Scanner Programming Assistance

[phantasm]

I am new to this site and hope that I am posting this in an appropriate forum. I have a Uniden Bearcat BC245XLT that I got a long time ago and had it programmed for me at the place it was purchased. It still receives calls but isn’t trunked and does not seem to follow the calls. Is there anyone in the Sacramento area that programs these units? Is there a quick and easy way to get this unit to work properly for the Sacramento Metro Area for as many agencies as possible? I know that I am asking a lot for the first post on this site but don’t know where else to turn. Any guidance would be appreciated. Thank you in advance for any assistance you may be able to provide to help me get my scanner working properly.

 

[gmclam]

Happy New Year

I am new to this site and hope that I am posting this in an appropriate forum. I have a Uniden Bearcat BC245XLT that I got a long time ago and had it programmed for me at the place it was purchased. It still receives calls but isn’t trunked and does not seem to follow the calls.

If you are trying to monitor Sacramento City, Sacramento County or Roseville, you should have a "trunk tracking" scanner. Otherwise, if your scanner does receive 800 MHz, the best you can do is scan the "pieces of conversations".

Is there anyone in the Sacramento area that programs these units?

I've actually been doing this for some time now. I specialize in the GRE models, but have done a few Unidens.

Is there a quick and easy way to get this unit to work properly for the Sacramento Metro Area for as many agencies as possible? I know that I am asking a lot for the first post on this site but don’t know where else to turn. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Honestly, the "quickest way" is for you to manually enter the frequencies yourself right now. The next easiest would be to hold out until our next get together, or have someone else reply that has the same scanner.

How "easy" this is depends largely on EXACTLY what you want to monitor. There is plenty of stuff in this area that is not trunked and can properly be received by that scanner. If your main interest is the Sacramento TRS, I have to suggest that you get yourself a different scanner. If you had something like a PRO-95 or PRO-97 you could be up and running in minutes. If buying new, I'd suggest the PSR-300 so you are ready when the area rebands.

So let us know your specific interest to monitor - police, sheriff, fire, CHP, state or federal agencies, state parks, aviation, railroads, ????? And if your answer is police, fire, sheriff, etc; then be specific about the agencies. Just Sacramento county? Placer? El Dorado? Yolo?

Welcome to RadioReference.com!

 

[servo_fan]

Hi there. The 245xlt is a trunk tracking scanner and works well in this area. I still have mine and used it exclusively in Sacramento up until a couple weeks ago. (I just added a BCD396xt). I could help you if there's a Sacramento area gathering. Also look for the BC245INT software. I used it for a long time. Also check out the database for the Sacramento Regional Radio Communications System for all the freqs and talk groups.

Except for the lack of alpha tags, the 245 works great, and you'll be able to get all of the talk groups memorized as that's all that is displayed on the screen!

Layne

 

[phantasm]

Hi gmclam and Layne,
Thank you both for your responses.
It seems that I did not clearly state that the scanner has trunk tracking capabilities but is not programmed to use that feature. I would really like to be able to have the Sac PD, Sac Sheriff, Elk Grove PD, and CHP set up. Any others that I can get to work in addition to those would be a plus. I would like to be ability to monitor all of the Sacramento Metro Area Local, State, and Federal Law Enforcement agencies plus any other agencies/frequencies that you knowledgeable scanner people recommend. I guess I am requesting that your experience be used as a guide for what is to be program in my scanner.
Layne – I plan on attending the meeting and hope to see you there, perhaps you could bring your 245 also and help me set mine up if possible… It appears that the link to the software is no longer valid and the home site also has links to dead URL’s but I was able to find both Radio Manager Master XT, and 245XLT Backup Utility and downloaded them both.
gmclam – I am looking forward to meeting you there also!
SUNDAY 01/10/10
16:00 - ??
Round Table Pizza
2793 E Bidwell St
Folsom,CA

Near Hwy 50 and East Bidwell St


Chuck

 

[gmclam]

Sacramento TRS

It seems that I did not clearly state that the scanner has trunk tracking capabilities but is not programmed to use that feature.

Why not?

I would really like to be able to have the Sac PD, Sac Sheriff, Elk Grove PD, and CHP set up.

All of those agencies, EXCEPT CHP, are on the Sacramento TRS. Go here for more details.

Any others that I can get to work in addition to those would be a plus. I would like to be ability to monitor all of the Sacramento Metro Area Local, State, and Federal Law Enforcement agencies plus any other agencies/frequencies that you knowledgeable scanner people recommend.

LOL. I have a list of over 1000 frequencies that I monitor as there is a TON of stuff here. It really depends on your specific interest. It always amazes me how many people like aviation, railroads, marine or even those "walkie-talkie" frequencies.

I guess I am requesting that your experience be used as a guide for what is to be program in my scanner.......
gmclam – I am looking forward to meeting you there also!

Chuck, I look forward to meeting you there as well. The biggest reason for these get togethers is to get people up to speed about scanning in our area. Regardless of how long we've been doing it, or how technical we are, there seems to always be something new to learn.

In the meantime, if you want to take a stab at this programming yourself, check out the Sacramento page I provided the link to above. You'll see first off there are 2 sites - the city site and the county site. I get signals from both, but usually monitor the county site. The reason is because I care less about the stuff in the city of Sacramento, than I do what is going on in the non-Sac-city-area. While the dispatch channels are available on either system, there are TGs active on one system not active on the other.

So let's pick the county site. If that scanner is a "control channel only" scanner, you'll only need to program 4 frequencies (868.5375, 868.7375, 868.9375, 868.9625). Set each to MOT. Unidens use the terminology "ID search" mode or "ID scan" mode. If you use ID search mode, you should be able to pick up all that is on the system.

To limit what you are hearing to only what you want, the next step is to program in the TGs of the agencies you want, and switch to ID scan mode.

See you Sunday!

 

[sacscan]

I have a Uniden Bearcat BC245XLT that I got a long time ago and had it programmed for me at the place it was purchased.

If you purchased your 245 from Chickenlips it was probably programmed by me. It probably got taken out of trunking mode somehow. That seems to happen a lot with the older Uniden and Radio Shack scanners when the "TRUNK" button is accidentally pushed. I can't tell you how many times I have properly programmed a radio only to have the owner come to me months later with the programming all screwed up. I learned years ago to always have keylock turned on with all my handheld scanners.

Chickenlips has been out of business for years but I will be attending the get together at the Folsom Round Table Pizza and would be happy to reprogram it for you and/or show you how to do it.

 

[sacscan]

If that scanner is a "control channel only" scanner, you'll only need to program 4 frequencies (868.5375, 868.7375, 868.9375, 868.9625).

The 245 was Uniden's second handheld trunktracker. It didn't have control channel only capability.

 

[gmclam]

The 245 was Uniden's second handheld trunktracker. It didn't have control channel only capability.

It figures. I've seen a few that way and some which CC only can be selected, and with 4 different modes. I guess some selection is better than one way which does not work (for all).

 

[dougr1252]

I seem to remember that the 245 will trunk Motorola systems with only the control channel. After all it's getting the LCN's off the air just like the radios. But you still need to have all the frequencies that the control channel might move to.

 

[sacscan]

I seem to remember that the 245 will trunk Motorola systems with only the control channel. After all it's getting the LCN's off the air just like the radios. But you still need to have all the frequencies that the control channel might move to.

Nope, the 245 required all voice and control channel frequencies to be programmed. The 246 was the first analog Uniden trunktracker that only required control channels to be programmed. So for the SRRCS that means 4 frequencies for each site, like gmclam said.

 

[phantasm]

sacscan - I don't know if it was chickenlips all I can tell you is that it was a store somewhere around Power Inn and Belleview to the best of my recognition, but it’s been too long and the recognition is no longer very clear. I do seem to remember it being the “son” of someone there who did the actual programming. I will be there tomorrow and look forward to getting my scanner properly programmed again as well as learning how to keep it updated. Thanks again to all of you for being so kind to a newcomer!

Chuck

 

[sacscan]

sacscan - I don't know if it was chickenlips all I can tell you is that it was a store somewhere around Power Inn and Belleview to the best of my recognition, but it’s been too long and the recognition is no longer very clear. I do seem to remember it being the “son” of someone there who did the actual programming. I will be there tomorrow and look forward to getting my scanner properly programmed again as well as learning how to keep it updated. Thanks again to all of you for being so kind to a newcomer!

Chuck

Sounds like The Radio Place. They were on Power Inn just south of Fruitridge. They are also out of business. I guess the radio hobby just isn't popular enough in Sac . You would think it would be. We have some of the most exciting scanner listening around.

Your 245 will be extremely easy and fast to program manually. The alpha tag scanners like the 246, 780, 396, etc. used to take forever because I always did them manually too. It would have cost me too much to buy software for every single scanner out there.

I look forward to seeing everyone on Sunday!