BC-898T Anyone own this Radio

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DaveIN

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Analog only trunking TrunkTracker III, rebanding supported with firmware update in the future, has mil-air band. Poor owners manual with many feature operations left out. Supported by Butel in AR898.
 

squirrel

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No Alpha Tags also.

We have one at my FD that is on 24/7 and it gets the job done. mainly scanning the 33, 46 and 154mhz ranges.
 

bwhite

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Poor manual, large size, gets the job done.
Several buttons are multi-function making usage awkward.
e.g., the dimmer button is also the attenuator, if you push it wrong you wind up both dimmed and attenuated.
Also, I've never used it (because of this)but the weather alerting is at full volume.
I'll take their word for it, seems like candidate #1 for any firmware updates.
 

ka3jjz

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http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/BC898T

It's odd there isn't more software support for this scanner; it's older brother, the 895 had a heckuva lot of packages that did. Scan Control and free IDTracker also support this scanner.

How about this - anyone interested in setting up a Wiki article on the errors in the 898 manual - unless the Yahoo group for this radio already has one? This radio seems to creep up in interest from time to time and it would be a useful reference tool.

I'm easy to find....'nuff said 73s Mike
 

okccsi

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I have the 898T, the 895XLT, and the 890XLT. I love them all. In fact, I am going for some more of them pretty soon. I have tons of scanners, and here in the house I really prefer them. Yeah, text tag would be a nice option, but since I have each one for a specific use, it is just eye candy. It kinda bugs my wife sometimes because she doesn't know which radio goes to which speaker.

I am attached to a 35ft tower, so my abilities on any scanner are going to be better than a lot of others that aren't. I just like 'em. They work great, very easy to setup the trunk tracking part, and the 898T does LTR, which is what mine is used for. The fact that I paid around $100 for it brand new on eBay was a plus. I saw an 895XLT go on eBay with all original equipment and box in perfect condition for $70. It is essentially the same radio, but does not have TrunkTrackerIII technology, only the normal TrunckTracker. The 890XLT is not a trunking radio unfortunately.

I don't mess with the attentuate side of the sytem, so it isn't an issue for me. I really like the dial knob for scrolling through channels or getting to a frequency that is close to another one I am listening to. Yes it has direct entry, but sitting at my desk and reaching way up is harder to do so spinning the dial works well for me.

Hope this helps. It is a great radio, and I can't wait to get another one.

OKC CSI
 

trunker0205

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Thanks Great stuff...I own a BCD-996T and a Pro-2042 I need one more I figured a base scanner would be nice...I think im gonna get the 898T thanks for all the responses..
 

bwhite

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The trouble with trying to include new/corrected info in wiki is that there is so much that this radio is probably capable of that no one knows because it just isn't written down. I think it was on RR.com somewhere that a guy from the far east (phillippines maybe) posted a few nifty things it would do about 18 months back. Never seen the info before or after that anywhere. I have seen numerous posts refer to "the bct8" manual has this info that applies to the 898 but isn't in the 898 manual, the 895 manual....ditto. Shouldn't have to schlep all over to find info that should be there.
 

jcecklund

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I have one

I really like my 898T it is more sensitive than my 780, The sound quality is much better IMO.
I have it connected to a scantenna that is in the attic and I can pick up stations 100 miles away. The manual sucks and this unit has features that you will not find listed in the operating manual.

JC
 

RoninJoliet

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I have a 898 and its a great scanner. Does not have some bells and whistles as the new Unidens but is very sensative and great audio. Does PL/DPL great. The manual sucks but i downloaded the BCT 8 manual and it tells you most of whats missing in the 898 like CCh trunking etc. There was a revised manual sent to me but was no different than the original..I have it connected to a Tri-Band Channel Master up 30' with 9913 coax and it cooks....No intermod.....10 searches, and LTR trunking works great....
 

trunker0205

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RoninJoliet said:
I have a 898 and its a great scanner. Does not have some bells and whistles as the new Unidens but is very sensative and great audio. Does PL/DPL great. The manual sucks but i downloaded the BCT 8 manual and it tells you most of whats missing in the 898 like CCh trunking etc. There was a revised manual sent to me but was no different than the original..I have it connected to a Tri-Band Channel Master up 30' with 9913 coax and it cooks....No intermod.....10 searches, and LTR trunking works great....


Awsome stuff,so the BCT-8 manual will give me more info on what this unit can do..I will download it when i get the scanner..Thank you
 

ka3jjz

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bwhite said:
The trouble with trying to include new/corrected info in wiki is that there is so much that this radio is probably capable of that no one knows because it just isn't written down. I think it was on RR.com somewhere that a guy from the far east (phillippines maybe) posted a few nifty things it would do about 18 months back. Never seen the info before or after that anywhere. I have seen numerous posts refer to "the bct8" manual has this info that applies to the 898 but isn't in the 898 manual, the 895 manual....ditto. Shouldn't have to schlep all over to find info that should be there.

I couldn't have said it better myself. You wouldn't have to 'schlep all over to find info that should be there' if it were put into the Wiki. A link on the 898 Yahoo group, plus a link on the 898 wiki is all that would be required. Your friend that had the tricks the radio could do from the Far East is a case in point. Those tricks may now be lost; in the Wiki, they wouldn't be - unless someone posted them in a text file on the Yahoo group. As a side note, any of the software manufacturers that link to the online versions of the manuals - such as Scan Control - would have a ready reference of correct material.

73s Mike
 
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okccsi

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You might consider the 9000xlt. It does alpha tags. I think I will be making a move to these next.
 

ka3jjz

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Yeah, I've seen 1 or 2 of these floating around the forsale boards lately. Unfortunately they're not computer-controllable, and the word is they're very sensitive to cell images. If memory serves, only some of the memory channels are alpha-taggable (why I have no idea).

With a little filtering, they might make decent milair scanners, if you don't need the ability to log and record activity. 73s Mike
 

SCPD

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Pages 46 & 47 of the BCT-8 manual shows you how to use 3 of the 8 options on the 898T. Like CC only and which plan to use. option #4 is on off and I have NO idea what it does, but if you turn it off it will not trunk. I posted the 8 options in a earlier post.
 

trunker0205

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ka3jjz said:
Yeah, I've seen 1 or 2 of these floating around the forsale boards lately. Unfortunately they're not computer-controllable, and the word is they're very sensitive to cell images. If memory serves, only some of the memory channels are alpha-taggable (why I have no idea).

With a little filtering, they might make decent milair scanners, if you don't need the ability to log and record activity. 73s Mike


Your memory is very good I had one a few years back and really liked it..Alpha Tags only work on 250 of the 500 channels and cll images were a problem..CtCSS BOARD IS LIKE $50 AND THE SCANNER IS ONLY $100...I will go with the 898 because tone code decode and trunking..but I did like the 9000 and someone here is selling one so ill have to give it some thought..
 
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