Bearcat Problem at 866-868mhz

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Desert-Rat

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I've got a problem that someone here likely believes the answer to be obvious. I'm at wits end trying to figure this one out. . . the answer is not obvious to me!

I have a BCT8. It works fine at the 30-50 and the 148 to 174 freq ranges. But at the 866 range, it gives me gray hair. I have eight public safety frequencies I want to monitor. These are trunked frequencies, but the same problem occurs if trunking is turned off.

All I get is static, unless a public safety officer, or dispatcher in this case, says something. Then the voice comes in clearly. But the static (moving the squelch doesn't affect it at all) comes back as soon as the transmission is over. Of course, the static noise doesn't allow any scanning to take place due to the noise on the frequency. I've read the instruction booklet a dozen times, and I think I understand enough of what it says. There is no trouble shooting section in the booklet.

I originally thought that the problem was caused by "dirty" power. So I attached the scanner to my Monster power filter I use for my home theater equipment. No change.

Could someone please help me get into the right direction with this situation?

Thanks very much.

Desert-Rat
 

jerk

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Desert-Rat said:
I've got a problem that someone here likely believes the answer to be obvious. I'm at wits end trying to figure this one out. . . the answer is not obvious to me!

I have a BCT8. It works fine at the 30-50 and the 148 to 174 freq ranges. But at the 866 range, it gives me gray hair. I have eight public safety frequencies I want to monitor. These are trunked frequencies, but the same problem occurs if trunking is turned off.
All I get is static, unless a public safety officer, or dispatcher in this case, says something. Then the voice comes in clearly. But the static (moving the squelch doesn't affect it at all) comes back as soon as the transmission is over. Of course, the static noise doesn't allow any scanning to take place due to the noise on the frequency. I've read the instruction booklet a dozen times, and I think I understand enough of what it says. There is no trouble shooting section in the booklet.
Could someone please help me get into the right direction with this situation?
Thanks very much.
Desert-Rat

You said they are trunking... that is the problem. What you are hearing is Control Channel noise. You need to lock out the one that has the noise on it, and it probably changes every day, and then just listen to voice on the other seven channels.

Or break down and buy a trunking scanner which will solve that problem, until/unless they go digital. But if you buy a digital scanner, you won't run into that problem either.

AL
 

newbie

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newsalan said:
You said they are trunking... that is the problem. What you are hearing is Control Channel noise. You need to lock out the one that has the noise on it, and it probably changes every day, and then just listen to voice on the other seven channels.

Or break down and buy a trunking scanner which will solve that problem, until/unless they go digital. But if you buy a digital scanner, you won't run into that problem either.

AL

He state he has a BCT8. That is a trunking scanner just not an APCO-25 capable scanner
 

mancow

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Aegis or Securent?

What type of trunked system is it? Is it total white noise, not just a low signal level?
 

Desert-Rat

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Wow, guys, I appreciate the quick replies. The BCT8 is indeed a trunking scanner, and the noise problem is on four of the eight channels, not just one. But I can pick up valid transmission (calls from dispatch, car to car) on the same channels when the noise stops. It only stops when a transmission comes across the channel. Then it starts up again as the transmission ends. And of course, I can't scan because the noise prevents the scan process.

I've spent much of the night reviewing the operating manual, and other stuff I've found on th4e RadioReference website. I'm about to dump this scanner and go buy a Pro-2096, but it might just be operator error. . .

My location is La Quinta Ca. These channels are 866.7375, 867.2875, 867.7375, 868.2375. . . all frequencies used by the police.

Thanks again, very much.
 

Desert-Rat

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Bearcat BCT8

mancow said:
Aegis or Securent?

What type of trunked system is it? Is it total white noise, not just a low signal level?

- - - - -

Its a Motorola Type II system, and I'd say the noise is total white, but I'm not familiar enough with the two alternatives to give you and definite answer.
 

seamusg

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Desert-Rat said:
Wow, guys, I appreciate the quick replies. The BCT8 is indeed a trunking scanner, and the noise problem is on four of the eight channels, not just one. But I can pick up valid transmission (calls from dispatch, car to car) on the same channels when the noise stops. It only stops when a transmission comes across the channel. Then it starts up again as the transmission ends. And of course, I can't scan because the noise prevents the scan process.

I've spent much of the night reviewing the operating manual, and other stuff I've found on th4e RadioReference website. I'm about to dump this scanner and go buy a Pro-2096, but it might just be operator error. . .

My location is La Quinta Ca. These channels are 866.7375, 867.2875, 867.7375, 868.2375. . . all frequencies used by the police.

Thanks again, very much.
If your trying to program this system:
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=357
you must program it as an EDACS WIDE and only one site, per system, you also need the LCN for each freq.
 

jerk

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newbie said:
He state he has a BCT8. That is a trunking scanner just not an APCO-25 capable scanner

My bad, too early in the morning. I looked up the frequency and it is an EDACS system, so I would guess it's an channels not in proper order or a "Secured" system.

AL
 

jerk

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Desert-Rat said:
Wow, guys, I appreciate the quick replies. SNIP
My location is La Quinta Ca. These channels are 866.7375, 867.2875, 867.7375, 868.2375. . . all frequencies used by the police.

Thanks again, very much.

I'm seeing it as an EDACS in the RR database. SO you need to pick the site closest to you and reprogram the scanner as EDAC with the channels in order as listed in the database. It is not a Smart zone system according to info here. Also says analog, so you should be able to receive it fine.

Good luck,

AL
 

Desert-Rat

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Thanks for the Help

seamusg said:
If your trying to program this system:
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=357
you must program it as an EDACS WIDE and only one site, per system, you also need the LCN for each freq.

. . . . .

This is very embarrassing for me to write, but first, I appreciate your sending the address of the RR database. It helps me understand how much I need to know.

But I don't understand what you mean by "EDACS Wide", "one site per system" and "LCN". I have EDACS available as an alternative trunking system on the BCT8. I assume that that selection (instead of Motorola) would help.

Further, on the database listing, what does "DEC" and "AFS" mean? Is AFS the Talkcode?

Thanks again.

Desert_Rat
 

seamusg

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Desert-Rat said:
. . . . .

This is very embarrassing for me to write, but first, I appreciate your sending the address of the RR database. It helps me understand how much I need to know.

But I don't understand what you mean by "EDACS Wide", "one site per system" and "LCN". I have EDACS available as an alternative trunking system on the BCT8. I assume that that selection (instead of Motorola) would help.

Further, on the database listing, what does "DEC" and "AFS" mean? Is AFS the Talkcode?

Thanks again.

Desert_Rat
EDACS Standard is EDACS WIDE on a Uniden scanner - LCN is Lgical Channel Number which the scanner needs to follow a conversation, LCN is the small number before the freq in the database. From what I've read about your scanner it has systems insted of banks. On an EDACS system the channels must be programed in LCN order for the scanner to find them - DEC is decimal AFS is Agency Fleet System - which is the format EDACS uses for it's talkgroups.
 

Desert-Rat

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Thanks, Seamusg, I appreciate your patience.
I guess I must have some other setup data entered in error, because, although the white noise is gone, so is any voice transmission on the channels from the database. I entered the frequencies as they are listed by the LCN.

I'll read the manual some more.

I appreciate the help.
 

seamusg

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Desert-Rat said:
Thanks, Seamusg, I appreciate your patience.
I guess I must have some other setup data entered in error, because, although the white noise is gone, so is any voice transmission on the channels from the database. I entered the frequencies as they are listed by the LCN.

I'll read the manual some more.

I appreciate the help.
Just make sure that the system is set up as EDACS not MOT. Also you can only enter one site in, per system- to expand on this on a scanner that does Banks rather than Systems - lcn 01 would be channel 01 and lcn 02 would be channel 02 for a site and a second site in the bank would not work since it would require the same channel numbers. As a further question are you programing the scanner by hand or with software?
 

Desert-Rat

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Trunking Problem Continues

seamusg said:
Just make sure that the system is set up as EDACS not MOT. Also you can only enter one site in, per system- to expand on this on a scanner that does Banks rather than Systems - lcn 01 would be channel 01 and lcn 02 would be channel 02 for a site and a second site in the bank would not work since it would require the same channel numbers. As a further question are you programing the scanner by hand or with software?
- - - - -
I guess I just don't understand what you mean, Mr. Seamusg! What do you mean by a "site"?

As far as the trunking system is concerned, for EDACS I have two choices, EDACS Wide Band and EDACS Scat. I've selected the former.

The scanner has 5 banks of 50 potential frequencies. By hand, no software, I've entered the 6 or 7 frequencies from the database, in LCN order, in a particular bank (#4). Then separately, I entered the 4 AFS codes as Talkcodes (06.041, 06.042, etc.). I've checked the numbers a dozen times.

Hitting SCAN now gives no audible noise at all, including, of course, any voice transmission. With trunking off, still no activity. Maybe the frequencies from the RR database are incorrect. I don't know. I had the voice transmission with the 7 or 8 frequencies that I was given by the deputies, but had that awful background white noise when the voices weren't heard. Due to the white noise, scanning didn't work.

I guess I've bitten off more than I can chew here. . . I'm a volunteer for the county sheriff ; I volunteered to "program" the Citizens On Patrol car scanner for them. Its a BCT8 also.

The manual with the scanner doesn't help, its (to me) very poorly written for an uninitiated guy. Has several errors I've found, which decreases my trust in it. Thanks so much for spending your time on this. I really appreciate it.
 

jerk

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Desert-Rat said:
- - - - -
I guess I just don't understand what you mean, Mr. Seamusg! What do you mean by a "site"?

As far as the trunking system is concerned, for EDACS I have two choices, EDACS Wide Band and EDACS Scat. I've selected the former.

The scanner has 5 banks of 50 potential frequencies. By hand, no software, I've entered the 6 or 7 frequencies from the database, in LCN order, in a particular bank (#4). Then separately, I entered the 4 AFS codes as Talkcodes (06.041, 06.042, etc.). I've checked the numbers a dozen times.

Hitting SCAN now gives no audible noise at all, including, of course, any voice transmission. With trunking off, still no activity. Maybe the frequencies from the RR database are incorrect. I don't know. I had the voice transmission with the 7 or 8 frequencies that I was given by the deputies, but had that awful background white noise when the voices weren't heard. Due to the white noise, scanning didn't work.

I guess I've bitten off more than I can chew here. . . I'm a volunteer for the county sheriff ; I volunteered to "program" the Citizens On Patrol car scanner for them. Its a BCT8 also.

The manual with the scanner doesn't help, its (to me) very poorly written for an uninitiated guy. Has several errors I've found, which decreases my trust in it. Thanks so much for spending your time on this. I really appreciate it.

Okay you need to pick a site, in the case I picked Southwest, but you want the site the is closest to you. I'm not sure which one it is.

Select new system, erase any of the old "stuff" you have and start new. this is important, start new, as an EDACS system, don't try to change what you've already programmed, then program the frequencies in the exact order as listed here, for Southwest or Central or both. But each site must be in it's own separate bank. Bank 1 = Southwest. Bank 2 = Central.

Only use the frequencies listed in the bank for the site you want to scan. If you want to scan all the sites, each site must be in a separate bank with the site frequencies listed in the exact order of the RR database.

This should solve your problem, and I've listed two examples below. If I have time I'll try and and do a USAD file and upload it for you to use.

AL

Select EDACS (Wide)system
This is the site you are programming.
>>> 004 Southwest
01 866.23750
02 866.73750
03 867.23750
04 867.73750
05 868.23750
06 866.78750
07 868.73750
08 867.28750*

Or if it is Central, this is the site>>>
Central
01 866.23750
02 866.73750
03 867.23750
04 867.73750
05 868.23750*
06 868.73750
07 866.78750
08 867.28750
 

jerk

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Desert-Rat said:
- - - - -
I guess I just don't understand what you mean, Mr. Seamusg! What do you mean by a "site"?

As far as the trunking system is concerned, for EDACS I have two choices, EDACS Wide Band and EDACS Scat. I've selected the former.

The scanner has 5 banks of 50 potential frequencies. By hand, no software, I've entered the 6 or 7 frequencies from the database, in LCN order, in a particular bank (#4). Then separately, I entered the 4 AFS codes as Talkcodes (06.041, 06.042, etc.). I've checked the numbers a dozen times. SNIP

This is the talkgroup listing, this is completely separate from frequencies, and are programmed after frequencies. But you can search once the system is scanning and save them, and then label later by hand.

You have a choice, either Decimal (DEC) or AFS which ever you prefer, you pick when you start to program them.
Below is some of the Central system groups,

AL

Desert System Talkgroups

DEC AFS Display Description
307 02-063 13-XCNTY SO Information Channel
785 06-021 1-PLMDST Palm Desert Primary
786 06-022 2-C/C Palm Desert Car-to-Car
787 06-023 3-PLMDST Palm Desert Desert Information
788 06-024 4-PLMDST Palm Desert Car-to-Car
789 06-025 5-(U/A) *
801 06-041 6-INDIO Indio Primary
802 06-042 7-C/C Indio Car-to-Car
803 06-043 8-INDIO Indio Car-to-Car
804 06-044 9-INDIO Indio Car-to-Car
805 06-045 10-(U/A) *
817 06-061 11-(U/A) *
818 06-062 12-(U/A) *
819 06-063 14-OPEN *
833 06-081 15-ENCPT *
834 06-082 16-INDJL *
835 06-083 17-TRANS *
836 06-084 18-(U/A) *
849 06-101 19-D A *
850 06-102 20-DA/EC *
851 06-103 21-PRBTN *
852 06-104 22-CORNR *
853 06-105 23-DPSS *
865 06-121 24-TAC D *
866 06-122 25-VHF *
867 06-123 26-CLEMR *
868 06-124 27-UHF *
869 06-125 28-OTHER *
870 06-126 29-CHP T *
871 06-127 30-ARIZ *
872 06-130 31-SBSO2 *
881 06-141 32-RPD *
882 06-142 33-CDF *
883 06-143 34-FICC *
884 06-144 35-CPD *
885 06-145 36-SBSO *
886 06-146 37-SDSO *
887 06-147 38-CHP D *
888 06-150 39-USBP *
889 06-151 40-CHPSB *
 

jerk

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Desert-Rat said:
- - - - -
I guess I just don't understand what you mean, Mr. Seamusg! What do you mean by a "site"?

From the manual, How to program,
STEP 1: Selecting Trunking System Type
The first step in a Trunk Tracking system is storing the frequencies in one of the five
available banks in your scanner.
1. Press TRUNK for 1.5 seconds.
You will hear two beeps, and “BANK” and “TRUNK” will begin to flash on the display.
2. Select the bank you want to store the frequency by using the
keypad.
3. Select the system you want to track by using the Down arrow or Up arrow key,
then press E.
List of trunking systems as follows:
Ed (EDACS® Wide Band: 9600 band)***
*** Requires programming of frequencies in exact order and location.
STEP 2: Programming Trunking Frequencies
1. Select and press E. Use the keypad and (decimal key) to enter a frequency
for the trunked system.
For example, enter .
Note: To clear a mistake while entering a frequency, press (decimal key) twice, and start over.
2. Then press E.
The “E” (EDACS) appears .
If the frequency is out of the range of the system chosen in this step, you will hear an error tone, the channel number flashes and an error message appears on the display.
3. Use the Up or Down key to select the next channel in the bank and press E.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all frequencies have been entered.
5. Press SRCH to begin searching the bank you‘ve
programmed.
Then select the programmed bank by using the keypad.
* Remember! To lockout the keypad to prevent re-programming of talkgroups, you can
use Memory Lock (Refer to “Memory Lock” on page 22).
Hint: If you want to return to the previous menu screen, press HOLD/RESUME in the
Trunk Programming mode.

Programming Talk Group ID/Scan Lists
Scan Lists
Each bank of your BCT8 can be a trunk tracking bank and it can be a conventional scanning
bank. When you designate a bank as a trunking bank, your scanner sets up 5 Scan Lists,
which are simply lists used to store your favorite Talk Group IDs. Each list can contain up to
10 IDs, so you can store a total of 50 IDs for each trunk tracking bank. (250 IDs if you use
all the banks as trunking banks!)

Scan Lists help you organize the trunking system users into categories. For example, you
might use List#1 for police IDs, List#2 for fire department IDs, List#3 for emergency medical
service IDs, etc. Once IDs are stored in lists, you can scan them as you scan conventional
frequencies and you can lockout any one (up to 4) of the 5 Scan Lists by pressing the
corresponding numeric key. When an ID is active, the Scan List number will appear on the
display. You can program your Scan Lists either manually or during Trunking Search mode.

In order to program Talk Group ID’s, you must first complete Step1–“Selecting Trunking
System Type”, page 30 and Step 2 – “Programming Trunking Frequencies”, page 31.
1. After programming a frequency, press HOLD/RESUME to return to the main screen of
system type selected and select . Then press E.
2. Select the Scan List location by using the Up or Down key.
3. Enter the Talk Group IDs for each trunk system as follows.
To enter a Full EDACS ID®:
1. Enter the Agency number.
2. Press (decimal key) for the “dash”.
3. Enter the Fleet number and Subfleet number.
4. Press E.
To enter a Partial EDACS® ID:
1. Enter the Agency number you want to store.
Use the (decimal key) for the "dash".
2. Press E.
Or you can program all the Talk Group numbers within one fleet of an Agency.
1. Enter the Agency number.
2. Press (decimal key) for the “dash”.
3. Enter the Fleet number.
4. Press E.
Hint: Remember that Uniden's AFS format allows you to enter full or partial EDACS IDs for
powerful flexibility in all modes. Be sure to read the section "EDACS Reception" on
page 39 to learn how this works.
Note: The BCT8 default to "AFS" talkgroup displays for EDACS® only.

Receiving Trunked Systems
When you have properly programmed all the frequencies for a trunked system, you can monitor the system in several different ways. You will find that Search, Hold, Lockout, Scan and Delay are all similar to conventional scanning.
❖ ID SCAN lets you receive those talkgroups that you store in Scan Lists.
❖ ID SCAN HOLD lets you selectively listen to a talkgroup in your Scan Lists.
❖ ID SEARCH lets you hear all system talkgroup activity. This is the best way to get
started.
❖ ID SEARCH HOLD works with Search mode to let you quickly freeze reception on an
interesting transmission. Or you can manually specify a talkgroup with DIRECT
ENTRY in ID HOLD.
❖ ID LOCKOUT works with Search and Scan to exclude talkgroups that you don't want
to hear.
❖ ID DELAY works with each talkgroup to be delayed when the communication ends.
When receiving EDACS systems, remember that Uniden's AFS talkgroups give you powerful
flexibility. In a few key presses, you can specify a single talkgroup, a fleet, or an entire
agency in all the above modes. Read the section "EDACS Reception" to understand how
this works.

Hint: If the scanner is not in the Trunking mode, you can enter the Trunk mode by pressing
TRUNK. Pressing TRUNK in the Trunking mode will move to the Private Scan Hold
mode.

Programming EDACS System Frequencies
When you program EDACS frequencies, it is critical that you store each one in the
CORRECT LOCATION. By the nature of EDACS systems this is necessary for tracking. This
often is not the frequency order, so you must be sure you have the right sequence. Sources
for this information can be found at scanner.uniden.com.

AL
 

Desert-Rat

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Messages
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Better Now, I Think

Thanks ever so much for the help on this, guys. Someday, when I know what I'm doing, I will return the favor.

I reset all data in a particlar bank (#2) and re-keyed the trunk type (ED), the frequencies (Riverside Ctny, Southwest) in LCN order, and then the talk groups in "nn.nnnn" order (06.041, 06.042, etc).

But I still get this "control channel" noise (when no one's talking) with every channel I've entered. But the unit is able to scan now. So I still have something screwed up. However, I believe that the noise duration is somewhat reduced.

Should the frequency at LCN 1 be on a priority channel? Or should I have no priority channels? The first channel in all five banks is a priority channel, that's where I put LCN 1.

I locked out the frequency at LCN8, because it gave me nothing but noise. Should I have not done this??

Dave Benner
La Quinta, Ca.
 
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