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Freescan FAQ

From The RadioReference Wiki

Common / Operational Questions

  • How do I download FreeSCAN?
    • Go to this page for the most recent version, which includes support for the P2 series scanners.


  • My virus checker (insert name here) flags FreeScan as having a virus/Trojan. What gives?
    • There is NO virus or Trojan in the software. However some of the coding resembles a virus or Trojan, which triggers the alert. Create an exception (see your software's documentation) and continue. See the Freescan and Anti Virus Software article.


  • What operating systems is FreeSCAN compatible with?


  • Is it Mac compatible?
    • No. However if you are running LINUX, please see the link above


  • What scanners are supported?
    • SC230, BC246T, UBC3500XLT, BCD15T, BCD396T, BR330T, BCD996T, BC346XT, BCD396XT, BCT15X, BCD996XT, BCD325P2, BCD996P2.


  • Is my (model number) scanner that isn't listed above supported?
    • No. Note that the HP series of scanners (HP-1, HP-2, BCD436HP, and BCD536HP) are NOT supported, and will not be.



  • What should I do if I encounter a bug?
    • If you encounter a bug, then please go to the Scanner Programming Software forum at Radio Reference and report it. Please include what kind of a scanner you have and the program version.


Data Sources and Operations


  • How can I capture data from a site other than RadioRef, which uses the web service?
    • See the Freescan EZGrab article. As long as the data is in a tabular or column format, you can use this to import the data. This function can also import data from the RadioReference wiki, if the data is columnar or tabular in nature.


  • How do I import a CSV (comma separated values) file?
    • Use the EZ-Grab function as mentioned above.






  • How can I move data from my DMA scanner to a non-DMA scanner?


Keyboard Shortcuts and Tips


  • Is there a way to drag and drop a group from one system to another?
  1. Open up the sending and target systems (makes it easier to see what is happening)
  2. Right click on the desired group (ignore the menu that pops up)
  3. Drag the group to the desired system and release


Error Messages

  • Im getting the Nothing to Scan message after uploading
    • See the Nothing to Scan article for a full discussion of this error
    • As it relates to FreeScan, keep in mind that while it will activate all GQKs by default, it is up to the user to assign them. And you must assign, as well as activate, SQKs if you choose to not let FS find the next free SQK when creating systems and sites. See the Utilizing the System Quick Key Manager section of the Freescan and Quick Key Processing article for a full description of SQK processing.


  • Im getting a Memory Full error, yet I have very little programmed. How do I solve this?
    • This can happen if you add/modify programming for one model, then connect a different scanner (different model) and try to send programming to it. Sometimes FreeSCAN doesn't detect the correct scanner to be programmed. Here's a way to get around it.
  1. Click on Scanner in the toolbar
  2. Select Control Scanner from the drop down menu
  3. That brings up a menu box labeled Virtual Control
  4. On the Virtual Control pop-up, select COM Port Settings
  5. That brings up the port setting page
  6. In the lower portion of that pop-up, is the AUtodetection
  7. Click on Start Auto
    • This can also happen if you uploaded the same programming with ADD instead of REPLACE over and over again. Do this enough times, and eventually you might run into this. The best solution is to wipe the scanner and reprogram. On the upload form, there is an ERASE option in red that will wipe the memory and settings. Note that this will also wipe any of the pre-programmed SQKs (which do take up some memory) which contain basically out of date programming. They were set up originally as demo data
    • Also be aware of your scanner's memory limits. There is a set number of frequencies, systems and talkgroups that can be stored for each model. We have a chart outlining these limits in the Moving DMA Data to Other Radios in Freescan article.


  • When uploading a trunked system, I get a warning that it is untrackable or unscanable. Is this a problem?
    • There are numerous system types that these scanners can neither trunk or scan (even conventionally). These include Open Sky, ProVoice, AEGIS, MPT-1327 or iDEN (note that it flags LTR systems, even though LTR standard is trunkable, but other LTR types are not). FreeScan will continue the upload. This is in case a tapped scanner is being used as a data source for utilities such as DSD or UniTrunker.


  • When uploading, I get a "Critical Error, Possibly Caused by Insufficient Scanner Resources. Aborting" message. How do I resolve this?
  • When uploading, I get a "Critical Error, Invalid Response Code or Insufficient Resources, Aborting Channel Programming".
    • There are a couple of ways this can happen;
      • You have exceeded the memory limits for a system, site or group. See the Moving DMA Data to Other Radios in Freescan article for a summary of statistics.
      • You have done numerous ADDs without ever wiping the scanner first. This can cause multiple copies of the same system(s) which take up memory space. When making changes, you should use REPLACE instead.
      • Each of the DMA scanners has test data loaded into some quick keys as a demo. This data is often old and outdated, and should be dropped. Combine this with having done numerous ADDs and memory space gets eaten up quickly
      • You should first back up your current configuration, then examine the data to be uploaded to insure it doesn't exceed the memory limit for your model. Wipe the scanner completely (there's a red option for this at the top of the upload form) and reload
      • This error may be seen if you are using FreeScan to upload data to multiple scanners. You can avoid this by using the COM button on the upload form to access the Setup Com Port form. Then use the AUTO function to force FreeScan to detect the new scanner thanks hiegtx.
      • Another way this message can be seen is if the firmware in the scanner is not up to date. FreeScan can't check the firmware version before attempting up/downloads. To check your firmware version, as well as finding what versions are available, see the Updating the Firmware in Uniden DMA Scanners article


  • I get a "Critical Comms Error -2147024882" when downloading
    • You are using an obsolete operating system such as Windows 98 or WinME . FreeSCAN requires Windows 2000 or higher.


  • I get a "Critical Comms Error" when downloading, or channels or groups are missing
    • Slow down the baud rate you are using. You may also have to turn off turbo mode. Also make sure that no other process has control of the serial port that FreeScan is trying to use. Serial port errors can be caused by many different things. Most communications problems are caused by old or poor drivers for USB-Serial adapter converters. The most reliable way to link to your scanner is to use a hardware serial port.


  • When trying to communicate with the scanner, I get "Exit Menu Mode before download". What does this mean?
    • Your scanner is in menu mode. Push scan to go back to normal scanning and try it again -or-
    • You are having a problem with the serial port not being setup properly.


  • Im trying to open a FreeScan file sent to me by another user and cant. Why is this?
    • Unfortunately most email processors won't recognize a .996 file extension, so it tries to interpret the file as a binary or text type, which can corrupt it. The best way to prevent this is to zip (compress) the file into a zip archive. There are many utilities for this purpose, such as WinZip or the freeware 7-Zip.


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