Newbie with BCT15

[TexasScanMan]

I just received my BCT-15 yesterday.....pretty awesome scanner.
I got a premium membership on RadioReference and used Freescan to program my scanner....needless to say, I was up and running in just a few minutes. (I did lot's of reading in this forum before my scanner got here...thanks for all of the info!). I just learned this evening to turn off the POL to avoid the preprogrammed state scanning....it was noisy and interrupting in my scanning.

I live close to the Gulf of Mexico here in Texas and was hoping to get some maritime chatter from the USCG and fishing boats. So far the USGC channels are very quiet. My guess is that the antenna that comes with the scanner isn't strong enough to pick up the Coast Guard channels. Does anyone have experience picking up Marine channels? If so, any tips or info would be greatly appreciated. (I'm sure that an outdoor antenna that is high in the sky would be one reccomendation).

 

[radiopro52]

You could try setting the scanner to search in the Marine band and see if you can hear anything. Go into the menu and go to "search for...", then go to service search and choose marine.

 

[TexasScanMan]

Thanks for the tip....that's a great funtion. I tried and need to get my antenna higher up or install one outside. Thanks again for the help.