Author Archives: Rich Carlson

About Rich Carlson

June 12, 2015 - Scanner Master is extremely proud to announce that Rich Carlson, past-president of the Chicago Area Radio Monitors Association (CARMA) and one of the nation's leading scanner experts, is now part of our team. Rich recently retired as a Sergeant for the Winnetka, Illinois, Police Department and is now assisting Scanner Master customers in choosing the right scanner for their area, answering technical questions and helping us to develop new products and services. Rich is a highly respected member of the monitoring community who has decades of experience with all types of scanners and communications receivers, antennas, software and accessories. He has a great knowledge of the radio systems that we all monitor as he himself helped to institute and manage many in his time. We couldn't be more excited to have Rich on board. Rich Carlson, N9JIG, has been a railfan since the late 1970's and a radio listener since the 1960's. He has written several scanner guides, including the Scanner Master Illinois Communications Guides. He was a Director of the Chicago Area Radio Monitoring Association, the largest scanner club in the USA and edits the renown CARMA Profiles. He has written several articles for Monitoring Times and other publications. He also owns the Illinois Highways Page at www.n9jig.com. He has a collection of over 25 scanners and dozens of transceivers and specialized receivers. Professionally, he was a Sergeant with an Illinois police department, in was charge of 9-1-1, Communications and Records. He is happily married with a grown son.

Favorite Scanner: BCD436HP

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The BCD436HP (commonly referred to as the “436“) is Uniden’s premier handheld scanner. It takes the Location Based Scanning system from the HomePatrol and merges it with the huge feature set of the BCD325P2. You get the best of both worlds; easy ZIP code based scanning and the flexibility and functionality of a full featured professional scanner.

Remember the commercials for the candy where some guy got his chocolate into another guy’s peanut butter? Well, imagine mixing a HomePatrol 2 with a BCD325P2, instead of a tasty peanut butter cup the end result is a BCD436HP.

The HomePatrol’s ease of use required the removal of several key features that were present on other scanners, this included things like CloseCall, Limit Search, Fire Toneout and keyboard programming. While most HomePatrol purchasers do not need these features there are others that want them. The “436” restores all of these features and more and keeps the Location Based scanning of the HomePatrol. With Phase 2 capability, the 436 works almost everywhere in the USA and Canada, just by putting in a location.

The 436 also now allows one to listen to ProVoice. These are used in a few areas of the country and until recently could not be heard by any scanner. With the extra-cost ProVoice option you can now hear unencrypted ProVoice digital systems such as used in San Antonio or Oklahoma City among other areas.

The 436 also has the ability to record conversations heard on the scanner to it’s built-in SD Card, allows analysis of trunked radio systems and more. You can program it on the fly like you would older scanners, use a computer to program it or just let the radio use it’s internal database.

The 436 comes with the free Sentinel software to update the firmware and database (Windows only, sorry Mac dudes!) as well as rechargeable batteries, a USB cable and antenna. You charge the batteries with a USB charger, available at extra cost or just use the one from your cellphone or other USB device. It covers most scanner frequencies from 25 to 1300 MHz. and works on AM, FM, FMW, P25 Digital Phases 1 and 2 as well as ProVoice digital (requires extra cost key for ProVoice). Optional ARC software is also available for control and advanced programming.

The BCD436HP is available from ScannerMaster at BCD436HP or just call us at 800-SCANNER.

Uniden Scanners

Favorite Scanners: BCT15X  

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This week’s Favorite Scanner is the Uniden Bearcat BCT15X. The BCT15X is the premier analog only scanner from Uniden. It replaced the similar BCT15 a few years back and added some refined features.

If you do not need digital for your monitoring then the BCT15X will likely fit your bill nicely. It handled Motorola, EDACS and LTR trunking as well as conventional modes. It is great for Fire Tone monitoring, aircraft and railroads as well as local police and fire in many areas.

The BCT15X also supports GPS control like it’s digital cousin (the BCD996P2). With it’s all steel dual shell it is well protected from outside interference and is of sturdy construction. At less than $200 it is an affordable yet capable scanner.

I have a half dozen BCT15X I use for Military Air and railroad monitoring, they work great for this!

If you do not need digital then the BCT15X may be perfect for you!

BCT15X

Zip Code Based Scanning: How does it work?

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You say you are interested in a “ZIP Code” scanner like a HomePatrol, BCD436HP or BCD536HP? You like the idea of having the scanner do all the programming by itself but don’t understand how it works? Here are the answers you are looking for! The HomePatrol and x36 scanners are wonderful technology and take a lot of the work out of scanning. By understanding how they work you can better understand how to use the radio and address any issues that might pop up.

First of all there are a couple misconceptions about these scanners. One common one is that they will only hear things in the chosen ZIP Code. This is incorrect. “ZIP Code” scanners use the location you enter into the radio (either by ZIP Code, city and state or by GPS coordinates) as a CENTER POINT. You then enter in a “Range” in miles, this creates a circle around that location. The larger the Range setting makes a larger circle and more stuff that will be programmed into your radio. The Range setting only affects what is programmed into the scanner, not the actual distance it will receive from.

When you set a location and range the radio will automatically program in all the services you selected within the circle and allow you to listen to it. If a Service Type is unavailable to be selected (greyed out) that means the database has no channels with that Service Type within the circle.

So what happens when you need to listen to something 20 miles away but really don’t want to listen to another area closer in? This is where the “Avoid” system comes in handy. Learn how to use the Avoid key on your scanner and use it to lockout Channels, Departments or Systems from your radio to help tailor your listening. “Avoid” works much like the Lockout function in older scanners. “Temporary Avoid? Means that the item will be locked out until the radio is shut off, the item will return the next time you turn on the radio. “Permanent Avoid” will cause it to stay locked out until you go in and “unavoid” it.

There is another way to easily tailor your HomePatrol or “x36” scanner to your preferences. This is by using Favorites Lists. Favorites Lists are basically your own frequency sets for your area. Instead of using the Nationwide Database and going strictly by location, a Favorites List will allow you to import Systems from the Nationwide Database or create your own from scratch. This is usually done with the Sentinel program that comes with your scanner. You can also work on Favorites Lists with ARC-Patrol (for HomePatrol’s) or ARC-536 (for the BCD436HP and BCD536HP).

To create a Favorites List you would import items from the Nationwide Database into it. You can then edit the information but adding or deleting your own information. You can also create a List from scratch and built it from the ground up.

If you selected ScannerMaster’s Optimize option for your HomePatrol or x36 scanner we would have created a Favorites List for you for your area. You can edit this if you want with Sentinel. You can also edit this from the scanner itself but this can be time consuming and kind of daunting. It is a bit easier on the 436 and 536 than the HomePatrol but we recommend that you do this in Sentinel, trust me it is a lot easier!

So where does the database itself come from? It comes from you and me! A website called RadioReference (www.radioreference.com) hosts a database where scanner users from all over the world share information. Each state and province has one or more Database Manager’s that filter submissions from users and update the main database. Once a week Uniden retrieves a copy of this database and makes it available to scanner users via Sentinel.

Favorite Scanners: BC125AT

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Another entry on our favorite scanners, past and present!

Today we look at the BC125AT
The BC125AT is the premier analog conventional scanner in Uniden’s line. While it does not work on digital or trunking systems it is a fantastic scanner for analog and conventional systems. It is a favorite for planewatchers and railfans due to it’s small size and large display. It comes with the rubber-duck style antenna and beltclip. It improves on the less expensive BC75XLT in that it supports alpha-tags and PL/DCS.

I spend a lot of time trackside or at airports and the BC125AT is almost always with me. I clip it to my camera strap and it works great. The small size really helps!

This also works in the old-fashioned “Banks & Channels” programming mode. It has 10 banks of 50 channels each totaling up to 500 available channels. If the newer modes of scanner programming confuses you then this might appeal to you.

I use Banks 1 and 2 for rail channels, I put them in AAR Channel positions,  for example AAR Channel 79 is in channel 79 on the scanner. I have a bank each for a few of the local airports and a couple for some local operations. I leave the last bank open to enter in anything I might want to listen to on a trip or event.

The BC125AT uses regular or rechargeable AA batteries and can charge with the USB cable. Free programming software is available from Uniden or you can use the awesome ARC125 software from Butel for an even better experience.

 

Favorite Scanners: The BC760XLT

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One of our favorite scanners of the past is the Bearcat 760XLT and its siblings. This was a desktop-mobile scanner family introduced in the late 1990’s. Built in a fairly small package, it fit almost anywhere.

This was one of a series of scanners in the same style case sold under the Bearcat, Regency and Cobra nameplates. Other models, like the BC950XLT, BC580XLT, BC590XLT and others shared the same case style. The 950 and 760 versions handle 800 MHz, the others do not. They were all analog-only and did not have trunktacking capabilities.

There were two optional boards for these radios. One was an internal pre-amp that could amplify the signal strength. While this was not available on the 760 and 950 versions (an 800 MHz. converter was installed in the same slot on these) an external preamp was available for these.

The most interesting thing with these scanners however was the introduction of a PL board. This was the first scanner to have the PL function, a revolutionary thing back in 1998! A pair of switches on the bottom of the radio under the bail controlled these options.

These scanners came in 2 generations. The first had an older style Motorola antenna jack and the newer ones changed to a BNC. The newer versions also allowed one to use the PL on some channels and not others while on the older ones the PL board was either on or off for the whole radio.

These radios were quite sensitive and were well known as great “Skip” receivers on low-band. They were also quite popular as the core of specialty devices like wireless mic receivers in mobile video systems, the radio portion of fire station alerting receivers and other uses due to the low cost, high sensitivity and a design that made it easy to adapt for these uses.

They were replaced by the famous BC780XLT but there are still many of these around.

 

 

When bad things happen to good scanners: SD Card Corruption

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All of the various “Zip Code” type scanners such as the Uniden HomePatrol, BCD436HP or BCD536HP, Whistler WS 1080/1088/1095/1098 or the GRE and RadioShack versions use a Micro-SD Card to store the database and recordings. This SD Card is much like a disk drive without moving parts, it can be written to and read by a computer or a device; in this case your scanner.

Occasionally these cards can get corrupted which causes them to stop functioning. The scanner will display an error message and will not operate until you repair or replace the SD Card. Thankfully this is not usually a serious issue and rarely results in anything other than some annoyance. The worst that can happen is that you lose your Favorites Lists and any recordings you may have on the card.

First let’s talk about WHY this happens. Most of the time it is due to the power being removed from the radio abruptly. These scanners are basically small computers and, like all computers, they need to be shut down properly. By doing so the radio has a chance to finish writing information to the SD Card. If the power is removed before this is done then an incomplete or corrupted file may be left. When you turn on the radio the next time it doesn’t know what to do with the file and displays the error message. While this does not occur every time the radio is improperly shut down, it only has to happen once to ruin your day.

Now there is always the possibility that the card or even the radio itself is defective but that is very rare.

What can you do to prevent this from happening to you? The best thing you can do is to make sure you turn the radio off before removing power to it. If you have it mounted in a vehicle be sure to turn off the radio by use if the volume/power knob before starting the car or turning off the ignition. If the radio loses power while still turned on then the card can get corrupted. Same goes for portable radios. do not pull the batteries unless the radio is turned off.

OK, my card got corrupted, is my scanner dead? Usually no. These cards can usually be reformatted and the database rebuilt. Even if the card is shot it can be replaced and the new card set up for your radio. You can get replacement (or spare) Micro SD Cards almost anywhere.

What can you do if this occurs to you? First make sure the card is really corrupt, some times they are just loose. Remove the card and reseat it, making sure that it clicks into place. When you turn on the radio, if it works then you are back in business. If you still get the error then you will likely have to reformat the card.

Of course the easiest way to get past this is to let us fix it for you! Just download, print and fill out the form at https://www.scannermaster.com/v/vspfiles/files/pdf/homepatrol-servies-order-form.pdf. Send it to us with the radio and we will do the rest!

To reformat the card it is best to use an application specifically for this. You can use a free program available from https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/. Download the one for your version of Windows and install it. You can use an SD Card reader if you want or leave the card in the radio and connected to the computer in Mass Storage Mode. If you reformat it using Windows directly it may not be done in the proper format. Sorry Mac guys; you need Windows for this!

Once reformatted you need to reinstall the database. On Uniden scanners this is done as follows:

1: In Sentinel under the Home Patrol menu select Clear User Data, click on the Display All Drives box.

2: Be sure to select the correct drive letter then click OK. (You do not want to erase your C Drive!)

3: Run Sentinel on the computer and select the Update Master HPDB option in the Update Menu.

4: In Sentinel under the HomePatrol menu select Write to HomePatrol .You may need to select that drive again, but it will not show the serial number of the radio this time.

5: Eject the card and put it back into your scanner (if not already there). When you turn on the scanner you should be all set. You many need to reset your location, Service Types etc.

Of course this requires that you have Sentinel running in a Windows computer. If you don’t have Sentinel installed (it comes on the SD Card…) you can download it from Uniden’s website.

Whistler, GRE and RS scanners use slightly different procedures, check the manual for your radio for these.

 

Basic or Pro, Download or CD? Which is the best ARC software for your scanner?

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ScannerMaster is proud to sell ARC software products for scanners from Butel. ARC stands for “Advanced Radio Control” and there are ARC packages for most current and many older scanners. These applications share a common “Look and feel” so that if you learn your way around one you will know how to work the others. These are the easiest to use programming software for scanners and ScannerMaster is the main US distributer.

When you chose your software make sure to pick the right product! ARC Products work on specific radios. The radios the software will work on are listed in the descriptions, if you are not sure call us and one of our experts will help you make sure you have the right product. Some packages work on many different radios and others work only on one.

When you look at the ARC packages on our website you will usually see 4 choices. Two of them are named “Basic” and “Pro” and there are usually CD and Download versions each.

ARC “Basic” software allows the user to read and write to the radio, import files from RadioReference and other sources and perform all programming actions.

ARC “Pro” versions add in the ability to control the radio within the software (if your radio supports this) as well as record audio from the radio to your computer. Some radios also support a Bandscope feature.

The “CD” version comes delivered on a CD with the product key on a label inside the CD cover.

The “Download” version comes to you as a link emailed to you so you can download the software on the Internet, the product key is emailed to you. This saves you the shipping cost and if you lose your product key we can resend it to you.

Even if you buy the CD version you can download the updated version of the same software as needed, such as if you get a new computer or an update has been made. Your product keys will still work.

A couple things to remember: 

If you buy the CD Version make sure you save the product keys! We do not have copies of these numbers, if you lose the CD Case and didn’t copy the number someplace we have no way of replacing it. We can resend Download version product keys but only to those customers that bought the Download version.

Most ARC products will automatically print a confirmation sheet when you successfully register the software with the Product Keys. Save this someplace safe, it has your Product Keys on it and can be used to reinstall the software on a replacement computer.

As always ScannerMaster experts are here to help with your questions!

Hometown Programming, What it is and how it works

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One of the services we have here at ScannerMaster is called Hometown Programming. You can send your scanner to us and we will program it for you. It is pretty much as simple as that! These services allow your radio to be ready to go as soon as you receive it.

There are actually 2 different programming services here, the right one for you depends on the radio you have or are going to buy. “Hometown Programming” refers to programming traditional scanners as opposed to “Zip Code” location based scanners. “Optimizing” refers to the updates and programming done on the various Location Based scanners, such as the HomePatrol, BCD436/536HP models and the newer Whistler WS1080/1088/1095 and 1098 scanners.

For Hometown Programming we will program in the county of your choice, including the local police, fire & EMS channels as well as the local State Police or Highway Patrol channels. One can add additional counties if they choose for an additional fee.

When we Optimize a location based scanner we will update the database on the memory card, make sure the radio firmware is current and create a local Favorites List for your area. We will also set the location to your ZIP Code.

We also offer firmware updates and installation of features like the Extreme or ProVoice Updates on certain capable scanners.

If you buy the scanner from us we can do the programming before we ship the radio to you. While this might delay the receipt of your radio by a short time, it saves the shipping costs and lets you enjoy your scanner as soon as you receive it, knowing that it has the most up to date programming available.

If you already have the scanner you can send it to us and we will program it then return it to you. Please make sure to use the forms found at

https://www.scannermaster.com/Articles.asp?ID=365

to make sure we have all the information needed to make the radio right for you. All the information you (and us) need is on the form, including the address to send the radio. Return time varies depending on the volume of radios in process but radios are returned as soon as we are done programming them.

While we do not do repairs on scanners there are times when all it needs is to be reprogrammed. If you aren’t sure call us at 1-800-SCANNER and one of our reps will help you decide.

Windows 10 and Scanners

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Many people have recently been upgraded to Windows 10, whether they like it or not. For most people it seems to work fine, it just looks different. Most scanner software, such as ARC products, Sentinel and EZ-Scan works just fine in Windows 10 but might take a few steps to get it to work. Here are a few steps to make your transition a little easier:

1)         Update the cable.

If you have a Uniden XT series scanner and use the USB-1 cable make sure you have the newer version. There are 2 versions of the USB-1 cable. The older version will not work in Windows 10 (or Windows 8 for that matter). The ones we sell now work just fine in all versions of Windows. If your cable worked in Windows XP or 7 and no longer works in Windows 10 then it probably needs to be replaced by a newer version. You can also try a USB-Serial adapter and the Serial Port cable that came with your scanner.

Most RadioShack, GRE and Whistler orange, blue and black USB scanner cables seem to work fine in Windows 10. If your scanner (Uniden, GRE or Whistler) has a “Mini-USB port on the front or side of the radio that looks like a little trapezoid then a standard USB device cable will work.

2)         Update the driver.

Some cables and scanners require drivers. These are small files that tell the computer how to relate to and communicate with the radio. Check the ScannerMaster page for the cable or radio that you have for links to the current drivers. Most of the time it is better to install the driver first, then plug in the cable or device. Make sure that you install the driver for your operating system. If Windows 10 isn’t listed then use the Windows 8 driver, chances are it will work fine.

3)         Update the program.

Sometimes the application itself needs to be updated for Windows 10. Just like drivers however, if it worked in Windows 7 or 8 it should work in 10.

4)         If all else fails reinstall the program.

Sometimes after you upgrade to Windows 10 you will still not get the radio and program to communicate. We have found that many times, especially with ARC products, simple uninstalling the program and reinstalling it will fix your connection issues. Make sure you are updating to the latest version of the program. You can download the latest versions at the program’s website. Your activation keys will still work with newer versions of the same program.

As with any program, your results may vary. The above steps will fix a majority of the issues with scanner programs, they have fixed every issue I have had. Depending on the computer hardware, software, operating system and a host of other factors you may have an issue that just doesn’t want to work even after doing all this. If you still get stuck then you may need to contact the software’s support department.

ProVoice: What is it and do I need to update my scanner for it?

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Recently Uniden announced an update for its BCD436HP and BCD536HP scanners to allow them to monitor ProVoice digital radio systems. This has led to a lot of questions that we will try to answer here.

What is ProVoice?

ProVoice is a form of digital modulation used on some EDACS trunking systems, somewhat similar to APCO P25. Most digital scanners cannot hear it but Uniden has found a way to make it work on their 436 and 536 scanners.

Do I need the upgrade?

If you want to hear a ProVoice system then yes you do. There are several large wide-area systems using ProVoice, Uniden has produced a map showing most known systems. See http://info.uniden.com/UnidenMan4/ProVoice for a map.

Why are they charging for it? It should be free!

Uniden has to pay the license holders a fee for every radio they sell that has this technology. They also have to pay for all the research and development costs.

How do I update my radio?

If you buy the radio from us we can install the ProVoice update for you before we send the radio to you. If you want to update a radio you already have go to http://my.uniden.com to buy the upgrade.

I have a different scanner; will it work with ProVoice?

At this time only updated 436 and 536 scanners will work with ProVoice.