ScanDiego.com

I am thinking of purchasing the Uniden BC-796D. I am wondering what people think of this scanner before I go out and purchase it. I have the BCT-8, but the only thing that I want to listen to and can pick up on that is the CHP. It seems like it would be a good investment because I have heard that pretty much everything is on digital or going to digital.

I have the antenna that is listed below. Will I be able to pick up any of the digital frequencies with this antenna or will I need to purchase another antenna.

Thanks,

Mike

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?c ... d=20%2D032

THat is a great scanner. I find Uniden scanners the easiest to use.

That antenna (I own 2) is a great all purpose antenna. It will do all right in all bands. Assuming you're going to use it with the feed line on it and no more, line loss will not be an issue on the 800 Mhz systens.

That antenna also works very well at bringing in lo-band VHF, such as the CHP 39.400, 39.800 and 39.600 which the El Cajon CHIPPIES still use for "car to car" despite being on the RCS.

Uniden BC-796D: Currently top of the line within its category. Great feature-set, stellar (for a scanner) audio quality. The only thing potentially better would be a dedicated radio 'designed' for those said frequencies. Even high-end product line scanners similar to AOR or Icom would not afford the audio quality this scanner would, and for significantly less.

Anybody had trouble with the digital board in the 796 occasonally quitting? Mine sometimes stops decoding and I have to turn the unit off and on again to get it back.

Batman

I've seen that maybe a half dozen time in the last year on my 296 - It'll stop decoding P25 and display an error with the digital card. There doesn't appear to be a rhyme or reason for it and rebooting the scanner fixes it.

- Mike

This happened to me while scanning through the US Border Patrol freqs. Most of the stuff is encrypted, so maybe the scanner didn't like that too much. I was using ARC250 to have the scanner "skip" over the encrypted comms when this happened.

Batman2150 wrote:Anybody had trouble with the digital board in the 796 occasonally quitting? Mine sometimes stops decoding and I have to turn the unit off and on again to get it back.

Batman

Can someone who has one let me know if the flip stand and feet are removable? I have exactly the stated height dimension for an in-dash mount. Or, are the stand and feet considered in the 2 3/8" height spec.

Thanks!

I'm looking for owner reviews on the Uniden 296d handheld.

How well the scanner works while out and about, and inside buildings, etc.

I have the 796d with the ARC250 software, and it sure makes programming and updated the scanner a breeze!