is the BCT15 Scanner a good Scanner

[3made]

looking for best Scanner for $200.00 or so ... so let me know what you think ???????

 

[WX5JCH]

Yes it's great for being on the road a lot. I had a bc-7, this one is much better, now the wife has the bc-7

 

[ka3jjz]

As long as all the systems you want to hear are analog - keep in mind the BCT15 cannot do anything with the digital systems...73 Mike

 

[N1SQB]

Highly recommend the BCT-15

I have one,love it, getting a second one soon. I dont buy junk. You will love it if you only need analog monitoring .

Manny

 

[kellykeeton]

As long as all the systems you want to hear are analog - keep in mind the BCT15 cannot do anything with the digital systems...73 Mike

2nd that its awesome

 

[jrplmil]

great scanner. bought it with the gps and it works great. I would recommend it.

 

[dabigec11]

I have been researching the BCT-15. I currently own a BCT-8 which was very difficult to program and I would like my equipment to have the Alpha Tag capability to make Trunking easier. I live in Charlotte, NC so it does get quite difficult to keep track of everything without alpha tags in such a large radio system. Just wanted to know two things: What is the GPS feature of the BCT-15? Where would be a good place to look to snag a deal on the BCT-15? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advanced.

 

[kellykeeton]

you can find them on ebay for 150's if you snag em

the GPS will enable or disable things on the location you are

 

[Bucko]

I really like mine though I have a couple things I don't like. Slow scanning on trunked systems and no individual channel delay. Other than that it is a great scanner. You might check out Universal Radio, I see they have a Demo BCT15 in the used list.

 

[dabigec11]

thank you guys for the info. One more question: what is the programming like for the BCT-15? Is it all done on the computer via software that comes with the scanner unit? If not, where can I purchase the programming software and how much does it cost? Hopefully it does come with the scanner. Thanks again guys.

 

[Tarl_Templar]

Try BCtool. It's free and beats anything out there you'd pay for. http://www.bctool.org/

 

[safetyobc]

I reviewed the BCT15 a while back http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/BCT15_Review_by_Safetyobc

It is a great scanner. I really liked mine. I have since sold it due to the fact that my area has so much digital now. But the BCT15 is a good all around scanner.

 

[ka3jjz]

bucko, I would check your HOLD and DELAY settings to make sure they're set to zeros. The default is 2 seconds and that would really slow things down.

dabig, we don't know where you are, but there are lots of options for getting data for your area.
The most popular is to pull data directly from the database. BCTool has this capability (so does FreeScan, by the way). To be able to use this function you must purchase (cheap) a premium subscription, as described below...(by the way, anything in blue and/or underlined - both here and in our wiki - is a link...)

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/subscription/

Another way is to see if someone has a UASD (or Uniden Advanced System director) file for your area. Ask in your state's forum, or on one of the scanning related email reflectors for your area (most have them these days...). There's also a chance you might find something on a BCT15 Yahoo group. You could also ask if someone has a BCTool file, instead of a UASD file. Both will work fine. If you get BCTool, be sure to get the latest beta which fixes a few things. I've been fooling around with it for awhile now, and it has yet to crash on me. Pretty stable app.

As a side note we have FreeScan's user manual built in our wiki. To be honest, I like BCTool far better than FreeScan - which tends to put every option for all the DMA scanners out there, rather than isolating them by the scanner being used. That can be very confusing to a newcomer. Both are freeware, by the way.

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

73 Mike

 

[torontokris]

another obvious is that its a base/mobile scanner.. so if you maybe go for walks, or on public transit etc and want to listen you wont be able to use the bct15..

and a handheld unit might be better for you (BR330T, BC246 etc).

But sounds like you know what you want already... so go ahead its a great analog radio for the price.

 

[reconrider8]

its a great scanner just when you get it go ahead and buy you a good antenna.. when i first got mine i got it for christmas and i got it all running and it was just static lol was my first real programmable scanner took a few weeks to learn it but its good

 

[dabigec11]

thank you guys so much for all the help.

 

[bonus1331]

I'm here in CLT and the 15 will work for all current systems.
If you want something portable, the BC246T is also a good investment for about the same money.
Once you purchase, get back with me and I can send you some pre-made files for Charlotte.

 

[mlconnell]

Bct-15

After owning the BCD996T Digital model. The BCT15 is a complete AWESOME Scanner. With features that the digital big brother lacks... the BCT15 is the best bang for your buck if you DONT NEED DIGITAL. I wish they would incorporate some of the features in this BCT15 into the BCD996T. You wont regret buying this scanner.

 

[zzdiesel]

I hope it's a good scanner. I bought a new one from eBay today. I didn't realize that the programming was so complicated before I hit the "buy it now." I'm fairly sure that I'll figure it all out in time. I think it will get here Friday the 17th

 

[Watain]

I just ordered one myself, looking forward to getting it. I hope its better than the PRO-163 from what I've heard, and read on here it is.