Scanner Master’s New Home!

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Jonathan Higgins

By Jonathan Higgins

We have just moved to our own building in Holliston, MA, which is about 10 miles southwest of our old location in Natick. We’re now centrally located between Boston, Worcester and Providence, just off Route 16 and very close to Route 495.

Holliston was first settled in 1659 and was incorporated on December 3, 1724. The town was once home of the largest shoe producer in the United States, Goodwill Shoe Company. Also home of Joe Fish, the first professional baseball player signed by the Boston Red Sox and country singer Jo Dee Messina, just to name a few.

On Tuesday, September 22, 2009 Scanner Master made Holliston its new home. Our new facility is 12,000 square feet located at the top of a hill in Hopping Brook Business Park.

Here is our new Address:

Scanner Master Corp.

260 Hopping Brook Road

Holliston, MA 01746

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If you’re ready to purchase a scanner or accessory and you’re in the area please stop by. Best to call first to insure that someone will be available to assist.

In the future we will have our scanner museum set up and open to the public.

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First Look at the Uniden BCD996XT

Posted on July 22, 2009 by Jonathan Higgins

By Jonathan Higgins

The New Uniden BCD996XT looks very similar to the Uniden BCD996T, but its body is totally black, while the front face is glossy black. All of the buttons on the key pad are still the same, but some changes have been made to the Function Quick Keys. The Uniden BCD996XT is packed with the same great features that the recently released Uniden BCD396XT portable version has, but in the base/mobile form.

Key feature upgrades Uniden BCD996XT
• 25,000 Channels/ 500 Systems
• GPS on Systems and Groups
• Fire Tone Out with build-in tones Search
• NAC Decoding
• Individual Channel volume Offset
• Support EDACS ESK
• Multi-color display backlight (7 colors)
• Re-banding ready
• System/Channel Number Tagging – rapid access to channel or system

Programming:
I was able to program the scanner with ease with the ARCXT software, which works on 4 scanners (BC346XT, BCD396XT, BCD996XT and the soon to be released BC15XT). If you already own the BCD396XT and you saved the profile you can clone the BCD996XT with the same file. If you’re setting up your first XT, programming is made simple with the importing capability from RadioReference.com (with a paid membership to their website).

HomeTown Programming:
If you’re a beginner in this hobby and you looking to get the Uniden BCD996XT scanner I would strongly recommend our HomeTown Programming Service. After a week to ten days your scanner will be programmed and shipped to you ready to go out of the box.

GPS Programming:
The GPS scanning feature is amazing. Once set up, the scanner will turn on and off each programmed group as you travel. How is this done? The ARC software allows you to set up a center point’s latitude and longitude for each group. Let’s say your home town is in group one, you can find the center point by simply entering your zip code in the software. You can set the scanning range anywhere from 0.5 to 100+ mile(s). As you approach X mile(s) of that center point, the group will become unlocked. GPS Programming will also work with trunking systems. If you set up the trunking systems with multiple sites, you can set up each site with a center point and range.

Installing the optional GPS Antenna:
Its pretty simple, just plug the GPS antenna serial female end in the back of the serial male end on your BCD996XT. The GPS Antenna needs to be powered by simply plugging it into cigarette lighter/ mobile power outlet in your car. Then put the magnetic GPS antenna on a flat surface on the trunk or vehicle’s roof. Power-up the scanner; it may take several minute to process the GPS info.

Road testing the Uniden BCD996XT
In this road test, I will be hooking up the following to the Uniden BCD996XT; GPS Antenna, Comtelco Antenna with Mag mount, and the Uniden RH-96 Remote head. My first observation was that the sensitivity was great; it was able to pull in signal clearly from all around. I was amazed by the overall sound of both digital conventional and digital trunking systems. It was nice and clear without that under water sound. I found the new “Individual Channel Volume Offset” feature very handy for those low volume systems.

What is the “Individual Channel Volume Offset”?
This feature permits the volume adjustment of the individual channel, either up or down three notches.

RH-96 Remote Head:
If you have a remote head you can use it with any of the new XT models after updating the Remote Heads Firmware. You can do this once you register the remote head at Uniden.com – Firmware Link

Final thoughts on my first test:
Uniden made the great BCD996T even better with the BCD996XT… Better digital sound, more memory, rapid access to channels, more GPS control, and ready for rebanded systems.

This unit is great for either a mobile or a base application.

Helpful Links about this Product:
• Uniden BCD996XT
• ARCXT Basic Software
• ARCXT PRO Software
• GPS Receiver

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A Breath of Fresh Air for the Airwaves

Posted on July 14, 2009 by Jonathan Higgins

By Richard Barnett

It just got a little easier to scan, and a whole lot easier if you live nearby TV transmissions towers. Analog TV has gone the way of the tube radio. In an effort to provide more radio frequency spectrum to public safety and other users the FCC many years ago mandated that all TV transmissions migrate to digital, a format which requires far less bandwidth.

So what’s the benefit for scanner users? Well, here in Boston, for example, where channels 4 and 5 were broadcasting in the 54-72 MHz range, those stations have actually switched to frequencies up in the UHF TV range and now broadcast in the much narrower bandwidth. This means that low-band interference from these TV stations, particularly with stations above 40 MHz, are now a thing of the past. A friend of mine who is also the chief engineer for one of these stations is also a Ham. He reports that 6-meters (around 52 and 53 MHz) is now far more accessible and less noisy.

I personally always had a problem with TV channel 7 in my neighborhood mixing with pagers and the weather service transmitters and wiping out whole sections of the very active 155 MHz public safety band. It was a nightmare. That’s now a thing of the past. Channel 7 I believe still operates in the same frequency range between 174 and 225 MHz but it’s without the wide analog signal it had been broadcasting I no longer have those menacing monitoring problems.

By the way, it was July 12th that I had been waiting for. TV stations around the country went digital in June but they continued broadcasting an analog signal until June 12th with repeating videos explaining the switchover to those who still had not purchased a converter box. Now that July 12th has come and gone the airwaves are a whole lot healthier for the monitoring public. Now if we could just get rid of those bleepin’ pagers!

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Scanner 101 – “Search With Scan”

Posted on July 7, 2009 by Jonathan Higgins

One feature that I find fascinating, and is available on the following Uniden models, BC246T, BC346XT, BR330T, BCT15, BCD396XT and, BCD996T is the Search With Scan. With this feature, you can run a service search or custom search as your scanner is scanning. You can set up the search in one of your available systems.

Most Uniden Scanners have the following Service Searches:

Public Safety

News

HAM radio

Marine

Railroad

Citizen Band

FRS/GMRS

Racing

Military Air

You also have the option of making 10 your own custom searches

I like monitoring railroad communications. On long road trips I turn on this feature, so my scanner will be searching all railroad frequencies, while it’s scanning whatever else I have programmed. (In the photo to the left is the Mass Coastal GP9u 2007 sitting in Taunton, MA,)

Below is step by step instructions:
Step 1 – Go into the menu
Step 2 – Select “Search for”
Step 3 – Select “Edit Service” or “Edit Custom”
Step 4 – Select the search you want
Step 5 – Select “Search with Scan”
Step 6 – Select “Set Quick Key”
Step 7 – Select a System quick you have available 1 – 99
Step 8 – Select “Set Lockout”
Step 9 – Select “Unlocked”
Step 10 – Hit “Scan”

Check out this feature and lets us know what you think.

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3D Scanner Images: Now you can view from multiple perspectives before you buy!

Posted on June 26, 2009 by Jonathan Higgins

After being in the business of customer service for over 30 years, we are very familiar with all the common questions that you may have regarding your scanner. We now have a solution to help you answer many of these questions on your own without digging through mounds of text or contacting a scanner expert.

By recently upgrading from 2 dimensional images to 3 dimensional “circle around” models of our scanners, you can now answer many specific product questions by looking at the new 3 dimensional image accessible via the scanner product page.

Click here to view the BCT15 Scanner in 3D!

This revolutionary technology allows you to examine the range of depth and points of view of our most popular Uniden Bearcat, RadioShack, and GRE models. With video control capability, you can now dramatically expand your viewpoint using the zoom feature, as well as pause the rotating image at any point in time. This new feature will not only allow you to view a scanner from a completely new perspective, but will also help you to make more informative decisions before you buy without having to read through pages of text or contacting a service rep.

The 3D feature is currently available on 14 models and with in a few months it will be available on 12 more. We hope you enjoy it and we welcome your comments.

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Hello from Tokyo

Posted on June 8, 2009 by Jonathan Higgins

By Richard Barnett

My meetings in Tokyo are finished so I spent the morning in the incredible electronics capital of Japan, if not the world, Akihabara. Any and every electronic gadget and gizmo is on display in dozens, if not hundreds, of stores, including of course scanners. While the legality of owning and operating scanners in Japan is of some question, there’s no doubt you can buy them, but not the usual brands. You won’t see Uniden-Bearcat scanners on display here for example. Why that is I don’t know. But you can find ICOM, AOR, Alinco, and some unusual brands that have never made it to US shores such as Maruhama. While the Maruhama brand looks interesting you can’t find an English manual for it and of course it’s clear it isn’t capable of trunking or digital, it’s more akin to a basic scanner, possibly with some additional bands.

What’s most amazing about Akihabara are the mini-malls of stores, no bigger than half a vendor’s cart, where people specialize in capacitors, or switches or some such thing. It’s incredible. There’s aisles and aisles of these stalls and you get the feeling they’ve been handed down from one family member to another, selling extremely specialized equipment in maybe a 8′ by 5′ space. If you’re into unique parts and equipment this is the place to come, although you should go with someone who’s fluent in the language if possible. I’m sure there are many pictures online of Akihabara and these stalls — it’s worth a look.

On to Hong Kong!

Rich Barnett

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Testing the Austin Spectra Mobile Antenna

Posted on June 5, 2009 by Jonathan Higgins

By Jonathan Higgins

Hello Everyone,

I would like to introduce myself. I’m Jonathan Higgins, lead on-site “scanner expert”… I’m happy to be a part of the Scanner Master team for over a year now, with almost 20 years of scanning experience under my belt. Over the years, communication systems have made a lot of advances with trunking and digital communications. My first scanner was a Radio Shack Realistic PRO-2014, a 50 channel scanner. Some of my favorite scanners are the Uniden BC246T, BCD396XT, BC780XLT, BCD996T and the GRE PSR-500.

Along with Rich, I will be posting information and advice on our Scanner Master Blog.

Testing the
Austin Spectra Mobile Antenna

The Spectra is 33 inches tall and its tuned for all 4 public safety bands:

VHF Low Band (30-50MHz)

VHF High band (150-174 MHz)

UHF (430-512 MHz)

800MHz (806-896 MHz)

The coax cable and mounting gear are sold separately. I used the 5” NMO Mag Mount for my test. The scanner used was the Uniden BCD996T …So off I went on a road trip!

In Massachusetts, most of the public safety is using VHF High Band or UHF. I was amazed by the reception. I was able to pick up UHF systems for 10 to 15 miles away without a problem, and as for the VHF, about 15+ miles away. In Massachusetts, the State Police are on an analog 800MHz trunking system. I was able to pick up the local site with ease and neighboring sites at times. I found that the height of the Spectra really brings in the VHF Low Band without a problem. Overall, a great antenna! It’s a true performer on all bands!

Check out the many mounting options we have available for this antenna:

Austin Antenna, a locally based company right here in New England, has been in business for the last 25 years. We carry the full Austin Antenna scanner product line; the Ferret, the Condor and the Spectra.

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New GPS Unit in Stock

Posted on June 4, 2009 by Jonathan Higgins

We now have in stock a new GPS receiver unit, a high-quality Garmin which has been customized for special applications such as GPS scanning (requiring a separate power input). The Garmin is more expensive than the previous GPS unit we had been selling but the older model is no longer available. Garmin of course has long been a player in the GPS industry and their products are top-notch. In the future we may try find a less expensive option but we wouldn’t expect it to have the satellite capture speed and accuracy of the Garmin. For more details or to order the Garmin click here.

GPS scanning is a great feature. With it your scanner can automatically enable and disable systems based on your location as you drive. It save so much hassle trying to remember which systems to turn on/off while you’re on the move (which can also be dangerous if you’re actually driving and programming at the same time). The GPS feature is available on the BCT15 and BCD996T base/mobile models and the new BC346XT and BCD396XT portables, all only from Uniden. These new models have enhanced GPS features such as a much wider and more flexible range that you can set and you can also program GPS coordinates down to the Group level.

It is extremely complex to program all this GPS longitude/latitude data unless you have excellent programming software such as ARCXT, truly a must for basic or advanced programming with GPS in the 346/396XT or ARC15 or ARC996 for the base/mobile models. This program has a unique feature to instantly find correct coordinates for cities and towns anywhere in the country.

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Scanner Master Road Trip – Dallas

Posted on May 27, 2009 by Jonathan Higgins

By Richard Barnett

Today I flew to Dallas and had lunch with Paul Opitz, scanner product manager for Uniden America. Amongst other topics Paul and I and discussed the new portable BC346XT and BCD396XT scanners and their success in the marketplace. Paul was kind enough to review and make some edits to our 346 and 396XT comprehensive reports and we’ll be posting those corrections shortly. I had a suggestion for Paul for a new features for these and other Dynamic Memory scanners: The ability to stop on one System and scan it by itself, even if other systems are enabled. But Paul had me scooped. The feature is already in the radio. Here’s how you activate it: While scanning any system, press HOLD for 2 seconds.

There’s so much scanner firmware developers can now do with scanner operation that many features we’re not even aware of -perhaps because we didn’t spend enough time reviewing the manual- although sometimes one finds features that are not even in the manual.

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Scanner Master Road Trip – Set-up Day at Dayton Hamvention

Posted on May 15, 2009 by Jonathan Higgins

By Richard Barnett

I arrived in Dayton after a long, long, ride from Boston. I met up with Gommert Buysen of Butel Software and Rich Carlson of the CARMA club in Chicago and we set up good ‘ol booth 402-403, our regular spot at Hamvention these last 10 or so years. I wonder how turnout will be with the economy in rough shape. Last year the economy was holding up OK but gas prices were double what they are today so we didn’t expect to see people coming to the show from long distances. In the end though we had a great show last year, surprisingly better than the year before.

Tonight we went to a terrific ICOM-hosted dinner party at a Packard car museum in downtown Dayton. Beautiful cars and great food, hosted by a very classy company. We are proud to have been selected as ICOM’s newest dealer and Scanner Master now carries the full line of ICOM communications receivers. More on that in a future blog.

Rich

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