Uniden Bc296d Trunk Tracker Scanner Owners Manual

							Setting Up Your Scanner
Installing the Battery Pack
1. Open the cover.
2. Connect the battery pack connector
observing the correct polarity.
3. Replace the cover and press down
until it clicks into place.
Charging 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 AC Adapter/Charger
connected for 14 – 16 hours.
Note:Disconnect the AC Adapter/Charger from the unit when
charging is complete.
15
HOLD/
MANCH/
FRQRSMSCANSERVICESEARCHMENU/BACKL
/OS
E
L
E
C
T
M
U
T
ER
E
V
E
R
S
E
TRUNK
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							Nickel-Metal Hydride Battery Disposal
When the battery supplied with your scanner no longer holds
a charge, you need to replace it. Contact Uniden Parts
department for a replacement battery pack.
Nickel-hydride batteries must be disposed of properly.
Minnesota requires you to recycle nickel-metal hydride
batteries.Contact the Portable Rechargeable Battery
Association at 1-800-225-PRBA for information concerning
reclamation and disposal of nickel-metal hydride batteries.
Installing the Antenna
Twist the antenna’s BNC connector
onto the BNC jack on the scanner, as
shown.
If you are frequently traveling in a
system’s fringe area, you might want
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 selected for the band you are monitoring
can greatly extend the range, especially when you are
monitoring digital trunking systems.
Installing the Belt Clip
The belt clip is designed to fit snugly on
the back of the scanner.
Line up the four snap-in arms with the
grooves on the scanner and snap the belt
clip into place, as shown.
Using Headphones or an
External Speaker
For private listening, or for listening in a noisy area, you can
plug a 1/8-inch (3.5mm) mini-plug earphone’s or headphone’s
or monitor speaker’s (not supplied) cable into the headphone
jack on top of the scanner. This automatically disconnects the
scanner’s internal speaker.
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							Listening Safely
To protect your hearing, follow these guidelines when you use
an earphone or headphones.
•Do not use an earphone to listen to the WX alert siren
test or when in SAME Alert mode. The alert tone’s vol-
ume is not adjustable and damage to your 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 listening. After you begin listening, adjust the VOL
(VOLUME) to a comfortable level.
•Once you set the VOL(VOLUME), do not increase it. Over
time, your ears adapt to the volume level, so a volume level
that does not cause discomfort might still damage your
hearing.
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							Basic Operation
This section is your main reference for using the scanner
once you have programmed conventional and trunked
systems. Note that there are some slight differences to some
functions depending on whether you are trying to affect
conventional operation or trunked operation. Be sure to refer
to the appropriate section depending on the mode you are
using.
Turning On the Scanner
Turn the VOL (VOLUME) control clockwise out of the detent
position. The scanner automatically starts scanning. Since
there are no frequencies programmed in your scanner initially,
you may not receive any signals. Once you set the 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 scanner.
1. Press HOLD/MAN until
you do not hear a signal.
2. Make sure that the VOL
(VOLUME) is set to a
comfortable listening level.
3. Think of the Squelch
Control as a gate. Turn
the SQUELCH control fully
counterclockwise. This
raises the “Squelch Gate”
so high that only very
strong signals can get
through.
4. Turn SQUELCH clockwise
until you hear a hiss. This
lowers the “Squelch Gate”
so that everything gets
through – noise, weak
signals, medium signals
and strong signals.
18
STRONG SIGNALS
MEDIUM SIGNALS
WEAK SIGNALS
NOISE
STRONG SIGNALS
MEDIUM SIGNALS
WEAK SIGNALS
NOISE
STRONG SIGNALS
MEDIUM SIGNALS
WEAK SIGNALS
NOISE
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							5. Turn SQUELCH back counter-clockwise just until the hiss
stops. Now the “Squelch Gate” allows only clear signals
through.
Note: For Trunk Scanning, a good squelch setting is critical.
The recommended setting is midpoint. If you set the
squelch too high, the scanner might not reliably stop
on the control channel.
Using the Menu
Many of your scanner’s functions are accessed through its
menu system. For complete information about a menu option,
see the section referencing its use.  A complete list of the
menu structure is included in the back of this manual. To
select a menu item, first press MENU/BACKto go to the first-
level menu. Then, either press the number key corresponding
to the option you want to select, or use the scroll bar to
highlight the option then press E.
To back 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 settings for a channel, press and hold
MENU/BACKfor 2 seconds.
In this manual, we represent navigation through the
menu with the following notation:
MAIN MENU→SUB MENU 1→SUB MENU
2
For example to access the DIMMER LIGHT option,
the notation is:
3:SYSTEM OPTION →1:DIMMER →
1:DIMMER LIGHT
To access this option, press MENU/BACK, then
scroll to each menu option and press E. Or, press
MENU/BACK, 3, 1, 1.
•Some menu items are not numbered. To access
these options, you must manually navigate to the
selection using the scroll bar.
Manually Selecting a Channel
To manually select a channel, press HOLD/MAN, the channel
number, then HOLD/MANagain. The scanner displays the
information stored in that channel.
Notes:•If the channel contains trunked system information,
frequency data is not displayed.
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							•If you are trunk scanning, you need to first press
TRUNKto exit the trunking mode.
Scanning Programmed Channels
Before you can scan, you must first program channels. See
the appropriate programming section for complete
instructions.
To begin scanning, simply turn on your scanner or, if the
scanner is not currently scanning, press SCAN. The scanner
checks each system you have programmed that is not locked
out and stops if there is activity. SCANscrolls across the
display, right to left.
When the scanner receives a signal on a programmed
channel, it stops on that channel and displays the channel
information (text tag, channel number, trunk mode).
Locking/Unlocking Banks
When you are scanning conventional banks, the scanner
displays the digit corresponding to all unlocked 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, simply press that bank’s number
again. The scanner displays that bank’s number and includes
it when scanning.
Note:You cannot lockout all banks. One bank must be
unlocked at all times.
Locking/Unlocking Channels
To lock out a channel so that the scanner does not stop on it
while scanning, press L/Owhen the scanner is stopped on
that channel or manually select the channel and press L/O.
To unlock the channel, manually select it and press L/O
again.
Note:You cannot lockout all channels in a bank. One
channel must remain unlocked. If you want to lock out
an entire bank, see the previous section.
Restoring All Locked Out Channels
To simultaneously unlock all channels, press HOLD/MAN,
then press and hold L/Ofor 2 seconds. The scanner beeps
twice and unlocks all channels.
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							Priority Scanning
When Priority Scan is turned on, the scanner checks the
conventional priority channels in the unlocked banks every 2
seconds or the priority ID’s in trunked systems every 4
seconds between transmissions. If a signal is present on a
priority channel, the scanner switches to monitor that
transmission, even if it had been stopped on another channel.
One channel or talkgroup ID in each bank is designated as
the priority.
To turn on Priority Scan, repeatedly press PRIuntil the
scanner displays PRIORITY ON. To turn Priority Scan off,
repeatedly press PRIuntil the scanner displays PRIORITY
OFF.
Note:If all priority channels in unlocked banks are locked
out, the scanner displays ERROR when you try to turn
on the priority scan mode.
Priority Plus Scanning
To scan only the priority channels in the unlocked banks,
while scanning repeatedly press PRIuntil the scanner
displays PRIORITY PLUS. To turn off Priority Plus, repeatedly
press PRIto select PRIORITY ON or PRIORITY OFF.
Note:Priority Plus only operates in the scan mode; not in the
hold or search mode.
Listening to the Input Channel
Repeater-based systems, such as public safety conventional,
trunked systems, and some other business and amateur radio
systems, use two sets of frequencies – input frequencies and
output frequencies (see “Understanding Scanning”). You
normally listen to the output frequency, as it can generally be
received from a much farther range. Sometimes, though, you
might want to know if the mobile unit is nearby. To do this,
check the input frequency by pressing REVERSE. If you hear
the transmission, then the mobile unit is probably within 2 or 3
miles of your location.
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							Using the Backlight
To turn on the backlight, press . The next two sections
describe how to change the backlight options.
Dimmer Light Setting
The Dimmer Light setting sets the brightness of the display
backlight.
3:SYSTEM OPTION →1:DIMMER →
1:DIMMER LIGHT
1:HIGH
Set the backlight to the brightest setting
2:MEDIUM
Set the backlight to be dimmer
Dimmer Time Setting
The Dimmer 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 backlight to stay on until you manually turn it
off.
Controlling How Much Information Appears
The scanner normally displays trunk, frequency, receiving
mode, and a signal meter when it is scanning. This option
allows you to reduce how much information your scanner
displays.
3:SYSTEM OPTION →2:SCREEN MASK
1:ON
Display all information
2:OFF
Display reduced information
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							Turning the Key Beep On/Off
When Key Tone is turned on, the scanner beeps each time
you press a key.
3:SYSTEM OPTION →3:KEY BEEP
1:ON
Turn on the key beep
2:OFF
Turn off the key beep
Locking the ENTER key
To prevent accidentally changing channel settings, you can
lock the ENTER key.
3:SYSTEM OPTION →4:ENTER LOCK
1:ON
The ENTER key is disabled.
2:OFF
The ENTER key operates normally.
Note:The ENTER key operates normally when 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 keypad is locked, the scanner displays
KEYPAD LOCK ON. To unlock the keypad, simply press and
hold ( / ) for 2 seconds.
Note:When the keypad is locked,  , HOLD/MAN, and
RSMstill operate.
Disabling the APCO25 Card
If you are not in an area where there is an APCO 25 digital
system, you can save battery power by disabling the APCO
25 (P-25) card.
3:SYSTEM OPTION →0:P-25 CARD
1:ENABLE
The card is enabled
2:DISABLE
The card is disabled
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							Turning Battery Save On/Off
The battery save features extends battery life by setting the
scanner in a low-power mode when it is held on a single
channel or frequency (in the search mode) and there is no
transmission.
3:SYSTEM OPTION →:BATTERY SAVE
1:ON
The battery save feature is on. You might miss a brief
portion of transmissions when held on a channel or
frequency, but battery life is extended.
2:OFF
The battery save feature is off.
Muting All Audio
To mute all audio, press and hold MUTE for 2 seconds. The
scanner operates normally, but no audio sounds from the
scanner. To turn audio back on, press and hold MUTE for 2
seconds.
Setting Squelch Mode
You can set the scanner 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 subaudible
tones).
3:SYSTEM OPTION →8:SQ MODE
1:CSQ
Carrier Squelch mode; the scanner stops on any
transmission regardless of whether a subaudible tone
is present.
2:TONE SQ
The scanner stops on transmissions that include a
matching subaudible tone or have no tone at all.
When you select this option, you also need to set the
appropriate tone in either the channel memory or for
the search range.
3:TONE SEARCH
When the scanner stops on a transmission, it will
then scan the subaudible tones to determine the
correct setting. When the scanner has found the
correct tone, it flashes the tone on the display. If you
store that frequency into a channel, the tone is also
stored.
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