Listen to UCAN with Uniden Control-Channel-Only

[anothermother]

Just curious if there are any known issues listening to the UCAN system using the "control channel only" feature of my Uniden scanners.

The reason I ask is because I'm not happy with my "quick keys". Right now, almost everything I want to listen to is in the UCAN Salt Lake County site, so system quick keys are not very useful. And with group quick keys limited to 10 per system... well, you get the idea.

My workaround is to duplicate system-level settings for UCAN and spread the groups out logically across the various UCAN "systems".

Thanks for any input!

 

[bchris]

Uniden CCO

I use a Uniden BR330T and a BC780XLT. I use CCO mode exclusively and I am not aware of any issues.

 

[qlajlu]

Welcome to the Utah RR Forum,
anothermother!​

My goodness, been hanging out in the shadows for a very long time, haven't you? I'm glad you finally decided to make a post. Didn't hurt at all did it?

Like bchris, I also run a BC780XLT and for a while I used CC Only mode because I didn't understand the intricacies of the unit. I finally broke down and loaded my scanner with all the site frequencies and programed only the specific TGs I wanted to hear. This is nothing more than a personal preference. Running CC Only is an absolutely acceptable way to use your scanner.

Please don't make yourself a stranger to this forum. Questions like this might be on someone else's mind but they are too shy to ask thinking we might berate them. We do not do that here.

Again, welcome, pull up a chair, make yourself at home, and enjoy the company.

 

[theaton]

Just curious if there are any known issues listening to the UCAN system using the "control channel only" feature of my Uniden scanners.

The reason I ask is because I'm not happy with my "quick keys". Right now, almost everything I want to listen to is in the UCAN Salt Lake County site, so system quick keys are not very useful. And with group quick keys limited to 10 per system... well, you get the idea.

My workaround is to duplicate system-level settings for UCAN and spread the groups out logically across the various UCAN "systems".

Thanks for any input!

I also use a Uniden scanner in control channel only mode. I'm not sure how that relates to your TG problem, though. Organizing TGs is quite a separate issue from loading frequencies in a TRS. Since I can't get all UCAN TGs into a single system in the scanner, I just enter the TGs I'm most interested in (in up to ten organized groups) then run in Search Mode (rather than Scan Mode) to pick up any TGs that aren't programmed. (This assumes I want to hear everything that the scanner picks up. To limit the activity I have to switch to Scan Mode and/or turn off some groups with quick keys.)

I'm not sure if this explanation is any help. I'm running a 396T which may differ from your scanner.

-Tim

 

[anothermother]

Thanks, everyone, for your input.

glajlu: Yeah, I've been coming to this site off and on since I got my BC246T in '06. I'm just starting to get back into the scanning after a long break that started before UCAN showed up.

Just curious, what made you decide to change from CC only mode?

Thanks again!

 

[qlajlu]

Thanks, everyone, for your input.

glajlu: Yeah, I've been coming to this site off and on since I got my BC246T in '06. I'm just starting to get back into the scanning after a long break that started before UCAN showed up.

Just curious, what made you decide to change from CC only mode?

Thanks again!

I'm not sure I should answer that question for fear of offending some of the people that frequent this forum. :roll: My reason was that I was interested in basically PD, FD, S&R, and helicopter comms. In CC Only mode I was getting dog catchers, hospitals, patient reports, some streets departments, etc. which, to me, cluttered my listening. Now I'm not saying that those things cannot be interesting to listen to, but I found them annoying when my scanner stopped on them. Yes, I could use the L/O feature and lock those TGs out of the mix, but I'm just the kinda guy that makes things hard.

I have room for 1,000 TGs on my BC780XLTs and they are perhaps only 70% filled. However, I did need to make two of the banks a semi-duplicate of SL County site 003, meaning that I had to re-enter the same frequencies on two banks because I ran out of room to enter all the TGs I wanted in just one bank.

Another reason I programmed the TGs in is that on those occasions when there is an exciting event (fire, pursuit, rescue) I could find and hold on a particular TG much faster rather than waiting for the natural course of the scanner coming around to that particular TG again before holding on it.

To me this made sense. Not saying I'm right, but I have used it this way so long now I'm fretting over getting a new scanner where I have to load entire systems (mine is not going to be usable after the rebanding is done).

 

[anothermother]

qlajlu: Yeah, I agree about only wanting to listen to some things on the system. But isn't that the difference between ID Search and ID Scan?

 

[qlajlu]

qlajlu: Yeah, I agree about only wanting to listen to some things on the system. But isn't that the difference between ID Search and ID Scan?

Ya know, I can't even answer that question. DUH! I just don't know.

When I got my scanners in 2001 there was not any software available to help in programming them that I could find or was aware of. I did not know about RR.com and so I found TGs listed on other Web sites and even some books. I manually programmed them into my scanners because I wanted them to show up on my scanner as "UHP SL" rather than "19712" which were the options at the time as far as this newbie could see. You have to admit that the owner's manuals are not written for the beginner but for someone who has more than a basic technical understanding of scanning. It was trial and error and hours of red-faced frustration. By the time I found out about this Web site my scanners were programmed.

Occasionally I will use "Search" because it will point out TGs I may not have programmed or that may be new since I did program the scanners.

As I said in Post #3 above, it is simply a matter of personal preference at this point.

 

[enosjones]

I always Leave my Scanners in ID search mode to i can find new tgid's that isnt listed in my scanner

 

[theaton]

I always Leave my Scanners in ID search mode to i can find new tgid's that isnt listed in my scanner

I load all the known TGs into groups, lock the groups out, and run in Search mode. That way I ONLY heard new TGs. :wink: Not really, sometimes I've come pretty close.

 

[bneilson]

I always had a hard time with this on my Uniden as it could not hold all of the TGs in my area. So I would copy something that I thought was unknown, only to find it was in the DB and not in my scanner

Solved this by getting a GRE Now it beeps and flashes the LED and it truly is an unknown TG.

 

[gldavis]

So, how do I do it? I use one radio (WR-3700e) with Unitrunker to monitor either SL Co or Davis Co site. Then I have a PRO-2052 and PRO-97 programmed with the "Unknown" TG hits (Closed mode) in two banks, one SL Co and the other Davis Co, and hope to hear something. I am fortunate in that at work, I can use my laptop to Unitrunk a system, and use a BC296D to listen to the system. Also while I'm at home, I use a R-7000 hooked to a UHF Discone to Search the VHF Milair band for any new signals.