Uniden Bearcat BC-RH96 Remote Head - Questions

[CVPI4Ever]

I wanted to mount my BC996XT in my 2013 Ford Taurus Limited. Due to the stupid console shifter, I am out of room. I thought about buying this, but before I lay down the cash, I have a few questions:

Remote Head Kit for Police Scanner Radios

1) How does it work?

2) Does it require the 996XT to be on while the RH96 is on?

 

[JoeyC]

Didn't know any of those still existed since they have been out of production for many years now. I love mine, once I rigged up a connection to the serial port in the back to replace the lame connection to the mini port in the front that comes loose with the tiniest amount of pressure on the cord. Basically the unit connects by this cord and requires its own power. Yes you must leave the 996 on for it to work, and the RH96 will not power off the scanner at all. Also, if your scanner is going to be located a distance from the front seat, you would need to wire in an external speaker as well as the RH96 does not come with a speaker.

There was a guy who several years ago put together a connection that linked the two units with a Cat5 cable which was a great idea (wish they were still available). So as it is, with mine, I have two wires running from the scanner (in the rear of the car) to the RH and a separate power connection to the fuse block.

 

[CVPI4Ever]

Wow, that really makes it kinda useless doesnt it?

So if my base unit is located, say in the trunk, can I control the volume from the RH96? I had a buddy suggest I have it wired for ignition so I dont have to worry about it.

 

[JoeyC]

I'd hardly call it useless. The RH controls everything but the on/off.

 

[K3EP]

That's how mine is set up. The 996 is in the back, the RH96 is in front under my AC controls, and both are connected to the ignition so when I turn the truck off the scanner and control head shut down. It works great.

 

[garys]

There was a guy who several years ago put together a connection that linked the two units with a Cat5 cable which was a great idea (wish they were still available). So as it is, with mine, I have two wires running from the scanner (in the rear of the car) to the RH and a separate power connection to the fuse block.

I have one for sale in the classifieds, if you're interested. It's kind of an old ad, so if you can't find it and are interested, PM me.

 

[cifd64]

What are the pinouts for the serial in the rear of the 996XT? The only thing keeping me from using my rig fulltime is that damn front port popping loose.

 

[Skooter92]

Does this post help?

Found this.... Data Cable Colors

 

[lep]

I have one for sale in the classifieds, if you're interested. It's kind of an old ad, so if you can't find it and are interested, PM me.

Before Uniden brought the RH to market, ScannerMaster made a "kit" to take the front panel off the scanner and place it in a custom enclosure and connect the two pieces with a cat5 cable, I have the BCD796D using the ScannerMaster configuration. It looks identical in every respect to the "official" Uniden RH. I have no idea what the arrangement was between the 2 companies but as soon as the RH was offered for general sale, ScannerMaster discontinued their very expensive version. Of course with the present arrangement the scanner looks the same whether or not the RH is being used, in my unit the 796 is just a black box with no controls as the remote head must be used.

 

[bear780ks]

Wow, that really makes it kinda useless doesnt it?

So if my base unit is located, say in the trunk, can I control the volume from the RH96? I had a buddy suggest I have it wired for ignition so I dont have to worry about it.

Tim the Remote head will Control everything with your 996 except shutting off your 996 that's why most installers have there's set up to go off with the ignition Key and Scanner Master still has some Available or did when I checked little over a Week ago).

They were as i was told the only one's that have them they sometime or another got a Special deal on em from Uniden and had a nice supply of them it's dwindle down some and i think now they only have a handful of Units they sell for them $189.99)

The unit will probably have to be updated to work with your 996xt as I was told by a Scanner Master employee.. But give them a call and they can tell you more..

Good Luck and Happy Scanning.. Ra

 

[garys]

The Scanner Master remote was only for the BC7xxx series and isnt' compatible with the DMA scanners. Development of the Scanner Master remote took much longer than they originally planned and they got it to market just before the DMA scanners were released. I think it was so expensive in part because they had to buy some components at more or less retail from Uniden. Another factor was that they had to develop the firmware to allow the head to communicate with the radio. At least that's what I remember Rich Barnett telling me back when their remote was in development. In the end, I think the head ended up costing as much as the radio.

The major flaws with the RH 96 are that it doesn't allow powering up or down the scanner remotely, doesn't support Start Up Keys, and doesn't bring audio to the head. I think if it did all of that, it would have sold much better than it did. I think the fairly expensive price point when it was introduced hurt it also.

I have to that I use to turn my XT portable scanners into base units and occasionally I use one of them in a vehicle with my 396XT.

Before Uniden brought the RH to market, ScannerMaster made a "kit" to take the front panel off the scanner and place it in a custom enclosure and connect the two pieces with a cat5 cable, I have the BCD796D using the ScannerMaster configuration. It looks identical in every respect to the "official" Uniden RH. I have no idea what the arrangement was between the 2 companies but as soon as the RH was offered for general sale, ScannerMaster discontinued their very expensive version. Of course with the present arrangement the scanner looks the same whether or not the RH is being used, in my unit the 796 is just a black box with no controls as the remote head must be used.

 

[lep]

The Scanner Master remote was only for the BC7xxx series

The first of these I purchased from Rich was for the 780 and I used it mobile for a while until I replaced it with the 796.
Now I use an actual Uniden RH with a 996T mobile. Every thing fit into the existing brackets each time I 'upgraded'. I don't recall "who" now but someone closed these out for less than $100 and I bought one. It works fine in my auto. My 996XT is in the shack but *IF* Uniden's new model later this year appeals to me, I will likely move the 996XT into the same spot now taken up by the 996T, it should be only a 5 minute job to just physically slide everything into the same brackets and no cabling changes should be needed.

I don't find the audio to be a problem as the 996 is under the passenger front seat and has a MOT mobile speaker between the front seats, Similarly the dc power is ignition switched. As others have noted, this arrangement works okay.

On my shack 996XT I use only the Rear port for programming with ARC XT as the small front port kept getting in my way. The rear connector is secured with the thumb screws and won't come loose.