UBCD396XT - Entering your Frequencies

Forget banks! It's all about the 'Systems'.

Some of you may be already familiar with the older type of scanners that had a series of 'Banks' containing 'Channels'...
Some of the early scanners would have 10 Banks of 10 Channels, giving you the option to save up to 100 frequencies... 10 x 10 = 100

Now as each bank could be turned on or off with the push of a button, you could say perhaps store your favourite 'Police' frequencies in the first Bank of 10 Channels, Fire Dept could be stored in the next bank and Ambulance in the next bank...
Now the problem was that although this sytem worked to a point if you only had 4 Police frequencies in Bank 1, you had another 6 that where empty in the same bank... kind of a waste of space really..

If you printed out the data it would have looked like this..

Bank One (Police)
Channel One - 413.0001
Channel Two - 413.0002
Channel Three - 413.0003
Channel Four - 413.0004
Channel Five - 000.000 (Empty)
Channel Six - 000.000 (Empty)
Channel Seven - 000.000 (Empty)
Channel Eight - 000.000 (Empty)
Channel Nine - 000.000 (Empty)
Channel Ten - 000.000 (Empty)
Bank Two (Fire Dept)
Channel Eleven - 79.0001
Channel Twelve - 79.0002
Etc Etc Etc...

Now as you can see from this little example above - there are wasted channels in Bank One..
Channels 5 through to 10 contain no frequencies hence the Bank has 6 empty or wasted channels, which could have contained more frequencies... 

With the new UBCD396XT this problem of 'wasted space' is overcome by using what Uniden Called 'Dynamic Memory'...
Put simply - it does not waste any space in the scanners memory bank.

Imagine that your scanner is a computer...

You have 10 Police frequencies that are used in your area and you wish to save them in the scanner.
Firstly you have to create a 'System' .
A system is similar to a 'New Folder' on your computer... The 'System' contains the relevant data for the scanner to monitor the information put inside the 'System'.

Lets say for example you create a 'Folder' in your computer and call it 'Police'.
Once you create the folder you can now save the required data in that folder to search later...
Now as you are aware, you can create 'Sub Folders' inside the Main Folder.
A 'Sub Folder' could be called 'North Area Police'.
Another could be called 'South Area Police'.
Each folder can contain the data or frequencies relevant to that area.
Even the 'Sub Folder' can contain even more folders inside it - with more data!!!

This principle is how the new UBCD396XT works.
The scanner does not waste any of its memory as it only uses the particular portion of the memory needed to store the data.. very similar to a Hard Drive on your computer..
You can change - enter or simply delete the data as required...

Just like a computer can search through files, the scanner will then 'Scan/Search' through all the information/data entered and stop on any active frequencies.


Lets enter a couple new frequencies and you will get the idea.


Here are a couple Frequencies I think are still being used by the NSW regional Police... this is an example only - please don't e-mail me complaining if they don't work - its only for demonstration!


Here are our frequencies...


78.0000
79.4125
164.9500
163.6375


We now want to enter them in our scanner...


Turn On the Sacnner.


Push the Menu button on the left hand side of the Scanner.


Program System will be highlighted.


Push - YES


Select Sytem will be displayed


Use the dial on top of the scanner, turn it clockwise unitl New System is highlighted


Push - YES


Select Sys Type will now be displayed on the top of the screen


Use the dial on top of the scanner, turn it clockwise unitl Conventional is highlighted


Push - YES


The screen will then display Confirm?
Yes="E" / No="."


Push - YES


The Screen will quickly display 'Processing Please Wait'
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Hint /Tip
The screen will then Display the System and its Number..
We want to edit the System and give it a name, making it not only easier to find later but this information will also be display on the scanners screen later...
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Edit Name will be highlighted


Push - YES


Edit Name will be displayed on top of the screen.
To put in a new name for the System - Push the .NO button twice, this will remove any preset information and clear the screen for you to enter a new name for the System.


Lets call the new System - Police


To enter this 'text' - rotate the dial clockwise and you will see letters/number/symbols appear under the cursor...  rotate the dial unitl capital 'P' appears.
Then push the 6 button to move the cursor to the right...
Rotate the dial clockwise again until lower case 'o' appears..
Then push the 6 button again to move the cursor to the right.
Follow this procedure unitl the word 'Police' is entered.
Once the word has been completed - Push YES
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Hint/Tip
If you make a mistake - you can push the '.NO' button once or simply push the '4' button to go back to the previous entry.
If you push the '.NO' button twice it will remove ALL the text and you will have to start again.
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After you have pushed the YES button the screen will quickly display 'Processing Please Wait' and then return to the previous screen and Edit Name will be highlighted again.

At this point here you have created the beginnings of a 'System' that is now called 'Police'.
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Hint/Tip
Now if done correctly you scanner should display the word Police at the top of the screen.
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Using the dial - turn it clockwise until Edit Sys Option is highlighted

Push - YES

Edit System Option will now be displayed at the top of the screen.

Using the dial - rotate it clockwise unitl Set Quick Key is highlighted.

Push - YES
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Hint/Tip
Setting a Quick Key allocates the System you have created a number that corresponds with one on the keypad of the scanner - making it easier to swith the system on or off at the push of a single button - similar to turning a bank on or off.
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Set Quick Key will now be displayed on top of the screen.
Using the dial -rotate it clockwise and select a number you wish to allocate your new sytem - for this example select 1.

Push - YES

Scanner will revert back to previous menu and Edit System Option will be displayed on screen again.

Using the dial -rotate it clockwise and select Set Hold Time

Push - YES

Set Hold Time will be displayed on top of the screen.

Enter the hold time of 2 seconds by pushing the '2' button.

Push - YES

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Hint/Tip
Setting the hold time makes the scanner stay on the frequency for a maximum of 2 seconds after the last transmission. After the 2 seconds expires the scanner will then commence 'scanning' again.
If you don't set a Hold Time - the scanner may miss replies to conversations.
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At this stage the screen will still show Set Hold Time - highlighted.
We have finished at this point and need to go back to the previous menu setting.

Push the Menu button ONCE!

Using the dial - rotate it clockwise until Edit Group is highlighted.

Push - YES

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Hint/Tip
A Group is a 'sub folder' inside the 'system' where the actual data required to make the scanner 'work' is entered - including the frequencies!
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Select Group should be displayed on the top of the screen.
Using the dial - rotate it clockwise until New Group is Highlighted.

Push - YES

'Processing Please Wait' will appear for a few seconds then
Group 1 will be displayed at the top of the screen.
Edit Name will be highlighted.

For this example we are going to call our new group - Regional.
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Hint/Tip
Remember we called the System 'Police' - 'Regional' will be a 'sub-folder' inside the system, similar to a sub folder inside a main folder on your computer.
You can put many 'New Groups' inside the main system..
You could call one 'Regional' the next 'Southern' the next 'Northern'... etc etc..
Each 'Group' contains the frequencies relevant to the dept or branch you wish to monitor...
For example - we could make a new System and call it 'Transport' - inside the system we could create 3 new groups and call them 'Taxis' - 'Couriers' - 'Freight'.
By entering the frequenices in their respective 'groups' it makes it easier to see who's talking when the scanner stops on an active frequency - this data will show on the screen - so the more information you provide the more data/text will appear on the screen, making it easier for the user to know exactly who is talking at any given time the scanner stops.

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Edit name should already be highlighted - Push YES

We want to enter the following Text - 'Regional'

Using the same method as before when we entered 'Police', enter the word Regional and push YES.

Once the text has been entered and Yes has been pushed, the previous screen will now appear with the new name of 'Regional' at the top of the screen.

Using the dial rotate the dial clockwise and highlight Set Quick Key

Push Yes
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Hint/Tip
At this stage we are going to allocate a group number to the group titled 'Regional'.
We do this so when the scanner is 'scanning' you can see that the group 'Regional' is active when the System called 'Police' is activated...
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Set Quick Key will be displayed at the top of the screen.

Using the dial rotate it clockwise until 1 is highlighted. Push Yes

Screen will revert back to previous Menu.

'Regional' should be displayed at the top of the screen.

Now we have to enter the frequencies.

Using the dial rotate it clockwise util Edit Channel is highlighted.

Push Yes

Select Channel will be displayed at the top of the screen.

New Channel should be highlighted.

Push Yes

Input Frequency will be displayed at top of screen.

Using the keypad type in - 78.0000

(use the '.NO' button to enter the decimal point)
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Hint/Tip
If you make a mistake entering the numbers, rotate the dial left or right putting the cursor over the incorrect number and re-type. If you wish to completely remove the data push the '.NO' button again.
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Once the frequency has been entered push YES.

'Processing Please Wait', will appear quickly and the scanner will show the frequency you have entered at the top of the screen.
This menu now lets you make adjustments to the entered frequency.
Including the modulation.
At this point we don't really need to change anything so push the Menu button ONCE!
This will now take you back to the Select Channel screen where you can enter the second frequency - 79.4125

Using the dial rotate it clockwise and highlight New Channel

Push YES

Repeat the previous steps as before and type in 79.4125

Once completed - Push YES.

Then push MENU - ONCE!

At this point it wil now display tthe two frequncies you have entered.

79.0000 and 79.4125

Using the same method as the last two - repeat the process and enter the last two frequencies:
164.9500
163.6375

Once you have repeated all the steps and get back to the Select Channel screen - push SCAN!
The scanner will now start scanning the frequencies you have entered inside the 'System' you have created.

If you look at the bottom of the screen you will see the following text on the left hand side.
SO:
GRP:

To the right of SO: the numeral '1' should appear.
To the right of GRP: the numeral '1' should also appear.
This means the scanner is 'scanning' - System ONE (Police) and Group ONE (Regional) is active and being monitored.

Thats how you enter your frequencies!
Yes its a long drawn out process, but after a few times it becomes easier and easier and before you know it - you can do it with your eyes shut!

All you need to do now is find whats active in your area!