The BC-GPSK represents the finest in severely outdated technology. Lol
To understand why that device was designed that way, you have to consider that it's been on the market for quite a while. I can't seem to find when it was first introduced, but I believe it is at least as old as the BCT15, which itself dates back to the early 2000s (as far as I can tell). The BC-GPSK requires fewer connectors when connecting it to a Base model scanner (15, 15X, 996, etc), so it's apparent that Uniden Engineers at the time didn't think think GPS location control would be of much interest to users of the handheld scanners. Of course, back then, it was easier to mount scanners such as those in the vehicles of the era. Now, not so much. Fast forward to today and connecting a modern scanner to GPS with "off the shelf" stuff is like connecting a Macbook Air to a dot matrix printer.
The thread that jonwienke linked is a good example of what can be done today and evidence that Uniden engineers need to play catch-up. Back in the day, a consumer grade GPS receiver would lose reception if you placed your hand over the antenna. Now, as evidenced by the aforementioned thread, it's possible to insert a GPS receiver into a handheld scanner and it works, even inside a vehicle! I really hope the folks over at Uniden have seen that thread and really take it to heart.
With the BearTracker 885, it appears that Uniden has at least publicly acknowledged that the BC-GPSK is outdated. The 885's GPS, for those unfamiliar, connects to the radio with one cable, a standard telephone cable, for both power and to feed position data.
