User manual UNIDEN BC898T

[. . . ] Precautions Before you use this scanner, please read and observe the following. IMPORTANT! This scanning radio has been manufactured so that it will not tune to the 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 transmissions or to market this radio when altered to receive them. The installation, possession, or use of this scanning radio in a motor vehicle may be prohibited, regulated, or require a permit in certain states, cities, and/or local jurisdictions. Your local law enforcement officials should be able to provide you with information regarding the laws in your community. [. . . ] To unlock locked-out banks, simply press that bank's letter again. The bank's letter appears on the display and the scanner includes that bank when scanning. 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/O when 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. Restoring All Locked Out Channels You can restore all locked-out channels in a bank only when the bank is selected for scan. If you de-selected the bank, press SCAN then press the bank's letter. The scanner beeps twice and unlocks all channels. Priority Scanning When priority scan is turned on, the scanner checks the priority channels in the unlocked banks every 2 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. PRIORITY appears (if priority scan is on) or disappears (if priority scan is off). Note: If all priority channels in unlocked banks are locked out, P CH LOC0 T appears when you try to turn on the priority scan mode. 22 Changing the Priority Channel You cannot eliminate the priority channel, but you can change it to any of the 50 available channels in each bank. Use the keypad to enter the channel number for the new priority channel. The scanner beeps twice and the priority channel changes to the one you selected. Using the Dimmer Hold down DIM for about two seconds to change the display's brightness. Trunk Scanning Options When you are scanning a trunked system, there are several trunking-only options available to you. This section outlines these options. Searching for Active Talk Groups (ID Search) If you want to hear all activity on a trunked system, use the ID search mode by pressing SCAN then SRC. SEARCH appears and the BC898T stops on every active talk group, regardless of whether you have programmed it into your scanner. Note: If you have not yet programmed any talk group ID's into the scanner, this is the only trunk scanning mode available. Searching Only Stored Talk Groups (ID Scan) To scan only those talk groups you have stored into your scanner, press SCAN. When one of the talk groups you have stored becomes active, the scanner switches to that transmission and displays the ID number for that talk group. Note: You must store at least 2 talk group ID's in the system for ID scanning to work. Monitoring Talk Group ID's To see all the talk group ID's that are active on the system, while monitoring a trunked system press SCAN. The scanner stops trunking the system and instead holds on the system's control channel. You hear the control data and the scanner displays every talk group ID as it becomes active in the system. To resume trunk tracking, press SCAN again. 23 Holding On a Single Talk Group To hold on an active talk group when scanning or searching, press HOLD . It only receives transmissions on the talk group that was active when you pressed HOLD . To select a talk group to hold on when that group is not active, while ID scanning or ID searching the system, press HOLD . Then, either enter the ID or (if you have stored the ID) scroll to the ID you want to hold on. Locking Out Talk Groups Like conventional scanning, you can lock out unwanted talk group traffic on trunking systems. [. . . ] Some organizations might want many subfleets with only a few radios each, while another organization might want only a few subfleets with many radios each. Your task is to program your fleet map with the same size code assignments as the trunked system. If you do this accurately, you'll track all the Fleet-Subfleet combinations used by the system. In other words, you'll hear complete communications while monitoring a trunked system. [. . . ]