BC245XLT Operating Guide

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Introduction Thanks to Glenn Cohen at Scanners Unlimited I received a copy of the BC245XLT Operating Guide which I can use to provide inside details of this new radio. I'm hoping that this will help to answer many people's questions whether they are waiting to take delivery of this much anticipated radio or are simply trying to determine if they want to join the rest of the "herd" and pick on up for their own use! Physical Appearance Nearly identical to the BC235XLT Adds the PC port jack on the right hand side Adds REMOTE key for PC port control LCD Nearly identical to the BC235XLT Still uses 20 channel activity indicators Adds ATT attenuator indicator Adds RR for railroad service scan Adds M and E for Motorola/Ericsson trunk system indicators Frequency Bandplan Same as the BC235XLT Freq Range Mode Steps 29-54 FM 5 108-137 AM 12.5 137-174 FM 5 406-512 FM 12.5 806-956 FM 12.5 US models have the cellular bands block and NO, they can not be "unblocked" Feature Highlights Trunk Tracking of Motorola and EDACS analog systems in the 400, 500, 800 & 900 MHz ranges Multi-Track allows tracking of multiple trunked and conventional systems simultaneously 10 priority channels for use in conventional or trunking modes Preprogrammed Service Search for scanning of preprogrammed police, fire/EMS, railroad, aircraft, marine and weather frequencies Data Skip LCD backlight with selectable Autolight which turns on the backlight when the squelch opens on an active frequency Battery Save in manual mode Attenuator for 15 dB signal reduction SmartScanner to automatically program memory frequencies, trunking IDs and fleet maps from Uniden's online server PC control via third party software Radio-to-radio cloning of programmed data Turbo Search for 300 steps/second in 5 kHz frequency bands Internet Information www.trunktracker.com www.bearcat1.com/free.htm www.uniden.com Included With BC245XLT 6" rubber duck antenna Plastic belt clip w/screws AC Adapter (AD-70U) 800 mAh NiCd battery pack RS-232C interface cable Earphone Operating Guide TrunkTracker National Public Safety Trunked System Frequency Guide NOTE: It does NOT come with a 2nd battery or the charging cradle as did the BC235XLT Basic Operation Lamp key illuminates LCD for 15 seconds Pressing and holding lamp key turns on Autolight feature which illuminates the LCD for 5 seconds whenever a transmission opens the squelch Appears to have no battery charging protection since it warns to remove the AC adapter after 14-16 hours of charing Programming Same as it's always been for conventional frequencies Duplicate frequency alert exists Individual channel delay setting of two seconds available Scanning Same as always Attenuator can be used to globally reduce transmission strengths by 15 dB. ATT indicator appears on LCD when active Function exists to remove lockout settings from all channels in a specified bank Priority samples priority channel in each selected bank every 2 seconds Each bank has one priority channel which can be programmed to be any channel in that bank Searching One programmable search range Turbo Search allows stepping at 300 steps/sec in 5 kHz bands Data Skip available to skip empty carriers. Not available when searching 108-137 (AM receive mode) Up to 50 frequencies can be locked out Service Scanning Allows scanning of 1 of the 6 preprogrammed service banks for police, fire/EMS, railroad, aircraft, marine or weather When scanning railroad and it stops on active frequency, display will alternate between frequency and railroad channel number When scanning marine and it stops on active frequency, display will alternate between frequency and marine channel number Up to 20 frequencies can be blocked in this mode No listing is given for the number or range of frequencies programmed for each of the 6 services Trunk Tracking Designed to track Motorola Type I, Type II, Hybrid, SMARTNET, PRIVACY PLUS and EDACS analog trunking systems on 400, 500, 800 and 900 MHz bands Can only program one trunking system in each bank "IMPORTANT: If you are programming an EDACS trunked system, you must enter the frequencies in a specific order. Check the frequency guide included with the radio and the listed web sites for details." After selecting the bank to be trunk programmed, you must select the type of system from the following choices: E2 800 (Type II 800 MHz) E2 900 (Type II 900 MHz) E2 Hi (Type II VHF 137-174 MHz)* E2 UHF (Type II UHF 406-512 MHz)* Ed (EDACS)*** E1 (Type I 800 MHz)** * = Requires programming of a base and an offset frequency ** = Requires programming of a fleet map *** = Requires programming of frequencies in exact order and location Pressing LIMIT while a talk group is active will flash the frequency being used for that transmission Pressing and holding LIMIT will turn this feature on permanently until it is manually turned off Like the BC235XLT, you can hold on an active ID or manually input the ID to hold on Up to 200 IDs can be locked out for each bank Like the BC235XLT, DELAY can be enabled to wait for replies on an active ID for 5 seconds Like the BC235XLT, ID Monitor mode can be used to simply "spew" out the active IDs on a system without taking the time to actually listen to the audio Like the BC235XLT, the LCD channel activity indicators help to gauge the activity of transmissions on the physical frequencies at any time "NOTE: The Scanner does not show activity bars for private or phone interconnect calls for EDACS systems." Each bank comes with 10 Scan Lists with each consisting of up to 10 programmable trunking IDs EDACS trunking IDs can be programmed or viewed in Agency-Fleet-Subfleet (AFS) or decimal style (0-2047) formats XPAND feature allows the scanning or searching of an EDACS system based on 4 levels of talk groups (2048, 18, 8 or 1). This appears to be a filtering scheme to allow sections of the AFS heirarchy to selectively scanned/searched There appears to be a mistake on Page 52 which says that the MAN key is to be pressed to starting the scanning of the Scan Lists Priority allows up to one trunking ID in each Scan List to be scanned on a semi-regular basis (it will only scan the priority IDs when the system is idle, i.e. it won't interrupt an active transmission to check priority as in conventional mode) Multi-Track allows any combination of the radio's 10 banks to be scanned at once regardless of their trunked or conventional programming mode Multi-Track allows selected trunked banks to be tracked in scanning or search mode Multi-Track allows conventional frequencies to be programmed into a trunk programmed bank (first program the bank as a trunked bank and then go into conventional mode to program the conventional freqs). After the radio checks a trunked bank for activity, it will then check the conventional freqs for activity while scanning Fleet Map Programming This "black magic" mode still exists for programming the setup of Type I and Hybrid Motorola systems Like the BC235XLT, it comes with 16 preset Fleet Maps programmed which are also listed in the Operating Guide For Type II systems in the 137-174 & 406-512 MHz ranges, a base and offset frequency must be programmed for proper tracking. These can be found at the web resources listed early (so claims the manual) On Type II systems, a special status bit in the trunking protocol allows the radio to detect "unique" talk groups and associate them with the proper group ID (an emergency call may come out on 33265 which is really part of the 33264 group. If you have 33264 programmed in a scan list, you'll hear 33265 on it since the radio maps this unique ID onto 33264 for you). However, this status bit mapping can be a hindrance when trying to figure out all the IDs on a Type I system. For this reason, there is a function which allows this status bit mapping feature to be turned off Remote Interface The REMOTE jack and supporting features allow for 3 levels of functionality: SmartScanner - automatically program frequencies, trunking IDs and fleet maps via Uniden's online server Remote - control/program the radio via PC software Clone - copy all contents of one BC245XLT to another In SmartScanner mode, the radio is connected to a PC or an external mode using the supplied cable. The radio is programmed to dial 1-900-225-4822 which costs $0.99/minute. It knows what data to download based on the Zip code you enter. The manual claims that the database info on this server is updated every 6 - 12 months. Specified banks can be protected to keep this procedure from overwriting important data. In SmartScanner mode, programmable parameters include: Transfer speed (300, 1200, 2400, 9600, 14400 bps) Flow control (Xon/Xoff, RTS/CTS, Off) Dial type (tone or pulse) In SmartScanner mode, the following rules are used to determine which data is to be downloaded into your radio in the order listed: All licenses in your Zip code All licenses in your community (with more than 1 Zip code) All county licenses All licenses for all communities in your county (in random order) Statewide licenses National licenses In Remote mode, the radio can be programmed and/or controlled via third party software In Remote mode, parameters include: Transfer speed (programmable): 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200 bps Start/Stop: 1 bit Data length: 8 bits Parity: None Code: ASCII Flow Control: None Return Code: Carriage Return only In Clone mode, two BC245XLT are connected using both of their interface cables and a null-modem adapter. One radio is put into Master mode and the other into Slave mode. Data is then copied from the Master to the Slave

Copyright © 2001 by Richard J. Wells