Uniden BC296D, Owner'S Manual

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Page 3: ...Speaker 16 Listening Safely 17 Basic Operation 18 Turning On the Scanner 18 Setting the Squelch 18 Using the Menu 19 Manually Selecting a Channel 19 Scanning Programmed Channels 20 Locking Unlocking...

Page 4: ...ogramming 38 Deleting Frequencies from Channels 38 Transferring Channel Information 38 Entering Alpha Information 38 General Programming Tips 38 Programming Conventional Channels 40 1 Select a Channel...

Page 5: ...Programming Talkgroups 59 Storing Known Talkgroups 59 Storing Found Talkgroups 59 Deleting Stored Talkgroup ID s 60 Adding a Text Tag to an ID List 60 Seeing Talkgroup Activity 60 Using the Remote Int...

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Page 7: ...o guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation If this scanner does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception which can be determined by turning the scanne...

Page 8: ...scanner has been designed to prevent the reception of cellular telephone transmissions and the decoding of scrambled transmissions This is done to comply with the legal requirement that scanners be m...

Page 9: ...used by families truckers and community groups Business Band frequencies used nationwide Amateur Radio frequencies used by licensed radio opera tors to report emergency weather conditions experiment...

Page 10: ...f there is activity so you won t miss a thing Priority Talkgroups increases the priority of selected talkgroups so the scanner is more likely to switch to them if there is activity Priority Plus Scann...

Page 11: ...ts you connect your scanner directly to another scanner to clone all channels and settings Using this Manual To get the most from this manual review the contents to become familiar with the basic func...

Page 12: ...nventional system all you need to know is the frequency they operate on When you are scanning a conventional system the scanner stops very briefly on each channel to see if there is activity If there...

Page 13: ...ers are ever transmitting at any one time Instead of being assigned a frequency as with conventional systems each group is assigned a Talkgroup ID A central computer controls the frequency each group...

Page 14: ...r digital only systems Pure digital systems can be implemented under APCO 25 Phase 1 or Phase 2 standards Your BC296D is able to decode all unencrypted digitized voice traffic on either mixed mode or...

Page 15: ...d so on Each agency is then subdivided up to 16 times to provide fleet identification and then 8 more times to identify subfleets For example the complete AFS for the Police Department West District s...

Page 16: ...ops on the transmission and displays the talkgroup ID on the display In the ID Scan mode the scanner only stops on the transmission if the LTR data matches a talkgroup ID that you have stored in the b...

Page 17: ...n also find a wealth of information on the Internet check out scanners uniden com for the latest frequency information in your area In addition you can contact the following source of frequency inform...

Page 18: ...0 Decimal Reverse Key 11 Earphone Jack 12 Volume ON OFF Control 13 Squelch Control 14 Remote Jack 15 Scroll Control 16 Resume Key 17 Service Key SERVICE 18 Search Key SEARCH 19 Numeric Keypad 20 Trunk...

Page 19: ...hannel Type Conventional Type Trunk Type Motorola Tracking Type LTR Tracking Type EDACS Tracking Type Control Channel Data Voice Channel Data Digital Communications P25 APCO Project 25 Receiving Mode...

Page 20: ...den Parts Department at 800 554 3988 8 00 to 11 30 a m and 12 30 to 5 00 p m Central Time Monday through Friday BC296D Scanner AC Adapter Charger AD 600U Ni MH Battery BP 250 Rubber Antenna PC Cable B...

Page 21: ...the Battery Pack Use the AC Adapter Charger to power the BC296D from an AC outlet and charge its battery pack You can use your scanner while the battery charges To fully charge the battery leave the...

Page 22: ...nt to connect an external antenna for better reception and range While the supplied antenna works well for general use an external antenna will enhance performance on weak systems An antenna properly...

Page 23: ...ur hearing could occur Do not listen at extremely high volume levels Extended high volume listening can lead to permanent hearing loss Set the VOL VOLUME to the lowest setting before you begin listeni...

Page 24: ...squelch and program some frequencies you will begin hearing conversations regularly Setting the Squelch To set the squelch you must be in the hold mode and you should not be receiving a signal on your...

Page 25: ...up a menu level press MENU BACK Notes To change a setting that affects either a specific bank or channel first select a channel within the bank or the channel that you want to modify To check the sett...

Page 26: ...banks To lock out a bank so that the scanner does not scan its channels press the number that corresponds to the bank The scanner replaces that bank s number with a dash To unlock locked out banks si...

Page 27: ...priority scan mode Priority Plus Scanning To scan only the priority channels in the unlocked banks while scanning repeatedly press PRI until the scanner displays PRIORITY PLUS To turn off Priority Plu...

Page 28: ...mmer Time setting adjust how long the backlight stays on when activated 3 SYSTEM OPTION 1 DIMMER 2 DIMMER TIME 1 15SECONDS Set the backlight to stay on for 15 seconds then turn off 2 INFINITE Set the...

Page 29: ...n selecting menu options even when you set the option to ON Locking the Keypad To prevent accidental operation you can lock the keypad Simply press and hold for 2 seconds If you press a key when the k...

Page 30: ...er to either stop on any transmission during searching or scanning or only stop on transmissions that include a specific CTCSS or DCS subaudible tone see Understanding Scanning for information about s...

Page 31: ...plays READY TO ID SCAN When one of the talkgroups you have stored becomes active the scanner switches to that transmission and displays the ID number and the alpha tag for that talk group Note You mus...

Page 32: ...u usually want to hear with some data traffic from water meter systems door alarms traffic signals and other data sources that you don t want to hear To lockout a talkgroup press L O when the scanner...

Page 33: ...substitutes for the original talkgroups While the patch is running which may be for hours or days the original talkgroups cease to be used If you were monitoring one of these talkgroups you might thin...

Page 34: ...turn on Chain Search see Setting Chain Search When you turn on Chain Search each time you press a number button the associated range is turned on or off Note that you must have at least one range tur...

Page 35: ...it moves to Search Hold mode To resume searching 1 Unskip all skipped frequencies OR 2 Select a different Search Frequency range To unskip all skipped frequencies press and hold L O for 2 seconds in...

Page 36: ...e frequencies might not have activity for minutes or hours at a time Setting Subaudible Tones for Searching You can set the scanner to only stop on transmissions that either have no subaudible tone or...

Page 37: ...IN SEARCH 3 DELAY 1 ON The delay is turned on 2 OFF The delay is turned off Setting a Search Range Before you can use a range search follow these steps to program at least one of the 10 custom search...

Page 38: ...ing for Trunk Systems 1 SEARCH OPTION CHAIN SEARCH 2 SEARCH RANGE Select the range 5 TRUNK This option lets you search for a Motorola trunking control channel within the selected range To activate thi...

Page 39: ...is feature 1 Press SERVICE OR Use the menu to select 1 SERVICE OPTION 2 Select a preprogrammed service to search by selecting from the Service Search menu Note Except for Weather when you press E to s...

Page 40: ...y lose reception if you move out of a coverage area If the signal is lost the scanner resumes searching for a weather transmission Using Weather Alert SAME Important Your scanner has been primarily de...

Page 41: ...ust also program in the FIPS code s for the area s you want to receive alerts for The scanner can be set to either alert for all areas or only the areas you have programmed You can get FIPS codes for...

Page 42: ...Watches 2 tone trill Warnings Siren The chart in the back of this manual details the various events and the type of alert produced Testing the Weather Alert To test the alert to see what each alert so...

Page 43: ...hrough Bank 0 which holds Channels 901 1000 Additionally each bank that includes a trunking system can also hold up to 100 Talkgroup ID s for that system Assigning Bank Names To give a bank a name tha...

Page 44: ...information is stored in the target channel and deleted from the original channel Note Trunking system information is not transferred Entering Alpha Information Your BC296D lets you assign text tags...

Page 45: ...at frequency you will store in each channel along with other system information Or use the supplied software to organize your information before you start Keep a record of what you programmed in case...

Page 46: ...to scan correctly 1 Select a Channel to Program To start first select the channel you want to program 2 SCAN OPTION 1 CONVENTIONAL Enter the channel number then press E 2 Enter the Frequency a Press...

Page 47: ...a 2 second delay after a transmission for each channel This slows down scanning but helps to prevent missing replies 1 ON Turn on the delay for the channel 2 OFF Turn off the delay Setting the Subaudi...

Page 48: ...equency 3 OFF The scanner opens squelch regardless of the presence of tones Note If instead of pressing E to select a tone you press L O the scanner will stop on any transmission except for those with...

Page 49: ...12 5KHz Use 12 5 kHz steps 6 25KHz Use 25 kHz steps 7 50KHz Use 50 kHz steps 8 100KHz Use 100 kHz steps 9 AUTO Automatically set the step size based on the band Setting the Modulation Mode 2 SCAN OPTI...

Page 50: ...itches to the priority channel Notes The scanner does not check priority channels in locked out banks The scanner does not check priority channels if the channel is locked out By default the first cha...

Page 51: ...ystems MOTOROLA Including Type I Type II Hybrid SMART NET and Privacy Plus Motorola systems are widely used by public safety and business users Most are on the 800 MHz band and recent systems are appe...

Page 52: ...other users Your BC296D can monitor these transmissions in either the search mode or if you have stored the unit number as a talkgroup in the scan mode When the scanner stops on an I Call the scanner...

Page 53: ...To assign a talkgroup as the priority talkgroup select it in Scan Hold mode see Holding on a Single Talkgroup Then press and hold PRI for 2 seconds Multi Track The BC296D allows you to track more than...

Page 54: ...scanner will wait for 2 seconds for any further replies and if none the scanner will move to the conventional channels in the same bank or to the next bank The scanner will not look for any other IDs...

Page 55: ...125 375 625 or 875 2 PLAN2 Use if the highest frequency used by the system is above 866 MHz and if the last three digits end in 000 125 250 375 500 625 750 or 875 3 PLAN3 Use if the last three digits...

Page 56: ...information into 2 TRUNK CHANNEL Use the scroll bar to select a channel within the bank to store a system frequency then press E 5 Store the channel information 1 FREQUENCY Enter the frequency for the...

Page 57: ...press MENU BACK three times to continue programming the system 5 Select the channel to store the information into 2 TRUNK CHANNEL Use the scroll bar to select a channel within the bank to store a syst...

Page 58: ...s 5 and 6 to store the rest of the frequencies for the system Then see Programming Talkgroups Toggling the Status Bit Motorola talkgroup ID s are sent as a 16 bit binary number Normally the last 4 pos...

Page 59: ...ly switch back to the control channel Your scanner also listens for this code 2 SCAN OPTION 2 TRUNK Select the bank 0 END CODE 1 DETECT The scanner detects the end code and immediately switches back t...

Page 60: ...nnels 1 Select the trunk type 2 SCAN OPTION 2 TRUNK Select the bank 1 TRUNK TYPE 1 ON 6 EDCS WIDE Select for 9600 baud EDACS systems 7 EDCS NARROW Select for 4800 baud EDACS systems 8 EDCS SCT Select...

Page 61: ...missions 2 OFF The scanner does not handle emergency transmissions any differently than other transmissions Setting EDACS Decimal Mode By default your scanner displays EDACS talkgroups in AFS format s...

Page 62: ...ty The lower the level the better the Sound Quality 3 To manually set the sound quality rotate the scroll bar up or down As the threshold adjusts in increments of 100 at the bottom of the screen watch...

Page 63: ...press key The adjusted threshold level for the current frequency can be set back to the default value by pressing and holding the key When you change the Sound Quality it affects all other APCO 25 si...

Page 64: ...ON 9 LT 2 TRUNK CHANNEL 1 Enter the channel number 1 FREQUENCY 2 Enter the frequency and alpha tag for the channel Repeat these steps for all channels in the system Then refer to Programming Talkgroup...

Page 65: ...talkgroup ID then press E For Type I systems enter the 3 digit fleet for the dash then the subfleet number For EDACS systems enter the two digit agency for the dash then the fleet and subfleet number...

Page 66: ...delete then press E 3 Select 1 ID and press E 4 Press 0 then press E Adding a Text Tag to an ID List To add a text tag to each of the 10 ID lists in each bank 2 SCAN OPTION 2 TRUNK Select the bank 5 I...

Page 67: ...r s communications speed 3 SYSTEM OPTION 5 PC CONTROL To use PC control set the scanner to any setting other than off You will usually want to set the speed to its highest setting If you seem to be ha...

Page 68: ...from the unit you select as SLAVE Make certain that you pick the correct set tings for each scanner to prevent data loss During transfer both scanners display the following When transfer is complete t...

Page 69: ...trical noise move it or its antenna away from the source of the noise If possible a higher elevation may provide better reception Cleaning Disconnect the power to the unit before cleaning Clean the ou...

Page 70: ...the Squelch 3 Check to see if all channels are Locked Out Weather Scan won t work 1 Adjust squelch threshold refer to page 18 Setting the Squelch 2 Check the antenna 4 Check to see if Key Lock is ON s...

Page 71: ...mmunication is not heard DATA sound is heard at the beginning of digital communications Robotic sound is heard When CARD ERROR appears every 10 seconds while you are using P 25 Card 1 Check to see if...

Page 72: ...NFM 894 0125 956 0 MHz NFM 1240 0 1300 0 MHz NFM Operating Temperature 20 C to 60 C 4 F to 140 F Scan Rate 100 channels per second MAX conventional mode Search Rate 100 steps per second MAX Normal Sea...

Page 73: ...z saw sound For the most part it is the sound of the system s central computer directing talkgroups to particular voice working frequencies within the system CTCSS Continuous Tone Controlled Squelch S...

Page 74: ...vided the United States into regions by state and county or parish where applicable then assigned a 6 digit FIPS code to identify each county or parish The first digit represents the county subdivisio...

Page 75: ...is associated with the ability to program frequencies and other useful information via a computer by means of third party software You can change the transfer speed on the scanner needed to be compati...

Page 76: ...worry what the rest of the groups numbers are The topic of interest will be picked up Talkgroup A group of users within a trunked system that communicates with one another 70...

Page 77: ...CODE 4 SIZE CODE 4 SIZE CODE 12 SIZE CODE 12 SIZE CODE 4 SIZE CODE 4 SIZE CODE 4 SIZE CODE 4 Block 1 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 Preset Map 7 Size Code SIZE CODE 10 SIZE CODE 10 SIZE CODE 11 SIZE CODE 4 SIZE CODE...

Page 78: ...Block 1 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 Size Code SIZE CODE 3 SIZE CODE 3 SIZE CODE 11 SIZE CODE 4 SIZE CODE 4 SIZE CODE 0 SIZE CODE 0 SIZE CODE 0 Block 1 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 Size Code SIZE CODE 4 SIZE CODE 4 SIZE CODE 4 SI...

Page 79: ...last digit s identifies the Subfleet The details concerning how the size codes are selected by a Type I system designer are highly dependent on the specific needs of the systems users Some organizatio...

Page 80: ...E 14 can only be assigned to Block 0 Since these SIZE CODES require multiple blocks you will be prompted for the next available block when programming a Fleet Map For example if you assign Block 0 as...

Page 81: ...h AVA 0 AVALANCHE Volcano Watch VOA 0 VOLCANO Event Code Standard Event Level Siren Type LCD Display Warning Watch Statement Test Emergency Action Notification EAN 0 EMG NOTIFY Emergency Action Termin...

Page 82: ...arning NPW 0 NUCLEAR PLANT Nuclear Power Plant Warning NPP 0 NUCLEAR PLANT School Closing Statement SCS 0 0 Dam Break Warning DBW DAM BREAK EATHQUAKE SCHOOL CLOSING Note Demo alerts are displayed but...

Page 83: ...5 114 8 151 4 203 5 023 051 114 143 174 245 266 332 411 452 506 612 703 025 053 115 145 205 246 271 343 412 454 516 624 712 026 054 116 152 212 251 274 346 413 455 523 627 723 031 065 122 155 223 252...

Page 84: ...3 4 5 6 CHAIN SEARCH SEARCH RANGE RANGE NO SELECT DELAY ATTENUATOR TONE DATA AUTO STORE 1 ON 2 OFF 1 ON 2 OFF 1 ON 2 OFF 1 CTCSS 2 DCS 3 OFF 1 ON 2 OFF 1 2 3 4 5 RANGE STEPS MODE ALPHA TAG TRUNK 1 SE...

Page 85: ...DACS END CODE MOTOROLA CNTRL CH ONLY TYPE1 TYPE2 800 900 1 2 1 ON 2 OFF 1 ON 2 OFF 1 ON 2 OFF 3 ONLY 1 ON 2 OFF 1 ON 2 OFF 1 AFS 2 DECIMAL 1 DETECT 2 IGNORE TYPE2 800 TYPE1 SYSTEM 1 PLAN1 2 PLAN2 3 PL...

Page 86: ...SELECT BANK P 25 CARD BATTERY SAVE DIMMER LIGHT DIMMER TIME 1 ON 2 OFF 1 ON 2 OFF 1 ON 2 OFF 1 2400 bps 2 4800 bps 3 9600 bps 4 19200 bps 5 38400 bps 6 57600 bps 7 OFF MASTER SLAVE 1 ON 2 OFF 1 CSQ 2...

Page 87: ...or or its representatives in connection with the performance of this warranty Warrantor at its option may replace the unit with a new or refurbished unit THE LIMITED WARRANTY SET FORTH ABOVE IS THE SO...

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