standard red = positive with a 2 amp fuse and black = negative set up. The third wire, orange with a 2 amp fuse, attaches to the headlamp switch so that the back light will dim when you turn on your lights, like a stereo, a nice feature!

I'm gonna play around with it for the next few days at home and decide if I'm gonna mount it in my truck, after I figure out that pesky interference problem I asked about in a previous post. I'll let you all know what I think of this new rig.

Ciao!

[x635 4,066]

Awesome purchase!

Good luck with it!

I'm still figuring out my new BCD396T, but the more I learn, the more I love it. Very complicated but worth the time to learn. I also have the ARC software which is a big help.

[GwchFireRescue 0]

Good choice in a scanner. I bought myself one. I received the software with the scanner. I like the fire tone out future it works better than my Motorola V. The software is user friendly. It takes a while to get the perfect profiles. Another good feature is you can download right from the Radio Reference wed site. Good luck with it.

[IzzyEng4 427]

So far I have played with it for a few hours and got ARC's software for it and began loading up profile. Believe it or not one of the coolest things I accidentally came across was the backlight! (I'm a simpleton!!!) I started it up and the screen was green, I hot the volume knob and it switched to red/orange pushed again and it brightened, again - brightened, again - off, again - green dimmed, again -brightened, ect, (I was playing with it for a few minutes like a kid awestruck watching those Japanese cartoons that give you seizures!)

It receives pretty darn well with the local stuff and it is pre-programed with a lot of high radio traffic areas. Unfortunately the CSP pre-program is all messed up and I haven't even checked the Metro-NY and Boston ones yet. Operation is similar to the 396 with the close call and tone out features, I set it up yesterday for my FD's radio and it woke me up this morning when there was a call! (better that my Minitor IV) It does com pre-porgramed with the National Call in and get this NORAD, Thunderbirds, Blue Angels and NASA Chase plane and shuttle frequencies (AM mode).

So far it is a good by but like I said in the other scanner forum, I do miss the simplicity of the older banks style and the old 16 channel style programmables. I'll get back to you all with more on this scanner.

Maybe we should all do reviews on our favorite scanners from past and present in a forum. Hmmmmmmmmm.