Uniden BCD-396XT review

68 MONITORING TIMES June 2009

B

ob Grove said the BCD396T handheld,
“is the most advanced scanner ever

designed.” And when you looked at
all the scanning capability built into that small
package, no truer words were ever spoken.
Now Uniden has released an updated version of
the venerable 396 and it made a great scanner
into a super scanner.

❖ Case, Controls and the

Antenna

The BCD396XT is a direct descendant of
the popular BC396T handheld scanner. Many
of the primary features found in the earlier unit
apply to this new handheld.
The 396 case measures 2.40 (W) x 1.22
(D) x 5.35 (H) inches and weighs in at 9.6
ounces with batteries, and about four ounces
without.
There is a multi-color backlight system for
the 1-5/16 by 13/16-inch liquid crystal display.
There are four user-selectable menu
options for display backlighting: backlight
on for 10 or 30 seconds (push button select-
able), squelch (backlight illuminates when the
squelch opens and stays on for five seconds),
keypress (backlight turns on when any key
is pressed then stays on for 10 seconds), and
infinite (backlight turns on when you press the
multi-function power on/off key, then stays on
until you press it again).
The screen backlight can be tied to a
channel alert, so even though dark blue might
not be good for normal viewing, it is useful
to indicate a channel alert (the display briefly
changes to the alert color, then reverts to the
normal selected blacklight color after the alert).
Available LCD backlight colors include red,
blue, magenta, green, white, yellow and cyan.
The keyboard backlight is not tied to the
LCD backlight color selection; it is always
white.
There is only one knob (scroll type) on
the top of the unit that controls a variety of
the scanner’s functions depending on other
controls being depressed. The multi-function
scroll knob is used to set volume and squelch
levels, adjust menu settings, enter text, change
channels in the hold mode, resume scanning,
and change display screens.
There are two push buttons on the side of
the 396XT that perform the same operations as
the buttons on the side of the 396T – function
and menu selections. These controls are the

heart of the scanner’s menu, display, and ad-
ditional control functions in conjunction with
keys on the front of the scanner.
The 396XT uses a flexible antenna with an
SMA connector. They have included a BNC to
SMA adapter for additional antenna connection
options. Antenna jack impedance is 50 ohms.

❖ It’s what is under the

hood that counts.

Given all of the recent concern over
rebanding in the 800 MHz band, you won’t
have a problem with the 396XT. The memory
unit can be re-flashed via your computer so it

The Best Just Got Better

Uniden’s BCD396XT

By Larry Van Horn, N5FPW

F

IRST LOOK

New Product Reviews

can handle any rebanding situation you might
encounter.
Looking inside the radio, I found a world
of scanning capability. Here are some of the
features that BC396XT owners will be familiar
with.

APCO25 Digital audio decoding
Adaptive digital threshold that automatically sets

the digital decode threshold for APCO 25
systems. Our field test indicates that this unit
is a substantial improvement in this regard
over the 396T.

TrunkTracker IV trunk tracker technology with

control-channel only scanning and I-Call

monitoring.
Close call signal capture
Supports step sizes of 5, 6.25, 7.5, 8.33, 10,

12.5, 15, 20, 25, 50 or 100 kHz
Fire tone out alert
Motorola control channel only trunking
DCS/CTCSS/NAC rapid decode
Scan and (selected) service searches. You won’t

have to select just one or the other.

A frequency/ID auto store function that automati-

cally stores frequencies from a service or limit
search into a conventional system or store talk
group IDs into a trunked system,

16 character text tagging for each system, group,

channel, talkgroup, search range, and SAME
group

Compatible with the Uniden BC-RH96 remote

head accessory.
Analog and digital AGC functions.
Quick search; 12 service searches (Public

safety, news, ham radio, marine, railroad, air

(military and civilian), CB radio, FRS/GMRS,

racing, FM broadcast, and special itinerant;

and custom search that lets you program up

to 10 search ranges.
SAME weather alert and weather priority
Priority scan with priority plus.
Signal strength display, battery level display on

the LCD.
LCD and keypad backlight
Adjustable (0 to 5 seconds) scan delay
Adjustable Hold (scan duration 0 to 255 seconds)

per system, custom or service search
Strong signal attenuation
Upgradeable firmware
Channel alert
Independent alert tone volume lets you set the

volume level of the following tones: Key Beep,

Emergency Alert, Channel Alert, and Close

Call Alert
Repeater reverse
Broadcast signal ignore while searching (TV and

radio station frequencies, pagers, etc)
Duplicate channel alert
Key Lock
PC Programming and control
Wired cloning (will only clone to another

BCD396XT)
A battery saver mode

MT RATING: 4 3/4 STARS

June 2009 MONITORING TIMES 69

❖ New Trunk Tracking

Capability

The BCD396XT is a Trunk Tracker IV©
model scanner. This lets the user follow unen-
crypted conversations on the following trunk
radio systems: Motorola Type I; Motorola Type
II; Motorola Type IIi Hybrid; Motorola Type II
Smartnet; Motorola Type II Smartzone; Motorola
Type II Smartzone Omnilink; Motorola Type
II VOC; EDACS Standard (Wide); EDACS
Standard Networked; EDACS Narrowband (Nar-
row); EDACS Narrowband Networked; EDACS
SCAT; EDACS ESK (will not decode ProVoice);
LTR Standard; and Project 25 Standard.
The 396XT will receive the following voice
systems: Analog; Analog and APCO-25 Com-
mon Air Interface (P16); and APCO-25 Common
Air Interface Exclusive (P25).
Trunk systems in VHF, UHF, the new 700
MHz public safety band, 800 MHz, and 900 MHz
bands can be programmed. This includes trunk
systems now being installed by the Department
of Defense in the new 380-399.9 MHz LMR
sub-band. The scanner can also scan both con-
ventional and trunked systems at the same time.
In addition, the 396XT can monitor certain
trunk systems using control channel trunking.
If the scanner is set to scan trunk frequencies,
the user can track the trunk system using only
control channel data. You do not have to program
all of the system’s voice channel frequencies
into memory in this mode as long as all possible
control channels have been programmed into the
scanner.

❖ So What Has Been

Added?

So is it wor th upgra di ng fro m yo ur
BCD396T to a new BCD396XT? With the new
feature set listed below, the answer to that ques-
tion is a resounding "Yes!" There are a lot of
new features incorporated into the 396XT, a lot
of them based on feedback from owners of the
396T scanner.
The ability to manually select a specific
programmed channel in the older Uniden dy-
namic allocation memory scanners was one of the
biggest complaints by the old channel and bank
scanner crowd. With this new system/channel
number tagging feature in the 396XT, you now
have rapid access to a specific system or channel.
More information is available on this at http://

info.uniden.com/twiki/bin/view/UnidenMan4/
NumberTags

Intermediate Frequency Exchange changes
the IF used for a selected scanner frequency to
help avoid image and other mixer-product inter-
ference on that frequency.
A new band scope provides a graphic rep-
resentation of signal activity on the display. You
can get more information on this feature at http://

info.uniden.com/twiki/bin/view/UnidenMan4/
BandScopeMode

Quick-Access Search Keys – This scanner
has three search keys that you can assign to a
special search range. More information is avail-
able at http://info.uniden.com/twiki/bin/view/

UnidenMan4/SearchKeys

This new scanner has support for P25

conventional channel monitoring that includes
NAC and talk group ID user differentiation (P25
One-Frequency Trunk).
Another new feature is Control Channel
Data Output that permits the analysis of control
channel data without the need to perform inva-
sive modifications to the scanner. You can now
use software programs such as Unitrunker and
Pro96Com to analyze or monitor trunk radio
systems.
Private Systems lets you flag a system so
that it cannot be read out of the scanner or modi-
fied. There is also a Key Safe mode that, once
set, lets you hand the scanner to a novice user
without fear that they will modify the program-
ming in the unit.
Other new features include:

NAC decoding of all P25 signals
Ability to flag a channel as digital, analog or all
Multi-site system support like its 996T cousin
Close call temporary store (last 10 hits)
GPS support for location-based scanning, loca-

tion alerts, and crows-flight navigation. (Note:
The GPS unit is not provided and must be
purchased separately)

Independent GPS control of sites and channel

groups

Fire tone out search has a built-in frequency

counter to display the received tones
A temporary lockout feature
Startup configurations. You can learn more about

this feature at http://info.uniden.com/twiki/

bin/view/UnidenMan4/StartupKeys
Individual channel volume offset
Priority ID scan on trunked radio systems
Preemptive priority on Motorola analog systems
Negative channel dropout delay (forced resume)
P25 Low-Pass Filter – On some systems you can

hear a tone that is an artifact of the 4.096 kHz

sampling rate. Turning on this filter effectively

filters out the tone

❖ What’s in the box?

In addition to the BCD396T scanner, acces-
sories included in the box include a PC interface
cable, three “AA” 2250 mAH rechargeable bat-
teries, wrist strap, AC adapter/charger, swivel
belt clip, rubber duck antenna, BNC/SMA
adapter, and an owners manual on CD.

❖ Overall Rating and

Final Thoughts

There is a lot to like about this handheld
scanner. Even though the audio amplifier
system supplies 90 mW less audio, Uniden
has done some re-engineering and the audio is

definitely an improvement over the 396T. The
396T had a hissy and muddled sound, but I did
not note that in the side by side test I conducted.
APCO25 digital audio was also a major
complaint and Uniden seems to have put
those problems behind them as well. The unit
performed well on the four trunk/conventional
systems on which I tested the unit. I did not hear
any motorboating, and when compared with the
396T, I did note a definite reduction in watery
audio. I also saw better rates and fewer drop
outs on the 396XT.

The multi-colored backlight of the display
is a neat feature, but, when using lower contrast
settings, on most of the colors the display is
hard to read. I would dump that lousy blue
color in favor of a bright orange color as used
on the BC-330 or BC-246.
There is no UASD programming software
as of presstime, and without it, programming
this scanner can be laborious. Based on our
conversations with Uniden, UASD software
will be available soon. In the meantime, I have
published in our specifications table a couple of
software packages that are available right now,
including FreeScan. FreeScan works okay with
the 396XT I tested, but I did get some timeouts
from time to time.
On the VHF High bands and above, the re-
ceive sensitivity on our test unit was definitely
better than the 396T and 996T units against
which it was tested. No major intermodulation
issues were noted at our rural location.

MT FIRST LOOK RATING (0-10 SCALE)

Audio Quality .....................................9

Audio Levels

....................................... 10

Backlight/Display

................................7

Battery Life

.........................................8

Ease of Use

........................................ 8

(programming is much easier with computer

software)

Feature Set

......................................... 9

Keyboard/Button/Control Layout

.......... 9

Overall Construction

...........................9

Overall Reception

..............................9

Owners Manual
media on which it is presented...

.......5

content....................................

........ 8

Sensitivity

............................................8

Selectivity

............................................7

70 MONITORING TIMES June 2009

But there are a couple of negatives. There
is NO printed manual. You do get a CD-ROM
with the user manual and additional material
on it, but you will have to have a computer in
order to use it. There is an up-to-date manual
online and changes are made to it as they are
discovered by the Uniden team, but that also
requires a computer and internet connection in
order to use it.
I really think some sort of printed manual
with at least the basics required to program the
radio is important for users who do not have
computer capability or access to one when they
need to program the radio. Are you listening
in Fort Worth?
As mentioned above, I still don’t like the
backlight colors. Fortunately there are more
options on this unit than the cobalt blue colored
screen on the 396T. The white color wasn’t too
bad, but it was a little hard on the eyes over
time.
While not a Uniden problem, I could not
get the 396XT to work with Unitrunker, even
though that radio is listed as being supported.
I understand that others have had the same
problem.
Bottom line – Uniden has released yet
another new scanner with cutting edge technol-
ogy. No one in the scanner marketplace right
now offers a scanner in handheld or base/
mobile model that has the frequency coverage
or the listening capability that this unit has.
The new Uniden BCD396XT handheld
is truly another marvel of modern scanning
technology. The best just got a quantum leap
better.

The Uniden BCD396XT (SCN 53) is avail-
able from Grove Enterprises (1-800-438-8155
or http://www.grove-enterprises.com) for
$519.95 plus shipping and handling.

Table One: BCD396XT Frequency Coverage

Frequency (MHz)
Freq Range Default
(MHz)

Modulation

Step (kHz)

25.0000 – 27.9950 AM 5

28.0000 – 29.6800 NFM 20

29.7000 – 49.9900 NFM 10

50.0000 – 53.9800 NFM 20

54.0000 – 71.9500 WFM 50

72.0000 – 75.9950 FM 5

76.0000 – 87.9500 WFM 50

88.0000 – 107.9000 WFM 100

108.0000 – 136.9916 AM 8.33

137.0000 – 143.9875 NFM 12.5

144.0000 – 147.9950 NFM 5

148.0000 – 150.7875 NFM 12.5

150.8000 – 161.9950 NFM 5

162.0000 – 173.9875 NFM 12.5

174.0000 – 215.9500 WFM 50

216.0000 – 224.9800 NFM 20

225.0000 – 379.9750 AM 25

380.0000 – 512.0000 NFM 12.5

763.0000 – 805.99375 NFM 6.25

806.0000 – 960.0000 NFM 12.5

1240.0000 – 1300.0000 NFM 25

Note: The scanner’s frequency coverage is not

continuous and does not include the cellular
telephone, UHF TV bands, or the 960-1240
MHz ranges.

Table Two: Scanner Specifications (Manufacturer Supplied)

Sensitivity (nominal) 12dB SINAD/Signal Noise Ratio (nominal)

Sensitivity Ratio Signal Noise MHz Frequency Range Mode

0.4 µV 50 db 25 – 27.995 AM

0.3 µV 41 db 28 – 53.98 NFM

0.5 µV 55 db 54 – 71.95 WFM

0.2 µV 47 db 72 – 75.995z FM

0.4 µV 60 db 76 – 107.9 WFM

0.3 µV 50 db 108 – 136.9916 AM

0.3 µV 41 db 137 – 173.9875 NFM

0.5 µV 55 db 174 – 215.95 WFM

0.3 µV 40 db 216 – 224.98 NFM

0.3 µV 51 db 225 – 379.975 AM

0.3 µV 40 db 380 – 512 NFM

0.3 µV 41 db 763 – 960 NFM

0.5 µV 37 db 1240 – 1300 NFM

Close Call Sensitivity (nominal)

350 µV VHF Low 1 Band
160 µV VHF Low 2 Band
70 µV Air Band
60 µV VHF High 1 Band
56 µV VHF High 2 Band
100 µV UHF Band
200 µV 800 MHz and above

Heterodyne System (triple conversion)

1st Intermediate Frequency: 380.7 to 380.8 MHz/265.5 to 265.6 MHz
2nd Intermediate Frequency: 10.8 MHz
3rd Intermediate Frequency: 450 kHz

System Performance

Attenuation: 20 dB nominal
Audio Output Power: 310 mW nominal into a 24-ohm speaker and 20 mW nominal into a 32

ohm stereo headphone.
Scan Rate: 100 channels per second (conventional mode)
Search Rate: 300 steps per second (using 5 kHz steps)

Dynamic Memory Allocation

Systems: 500 maximum
Groups: 20 per system maximum
Site: 1,000 maximum (all), 256 per system
Channels: 25,000 maximum (40128 memory blocks)
Channels per trunked system: 500 maximum
Talkgroups per trunked system: 500 maximum
Channels per conventional system: 1,000 maximum
System Quick Key range: 0-99
Group Quick Key range: 0-9
Startup Keys: 10
System Number Tagging: 999
Channel Number Tagging: 999

External Jacks

Antenna Jack: SMA Type
Phone Jack: 3.5 mm (1/8 inch) stereo type
DC Power Jack: EIAJ type center positive
GPS/Remote interface jack: Four pin mini type

Miscellaneous Specifications

I

nternal Speaker: 24-ohm, 0.8 Watts maximum (1.26 inches)

Power Requirements: Three AA size rechargeable Ni-MH batteries (2250 mAh) included; three AA

size alkaline batteries (not included)
AC Adapter: 6 Volts DC, 800 mA regulated (AD-1001)
Operating Temperature Nominal: -20°C to +60° (-4°F to +140°F)
Close Call: -10°C to +60°C (+14°F to +140°F)
Size: 2.40 inches(wide) by 1.22 inches (deep) by 5.35 inches (high) without antenna
Weight: 0.37 lbs (without battery and antenna)
Remote Functions: Direct PC control, database management and wired cloning
Display: 64 by 128 full dot matrix LCD with multi-color back light

Special Functions

Band Scope Function: Frequency span 0.2 MHz To 500 MHz with 5 kHz to 100 kHz frequency steps
Two-Tone-Sequential: 250.0-3500.0 Hz, 0.1 Hz programmable steps
Weather alert: 1050 Hz tone system with NWR-SAME system (Warning/Watch/Statement

alerts)

Supporting Software (at presstime)
Freescan http://scannow.org/
ProScan (shareware, 30 day free demo) www.proscan.org/

Note: Features, specifications, and availability of optional accessories are all subject to
change without notice by the manufacturer. Review presented above was based on the
test unit provided by the manufacturer.

June 2009 MONITORING TIMES 71

N020YN Scotia, NY
N040CN Latham, NC
N070EN Lincoln, NE
N080DN Bismark, ND
N060MN Santa Fe, NM
N090VN Carson City, NV
O050HN Columbus, OH
O060KN Oklahoma City, OK
O100RN Salem, OR
P020RN San Juan, Puerto Rico
P030AN Annville, PA
R010IN Cranston, RI
SO40CN Columbia, SC
S080DN Rapid City, SD
T040NN Nashville, TN
T060XN Austin, TX
U080TN Draper, UT
V010TN Colchester, VT
V020IN St Croix, US Virgin Islands
V030AN Fort Pickett, VA
W030VN Charleston, WV
W050IN Madison, WI
W080YN Cheyenne, WY
W100AN Tacoma, WA

HQ703N National Guard Readiness Center (Arling-

ton, VA)

HQ701N National Guard Bureau HQ (Arlington,

VA)

The participants in the network are also
known to pass short text messages among each
other using the AMD facility of ALE. Here are a
few examples exchanges of both types of traffic:

[TO]HQ703N [LQA] MULTIPATH - SINAD 11 BER

02 [THIS IS]T040NN

[TO]T040NN [LQA] MULTIPATH - SINAD 12 BER 00

[THIS IS]HQ703N

Digital Digest continued from page 31

[TO]HQ703N [AMD] HOWDY FROM WYOMING

PARDNER [THIS IS]W080YN

❖ Is there more than just

ALE?

What appears to have been missed by all the
previous reports of the state HQ network, is that
the ALE often triggers MIL-188-110A high-speed
modem activity.
Having logged 110A modem activity from
this network in the past, I noted that the initial
traffic passed between the stations seemed to have
elements in common with the Swiss Diplomatic
Service’s HF network. Spurred on by some suc-
cess in unraveling the Swiss MFA traffic (see this
column’s edition in the MT April 2009 issue), I
decided to look at this network in more detail.
Just like the Swiss MFA network, the majority
of traffic is encrypted. However, there are some
leaky parts of the system that reveal the sender
and receiver of the high-speed traffic and the email
addresses used by the underlying encrypted mes-
saging software.
Here’s a typical opening exchange between
two stations after the ALE trigger, as viewed in 8
bit synchronous mode using the Hoka Code300-32
software.

DATA RATE 300 SHORT INTERLEAVER
\\\ì;07QH010N8PN3NHA#Á]˚v–
[EOM]

DATA RATE 75 LONG INTERLEAVER

\\\ì807QH010V8ÄN3NTAÁ•íÏ

[EOM]

Reading backwards, you can see four letters
of the ALE identifiers of the two stations involved:
HQ07 and V010 after the opening “\\\”.
This same “header” scheme is preserved when
the traffic proper starts:

DATA RATE 2400 LONG INTERLEAVER
\\\ì:07QH010V&8∞N3NTA’-m±&ú[»wmtuser@

H Q 7 0 3 N . n g b . h f . a r m y . m i l ≠ —
= % F w m tuser@ V 0 1 0 T N. ngb.hf.ar m y.

milY≠ã•Vkì¢H˝ºF¯Yg$$p2*&¢{¢[_Âc∂7&ì∑

etc
[EOM]

Here you can clearly see the email addresses
used by the stations, in this case the Readiness
Center at Arlington and the Vermont HQ. The
format of the addresses seems consistent across
all stations:
[e-mail]
Some concentrated monitoring of a number of
frequencies has revealed nothing more enlightening
with the traffic between stations which, in general,
seems fairly light at no more than a few messages
between Arlington and outstations each day. Per-
haps some more interesting things will appear
during the next emergency or training exercise.
If you have a Windows PC, try the free
RFSM2400 software (See Resources) and decode
some of the high-speed modem traffic yourself.
That’s all for this month. See you next time.

RESOURCES

RFSM2400 MIL-188-110A Software

rfsm2400.radioscanner.ru