DMR and ProVoice Added to BCD996P2 and BCD325P2 Scanners

Uniden is pleased to announce the addition of support for Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) and EDACS ProVoice decoding for two additional more models, further cementing Unidens position as the leading scanner manufacturer worldwide.

Digital Mobile Radio is used on thousands of systems worldwide. This $60 paid upgrade allows existing and future owners of the BCD996P2 and BCD325P2 scanners to easily add support for monitoring DMR, MotoTRBO Connect Plus, MotoTRBO Capacity Plus, and DMR Tier 3 systems.

ProVoice systems are used by several major agencies in the United States. This $50 paid upgrade allows people who live in one of these areas to easily add support for monitoring all unencrypted comms on these systems.

Uniden has led the way by adding the ability to use new digital modes in our scanners, without forcing all customers to incur the cost of support for systems that they have no need for. Our "a la carte" business model lets you pay for what you use and allows us to fairly compensate our technology licensors when one of our customers decides to use their technology. Using the Uniden BCDxxxP2 radios, upgraded with the DMR and ProVoice upgrades, you can now seamlessly monitor unencrypted channels on the following system types:

MotoTRBO is a trademark of Motorola, Inc.

Getting the Upgrades

To apply the upgrades, first update your scannner's firmware. (See BCD325P2 Firmware Update or BCD996P2 Firmware Update.)

To get your key, you'll need your scanner's Electronic Serial Number (ESN) and Checksum.

  1. Power on your scanner.
  2. Press MENU.
  3. Scroll to SETTINGS, then press E.
  4. Scroll to SEE SCANNER INFORMATION, then press E.
  5. Scroll to FIRMWARE VERSION, then press E.
  6. Write down the digits following SN in the 3rd line, then the 3-character checksum from the 4th line.
Now, head over to http://my.uniden.com and register your scanner, if you have not already done so. When you first register, use your scanner's physical serial number (i.e. 379Z38001234*). Once registered, you will see a link to add an ESN to your scanner below to your registered scanner. Click that link and follow the on-screen prompts to enter the ESN and Checksum you recorded above (we enter the first 5 digits of the ESN for you, you only have to enter the last 9 digits). Then, click the Purchase link to complete your transaction. Your key will be emailed to you, and will also appear next to your registered scanner.

* If you cannot physically access your scanner's serial number, Replace the "260" in your ESN with the letter Z. For example: 37926038001234 = 379Z38001234

Now, apply the key for the upgrade you purchased by following these steps:

  1. On the scanner, press MENU.
  2. Select Settings --> Upgrades, then press E.
  3. Scroll to DMR/MotoTRBO or ProVoice, then press E.
  4. Using the scroll knob to select each digit and the 4 and 6 keys to move left and right, enter each digit in the unlock key. After each group of digits, press E.

Using the Upgrades

ProVoice

No special programming is needed to monitor EDACS ProVoice systems. Just program the channels and digital decoding will be automatic. You are able to set individual talkgroups to Analog, Digital or Both. We recommend you set digital channels to Digital so that decoding will start immediately, analog channels to Analog, for the same reason. Only use Both for channels where you are unsure what mode is in use.

DMR Reception in Custom or Service Searches

During a search, when the scanner stops on a DMR transmission, the following information will be displayed:

Programming and Using DMR and MotoTRBO Systems

There are three different ways to program DMR/MotoTRBO, depending on the type of channel and what you are trying to do.

If you are trying to discover the correct settings for a new system, program the channels as conventional channels:

  1. MENU -- > Program System --> New System (or scroll to existing list to use and press E)
  2. Conventional, then E/Yes to confirm
  3. Edit Name, if desired.
  4. Edit Group -- > New Group
  5. Edit Name, if desired.
  6. Edit Channel -- > New Channel then input the frequency.
  7. Set Audio Type -- > Digital Only then set Search (for any Color Code) or Set DMR Color Code and select the code used by the service.
Of course, you can also set any of the other settings (quick keys, number tags, delays, etc), but above is the essential settings to use. Repeat for each channel

During conventional scan, when the scanner stops on a DMR transmission, the following information will be displayed:

Programming a DMR One-Frequency System

If you want to follow and/or alpha tag specific talk group/slot combinations on a DMR frequency, then you must program the frequency as a DMR One Frequency system.

The following is a supplement to the Owner's Manual. It only covers the settings that are unique to a DMR One-Frequency system.

  1. MENU --> Program System --> New System --> DMR One Frequency
  2. Edit Site --> New Site --> Set Frequencies --> New Frequency
  3. Enter the frequency, then press E.
  4. If you want to limit reception to only transmissions on a particular color code, select Color Code Option, then Set DMR Color Code and set the color you wish to use.
  5. Repeat for additional frequencies (rare for DMR One-Frequency Systems).
  6. Repeatedly press MENU to return to the system menu, then select Edit Group if you wish to program Talk Group/Slot Channels. Otherwise,select Edit Sys Option and set ID Search to On.
  7. Select New Group --> Edit Channel --> New Channel
  8. Input the TGID.
  9. Set TDMA Slot, then select Any for either slot, 1, or 2.

Programming a MotoTRBO Connect Plus, Capacity Plus, XPT, or DMR Tier III System

The following is a supplement to the Owner's Manual. It only covers settings that are unique to DMR Trunked systems.

Program as MotoTRBO.

At the Site level, enter the frequencies. As you enter each frequency, you will be prompted to enter an LCN:

At the Channel level, enter the Talk Groups into channels as you would other types of trunked systems.

Manually Determining the LCN for DMR Tier III Systems based on DSD+ Logs

DSD+ combines the LCN and Slot together in the style of MotoTRBO Capacity Plus. This combination was coined as LSN. You need to divide the lower number by two and ignore the fraction.

1899/1900 would be 949
1941/1942 would be 970
1985/1986 would be 992

Tier 3 uses a frequency map with a base frequency and step much like Motorola and APCO P25 Systems.

If this was a UHF system with a base frequency (LCN 1) at 450.000 and a step of 12.5 KHz, for example.
450.0000 + ((949 - 1) * 0.0125) = 461.8500
450.0000 + ((970 - 1) * 0.0125) = 462.1125
450.0000 + ((992 - 1) * 0.0125) = 462.3875

In UHF, 450MHz is not an uncommon base value so, if you find a UHF DMR Tier III control channel and do not know the other system frequencies, you can try looking at the frequencies inferred by the LSN assignments using the above formula.