Uniden BC125AT Full Review

Uniden BC125AT Full Review

Video review of the BC125AT:

Construction and Build Quality:

The BC125AT is Uniden's latest scanner.  It is touted as an "event scanner" focused on being used at air shows and racing events.  However, this scanner is much more than that!  This is a great analog, conventional scanner for VHF-High band, Civil Air band and Mil-Air band.

The Uniden BC125AT feels solid in the hand and has a large LCD Display.  The keypad buttons are well spaced and larger than most handheld scanners.  The buttons have a soft rubber feel to them and give a nice tactile feedback when pressed.  The keypad has a nice layout and is easy to remember for manipulating in low light (keypad is not backlit).

The BC125AT has a belt clip similar to the BC246T.  The belt clip is rigid and does not hinge.  It hangs on a pocket or belt as intended, but anything over 1/4" deep will have a hard time accommodating this style belt clip.

The sides of the scanner has grooves molded into the plastic which helps to grip the scanner in the hand.  The plastic used on the case feels a bit cheap.  I don't think the outer case would handle a direct impact from a fall very well.  It's not terrible, but doesn't seem as solid as say a BC396XT or the Icom R6.  It feels similar to the BC246T or Pro-97 (Pro-164) casing material.  The BC125AT reminds me a lot of the BC246T even though they have different memory management systems.   They are similar in size but the BC125AT has a larger screen and better keypad in my opinion.   The BC125AT has banks and channels versus the Dynamic Memory or the BC246T but still incorporates some menu options for programming, setting LCD options, etc.

The BC125AT is well balanced when sitting upright on a desk, even with the Diamond RH77CA antenna, which is significantly longer than the stock antenna.  The scanner doesn't tip over easily with the extended antenna.  The BC125AT uses a BNC type antenna connection.

The battery compartment on the bottom, rear of the radio has a slide on/off door that snaps into place.  The door fits tight and has no movement when in place.  The batteries fit into the scanner very snug.  Almost too snug at times because the batteries can be hard to remove.  There is a switch on the inside of the battery compartment for selecting either rechargeable batteries or alkaline.  This switch prevents the scanner from charging alkaline batteries in the scanner when plugged into AC power or USB.  However, you do have to remember to slide that switch to the proper position.  I never recommend charging batteries in a scanner but sometimes this can't be avoided.

The large LCD display is one of the best features in my opinion.  On this large LCD display you can see your alpha tag, channel number, frequency, mode, PL Tone, and signal strength meter.  Also on screen are active banks, close call and/or weather priority symbols, if activated.  I wish I could dim the back light. It isn't overly bright but it would be nice to save the batteries.  You can turn on/off the LCD backlight with the press of a button.  Or you can set it to come on with squelch only, keypress only or both.

To access the LCD menu, press the Func button followed by the power button.  This will allow you to set the backlight modes as mentioned above and set the LCD contrast from 1 - 15.  I prefer contrast setting at 12.  In this menu you can also set the time the scanner will charge the batteries when connected to external power.  1 to 16 hours of charge time is available for your choosing.

The Uniden BC125AT covers from 25 MHz to 512 MHz (Included coverage is: 25-54, 108-174, 225-380 and 400-512 MHz).   You can set the mode on each channel that you program to FM, NFM, AM or Auto.  On service search of Mil-Air it looks like the mode is preset to NFM between 138.0000 MHz and 143.9875 MHz and 148.0000 MHz and 150.7875 MHz.  At 225.0000 MHz it changes to AM. These modes are not user changeable in service search.  There is no 800 MHz coverage on this scanner.  There is also no trunking or digital modes receive on this scanner.  It is known as a conventional, analog radio scanner.  

The Uniden BC125AT is a bank/channel type scanner.  The scanner can hold a maximum of 500 channels in 10 banks.  50 channels per bank.

Programming

The scanner is very easy to program by hand.  I have yet to break out the Owner's Manual.  I  programmed about 250 to 300 channels with tags and PL tones by hand before downloading the free Uniden software (more on the software later). It is tedious to program by hand, but not hard at all.  It is just a little time consuming.

To program a new channel manually simply press the Hold button (if you aren't already in hold mode).  Scroll to an empty channel using the multi function knob on top.  Press the Func button followed by the Pgm/E button.   From here select the Enter Frequency option by pressing E (or pressing down on the multi function knob.  Input the desired frequency.  (Note:  If the frequency is already programmed into the scanner, it will give you an alert telling you of a duplicate entry.)  Once you have the frequency entered, for instance 122.8000 press the E button.  You are returned to the Program Menu screen where you can Edit Tag, Set CTCSS/DCS, Set Modulation, Set Priority of the Channel and/or set the Delay time.  You also have the option of deleting the channel from this menu or clearing the entire bank.  To edit the alpha tag simply select the Edit Tag and press E.  Use the multi function knob to select the character desired and use the 4 and 6 key to move the cursor on the screen.  Press E to save the text.  You can press the . / clr button to clear the text entry completely.  Once you have saved the text you will be back at the program menu screen.  You can either set the other options or scroll to exit to move on.  Very simple to program the scanner.  There are several button clicks and knob turns involved but all in all I think Uniden made it easy to program their scanner.

The scanner is also PC programmable.  I downloaded ARC125 demo. It is a great piece of software and would be very handy if I wasn't such a tightwad and didn't want to spend $25 on something that, in all likelihood, I would use only one time. Uniden does provide programming software free of charge.  It doesn't provide RadioReference import like the ARC software but it may be a better solution than trying to program the scanner by hand.  A trick you can use instead of the radioreference import is if you do have a premium subscription to RadioReference (which you have to have for the import feature as well) you can download CSV files of the counties, agencies, or systems, open them in a spreadsheet program and copy/paste them into the Uniden Software.   This is the method I chose to go with!  Not to say that the ARC software isn't great.  I have ARC software for the BC396XT and PSR-500.  ARC makes excellent software.  However, I use the ARC396 and ARC500 a lot.  And I knew that I wouldn't use the ARC125 as much.  Your mileage may vary!

Main Features:

ALPHA TAGGING!!!!! I am not sure I could use a scanner without it anymore. I am glad Uniden put in the feature on this sub $140 scanner! It makes all the difference in the world.  It would be very difficult to remember what 500 channels are without the text tags.

Close Call DND and Priority DND are awesome! I have gotten several hits on Close Call. The DND (Do Not Disturb) feature checks for signals only when the scanner isn't actively receiving signals so it doesn't interrupt a transmission.  On some other scanners you will hear a pause in the audio every 2 seconds while the scanner checks for the Priority or Close Call.  To enter the Close Call Menu, press the Func key then the Hold (CC) key.  From there you can select Close Call Mode, Close Call Bands, Close Call Alert, Scan Hits, Set Delay, CTCSS/DCS Search, Review Lockouts or Exit the menu.  

The Close Call Mode menu is where you can turn Close Call on/off, activate the Close Call DND, Close Call Priority or select to use the scanner in Close Call Only mode.  Close Call Only mode will scan only the close call bands selected and not any programmed channels.  

Close Call alert menu allows you to set the scanner to alert on any close call hits.  You can set the LCD to illuminate or not and have the scanner give an audible beep or not.  These two alerts are independent of each other so you can have the light alert on and the beep off or vice versa.  You can have them both set on or off.

Close Call Bands menu allows you to turn on or off the included bands:  25-54 VHF - Low, 108-137 CIV-Air, 137-174 VHF-High, 225-320 MIL-Air, and 320-512 UHF.  

The BC125AT also has Close Call Temporary Store which stores and scans the last 10 Close Call hits in the Close Call Hits system.

As stated previously, I get Close Call hits quite regularly.  I have gotten them from my home as well in the car when mobile.  I'm not sure the exact sensitivity of Close Call, but I have found it to be quite nice.  I am sure that something like an FRS radio isn't going to activate Close Call without being very close.  But a repeater pushing 100 + watts would get picked up by Close Call at some distance.  Don't expect to get Close Call hits over about 1/4 to 1/2 mile though.  I picked up my local PD repeater about 1/2 mile with Close Call.  Police mobile radios in their cars, a few hundred feet and handheld police radios even closer than that.  So the sensitivity of the Close Call is determined by the power output of the radio it is picking up I would assume.  However, Close Call has picked up local businesses as I passed by their locations on the highway.

Temporary Lockout is one of the greatest features of this scanner in my opinion.  This is a great feature since the scanner does not have an attenuation function.  When you press the L/O button 1 time, the scanner will temporarily lockout the frequency that you are currently on.  Pressing 2 times in rapid succession will lock it out permanently, requiring you to either scroll to the channel or go into the menu and unlock that channel.  However, all channels that were locked out using temporary lockout will be restored (unlocked) after the next power cycle.   

The BC125AT has CTCSS and DCS Squelch modes.  This provides rapid search for CTCSS/DCS tones/code used on some channels. The scanner has 50 CTCSS tones and 104 DCS codes available.  It's a great feature for reducing interference as well as some agencies use the same frequencies but different CTCSS/DCS allowing for multiple uses.  The 125AT search option for CTCSS/DCS is very fast.  I would say it near instantly displays the tone/code when you have search activated on a programmed channel or Close Call.

SAME weather alert codes would have been a nice feature to have, unfortunately they are not included on the BC125AT.  However, the general weather alert (which picks up the 1050 Hz tone) is available on this scanner.  When activating the weather menu, simply press Func button then the #3 / Wx key.  You can select from Weather Scan, Alert Standby, Alert Priority, or Set Delay.  To enter any of these options, simply scroll to the option using the multi function knob on top and press the PGM / E button or press down on the multi function knob.  

Weather scan will do just that, scan the  7 US NOAA Weather channels.  The scanner will stop on an active channel or you can hold on any 1 of the 7 channels.  

Weather Alert Standby will scan the weather channels and stop on the weather channel with an active signal.  At that point the scanner will stop on that channel, remaining completely muted and wait to receive the 1050 Hz tone from the NOAA Weather Station so long as you have a receivable signal from NOAA.  When a tone is received, the scanner will produce and audible alarm and the station will open so you can hear the message.  

Weather Alert Priority can be set either Off or On (Set to off by default).  If you set the Wx Alert Priority On, when scanning your programmed channels the scanner will check the for the 1050 Hz tone every 5 seconds, which will cause you to hear a pause in the audio if a channel is being received.  I have noticed that if a Weather Channel signal cannot be received the scanner will automatically turn off the Weather Alert Priority.  This could be a safety issue if you are using this to alert you to potential severe weather, so just be aware of that fact.  Of course, if you can't receive the channel, you aren't going to hear the tone anyway.  However, I think that it would be a nice feature if the scanner would continue to look for an active NOAA frequency rather than turning off the Weather Alert Priority.  It could be that you move the scanner from one room to the next and during the transition signal is lost and the alert priority is turned off.  Then you go to bed thinking its on with severe weather approaching.  For more information on the weather operation refer to page 65 of the Owner's Manual.

Direct Access feature allows you to directly access any channel with a few presses of the buttons.  For instance if you have your local police stored on channel 200.  To go directly to that channel press the Hold button, then 2 0 0 then Hold button again.  Boom, you are on channel 200, holding waiting on a transmission!

Service Searches are separated in 10 preset banks.  1. Police, 2. Fire/Emergency, 3. Ham, 4. Marine, 5. Railroad, 6. Civil Air, 7. Military Air, 8. CB Radio, 9. FRS/GMRS/MURS, and 0. Racing.  These can come in handy for just skimming a specific range of common frequencies.  To enter the service search feature of the scanner press the Func button followed by the Srch/Svc button.  Then you can press the number keys 1 - 0 to activate/deactivate the 10 preset searches.

Priority features abound on this little radio.  Priority scan with Do Not Disturb lets you program up to 10 channels as Priority (1 in each bank) and the scanner will check the channels marked as priority every 2 seconds.  Priority Do Not Disturb works just like Close Call Do Not Disturb in that the scanner will not interupt an active transmission and will only check for activity on the priority channels when the scanner is not receiving audio from another channel.

Priority plus allows the BC125AT to scan only the priority channels. 

To enter the Priority Menu, press the Func button followed by the 1 / Pri button.  This gives you the Priority menu.  From there you can select Priority Off, Priority DND, Priority Scan, and Priority Plus.

Delay time can be set on each channel, Close Call Search, Custom Search, and Service search.  This controls whether the scanner pauses at the end of the transmission for the set amount of time.  You can set the amount of time it holds on that channel before resuming up to 5 seconds or a negative delay to -10.  

Custom searches can also be set up in the scanner.  You can set up to 10 custom search ranges.  To enter the custom search press the Srch/Svc button.  To program a custom search, enter the custom search by pressing the Srch button then press Func followed by E / Pgm button.  From there you can set the limits of the search bands, delay times, CTCSS/DCS search, review any lockouts and you can save a frequency form the search function to the programmed channel scan.

You can also do a quick search.  While the scanner is scanning programmed channels, press the Hold button.  Then input the frequency and press the Srch button and the scanner will start searching from the entered frequency frequency.  

Pressing the number keys during a programmed scan, service search, close call, or custom search will turn on/off bands, banks, or search ranges just like all other bank/channel type scanners. 

Performance

I am running the BC125AT beside the Icom R6 and the PSR-800.  The BC125AT and Icom R6 are using the Diamond RH77CA antenna, I can't tell a difference on the signals they are pulling in on civilian air band.  They seem to be pulling in the same signals at the same signal strength.  That is very impressive to say the least!  The 125AT seems to be keeping pace with the Icom R6, which is well regarded as a great receiver.  I am actually very impressed by the BC125AT.  I think that on VHF-High band the R6 edges the 125AT by a slight margin.  The R6 will pick up fringe signals where the 125AT won't.  However, the R6 also picks up a ton of interference whereas the 125AT isn't affected by it as bad.  The BC125AT vs the PSR-800 on VHF-Air, is no comparison.  The 125AT seems to win hands down in my unscientific tests.  The PSR-800 is excellent on the 800 band, but the 125AT doesn't cover that band.

Mil-Air receive seems to be quite good as well.  I have picked up several programmed Mil-Air frequencies.  I am not in a high traffic Mil-Air area (South Arkansas).  However, there is an airforce base about 100 miles to my north.  I have heard several Mil-Air comms as they fly in my area.

VHF-High band has great receive as well.  I regularly pick up a police department about 20 miles to my west with good audio and good signal strength.  As well as a county SO about 20 miles to my south and one that is about 15 miles to my north.  I think that is decent for a hand held scanner with a duck antenna.  I am pleased with its performance in this area.

UHF receive seems to be pretty decent as well.  A local fire department uses UHF Band and it sounds great.  I do not have enough low band in my area to test this.  

Audio is very good on this radio. The speaker has a clear tone and loud enough in the car to be heard over road noise.  Comparing to the R6, the 125 has a cleaner sound to me.  The R6 has a teeny sound in my opinion, although it can get loud the smaller speaker doesn't give as good of a tone.  VHF-Air audio is comparable to the PSR-800 as far as tone.  Cranking the audio all the way up to 15 on the BC125AT causes a little distortion, but not so much that it is unintelligible.  Typically sitting on my desk, I find that having the audio set between 6 and 8 is a comfortable listening volume.

The BC125AT uses batteries very quickly. I am scanning using back light on all the time. I am only getting about 4-6 hours out of a set of fully charged (and fairly new) Energizer 2300 mAh, as well as the supplied generic 2300 mAh batteries.  These batteries are always charged in a MAHA C9000 Charger.  Usually it is closer to the 4 hour mark.  Compared to my little R6 which runs for 10 + on 2 of the same batteries with back light on full time.  Of course, the R6 has a much smaller LCD and speaker to power. This isn't a huge deal since I have a backpack full of charged batteries with me most of the time.  The BC125AT has a low battery beep that becomes audible when the scanners batteries are almost exhausted.  On my 125AT the scanner will beep for about 1 to 2 minutes before the scanner powers itself off.  Not much warning, so if you hear the beep, you might want to start looking for those extra batteries or plugging your scanner into external power.

No ATT button? That is about all that is missing on this great little radio.  Some channels, especially when I place the scanner near my computer or driving around in the car, will receive interference.  Attenuation would be great in these instances but the temporary lockout works to block those channels.  Out of the 300 to 400 channels I have programmed in the scanner, 1 maybe 2 or 3 channels actually get plagued by interference regularly near my computer.  So I don't think it is a huge problem.  The scanner seems to handle strong nearby signals fairly well.  But if the channel being plagued by interference is a channel you really want to monitor, this is a problem.

You cannot rename the bank names.  This would be very handy.  As it is now, the banks are named Bank1, Bank2, etc.  I am quite sure being able to name the banks would be possible via a firmware update, but I am unsure if it will ever happen.  Being able to name the banks would allow a better memory management and easily recall what you have programmed in a specific bank.  

At the time of this review (3/23/12) having 7.5 kHz steps is not possible.  However, Paul Opitz (Uniden Product Manager) posted on radio reference that this option is coming in a future firmware update.

I have a dedicated 800 MHz P25 scanner. The 125AT makes a great 2nd (or 3rd, 4th, or 5th ) scanner if you need the 800 MHz, digital coverage.  I don't miss 800MHz coverage on this scanner because I am using it for Air band and Mil-Air mostly and some local VHF-High public safety.  

I would definitely opt for the Diamond RH77CA antenna to replace the stock duck antenna.  The RH77CA is longer but pulls in signals so much better.  I wouldn't throw away the stock antenna, but if I lost it in my junk drawer somewhere, it wouldn't bother me much.  I do use the stock antenna from time to time just to cut down on footprint of the radio.  If I clip it to my pocket or belt, then the stock antenna comes in handy.  Other than that, the BC125AT has the Diamond antenna on it and they work very well together!  Pairing the Radio Shack RS800 Mhz antenna on the BC125AT does cut down on the civil air band receive somewhat.  It seems to be only slightly better than the stock antenna in this band.  That is to be expected since the RS antenna is tuned for 800 MHz.  I used an extendable antenna from a GRE base/mobile scanner on the BC125AT and had very good results.  The extendable antenna performs similar to the Diamond antenna.  The extendable antenna is about 24" in length vs the Diamond that is 16" in length.

If you only need coverage below 512 MHz, non-digital, non-trunking scanner, I don't think you can go wrong with this little radio.  Especially at the price that Uniden released it at. ($139.99 at most dealers).  I picked mine up from Amazon for $139.99 with free shipping.  ScannerMaster or Grove are also good dealers.  All in all I think it's a great deal for $140 (and possibly cheaper online).

Matt Outlaw

Uniden BC125AT vs Icom IC-R6

BC246T vs BC125AT vs BC346T

Thanks to DaveIN from RadioReference for this pic!

Uniden BC125AT a Closer Look (in Pictures)

Below are some close up pictures of the new Uniden BC125AT.

First a video of the BC125AT in action

Click the pictures for full resolution!

BC125AT Scanning

BC125AT Holding on a programmed channel

LCD Close Up

Keypad Close Up

Speaker Close Up

Left Side Close Up

Rear View

Right Side

Top View - BNC Connector

Bottom View

Box Front

Box Side 1

Box Rear

Box Side 2

What's in the Box?  Uniden BC125AT, Wrist Strap, Antenna, 2 Rechargeable 2300 mAh AA Batteries and programming cable (not pictured), Owner's Manual, 2 informational pamphlets.

Program Mode

Weather Mode

Close Call Mode

Service Search Mode

Weather Scan

Uniden BC125AT - Icom IC-R6 size comparison

Uniden BC125AT First Impressions

Uniden BC125AT First Impressions

I've had the BC125AT for about 3 days now. Comparing it against my Icom IC-R6 on VHF-Air band, the R6 is more sensitive, but the R6 is a great receiver. The BC125AT isn't far behind though. I have been using the scanner with a Diamond RH77CA antenna. It does a really nice job on Air band. I am impressed by the BC125 and am glad I made the purchase.

No ATT button? That is about all that is missing on this great little radio. The plastic it is made of feels a bit cheap but hey it's a $140 scanner. It's not terrible but doesn't seem as solid as say a BC396T or the Icom R6. Feels similar to the BC246T to me. I picked mine up on Amazon.com for $139 with free shipping. 


ALPHA TAGGING!!!!! I am not sure I could use a scanner without it. I am glad Uniden put in this feature on this sub $140 scanner! It makes all the difference in the world. I like how they implemented it too! You can see your alpha tag, Channel #, Frequency, Mode, PL Tone, and signal strength on the screen.

SAME weather alert codes would have been a nice feature to have. However, the general weather alert (which picks up the 1050 hz tone) will suffice.

Close Call DND and Priority DND are awesome. I have gotten several hits on CC. The DND (Do Not Disturb) feature checks for signals only when the scanner isn't actively receiving signals so it doesn't interrupt a transmission. Other scanners you will hear a pause in the audio every 2 seconds while the scanner checks for the Priority.

The large display is a nice feature. I wish I could dim the back light though. It isn't overly bright but it would be nice to save the batteries. It seems to use batteries rather quickly. I am scanning using back light on all the time. I am only getting about 4-6 hours out of a set of fully charged (and fairly new) Energizer 2300 mAh. Compared to my little R6 which runs for 10 + on 2 of the same batteries with back light on full time, of course it is a much smaller LCD to power also. Not a huge deal since I have a backpack full of charged batteries.

The scanner is very easy to program and manipulate. I have yet to break out the Owner's Manual. I've programmed about 200-250 channels with tags and PL tones by hand so far. It is tedious to program by hand but not hard at all.  It is just a little time consuming.  I downloaded ARC125 demo. It is a great piece of software and would be very handy, however, I am a tightwad and don't want to spend $25 on something that in all likelihood I would use 1 time. Uniden does provide programming software free of charge.  It doesn't provide RadioReference Import but it may be a better solution than trying to program by hand.

Audio is very good. The speaker has a clear tone and loud enough in the car to be heard over road noise. Temporary lockout is a great feature when a channel has interference. This is where I would like to have an ATT feature. But the Temporary Lockout works in this instance for me.

I have a dedicated 800 MHz P25 scanner. The 125AT makes a great 2nd (or 3rd, or 4th, or 5th ) scanner. I don't miss 800MHz coverage on this scanner because I am using it for Air band and Mil-Air mostly and some local VHF-High public safety. The BC125AT reminds me a lot of the BC246T even though they have different management systems.

All in all I think it's a good deal for $140 (and possibly cheaper). 

What are you waiting for, go out and buy yourself one!

Uniden BC396T

The BCD396T is the best scanner I have ever used, period. I really like the memory setup that is similar to the BC246T. The dynamic memory makes programming multiple trunking systems a snap and I never worry about running out of memory or “banks” like in older scanners when programming multiple trunking systems is near impossible at times. The dynamic memory setup allows you to easily group various agencies or frequencies together. In a system, I personally always group all of my fire in one group, police in a separate group, EMS in another group, etc. With 6000 channels regardless if you use text or not, you will find it hard to use all of the memory. It can be done, but I don't see myself using all of the possible memory. I have programmed every county in the state of Arkansas (fire, police, and EMS) along with virtually all of the public safety trunking systems in Arkansas and much of North Louisiana conventional and trunking and I have only used 66% of the available memory. Very impressive!

I love the bright blue backlight. It really stands out and is easily seen in the dark and in direct sunlight. There are numerous settings for the backlight including a timed light (10 and 30 seconds), key press 10 second and infinite, and also backlight with squelch. The 100 quick keys is a very welcome addition to the BCD396T. The BC246T only had 10 quick keys to access systems. This limited your ability to access your programming. Adding the 100 quick keys to the BCD396T allows you to unlock the potential of the dynamic memory.

Fire Tone Out (FTO) is a great feature added to the BCD396T. It is somewhat difficult to find the information needed to program the FTO but if you have access to the information via a fire dept, radio programmer, or some info can be found at the radio reference database, it is a great feature. You cannot scan and use the FTO at the same time. FTO works similar to the SAME weather alert feature, where the scanner must be in standby mode while waiting for a fire tone to activate the FTO. A nice feature added by Uniden via a firmware update is if a dept uses the same radio frequency but different tone frequencies for different groups like EMS, FIRE, Rescue, etc., the FTO feature will monitor all programmed FTO settings using the same radio frequency and activate on the group that is paging.

The Close Call feature on the BCD396T is the same as that on the BC246T and Pro-83 scanners. This is a great feature when you are close enough to the transmitting source. If you don't expect the close call feature to catch frequencies over 100' away, you'll enjoy the feature, especially if you happen up on an accident, fire screen or other incident where you don't know the agencies involved. You can use the close call feature while scanning your programmed frequencies which is a great feature. You can also use a search and store feature with the close call that automatically stores the found frequency to a system. I have picked up a close call hit form as much as 1/2 mile away from a repeater but this is not typical. Mostly it will be a close proximity feature. The BCD396T has a great alert feature. You can set the scanner so that it alerts you when there is activity on a channel you specify.

Custom Alerts For each alert in the scanner (such as channel alert, Close Call alert, emergency alert), you can select from 9 different tone patterns and also set the alert volume level independently from the main volume level. This works great for me because I set different alerts for different fire depts. in my area. I hear the unique alert and without looking I automatically know which fire department is transmitting.

The single knob on the top that acts as a volume, squelch, and scroll knob is a good idea. I'd like a separate knob for squelch but this one works well. It simplifies the top of the scanner. The squelch isn't as sensitive as I'd like it to be. The squelch has to be set to 0 to open up (cause static). I usually keep it set at 2 with no problems. When you adjust the squelch and volume, there is a digital readout on the screen that shows 0 to 15 on both squelch and volume. If you push the knob down, you will see the volume bar on the screen along with a volt meter in the top right of the screen. The volt meter isn't mentioned in the manual but is a great “hidden” feature.

A couple of other unmentioned feature is that this scanner will do I-Calls on a 9600bps digital system. This is something that other digital scanners can't do. Also there is a feature that is similar to the 246, a frequency counter. While powering on press (Hold, 3, and 0) and the scanner will be a frequency counter for the frequency range specified.

There is also a signal strength meter on the screen of the BCD396T that I like. I missed having a signal meter on the BC246T and am glad to see it made it to the 396. The screen has an adjustable contrast which I find useful at times. This scanner has the SAME weather alerts and weather alert priority like the BC246. As with the 246T, I like the fact that you can use the weather alert priority while scanning. It does cause a skip every 10 seconds in a transmission you are hearing. That pause you hear is when the scanner is checking for activity from the local NOAA weather transmitter. I use the SAME feature (which must be in standby mode) at night when my area is expecting severe weather. I think this is a great feature to add to a scanner. I hope all future scanners keep this feature. I don't use it often, but I do appreciate it when I need it.

The BCD396T comes with everything you need unlike Pro-Series scanners. The BCD396T includes a PC Programming cable, 3 rechargeable batteries, AC adapter, BNC/SMA adapter, belt clip, SMA antenna, wrist strap, and free downloadable full version programming software. The software is a little difficult to navigate at first but makes programming this scanner much easier than doing it by hand. The belt clip included with the scanner is the first of its kind on a scanner. I really like the swivel style belt clip. The clip makes carrying the scanner more pleasant than other scanners. Because of the size of the scanner along with the belt clip style I find myself carrying the scanner everywhere I go. The belt clip holds the scanner firmly in place on a belt or clipped to the pocket. The wrist strap is a nice addition as well. I use it when holding my scanner and it has prevented the $525.00 investment from hitting the ground.

The scanner comes preprogrammed with hundreds of frequencies and systems from all over the US, none of which were in my area so I deleted them. If I travel to an area, I can reload them via the software provided by Uniden. The audio on this scanner is much louder than that of the 246T. If you open the radio all the way to full volume, the audio is loud and clear. It doesn't distort like the 246T does. The pitch of the audio is different than that of the 246. The 246 has a deeper pitch whereas the 396 has a higher pitch (more treble) sound. Analog audio comes in very well on the 396T. I haven't had a chance to monitor a digital system as of yet, my area is to change over Mid-September 2005 and I will report back after I have had a chance to monitor the new digital system for a month or two. The reception of the BCD396T is really good on 800 MHz and VHF-High with the supplied SMA antenna. I would likely buy an antenna dedicated to 800 if I lived in an area with multiple 800 systems but I only have 1 in my area and will likely stick to the supplied antenna.

BCD396D Digital System

I like the fact that Uniden has given us the feature of search with scan. While scanning my programmed frequencies I can set up one or more custom search of a frequency range and/or the preprogrammed service searches. This is a great feature if you are searching for new frequencies or just want to monitor for instance the HAM frequencies.

Battery life of the BCD396T averages between 8 to 12 hours depending on backlight usage, radio activity, and battery type. I use mostly Energizer 2500 mAh rechargeable batteries. But I also use the stock 2300 mAh and Energizer 2200 mAh. The 2500 obviously last longer than the 2200 but not by much, maybe an hour. I think that battery life is relatively good considering all of the features that are used by this scanner. I normally leave the backlight on and have moderate activity and get 8 hours out of a set of 2500 mAh batteries. Without the backlight on at all I have gotten 12 hours from 2500 mAh's. I haven't had the chance to use the scanner on a digital system so battery life may decrease when digital decoding begins, again, I'll report on that in a couple of months.

The size of this scanner is one of its best features. Like the 246, the compact design is definitely a plus to those of us who want to take the scanner where ever we go. Though the scanner is small, that doesn't mean that the display is hard to see. The text used and size of the display makes it easy to see and has plenty of information on the screen. The screen displays your system you are monitoring, the group, and the user. Pressing FNC + 5 easily allows you to see the frequency that is being used which could not be done with the BC246T. Also displayed is the system quick key and group quick keys. Other info is also displayed if selected like priority, att, channel modulation, etc. Another feature I didn't see mentioned in the manual is an activity display on trunking systems. When pushing the volume knob down briefly during the monitoring of a trunked system, you'll see the volume displayed and above that is a line that displays trunking activity. You'll see marks on the line for every user that is talking on the system. It is a neat feature but is kind of useless to me.

BCD396T Backlight

The BCD396T has the Trunk Tracker IV Operation Follows unencrypted conversations on analog Motorola, Motorola Astro 25 (APCO 25), EDACS, EDACS SCAT, and LTR trunked radio systems, including systems in VHF, UHF, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, and 900 MHz bands. The scanner can scan both conventional and trunked systems at the same time. I like the addition of the 700 MHz trunking capability. More and more public safety agencies will be moving to 700 systems in the future and this scanner will be ready for them. Also not mentioned is the fact that this scanner will trunk the 380 to 400 range used by the U.S. Military. All in all, this scanner is the best hand held scanner ever made in my opinion. It is worth every penny. With most dealers charging from $519 to $550, it is a steal with all of the features that is included in this scanner. Uniden has done an excellent job with adding features and keeping prices reasonable. I would recommend this scanner to anyone serious about scanning. I believe this to be the ultimate scanner at this time. But as we know, like a computer, it will likely be replaced in a couple of years or out done by a competitor like GRE. We will have to wait and see.

Digital Sound Quality and Performance: I have been using my BCD396T on the Arkansas P25 digital system for over a year. I am pleased with the performance of the scanner on the system. I did have to adjust the audio settings as described in the manual. But after doing that, sound is as clear if not better than the old analog system. BCD396T performs great on this system. The scanner doesn’t miss any transmissions or cut them off during the transmission. I use the system hold time at 0 and have no problems whatsoever with the new system. I am glad I bought the BCD396T and I would highly recommend it to anyone that is interested.

 

Uniden BCT15

The BCT15 is an excellent scanner. It is the best base/mobile scanner I have used to date. It has so many features, handles a base antenna well (no overloading), and at a good price.

In the box:

First off, the scanner and accessories are packaged very securely in the box. Everything is tightly packaged and wrapped in protective plastic. Inside the box you will find:

• BCT15 Scanner
• Extendable, angle adjustable antenna
• Mounting bracket with hardware
• DC direct wiring harness
• DC cigarette power cable
• AC power cable
• PC Programming Cable
• Owner's manual and other literature
• Scanner Programming Tutorial by Paul Opitz

You may notice that the DIN-E sleave is not included with the BCT15 as it is with the BCD996T. Uniden did not include the DIN-E sleeve to help keep the BCT15 close to a target price. You can purchase one from Uniden.com if needed.

Construction:

As soon as you pick up the box, you'll immediately notice the weight. The scanner is heavy.  The weight gives it a very rugged feel. It is similar in weight to the Pro-2055 or Pro-2096 scanners.

The volume, squelch and VFO knob all have a detent (has a clicking feeling). All of the buttons are very responsive and firm. They have the same feel as those used on the BR330T and BCD396T. Overall the BCT15 is very well constructed.

BCT15 Volume/Squelch Knobs

Physical:

The look and of the scanner is absolutely flawless. The buttons and knobs are all very responsive. It is more attractive to me than the BCD996T because it has the black faceplate. The LCD isn't red as advertised, it is more of an orange color. It is bright enough to see in daylight conditions and has 4 brightness levels (including off) to choose from. It isn't too bright and doesn't cause a distraction at night. If you are mounting it solid in your shack or vehicle, be aware that if the scanner is at certain angles you don't see the information on the LCD anymore, it simply disappears. The text is nice and large making it easy to read in mobile applications and for those of us whose eye sight isn't what it used to be. The LCD now displays the text with the frequency, which wasn't the case on the BR330T, BC246T, and BCD396T. However, if you are viewing frequency with text, you don't see the mode or ATT. The CTCSS/DCS tone is displayed on both viewing modes.

The speaker is bottom firing. The speaker is located on the left side on the bottom of the scanner. It is centered front to back, but on the left sided to side. Left meaning the left side as if you are facing the scanner.

The squelch, volume, and VFO knobs have a detent as you turn them. I would prefer a smooth turning knob, especially on the volume and squelch, but the detent isn't too bothersome. The BCT15 squelch seems to actually work versus the squelch on the BR330T and BCD396T scanners.

Performance:

BCT15 VFO and Keypad

Interference, intermod, and overloading are three words that can't be associated with this scanner! It doesn't have a problem with any of the three. I have my BCT15 set up about 3 inches from my PC and performance or caused any interference. My Pro-2055 always had issues with interference from the computer. I also have the BCT15 connected to my Scantenna and it is never overloaded by strong signals. The Pro-2055 would easily overload and almost always had to use the attenuator for the scanner to work properly. I have only used the ATT function on the BCT15 on about 3 or 4 frequencies out of the 2470 frequencies that are programmed into the scanner.

There is no squelch tail like on some scanners. It picks up the signal and releases it very cleanly. The performance of this scanner is unmatched by any scanner I have owned.

VHF-Low Band: There simply isn't a lot of VHF-Low band to monitor in my area. I have managed to picked up some distant VHF-Low signals. But I can't say if it is the scanner pulling it in or if is that I have never had the frequency in a scanner before? But it was several miles away that I was hearing, likely 30 to 40 miles on my base antenna.

VHF-High Band: It is working great on VHF-High. I have used it both on the stock antenna and on my Scantenna. It is pulling in more signals than my Pro-2055. I am easily hearing signals from 60 miles + during the day, and over 100 miles at night on the Scantenna. Very impressive to say the least

BCT15 Conventional Channel LCD

UHF: There is only a couple of UHF frequencies that I monitor, but they are coming in with ease.

800 MHz: It is pulling in those sneaky 800 signals. I have tracked several Motorola Systems in my area with ease. Very loud and clear audio on the trunked systems. After dark, the 800 signals are really pouring in. I am consistently monitoring systems at 40 to 60 miles using the Scantenna.

Civialian and Military Air: I am hearing lots of Civilian and Military air using both stock antenna and Scantenna. There isn't a lot of MilAir in my area, but I am hearing air traffic from C-130's out of Little Rock Air Force Base. Also several NORAD and Air Refueling frequencies. The CivAir band is extremely active and picking up great. Lots of traffic from Ft. Worth, Little Rock and Memphis. All in all, the Civ and MilAir bands are really sensitive and makes a great receiver in this area.

The BCT15 is very sensitive and works great! I think this scanner will give the BC780XLT a run for it's money. The BC780XLT has a strong following, but I think the BCT15 will convert many of those followers! Yes, it is that good!

Fire Tone Out: This feature works well. I have tested it on my local FD. It is very hard to find the tones needed as the scanner will not search for them. Basically you have to either have access to the tones or use your scanner connected to the PC to record the tones and then use a software to decode what frequency the tones are using.

Close Call: Is just that, CLOSE. It will not pick up from miles away. Less than 1/4 mile on most repeaters. About 100 feet when trying to pick up a mobile or handheld radio. It works great for what it is supposed to do. It is not meant to catch every hit within 1 mile. It works great for close proximity transmissions.

Audio: The audio is great. It can be very loud if you when you need it. It can also be soft and quite on lower audio settings but still easy to hear. There is no distortion whatsoever when you crank up the volume. Audio on trunked systems sound like conventional signals. It truly is great.

BCT15 Menu Screen

Features:

This thing is loaded with features. Some of the most notable include:

• Dynamic Memory - This is too cool to describe. You have to experience it to appreciate it.
• 2500 channels
• Multi Site Trunking - Allows you to use the same TGID list for multiple towers.
• PC Programmable/Controllable - You can control/program your scanner using either UASD or Butel Software. UASD costs $29.99. Download UASD, then purchase the registration key. Butel has several packages available, you can choose the best for you.
• Frequency Coverage - 25-512 MHz, 764-776 MHz, 794-956 MHz (excluding cellular), 1240-1300 MHz.
• CTCSS/DCS - Allows you to program or search for these tones. Searching is instant.
• Attenuator - Allows you to reduce by 20 dB the strength of a strong signal. This helps to protect against interference or weak signals.
• Scan Speed - 100 channels per second.
• DIN E and ISO Vehicle Mountable - You can purchase the DIN-E sleeve and mount it in your vehicles factory radio slot. Or some people mount an aftermarket CD Player and the scanner in the same hole when their vehicle uses a Double DIN sized factory radio.
• Temporary Lockout - This is one of the best features. Allowing you to lockout an annoying frequency. The frequency will be unlocked at the next power off/on cycle.
• Close Call Do Not Disturb - This works great. You don't hear that annoying break every 2 seconds. It only checks for Close Call Hits when there is no audio.
• GPS - I don't have a GPS unit to connect to the scanner so I can't comment on it's operation. However, this is a cool feature if you are going mobile with the scanner! The GPS feature will allow you to set up systems to be turned on/off as you drive in and out of range. Also you can set the scanner to alert you to Points of interest, dangerous road crossings, etc.
• Broadcast Screen - You can use this feature so that Close Call or Search ignore hits in Pager, FM, UHF TV, VHF TV, VHF TV, NOAA Weather, or custom bands you set yourself.
• Fire Tone Out - This is incorporated from the BR330T and BCD396T scanners. I don't use the feature, but I can see where it would be very handy in larger cities.
• Duplicate Input Alert - Warns you if you try to input the same frequency or name into the same group. This only works per group. And is not global.

Priority and Priority Plus - You can have any number of priority channels. Although, the more channels you set as priority, the less they are actually priority channels. The scanner can check the priority channels every 2 seconds for activity. Like Wx Alert, this will cause an audible break in audio. *Priority Plus scans only channels you have set as priority.

• SAME Wx Alert - I have used this on numerous occasions on some of my other scanners. This feature could truly be a life saver by alerting you to hazardous weather.
• Weather Alert Priority - The Wx Alert feature allows you to scan programmed information while the scanner checks for the 1050 Hz tone from NOAA every 10 seconds or so. This will cause a break in your audio every 10 seconds while the scanner checks for the tone. The tone will cause the scanner to switch to a local NOAA Wx Repeater for you to hear the hazardous information.
• Beartracker - I don't use this feature. It is useless to me. It works, but only for the frequencies that are pre-programmed into the scanner. It is in no way a radar detector and likely won't save you from a ticket very many times as it only alerts you to certain agencies, not all of them.
• Service Search - This feature is a welcome help at times. It now includes MilAir Service search (not previously included in other models, except the 996.) Basically the Service Search is pre-programmed search ranges. Others include: Public Safety, News, HAM Radio, Marine, Railroad, Air, CB Radio, FRS/GMRS, Racing, TV Broadcast, FM Broadcast, and Special.
• Custom Search - You can set up 10 custom search ranges.Search Keys - You can assign 3 keys on your scanners keypad to search ranges.Search with Scan - Using either a custom search or service search, you can search those ranges and scan programmed frequencies at the same time.
• Tone Volume Adjust - You can adjust the volume of alerts used on Key beep, BearTracker, Emergency Alert, Channel Alert, Close Call, Tone Out, and Location Alert. You can choose up to 15 audio settings.
• Frequency Auto Store - This allows you to store a frequency automatically during a search.
• Alert + - This feature I did not see in the manual. You press Function and then E/Yes to activate. The scanner will then only produce audio on channels you have the alert feature activated.
• Startup Configuration - This allows you to program certain systems to only be turned on when you press the corresponding startup key on power up. Very cool feature.
• Control Channel Only - This allows you to input only the Control Channels on Motorola Systems.
• Trunking Activity Indicators - You can choose to set the screen mode to show either the Frequency and Talkgroup on trunking systems or to show the Trunking *Activity Indicators. The Indicators show you trunking activity when you hold on a control channel.

BCT15 vs. BR330T

Dislikes:

The Owner's Manual seems to be missing some information or puts it in hard to find locations. After lots of searching for the alert + feature I found it on Page 15. I think it should have been pointed out more and described in more detail. Alert + is activated by holding on a channel and pressing Function and then the 9 key. Alt + will be displayed on the bottom row. This feature will only allow audio from channels you have the alert feature turned on.

Startup configuration doesn't work as I think it should (my opinion of course). I thought that by setting 1 system to Start Up Key 1 meant that when I turn the scanner off, and back on while holding key 1, then only that system will be scanned (or only the systems assigned to that key). That isn't so. From what I can tell, you must set every system to a startup key. If not, then when you turn on the scanner using Startup Configuration, the system(s) you have set to that key will be activated, but so will all systems that are not assigned to a key. To me, i think all systems not on the key should be locked out automatically.

I would like to have seen the volume and squelch knobs to turn smoothly. Instead they have a detent which is bothersome to me, but this is merely my own preference.

A very major flaw is that the text on the LCD disappears at certain angles. If you have a specific place in your vehicle or shack where you are going to mount the scanner, you may want to turn it on and make sure you can see the text on the screen before hard mounting it. On the BCD396T, BR330T, Pro-2055 and many other scanners i have used, you can look from the side and see the text. But on the BCT15, the text will simply disappear. Looking straight on up to about a 45 degree angle, the text is very clear and large, but after 45 degrees or so, it is gone. Just be aware of this.

BCT15 Rear View

Conclusion:

With the features, frequency coverage, performance, and looks of this scanner, it is a great deal for around $230. I strongly recommend someone looking for a base/mobile scanner to give this one a hard look. It is 10x more scanner than the Pro-2055. I would love to add the BCD996T to my collection for digital monitoring. It is basically the same scanner, it does have a few features that the BCT15 doesn't have, but the BCT15 has features that the BCD996T doesn't have, like Alert +, Beartracker, etc. I would recommend either the BCD996T or BCT15 for anyone looking for a good base/mobile scanner.

Great job Uniden!