Who is Joe Bearcat?

[bigcam406]

Welcome! And thanks for stepping in to keep us informed on future developments. Much appreciated.

 

[xusmarine1979]

Hi,

This is "Joe Bearcat" (JB for short if you like). First, I want to apologize for the absence of Uniden in the RadioReference.com forums. UPMan's passing hit us all hard and by surprise, and shortly after that hit the global pandemic threw everyone into various stages of isolation, so this delayed the replacement process. That difficulty remains through this day. But Uniden has never abandoned the valued customer base that exists and we have been working behind the scenes to come up with a solution to fill the void left by UPMan's sudden passing. A few issues have come up which need to be addressed and these will be addressed in the appropriate forums. These are largely cosmetic, and are being worked on. We will also have some firmware updates for current models in the coming months (give or take depending on QC approval). Nothing major is planned initially; just squashing some bugs.

I will be assuming some of the duties that UPMan had performed with respect to online forums. This includes acting as a liaison between forum users and Uniden for issues involving Uniden scanners. Such issues include bug reports and to some degree feature requests. While I can pass such requests along to Uniden, there is no guarantee any particular features will be included in current or future model scanners. Joe Bearcat is an online persona and not my real name just as UPMan was not Paul Opitz's real name. I like to keep my personal and professional lives separate. I've heard enough stories from UPMan to believe this is in my best interests.

While I have not officially worked under UPMan except under one recent project as a consultant, I did provide input to him on scanner matters/ideas, and had the pleasure to meet him in person a few times. His shoes are so big I do not believe any one person can fill them adequately, and his passing still saddens me to this say. I'm sure I'm not alone. All I can do is strive to perform the duties I will be taking on as well as he did. That said, I am human and will surely make mistakes, but I promise to try my best to fill my part of those shoes with honor.

Just to give a little bit of my background and experience, I have primarily worked in two-way radio nearly all of my professional life, and have owned and used scanners since the 70's. I have also designed a replacement control system for a Motorola radio as a hobby. That never developed into a commercial product, but it was all but ready. Maybe some day I will explain what happened. So I am familiar with radio/scanner design and control. I own several scanner brands and models, as I'm a big fan of ALL scanners. In fact, there are few brands I do not own. My focus will be on Uniden models. That does not mean I only like Uniden scanners, but I have to stay focused on the reason I'm on the forums.

I am not entirely certain at this point what forums I will be active on, but it is a foregone conclusion RadioReference.com will be a primary forum. Some of the Uniden scanner email lists (especially current models), regional scanner club email lists, and other forums are also entirely likely. This will be a work in progress.

Like UPMan, I cannot guarantee a reply to every email or message received, but I can try to read as many as I can. I will try to adhere to the excellent code of conduct established by UPMan. My email might be announced when it is finalized (addendum: It is now set up), but I may decide to leave it largely unpublished, as online forum contact benefits many who may have the same questions. There may be times when email contact is required, and that will be available.

Please bear with me as I get up to speed - to the level of service UPMan provided, as I try to review the forums for pending issues, and as I get more familiar with the duties I have assumed (including updating the TWIKI which was just a duty added tonight). Again, there are really big shoes to fill. Initially, I would like to focus on specific support issues (bugs and suspected bugs). But please let me review things before hitting me with new ones or with feature requests, or asking when the next model will be released (at this point. I do not know). There has been one model released this past year - the Uniden SR30C. We are fortunate that UPMan was able to release the SDS series before his passing, and we are aware he had a roadmap for many additional features of that series. We are still researching to see what was documented. Still, development of new models continues.

An obvious question might be if I am related to Betty Bearcat who promoted Bearcat products in the 70's. Well, we have to leave some mystery, right? (I miss her too, but not as much as Paul)

Joe Bearcat
Official Uniden Representative
Uniden Scanner Product Manager

P.S. If a forum moderator could move/pin this to the main Uniden Forum page, that would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome, Joe. Paul is certainly missed and indeed you'll have some big shoes to fill. I hope that everyone remains patient and doesn't overwhelm you. I am absolutely in love with my SDS 100, even though we all know that it has some flaws, hands-down it does take care of the similcast issue. But I think many of us still have a "wish list" and I'm sure everyone will agree that it's always exciting to get new updates. Again, welcome!

Warm Regards,
Jon

 

[Tryton]

Huge Welcome JB! Thanks for coming aboard!

 

[Ensnared]

Blast from the past, "Betty Bearcat" possibly influenced by "Betty Crocker", just joking.

I am thrilled to learn that Uniden has managed to survive the pandemic. I was concerned about repairs. I did not know how many Uniden employs were affected by this pandemic. I hope that all survived. I hope and pray for those who did survive with long-term debilitating symptoms can recover one day.

I have owned many scanners, but my "go to" scanner has always been Uniden. Although I loved my PSR 500, and was tempted to buy some of the news Whistler models, I am so thankful for my personal restraint from buying one.

hit it out of the park when they were wise enough to buy the proprietary rights to necessary software.

Welcome! Thank you for taking the baton.

 

[JoeBearcat]

Thanks for taking on the challenge, Joe. Looks like you know your stuff and have a good attitude towards this, based on your posts the past few days. Enjoy the ride.

Thank you. I know sometimes my responses may sometimes seem 'cold'. I usually try to keep things professional and to the point (much different than my personal life where I love a good debate). I hope I have shown already that I do care very much about resolving issues where I can, discussing issues with management where I cannot solve them (or where they cannot be fixed), and trying to provide workarounds for issues that cannot be solved immediately (if ever).

I am sorry for the brief hiatus since Sunday evening. The RR admins wanted to verify that I am who I claim to be (which I believe they now have done based on the new tags). I was not happy at the time but in hindsight I understand their position. I viewed my presence as just another user (who can help solve issues). They view it as much more; not with respect to RR itself, but with respect to the scanner community. Simply put, they did not want someone posting in their forum who was... let's just use the term unauthentic. Again, I respect that. It is their forum.

Sometimes I want to solve problems so much and so quickly I am blinded to other issues such as procedures and formalities. This was the case last Friday as well. I saw an issue that required immediate attention and resolution. I was able to do that, but could not let the customer know without posting here (where the issue was in discussion). In jumping the gun, I forewent the formal introductions that had been planned.

That said, I do not know how much longer those introductions would have taken, as they have been months in process. That is why my account dates back 6 months but I had not posted. So, here we are. I apologize for any sore toes.

Moving forward I intend RR to be the primary support forum where I will be participating. I intend to be on other forums where possible. Facebook, for example, may not be possible as much as I want to be there and have already been invited. Some of their rules prohibit participation by "commercial entities". I expect to be active the various Uniden email lists as well (not there yet). If I cannot participate directly in any given forum, I will try to get the word out through admins of those respective forums.

 

[Enjoi19]

Thank you. I know sometimes my responses may sometimes seem 'cold'. I usually try to keep things professional and to the point (much different than my personal life where I love a good debate). I hope I have shown already that I do care very much about resolving issues where I can, discussing issues with management where I cannot solve them (or where they cannot be fixed), and trying to provide workarounds for issues that cannot be solved immediately (if ever).

Sometimes, you gotta draw the line somewhere with people. Lots of imaginative ideas here and not always ones that can be reality.

Moving forward I intend RR to be the primary support forum where I will be participating. I intend to be on other forums where possible. Facebook, for example, may not be possible as much as I want to be there and have already been invited. Some of their rules prohibit participation by "commercial entities". I expect to be active the various Uniden email lists as well (not there yet). If I cannot participate directly in any given forum, I will try to get the word out through admins of those respective forums.

All roads seem to lead back to this forum often - and with it now being common knowledge that a Uniden rep is here and active, I'm sure people on other forums and social media will likely point people here for their needs.

 

[GTR8000]

The RR admins wanted to verify that I am who I claim to be (which I believe they now have done based on the new tags). I was not happy at the time but in hindsight I understand their position. I viewed my presence as just another user (who can help solve issues).

Paul never concealed his real identity, and never hid behind his screen name. Despite his "UPMan" screen name which reflected his title as Uniden's Product Manager, he was very clear about who he was. Transparency is pretty important when dealing with the official public representative of a corporation that has such deep and longstanding ties to this particular community. I'll keep the rest of my thoughts private regarding your specific situation, and simply wish you good luck filling Paul's giant shoes. You're going to need it once the honeymoon "Hey, Uniden is listening to us again!" period wears off. Of course you've been around here long enough to already know that.

 

[Eng74]

Welcome, great to see that Uniden still care about the end users.

 

[JoeBearcat]

Joe - Thanks for taking and filling a needed spot for Uniden. We all appreciate it!!

One wish I have is that Uniden has a dedicated space for the Firmware updates of its current models.
One page to check to see if I am current or not...instead of digging in this forum. Wish that Uniden would host the firmware on their support site.

As was stated, you can use Sentinel to check the firmware. For older models, do you mean like this? (yes, the 'title' may be less than accurate)

ScannerManuals < UnidenMan4 < TWiki

info.uniden.com

(BTW, that set of pages is in the process of being reviewed/updated.)

 

[JoeBearcat]

You probably ignored the link I gave you.

Nearby frequencies will reduce the receivers gain and sensitivity. The RSSI indicator starts to react to signals as far away as 7MHz from the monitored frequency. It's difficult to have a good RSSI meter when the signal starts to go up in the -60dBm strenght, as the measured voltage from the receiver chip has very small differences at those signal levels. It sometimes jumps from -60 to -40 and the -40 got stuck a couple of times even when lowering signal to -90dBm. It's a very unreliable indicator. When it works, with a single pure signal source, it shows about 5dB too much but seems to be usefull up to -60dBm.

/Ubbe

Granted, it could be better (maybe not with the existing hardware), but it is still better than the bar graph and better than any previous model. Is it good enough for all needs? Perhaps not. But is it good enough for most? I believe it is.

If the 10 dB steps make comparison difficult, consider adding an attenuator to drop the signal to the level where resolution is 1 dB. A level of -60 dB would be S-9 + 13 dB so you have plenty of room for attenuation. A single 50 dB attenuator would allow testing signals up to S9+63 dB, or -10 dBm.

 

[JoeBearcat]

But.....the question remains, "who is this Joe Bearcat?". Is he really an employee of Uniden, or taking on a pseudo personality to fool us all?

Hopefully the new tags answer that question. The uniden.com email address others have mentioned and used to communicate with RR, the verification by those RR admins who know me, the Uniden TWIKI Admin tags, and the BC_VUP changes resulting from my promises were not enough to convince even the RR management, but they are now convinced after discussions with Uniden management. Getting my FBI clearance was easier.

 

[JoeBearcat]

Hello, I am closely following the new updates and I want to see the Tetra protocol in Uniden SDS100 as one of those who voted. Good luck and health!

Unfortunately, even the consideration of new protocols will have to be discussed after catching up on hardware issues (few, but there are a couple), firmware update issues, bug fixes (major and minor), and the like. It is very difficult to add new modes to existing models - especially when those modes are in such sparse use in the USA.

Regardless, I can promise that when the time comes that will be part of the discussion.

 

[JoeBearcat]

Thanks again for taking on this role and I hope you don't lose too much hair or develop a drinking problem along the way! LOL!!
Good luck!
Tim

The hair is largely gone (by choice... mostly), and I only drink when I know I will not have to drive (rare). This excludes the occasional glass of wine at holiday dinners and late evening. So no, bribing me with a case of beer isn't a viable option.

 

[JoeBearcat]

Paul is certainly missed and indeed you'll have some big shoes to fill.

I don't think I can express enough the sting that still exists a year later among Uniden HQ and those who worked closely with Paul. Paul came up in a discussion this afternoon with management, and the pain is still very evident. As I explained elsewhere, that was one of the reasons I hesitated moving forward. Then I realized moving forward is what Paul would have wanted. I only hope I can perform the job to his satisfaction.

If there is one thing I hope anyone who knows me would agree about it is that once I commit so something I do my best to see it through. I did not seek this position out, and was surprised by the offer, but I agreed to take it on.

 

[trentbob]

Paul never concealed his real identity, and never hid behind his screen name. Despite his "UPMan" screen name which reflected his title as Uniden's Product Manager, he was very clear about who he was. Transparency is pretty important when dealing with the official public representative of a corporation that has such deep and longstanding ties to this particular community. I'll keep the rest of my thoughts private regarding your specific situation, and simply wish you good luck filling Paul's giant shoes. You're going to need it once the honeymoon "Hey, Uniden is listening to us again!" period wears off. Of course you've been around here long enough to already know that.

I have to say I agree with this. When I saw the "Joe Bearcat" handle I was very surprised, especially when you identified yourself as the new Uniden product manager, a position that I and the rest of this community view as highly respectable... but... all I could think of was Betty Bearcat and Wendy Whistler. So, to me, out of my respect, you are the Uniden product manager, albeit nameless.

As far as the comments regarding your "honeymoon" hahaha.

There are three things you have to answer to... The higher up's above you... us, your customers and... yourself. I think you'll do just fine with the last two, as far as the first???

 

[jaymatt1978]

Well Joe I have read thi-s and the other thread very carefully and will try not to overwhelm you, but I wanted to add my welcome to the forums. All my "wish list items" have been addressed by other posts, however I wanted to touch base because I have a few unique observations on your scanners, and I own a lot of them. I Two (2)BCD996Ts' an BCT15 a BCD396T and a BC125AT, all of them wonderful reliably scanners. I also have a physical disability which limits my hand movements. I actually find it quicker to program frequencies by hand rather than hooking up to cable to the computer. I have accidently broke three cables because I'm not exactly "gentle on my equipment" So I gave up and program the scanners by hand, yes I AM crazy! I have a small observation I love the SYSTEM/GROUP/CHANNEL format but something always puzzled me. You can copy and paste a single channel, you can copy and paste an entire system, but there's not an easy way to copy a group from one system and paste it in another. The only solution I have found is copying the entire system and deleting the groups you don't need or manually copying channels one by one. This has obviously been solved wit h"Faavorites Lists" in the database scanners, but I wondered IF Uniden continued with the programming format of the BCT15/BCD996T in future scanners, this feature of copying groups couldn't be added?

I don't think I can express enough the sting that still exists a year later among Uniden HQ and those who worked closely with Paul. Paul came up in a discussion this afternoon with management, and the pain is still very evident. As I explained elsewhere, that was one of the reasons I hesitated moving forward. Then I realized moving forward is what Paul would have wanted. I only hope I can perform the job to his satisfaction.

If there is one thing I hope anyone who knows me would agree about it is that once I commit so something I do my best to see it through. I did not seek this position out, and was surprised by the offer, but I agreed to take it on.

 

[JoeBearcat]

... but I wondered IF Uniden continued with the programming format of the BCT15/BCD996T in future scanners, this feature of copying groups couldn't be added?

Is this in reference to UASD? (if not, which software)

 

[pfdradio]

Welcome aboard. That's a lot of posts since Friday.

 

[JoeBearcat]

Welcome aboard. That's a lot of posts since Friday.

I expected a flurry - no make that snowstorm - of activity from here. That is why I am not joining other forums yet (or not posting on them).

 

[MtnBiker2005]

Don’t forget Uniden America’s own scanner forum.

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