BCT15X: Comments on Milcom Monitoring with BCT-15X

[Twister234]

I own a sack full of GRE scanners and love them. I also own 4 Uniden BC9000s that I have used for aircraft monitoring. I notice the 9000s receive the VHF and UHF aircraft bands much better than the GREs (RS Pro-2055). The 9000s hear stuff that doesn't even break the squelch on the Pro-2055. I am looking for a scanner to use for mobile Milcom monitoring and am trying to decide between the BCT-15X and the GRE PSR-410. I need more scanlists/banks than the 10 offered by the Pro-2055 and both the PSR-410 and the BCT-15X fill that need. I would be interested in hearing from those who are using the BCT-15X for Milcom as to the performance they are experiencing. Just wondering if the "new" Unidens perform as well as the old 9000 does. Many thanks.

 

[lotsofradios]

I have a BCT-15x and a BC780XLT and hear a ton of milair comms on both radios. Both radios receive just about the same, little or no difference.

I had a Pro-2055 about the same time I bought my BC780XLT, the Pro-2055 was no where near as good as the 780. The 780 would receive 3 times more signals that the 2055 never heard.

 

[pro106import]

I own a sack full of GRE scanners and love them. I also own 4 Uniden BC9000s that I have used for aircraft monitoring. I notice the 9000s receive the VHF and UHF aircraft bands much better than the GREs (RS Pro-2055). The 9000s hear stuff that doesn't even break the squelch on the Pro-2055. I am looking for a scanner to use for mobile Milcom monitoring and am trying to decide between the BCT-15X and the GRE PSR-410. I need more scanlists/banks than the 10 offered by the Pro-2055 and both the PSR-410 and the BCT-15X fill that need. I would be interested in hearing from those who are using the BCT-15X for Milcom as to the performance they are experiencing. Just wondering if the "new" Unidens perform as well as the old 9000 does. Many thanks.

I also own several GRE's and Uniden scanners and I am a huge milair enthusiast. All of my GRE radios have the same problem. Overload on any VHF to mid UHF range frequency, including the milair band. One way to improve the VHF reception on the GRE is to add an FM trap inline with your antenna input. There are many threads on RR here regarding this. It actually does work. And with the FM trap inline, my GRE's are equal in sensitivity to my Unidens on VHF and milair.. Of course your mileage may vary, as they say. If you are not within close enough distance to an FM transmitter to cause a problem, then you may not notice much difference when adding the trap. Everyone's situation is different. The only disadvantage of the trap is it really reduces my 800 mhz. sensitivity. So I just stick to my Uniden radios for milair. Oh yes, I forgot I have one of those 9000's also somewhere. Used to be my favorite radio for milair. Pretty impressive scan speed for its time back in the day. A must when you are scanning 300 or so milair freqs!
But I would go with the BCD15X for sure. It has the same front end as my 396XT's and you won't be disappointed. You will not get the images on the milair band like I used to with the 9000. That was the only problem I remember with the 9000. It was very susceptible to images from other parts of the spectrum when scanning in the milair band.
Bob

 

[N1SQB]

BCT 15X all the way!

I own 4 of them! Trust me, they will make you very happy, especially in the civil and Mil air bands. I am an avid Mil air fan myself. The BCT 15X has the right sensitivity and selectivity for this. If you are getting good reception results now, then it can only get better. You will not be disappointed with this scanner! You will be hard pressed to find too many people who have something negative to say about it....

Manny

 

[Twister234]

Many Thanks for Comments - Keep Them Coming

Many thanks to those who replied. Please don't consider this thread closed. I would be interested in continuing to hear other users' comments. I am still on the fence as I have become so accustomed to using Don Starr's wonderful programming software for the GREs. I guess trying anything new carries some level of anxiety. I may just be intimidated by the comments I have read on here about the complexity of programming the Unidens. Sure wish Don Starr wrote software for the Unidens. Many thanks again, Twister234

 

[pro106import]

Many thanks to those who replied. Please don't consider this thread closed. I would be interested in continuing to hear other users' comments. I am still on the fence as I have become so accustomed to using Don Starr's wonderful programming software for the GREs. I guess trying anything new carries some level of anxiety. I may just be intimidated by the comments I have read on here about the complexity of programming the Unidens. Sure wish Don Starr wrote software for the Unidens. Many thanks again, Twister234

Yes Don has good software for the Gre's. But you can use Freescan for the BC15 and it is great software, and free. Of course you can send a donation. You will get used to it after a while. Like anything, there is a learning curve.
Bob

 

[bama9999]

I agree with pro106import on the recommendation of FreeSCAN. It's what I use to program my BCT15X and it makes programming it easy.