I am 100% new to all this...I live near chicago..

[N00bie]

Hey guys! Hopefully we got a friendly and patient bunch on this forum because I am brand new to scanning but good with learning technology fast if taught right.

I live in Bartlett IL, and...

I am having some minor problems with my Uniden BCT-8. Basically what I want this scanner for is listening to the police talk back and forth. When I got the unit I set the squelch. After this I set the unit on HWY. Nothing...I set it on PVT...nothing...I set it on PVT and HWY..nothing....The scanner looks like a cd player trying to read a disk that's scratched...it tries and then gives up. When I push SVC and go to police mode, it starts working almost perfectly. (static speaking while I drive, clear speaking while parked)

For the short time I did get the scanning to work on HWY and a squad car passed, the alarm would go off but switch to a horribly static station. It does not go directly to that units radio. (which I hoped it would) And while I am in SVC mode, it won't pick up the cop at all. :-( The scanner impresses people but it's a little embarrassing when a cop passes and you hear nothing.

Any suggestions besides giving the scanner to someone who knows what they are doing would be much appreciated Thanks guys!

Tom

 

[DPD1]

The auto stuff never works very well... I don't have that particular model, but I assume there is some way to program in freqs directly? Try these:

http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&ctid=612

Dave
-DPD Productions - Custom Scanner, MURS, & Ham Antennas-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/

 

[N00bie]

Any idea why the bear tracker wouldn't be working all the sudden?

 

[ILbandit]

The BCT-8 has alot of the Chicago freqs in it, but not all of them. It won't pickup alot of the suburbs police frequencies. You would have to program in the specific freqs. for your area to get your local police.

The thing you saw that looked like a cd player finding a track was probably the scanner trying to pick up/search for ID's on the Chicago State Police Edacs trunk system. It will show a series of bars across the screen when it is searching.

Check out the RR database for local frequencies for Bartlet, and your surrounding area. I guarentee your scanner will come alive out there, there is plenty to listen to. Try turning the trunk button off when your in the HWY mode, and see if it helps.

Any idea why the bear tracker wouldn't be working all the sudden?

The bear tracker alarm won't go off every time you are around a squad car, it will only go off if the squad car transmitts on a mobile extender frequency that is programmed into the scanner.

 

[N00bie]

Bandit,

BIG HELP. Thanks very much for responding. By any chance to you know if telephone lines can effect sound quality? Also, do you know why the scanner would warn you of the cop next to you, and switch to a 100% static station? I would think it would switch to that patrol car's frequency? Thanks again!

 

[BoxAlarm187]

As Bandit said, the Bear Tracker function of the BCT8 is designed to look for the frequencies that some PD's mobile extenders use.

A mobile extender is basically an in-car repeater - when the officer was to speak into his handheld radio, while outside of the car, it transmits back to the car, and then the car repeats it on a different frequency back to the diapatcher. The BCT8 is designed to listen for that handheld-to-car freq - and these are usually very low power transmissions.

Generally, you're seeing the mobile extenders phased out as technology progresses, but they are still out there in some places.

Hope this helps...

 

[N00bie]

Hey guys, I just checked out the database on the site...holy crap. That's exactly what I needed...im about to go test some of these....Im planning on reading the maunal to try and figure out how to get them programmed. Would I go in highway...trunked, not trunked? Or SVC(i think thats what it is) mode? Or do I just type them in? Im really getting into this. Thanks for the help!

 

[ILbandit]

Alot of them might already be pre-programmed into it, but what I do is designate a bank to local frequencies, and manualy program them in, so all you would hear while scanning in the pvt mode on that bank is just your local stuff, then if you have a trunk system in your area, designate another bank for the trunk system. that way you can listen to both, or just switch back and forth between either one of them.
Took me a while to figure out how to program in the trunk stuff, but just read your manual closely, and you will figure it out, and if your still confused, just ask away on this forum, the people here got me thru it,and once you get going on trunk systems, it's not so bad.

 

[PhilJSmith67]

The mobile repeaters were more popular for VHF-Lo and some VHF-Hi systems, where the portable unit would require a very long whip to send/receive to and from the base. With UHF and 800MHz, they're just not necessary.

 

[N00bie]

Well I put in all the local frequencys. Picking up lots of stuff, but the beartracker is basically useless. Cops be sitting right next to me and it wont pick em up.

 

[N00bie]

Oh and PS--- Anyone see or hear about the crash on Route 59 and Stearns Friday afternoon? Thanks to my scanner I got there right when the cops did and was able to witness everything. Neat stuff.