Uniden BC245XLT - Manual

CONTENTS Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Important Notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Terminology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 What is Scanning? . . . . . . . . . . . . ...

Introduction The BC 245XLT is a state-of-the-art radio with TrunkTracking™ and automatic scanning capabilities. It can store frequencies such as police, fire/emergency, marine, railroad, air, amateur, and other communications into 10 banks of 30 channels each. With the new SmartScanner™ feature, you...

Important Notice n This scanning radio has been manufactured so that it will not tune radio frequencies assigned by the FCC for cellular telephone usage. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, as amended, makes it a federal crime to intentionally intercept cellular or cordless telephone ...

Terminology What is Scanning? Unlike standard AM or FM radio stations, most two-way communications do not transmit continuously. The BC 245XLT scans the channels you program until it finds an active frequency. Scanning stops on an active frequency and remains on that channel as long as the transmiss...

Feature Highlights n Trunk Tracking – Follow UHF High Band UHF 800/900 MHz trunked public safety and public service systems just as if conventional two-way communications were used. n Multi-Track – Track more than one trunking system at a time and scan conventional and trunked systems at the same ti...

Where to Obtain More Information Before using your scanner, you must program frequencies into available channels. The Betty Bearcat Frequency Guide lists typical frequencies used around the U.S.A. and Canada that you may program into your new scanner. To obtain a copy of the frequency guide, contact...

Included with Your Scanner If any of these items are missing or damaged, immediately contact your place of purchase or Uniden Customer Service at: (800) 297-1023, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Central, Monday through Friday. 10 RS232C Antenna Belt Clip AC Adapter Battery Pack Earphone BC 245 XLT TM 300-Ch...

Setup These are helpful guidelines when using your new scanner: n If your scanner receives interference or electrical noise, move the scanner or its antenna away from the source. n If you need to improve reception, use an optional antenna designed for multi-band coverage. (You can purchase this type...

Charging the Battery Pack Use the AC Adapter/Charger to power the BC 245XLT from an AC outlet. You can use your scanner while the battery charges. To fully charge the battery, leave the AC Adapter/Charger connected for 14 – 16 hours. Note: Disconnect the AC Adapter/Charger from the unit when chargin...

Flexible Antenna Belt Clip 13 Do not tighten the screws too tight. You can damage the case or clip. Attach the flexible antenna to the BNC connector. C:\Manuals\BC245XLT\BC245XLT.VP Tue Jun 15 11:01:47 1999 Color profile: Disabled Composite Default screen

Basic Operation Note: Fold out the Front Cover to see the Controls and Indicators while reading this Guide. Turn the Scanner On Turn the VOLUME control clockwise out of the detent position. bc245 flashes twice in the display. The scanner automatically starts scanning. Setting the Squelch To set the ...

5. Turn SQUELCH back counter-clockwise just until the hiss stops. Now the “Squelch Gate” allows only clear signals through. Keylock Key Lock prevents accidental key entries during conventional scanning or while in trunk tracking mode. 1. To lock the keypad, press and hold until the symbol appears in...

Programming Before the BC 245XLT can begin conventional scanning, you must program a frequency into at least one channel. Repeat this procedure for each channel you want to program. 1. Select frequencies from your dealer, from various sources on the internet, or from one of the guides listed on page...

Duplicate Frequency Alert If you enter a frequency which is stored in another channel, you hear a beep and the other channel displays. Press to clear and start again. —OR— Press again to store the frequency in both channels. Programming Tips n Do not program a weather frequency into one of the chann...

Deleting a Stored Frequency To delete a stored frequency: a. Select a channel. b. Press . c. Then press . Note : Channels with no frequencies are automatically locked out. 19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C:\Manuals\BC245XLT\BC245XLT.VP Tue Jun 15 11:01:58 1999 Color profile: Disabled Composite Default scree...

Scanning 1. After programming frequencies, simply press to begin scanning. 2. The bank indicators selected for scanning appear in the display, and the bank being currently monitored flashes. You can deselect banks from active scanning by pressing their number on your keypad. The indicator for each d...

If you want to stop on a channel during scanning, press . If you want to resume scanning, press . To directly access a specific channel: 1. Press . 2. Enter the channel number you want using the keypad. 3. Press again. RF Attenuation Feature The BC 245XLT comes with an RF Attenuation feature. If you...

2. You hear a beep, and ATT appears in the display begins flashing. Now all incoming signal strength is reduced. To turn RF Attenuation off, just press ATT again. The ATT icon goes out. Setting the Delay Mode A delay can be set for each programmed channel so that when scan or search stops on a chann...

Delay in Manual Mode 1. Press . 2. Select the channel that you want by entering the number and press . Press and DLY displays indicating the scanner will pause on the channel when a transmission is received. Channel Lockout You can lockout any channel so it is not reviewed during normal scanning. Yo...

Lockout in Scanning Mode If the scanner keeps stopping on a particular channel due to noise or too frequent transmissions, you may want to keep that channel from scanning. 1. Wait until the scanner stops at the channel. 2. Then press . 3. The scanner immediately resumes scanning because the locked o...

Restore a Locked Out Channel 1. Press . 2. Select a locked out channel. a. Enter the channel number. b. Then press again. 3. Press to unlock the channel. The L/O icon goes out. Restore All Locked-Out Channels You can restore all locked-out channels in a bank only when a bank is selected for scan. If...

2. Press and hold for about two seconds. You will hear two beeps when all the channels have been restored. Priority Scan When Priority Scan is turned on, your scanner checks the priority channel every two seconds for activity. If a signal is present on the priority channel, your scanner monitors the...

Changing the Priority Channel You cannot eliminate the Priority Channel, but you can change it to any of the 30 available channels in each bank. 1. Press . 2. Select a new Priority Channel. a. Enter the channel number. b. Then press again. 3. Press and hold for two seconds to designate this channel ...

Searching Setting a Search Range The BC 245XLT can search a specific frequency range to find frequencies if you don’t have a frequency guide available or if new stations have been added since your guide was published. 1. Press to stop scanning. 2. Using your keypad, enter the lowest frequency of you...

Search Hold Feature 1. Press at anytime to stop the search. 2. Press to move to the next higher frequency. —OR— Press to move down to the previous frequency. 3. Press to resume searching. Data Skip A scanner will normally stop on any transmission it receives. This means the BC 245XLT will stop on da...

SVC Scanning The Service Scan feature allows you to toggle through six bands preprogrammed for police, fire/emergency, railroad aircraft, marine, and weather. The frequencies selected for these bands are the most commonly used around the U.S. 1. Press . POLICE appears beneath the blinking channel nu...

SVC Scan Lockout Follow these steps to lockout frequencies during Service scanning: Note: You cannot lockout weather frequencies. 1. Press to stop the Service Scan. 2. Press . 3. Press to resume scanning. Note: You can lockout up to 20 frequencies in SVC Scan mode. The 21st locked out frequency ente...

Programming with SVC Scan Follow these steps to program frequencies into a channel during Service scanning: 1. Select a channel you want to program. Note: If a frequency is already stored in the channel you select it will be erased when you save the new frequency. 2. Press repeatedly to select Servi...

Trunk Tracking Your BC 245XLT is designed to track Motorola Type I, Type II, Hybrid, SMARTNET™, PRIVACY PLUS™, and EDACS ® analog trunking systems* on any band. When tracking these types of systems, you may want to remember these important points: n Your scanner defaults to monitor Motorola Type II ...

EDACS ® Tracking TrunkTracker II now allows tracking of EDACS trunked systems. Until now these widely used systems have been almost impossible to monitor with a conventional scanner. With your TrunkTracker II listening to EDACS is remarkably easy, and perhaps even easier than conventional scanning. ...

Setting the Squelch Since Squelch is automatically adjusted in trunking mode, it isn’t necessary to manually adjust the squelch control while trunk tracking. However, the squelch setting you select before you begin trunk tracking can affect how fast your scanner acquires the data channel, and, in so...

Searching a Trunked Bank If programming a Type I system, you cannot Scan the trunking bank you just programmed unless you enter talk groups into memory. See ahead for details. With the search function, you’ll be able to find all the active talk groups within the trunked system. Once the data channel...

Frequency Find Mode n Press the while a talk group ID is active and the display will flash the frequency on which that talk group is transmitting. n Press and hold for two seconds and the display will automatically flash the ID and the frequency alternately until you set the condition by pressing th...

Restore all IDs To unlock all locked out IDs at once, follow these steps: 1. Press and hold until you hear two short beeps. 2. Press to unlock all the IDs at once. Note: If you unlock all the IDs, then the Scan List Memory mode displays. Press to scan the IDs stored in your Scan Lists or press to re...

Hold Mode n Press to hold on a particular ID in the display. You can hold a specific talk group, such as fire department on-scene operations, no matter which frequency the group uses. n Press to continue searching the entire trunked system. ID Monitor Mode n If you press and hold for 2 seconds, unti...

An icon will show an “E” in the display when you have programmed an EDACS ® system. Note : The BC 245XLT defaults to “AFS” talk group displays for EDACS ® only. AFS describes most systems in the following manner: Using the sample talk group 01-011: 01 is the Agency Level (such as police)01-01 descri...

You can also enter or display EDACS talk groups in decimal format (0-2047). Just press and hold to switch the scanner between AFS and decimal mode. But you cannot use XPAND when in decimal mode. You can program a specific talk group such as 01-011 into Scan List memory, or, with AFS mode, you can pr...

ID Scan Mode 1. Press to begin scanning the lists you have programmed. If you haven’t programmed any IDs, SCAN displays but your scanner cannot stop on an active conversation. 2. To remove a Scan List from active scanning, press the number of the Scan List on your keypad. The Scan List indicator tur...

Note: Once you press or in one bank, all trunking banks will change to that mode. Setting Priority in Trunking Mode You can set priority in your trunking banks, just as you do in your conventional ones. After you’ve set up your Scan List, press to activate it. The radio will default to setting the f...

Moving between Scan List Memories There are a number of ways to step and move through your Scan List memories:1. Press repeatedly. 2. Or, Press , then press or . 3. Or, Press , Next press 0-9 (scan list number), then press 0-9 (memory position). For example. To move to Scan List 4, memory position 1...

Fleet Map Programming If you have programmed a trunk tracking bank and select , you will see user IDs display on your screen. Since the BC 245XLT defaults to Type II systems, all the IDs will appear as numbers. However, if you notice a mix of odd and even user IDs, for example 6477, 2560, 6481, 6144...

If you are in Trunking Scan mode: 1. Press to return to conventional mode if you have been monitoring a trunking bank. TRUNK icon goes out. 2. Press and hold until you hear two short beeps. You’ll hear two short beeps and BANK and TRUNK will begin to flash in the display. 3. Select the trunking bank...

5. Press . The scanner returns to Programming Bank selecting mode. Note: You will now begin to see Type I Fleet-Subfleet IDs. For example, 100-12, 100-9, 000-12, 400-8, etc. See User Defined Fleet Maps in the Appendix for more information about Type I IDs. How do you know if the preset map is correc...

7. Press . The next available block displays. 8. Repeat Steps 8 and 9 until you have selected a size code for each block. For specifics about each size code, see Fleet Map Size Codes in the Appendix. 9. Press . The scanner exits the Trunking Programming mode, acquires the data channel, and begins se...

Setting the Base and Offset frequencies for Motorola VHF/UHF trunked systems To properly track Motorola VHF and UHF trunked systems you must enter what is known as the “base” and the “offset” frequencies for each system. To find these out, check the www.trunktracker.com or www.bearcat1.com/free.htm ...

Toggling the Status Bit On Type II trunking systems there is a method by which specialized types of communications utilize unique talk group numbers. An emergency call will occur on a unique talk group from its primary assignment, for example. Because the BC 245XLT defaults to Status-Bit On mode, yo...

Remote Interface You can communicate and program your BC 245XLT in numerous ways with peripheral devices using the RS232C port. This radio offers the following modes: n SMARTSCAN MODE Automatically load frequencies, trunking talk groups and fleetmaps from the Uniden National Frequency Database serve...

SmartScan Mode You can automatically download frequencies, talk groups, and fleetmaps from the Uniden National Frequency Database server. After connecting the scanner to a modem using the Scanner to PC or Scanner to External Modem steps (see page 62), turn the radio off. Press and hold REMOTE key an...

Program Lock SmartScanner will overwrite frequencies that you have already programmed into your scanner. To save the previously programmed frequencies, you can lock out specific banks prior to calling the database as follows:1. After you enter your zip code, press . 2. With the phone number on the d...

SMARTSCANNER TIPS There are literally hundreds of thousands of public safety radio licenses in the United States. The editors of the Uniden National Frequency Database have poured over these records to provide you with the most accurate possible download of frequencies for whichever area of the coun...

Clone Mode You can clone the frequency data of one BC 245XLT scanner to another. After connecting the two scanners, using the Scanner to Scanner steps (See page 63), make sure the scanners are turned off. On each scanner, press and hold REMOTE key and turn the radio on. Then release the key. bc245 w...

Care and Maintenance General Use n Turn the scanner off before disconnecting the power or replacing the batteries. n Always write down the programmed frequencies in the event of memory loss. n If memory is lost, simply reprogram each channel. The display shows 000.000 in all channels when there has ...

Troubleshooting If your BC 245XLT is not performing properly, try the following steps. Problem Suggestion Scanner won’t work. 1. Check the connections at both ends of the AC Adapter. 2. Turn on the wall switch of your room. You could be using an outlet controlled by the wall switch. 3. Move the AC A...

If you experience difficulty while in TrunkTracker™ mode, try the following steps. Problem Suggestion Scanner won’t track the trunked system. 1. May not be a system which can be tracked by your scanner. 2. Missing the data frequency.3. Change to a Type 1 Scanner setup. Review Fleet Map Programming o...

Specification Certified in accordance with FCC Rules and Regulations Part 15, Subpart C, as of date of manufacture. Channel: 300 Banks 10 (30 channels each) Service Bands: 5-preprogrammed search bands (including the NOAA Weather Service band) Frequency 29.0-29.7 Mhz 10 Meter Amateur Band Range: 29.7...

Appendix Preset Fleet Maps 79 Preset Map E1P1 Size Code S11 S11 S11 S11 S11S11S11 Block 1 0 234567 S11 Preset Map E1P2 Size Code S4 S4 S4 S4 S4S4S4 Block 1 0 234567 S4 Preset Map E1P3 Size Code S4 S4 S4 S4 S4S4 S12 Block 1 0 234567 -- Preset Map E1P4 Size Code -- S12 S4 S4 S4S4S4 Block 1 0 234567 S4...

User Defined Fleet Maps Type I Programming Information When a Type I system is designed, the address information for all the IDs is divided into 8 equal sized blocks, numbered 0–7. When you program your scanner to track a Type I system, you must select a size code for each of these blocks. When you ...

If you don’t already know the size codes used, you’ll have to guess at them. But since you don’t have to figure out all the blocks at once, this isn’t as hard as it seems. Select a size code for a block, and then press . Now listen to the communications. If you decide you are receiving most of the r...

Size Code Restrictions If you select size code S-12, S-13, or S-14, there are some restrictions as to which blocks can be used for these codes. n S-12 can only be assigned to Blocks 0, 2, 4, or 6. n S-13 can only be assigned to Blocks 0 and 4. n S-14 can only be assigned to Block 0. Since these size...

An EDACS Trunked System 84 This chart shows how talk groups may organized within an EDACS system at the AGENCY level. The FLEETS and SUBFLEETS cannot be shown at this scale because there are 2048 possibilities. The system is logical and easy to understand. System users are given blocks of talk group...

One Year Limited Warranty Important: Evidence of original purchase is required for warranty service. WARRANTOR: UNIDEN AMERICA CORPORATION (Uniden) ELEMENTS OF WARRANTY: Uniden warrants, for one year, to the original retail owner, this Uniden product to be free from defects in materials and craftsma...

Covered under one or more of the following U.S. patents: 5,530,296 5,557,995 5,577,076 4,219,821 4,270,217 4,398,304 4,409,688 4,455,679 4,461,036 4,521,915 4,597,104 4,627,100 4,841,302 4,888,815 4,932,074 4,947,456 5,014,348 5,199,109 5,408,692 5,428,826 5,438,688 5,448,256 5,465,402 5,471,660 5,4...