Uniden 3500 - PC software

Location : West Suffolk Spotter Watch Member : No

My 1st post! Uniden 3500 - PC software 47559

I am about to take the plunge with a uniden 3500. I have noticed the BCTools web site is down is that a cause for concern does anybody know why? Secondly is it possible to get a USB to uniden connecting cable for linking to PC without a serial connection in between? What type of connecting socket is on the uniden does anyone have a picture of it.
Not much use without BCTools, but is there anyone with the relevant frequencies for W Suffolk area that could email them to me or meet up. Perhaps they also have a copy of BCTools?

Keith

Subject: Re: Uniden 3500 - PC software 2009-09-14, 02:47

Uniden Europe Shop - sells the cable

Location : Beverley Spotter Watch Member : no

The 3500XLT comes with software, ARC3500PRO, most people it seems prefer Bctools though including myself but I found it kept doing odd things if I left it running on its own and it became a pain in the butt at times to find my scanner which had been working perfectly when I went to work, to return home and find BCTools had stopped it scanning and wasted a complete day of recording, perhaps a reinstall may have sorted it out.

In the end I switched back to the ARC software and find it simple and straight forward to use.

In fact I might be wrong thinking about it now but I have a feeling that I bought the ARC software when I bought my cable along with a case in a special offer.

The site may be down but there is a BCTools forum on Yahoo where you can download the programme, not sure if it is the latest version though, 1.4r2, as I have lost track of the programme with not using it

Location : West Suffolk Spotter Watch Member : No

Unfortunately not only is the BCTools site still down, the BCT yahoo forum site is also slow to respond to registration request. I am still waiting for a reply from yesterday evening. Is that normal? I thought those things happened in a matter of minutes.

Keith

Location : Beverley Spotter Watch Member : no

Some Yahoo sites I've joined in the past can be a bit slow to respond, I think some are have automated replies and the others just have moderators who reply when they see applications for joining. If worse comes to the worst, I can email you the file, its only small. But after tomorrow morning I will be away till Saturday

Location : West Suffolk Spotter Watch Member : No

If it is not too much trouble I would appreciate if you could send the file. I haven't actually got the 3500 yet but as I am stuck at home for the day and the weather is pretty .... I was hoping to be able to start sorting frequencies out. I am fairly new this, I've taken a few photos over the years but never got into the radio. I have inherited a couple of radios from my father and thought I would give it a go. I have a Realistic 400 PRO200 that I have fed in some local freq. but without the names/titles it is meaningless to me. Reading through this forum over the past week or two it seems as though the 3500 is the one to get.
I'm not sure the correct procedure for using email do we have to send a PM.

Location : West Suffolk Spotter Watch Member : No

I was then going to send you a PM with my email address, but I checked the BCTools web site first and it is now up and running so I have downloaded the software. But, always a but. Am I right in thinking I should be able to type in all the frequencies? Admittedly I have only just downloaded it but I cannot yet see how to key in the info, I can see importing in various ways. Do I have to put the data into a spreadsheet first and them transfer it?

Location : Beverley Spotter Watch Member : no

I'm racing off to work now, but briefly if I recall, create a new System, then a new group in that system. Then you can start typing freqs in, or copy and paste them in, or import them, or download from thescanner. Create as many groups as you want.

Location : various

Before you use bcTool (or your scanner when you get it!) have a look at http://marksscanners.com/3500/3500.shtml

Though that is written to follow the radio menu structure I'd suggest you read the section on Dynamic Memory and fully understand the way the memory is organised. This will make it far easier for you to decide how to best input your frequencies ('channels'). Then make sure you understand Quick Keys. I'd suggest you understand both these concepts BEFORE you program anything.

As zacklaw has said, you need to organise things in a nested fashion:

System
.........Group
................channel
................channel

Depending on your own needs this might mean something like:

Milair
......Lakenheath
.....................231.975 "494 Aux 3"
.....................375.100 "494 Aux 4"
......Mildenhall
.....................313.550 "Banter"
Civair
......Cambridge
.....................122.200 "Tower"
Area RADAR
......Lon Mil East
.....................blah "waffle"
.....................blah "waffle"
......Lon Mil Central
.....................blah "waffle"

(the above aren't how they appear in bcTool etc, just to give an idea of the nesting)

How you actually organise it will make a big difference to the effectiveness of your control over what is scanned and when.

Location : West Suffolk Spotter Watch Member : No

Thanks for that Dervish. That's what I have been having a go at this evening but a query that has cropped up already, I am unsure how I would deal with Mildenhall sharing Lakenheath for approach freq and possibly others? Do I enter it as a M/hall freq? Will the 3500 allow me to enter the same freq more than once? Or do I combine M/hall and L/heath into one group? As you can only have 20 groups in a system but you can have 200 channels in a group. Probably a simple straight forward answer, that might become obvious to me later. Uniden 3500 - PC software 966718

Location : Beverley Spotter Watch Member : no

You can have a frequency entered as many times as you want, and in as many groups as you want.

Alternatively to save work, why not join the 3500xlt yahoo group and just download mem files and import them into BCTools.

Location : West Suffolk Spotter Watch Member : No

Hi Zack,
I applied to join the 3500 yahoo group on monday but I am still waiting for a reply. With the frequencies I think I was getting confused after reading that it alarms if you put in a duplicate frequency. There are bound to be other silly questions, but I'm sure it will all become clearer once I have my 3500 and can see/hear what is happening.

Location : various

zacklaws wrote:: You can have a frequency entered as many times as you want, and in as many groups as you want.

Alternatively to save work, why not join the 3500xlt yahoo group and just download mem files and import them into BCTools.

I'm not a fan of this lazy approach - the way to get the best out of your monitoring is to fully understand how to program/use your scanner (and software in this case). I still see posts on various lists with totally out of date feq info...and they get copied over and over again as soon as someone makes a bctool/uasd/freescan/proscan memory file and allow people lazier than themselves to just copy it.
How often do you see posts on radio lists where someone has 'lost' their data and needs a complete list supplied?

Location : chiswick. london Spotter Watch Member : no

Hi
I joined both Yahoo 3500 groups when I first got my radio ,at first they were a great help.Now I think they have given up because I havent seen any changes for some time.
There are still some good freq lists on them. I would recomend downloading one[at lest] so you can see how other people set thier's up and you will get some ideas for your own.
Because bctool is so easy to use you can change the one you down load easily to youre own needs.
mike .p.

Location : Newport/Chepstow

Download bctool and just play about with it.......you cant break it can you!!
Upload things to the bearcat,download things to bctool,and it will be as Dervish has said....learning to get the most out of your set/software. I did,and have no regrets.

As for freqs,scan all the tinternet sites for latest reports of new freqs. Start with this site,its like the bible for me for freqs. Loving the bearcat and bctool mariage at the moment Uniden 3500 - PC software 687308