Official Uniden BC246T Scanner Thread

[mobilemetal]

November!!!

What do I do till then? I just bought the PRO-99 (my "first" scanner) for a NASCAR race that I was invited to. I have had it for three days, and I am afraid that I am hooked already. I love gadgets, and I love to tinker.

I spend just over an hour driving to work, and then I spend most of my day driving around observing worksites, and putting out "fires". I live and work in North Jersey, and my work is close to NYC, so I get some real heavy radio traffic. But I am unable to listen in to the State Police that patrol my neck of the woods because they use a trunked system. I can however get some of the nearby police stations, ( I haven't even started listening to Fire or EMS yet) and the county Sheriff. I have already learned how to program in the freqs, and text tag them, and then I learned how to hook it to my comm port and really fill up the banks.

Sorry for the rambling, I have been getting excited about scanning. So, I guess I will just hold on to the PRO-99 and wait for the new Uniden. Now what should I get for the house......

 

[DaveIN]

Will a soft case be available by the time it hits the street?

How about software interface (USB/DB9) and software? Will that be included? I see that the control codes are mentioned to be released.

UPM: Where did you get the cool Icon of the BC246T?

 

[UPMan]

Probably no soft case on release.

Interface is RS-232 and upgradeable demo software will be available near release (demo restricts the system names to one of "Conventional," "Motorola," "LTR," and "EDACS"). USB should work using a USB "dongle" available at your friendly neighborhood electronics or computer retailer.

I made the icon myself, thank you.

 

[DaveIN]

Hey that was a fast reply!

Thanks very much for the info. Looking forward to the new features.

Sounds like one the BC898T owners is happy with the new CTCSS/DCS quick seach feature, he said it was instant.

What is your *unbiased* impression of the radio so far :?:

 

[AZScanner]

Interface is RS-232 and upgradeable demo software will be available near release (demo restricts the system names to one of "Conventional," "Motorola," "LTR," and "EDACS").

Hmmmm.... Demo software... sigh. :roll: I was hoping to finally see fully functional software included with a scanner.

This scanner hits the mark in so many areas... it's a shame to see it fall short in 2: No digital and shipped with crippleware. Still, it's the closest we have come yet to "The Ultimate Scanner" that Bill Cheek envisioned so many years ago. I have a feeling the BC246T would've been warmly received by him.

-AZ

 

[UPMan]

What is your *unbiased* impression of the radio so far

Not sure which radio you meant, but considering my position, I don't think anyone would or should believe any qualitative observations I might make. That being said, they are both the best scanner you could ever possibly buy! :mrgreen:

Actually, being so close to both projects, I could too easily point out things I both like and don't like. Sometimes you have to make tradeoffs, though, amongst demands from the propeller heads who want it to be the ultimate (and have digital, AZ), the bean counters who wanted the revenue to start yesterday, and the development team who just want it to finally, oh please let it soon, be finished (and I have a foot solidly planted in all three camps--don't try to visualize that, please). Watch for Popular Communcations, Monitoring Times, National Communications, or one of the many voices on this board and others to start with the unbiased stuff. I'm paid to be biased.

 

[AZScanner]

What is your *unbiased* impression of the radio so far

Sometimes you have to make tradeoffs, though, amongst demands from the propeller heads who want it to be the ultimate (and have digital, AZ)

Who, MEEEEEEEEE???

Well, all I can say to that is: count me in on the BC946UPS (UPS = Ultimate Propellerhead Scanner)

-AZ

 

[DaveIN]

:lol: BC946UPS (UPS = Ultimate Propellerhead Scanner)

I'll remember that one :!: :!:

 

[DaveIN]

I understand somewhat, but not to your extent, about multiple hats on the job and I guess that is unbiased as it can get. :lol:

Us propeller heads thought Uniden should have cut to chase and go directly to the next digital scanner, but I understand the reasons too. You need to prove the product works with the new bells and whistles, and sell well enough before you add the cost of digital.

The BC898T and BC246T look like the logical step up from the BC895XLT and BC245XLT. Sort of scratching my head on the thinking of the BCT-8, but it works :idea:

I did see something abut the next-gen Uniden scanners in Jul/Aug National Communications and Jul Monitoring Times had a short article with your input.

Will we have to wait for the FCC certification before a preview of the manual or can you let us see it a little sooner :?:
:twisted:

 

[UPMan]

First draft O/M completed this week. Might be able to drop a copy in a few weeks, after everyone internally (including myself) gets their chance to get their kicks in.

 

[DaveIN]

That sounds good. Lets hope you won't have too many revisions to go through. I would hate to have to wait for shipment of my BC246T due to lack of printed material. On the other hand, with all the new functions I think you guys better check the manual thoroughly. You don't want all those headaches and propeller head questions about why the manual didn't say how to do something. :wink:

You didn't let that Scanmaster guy write it again did you?!? :twisted:
Just kidding, Rich! :wink: He did a fine job in the past.

Ok, let's see if we can guess how many pages the manual will be:

With dynamic memory, close call, and TrunkTracker III, my guess is a coservative, 92 pages.

 

[scanfan03]

92 pages maybe too short, the Pro-95 manuel is 87 pages long (I don't own a Uniden, so i've never seen a Uniden manual, much less know how long one is). With all of the new features, maybe 150-200.

 

[fireant]

so how much will this scanner run?? any guesses??

fireant

 

[4phun]

92 pages maybe too short, the Pro-95 manuel is 87 pages long (I don't own a Uniden, so i've never seen a Uniden manual, much less know how long one is). With all of the new features, maybe 150-200.

This is insane. A good product does not need a manual because it is so well designed it is intuitive to operate. If this scanner needs a bigger manual than the others on the market it is not well designed but needs a lot more work.

 

[INDY72]

OK OK OK! LOL if you let an actual scanner user write a manual for a scanner then youll get a complete understandable not to techie job in about 90 pages even....if you let a techhead write it itll be impossible for a simple minded person to read and will be around 150 pages,.. if you let a person that is both a scanner prop head and techhound write it,.. then you have a seperate novel around 400 pages that is bigger than the dang scanner and will force the price up lol. NOTE: DO NOT GET IDEAS ABOUT THAT LAST PART UPMan! LOL

 

[brian86]

Well a company in california is letting people pre-order the bc246t and at a price of $229.99... says will be in stock on october 20, 2004...

http://www.westcoastmall.net/shop/product_info.php?products_id=1796

 

[redfox355]

No one seems to have mentioned this yet, but I think you'll find it's a long time before Uniden makes the BC246T a digital capable scanner, or at least releases another digital scanner. My reasoning behind this is that the BC296D is still a relatively new product, so it doesn't make any good business sense to release another digital handheld scanner that is far better and probably cheaper. It would undercut all their prospective sales of the BC296D. As much as I want a digital BC246T, I don't think it'll happen for a long long time.

Another factor why it might not happen is the size of the scanner. I doubt you'd be able to fit a BCi25D card into such a small scanner. I could be wrong because I've never seen the BCi25D card in real life, but I'm guessing that is part of the reason the BC296D is such a brick of a scanner.

I almost bought a BC296D the other day, but I am very unhappy about the size of this scanner. I think I might give it a miss. The local PD is going digital soon, but not just yet. I will stick it out and give the other companies a chance to produce a small yet capable Digital Trunking scanner.

If AOR was able to produce a handheld Digital scanner, or make some sort of add on slot card for their 8200 range, I'd buy that over the BC296D any day.

So I'm just gonna sit here, twiddling my thumbs, and wait.

 

[DaveIN]

Interesting that West Coast mall is takeing pre-orders. The BC246T is not yet FCC certified. Interesting too that they have an exact release date of Wednesday, October 20th on their web site when the Uniden Product Manager indicated the the first draft of the owners manual is just now beeing reviewed.

The BCi25, APCO-25 card was not included with the 3600 baud digital tracker BC250D, but was an option. The BCi96 9600 baud APCO-25 card is included with the BC296D.

The BC296D is about the same size as all the currect GRE trunking scanners and the digital vocoder is integrated into the GRE PRO-96, and is not a card.

Maybe Uniden is planning an onboard integrated APCO-25 circuit for the next BC246T sized model. The case and use of battery size/power could be a driving size factor. The BC246T is specified to use two "AA" bateries with an internal battery charging circuit.

As for AOR, I don't see them releasing anything beyond the APCO-25 decoder unit or they would have had a trunking version of the 8200 or AR-one by now.

The BC246T is going to compete with the palm sized AOR, Icom, and Yaesu models very well. This will put Uniden a little closer to the contention for communication receiver market and the scanner market.

 

[redfox355]

DaveIN, I think you will find that the BCi25D and the BCi96D are exactly the same card. The BCi25D will give the BC296D 9600baud capability. The BCi96D will NOT give the BC250D 9600baud capability. They are one and the same card, but labelled differently to distinguish which came with the BC296D and which sold retail. The actual difference lies in the BC250D and the BC296D.

Even though the BC296D is "about" the same size as most GRE trunking scanners, I think you will find that it's the biggest. And it's quite thick as well. Had uniden made this scanner slightly smaller, slightly thinner, changed the position/look of the ugly speaker grille and put two knobs for volume/squelch instead of that ridiculous dual knob that looks like it's going to get snapped off, then maybe I would have bought it. I think the same goes for many people. The BC296D has all the gizmos, but the design of the scanner itself stinks!

Regarding the APCO 25 decoder in the BC246T, I am just wondering if it takes considerably more battery power to decode APCO 25 transmissions. I have no idea but maybe someone else in here does. Will it be sufficiently powered with 2 AA batteries?

I see what you mean about AOR not introducing a trunking/digital version of the 8200, and I think that is a real shame. I understand that AOR is more into professional radio receivers instead of consumer scanners, but now that most of the world will be soon moving into the digital age, I think it would be in their best interests to keep up. Imagine the market potential! Because currently the only companies in this market are Uniden and Radioshack. I don't like the Uniden handheld, and I hate having Radioshack on my $500 piece of equipment. Only childrens toys should have that! (Just ignoring the fact that my current scanner is from radioshack)

As it turns out, I think I'm going to wait for the Radioshack PRO-2096 to come out, and I think I'll get that to put in my currently empty second DIN slot. I would prefer a cool digital handheld, but beggars can't be chosers.

my 2c

 

[DaveIN]

The BC296D is a 9600 baud Trunktracker. The BC250D is only 3600 baud capable. I have heard that the BCi25 card has been discontinued and that it is available as a Uniden part replacement only. I also heard that the BCi96 is the same part number, but I have not heard anybody confirm that at Uniden. Now that the UBC330XLT (euro-BC250D?) is available maybe we will find out.

Update: Butel in EU is testing a UBC3300XLT with a BCi96 card:
"We did some experiments with apco25 cards in the UBC3300:
The ubc3300 accepts both the BCi25 and BCi96 cards."
Interesting is that a BCi96 is reported as: 'Apco25 card installed, 9600 system' , so maybe the UBC3300 will also do 9600 systems."

As for the BC296D, the things I like over the PRO-96: It has wider frequency coverage including the mil-air band, LTR, I-Calls, activity Id, computer control, Motorola control channel only trunking from search, a better/easier to read display, better scan lists, user/feild upgradable CPU firmware, and more EDACS features.

IMHO, Uniden was the first to release a TrunkTracker and is still the leader in trunking Scanners. Radio shack/GRE has had to fix the PRO-92, PRO-93, and PRO-96 CPU firmware bugs by upgrading at the Fort Worth repair center. The BC246T is the next logical step before adding APCO-25.

I also noticed that the West Coast Mall advertisement says that the BC246T has 1600 memory channels. Uniden had announced 3600+ channels, but I think it depends on how you use the dynamic memory mapping channels, alpha tags, and talkgroup Id's.