Analog Trunking

Couldn't be more pleased with this excellent radio! Programming though time consuming at first to perform using the front panel controls, (We are a Macintosh Family and NO Mac Software Included) but literally in less than 5 minutes spent with the "Online Owners Manual" I was blazing through my laundry list of Cal Fire and National Forest Service frequency lists and adding them into the radio's handy groups and sub-groups sections. Child's play is how I would describe the programming process, so I find it strange to read complaints about the programming process being too difficult. (I picture a VCR nearby flashing 12:00 as these folks pen their misleading commentaries about this product being too difficult to use!) Like I said... Once you learn the process and the scanner's user interface/controls, it all makes perfectly good sense and although it would have been nice to have a computer to type in all the scanner frequencies and flash them over to the unit with one command, you DO NOT NEED a computer to program this radio! Regarding the design and layout of the frequency entry... Being able to place CUSTOM NAMES onto every frequency you add to the radio, and being able to group them together based on the agency (s) that use those frequencies is great too! This, unlike using an internet based re-broadcaster, allows us to SEE who is transmitting at any given time. And in addition to the user programmable frequency sections, you also have the "Pre-Set" buttons for Police/CHP/Municipal Agencies etc. as well. Living up here in the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, now better known as Wildfire Central, it has become almost mandatory to own a scanner like this in order to receive REAL TIME Wildfire related news and information as it happens. And coming directly to our ears via the actual fire crews and dispatchers working on the latest Wildfire in our area. We actually purchased this radio two days before "The Willow Fire" broke out less than 8 miles from our house, and our new radio proved its worth 100 times over in what became a literal trial by fire product review period! :o) Reception Impressive Considering Our Location But a Loaded Whip and/or Discone Mast Mounted Antenna is Even Better! The included WHIP antenna works reasonably well in our location, but we also purchased a RadioShack® Indoor Telescopic Scanner Antenna for use in the backyard when we take the radio out onto the patio to listen outside as we watch the air tankers do their thing! And for base station type use indoors and the best reception performance possible, we purchased and installed a Super Discone Outdoor Antenna on a 20 foot mast. This commercial grade antenna installation allows us to pull in BOTH sides of the conversation between Cal Fire, the Forest Service Local Dispatchers, air to ground commands, fire suppression aircraft, and the battalion crews actually on the fire line in rugged and remote areas where their transmitting ability is limited. Having a quality Super Discone Antenna makes a HUGE difference in listening in to the ENTIRE Wildfire suppression effort. Which for us isn't simply a form of entertainment, but could quickly turn into a life and death drama for ourselves and our friends and neighbors! Our only regret is that we waited this long to finally buy one of these! But we are VERY GLAD that the brand and model we chose proved itself to be the perfect choice for us!

This is a pretty awesome scanner (notice: doesn't do P25/dig), and for my needs it does just what I wanted. Sits next to my recliner and it picks up fire, police and EMT from the 3 surrounding towns, as well as the local airport like a charm. Some people have mentioned it's hard to program. It is not. Sure, there are a lot of menus, but they are pretty straight forward once you understand the layout (SYSTEM -> GROUP -> CHANNEL). Hit YouTube and you can pick up how to program this in about 10 seconds. It's not complicated at all. For me, I used this method of ordering and labeling (radioreference [dot] com for codes): Town of Derry (System 1) -> Fire (Group 1) -> Dispatch (Channel 1), Operations (Channel 2), Tac 2 (Channel 3) etc. Town of Derry (System 1) -> Police (Group 2) -> Dispatch (Channel 1), Car-to-car (Channel 2) etc. Town of Londonderry (System 2) -> Fire (Group 1) -> Dispatch (Channel 1), Response 1 (Channel 2) etc. Town of Londonderry (System 2) -> Police (Group 2) -> Dispatch (Channel 1), Response 1 (Channel 2) etc. Manchester Airport (System 3) -> Ground (Group 1) -> Tower (Channel 1), Approach (Channel 2) etc. Manchester Airport (System 3) -> Air (Group 2) -> Response 1 (Channel 1), Response 2 (Channel 2) etc. Manchester Airport (System 3) -> Federal (Group 3) -> Federal Aviation Administration (Channel 1), TSA (Channel 2) etc. Manchester Airport (System 3) -> Law Enforcement Office (Group 4) -> Dispatch (Channel 1), Security (Channel 2) etc. Yes, it does take some time to do it right, but it's a one time thing and super easy. Scanning is fast and the readout is really nice and clean. I think next time, I'll spend the extra to get the P25 (digital) so I can follow all the police channels - but I was more interested in the fire (FM and NFM) at the time of purchase. If it's sitting near you, the built-in speaker is just fine. I think if you wanted to hear it clear across the house, you might want an external one. The supplied antenna really is fine for me - it picks up 3 towns (I live on a hill) loud and clear. When a truck response is from the furthest reaches of the fire department, that signal at times breaks up. Might look into an attic antenna down the road - but don't see it as a necessity yet. For weather, I pick up several stations loud and clear. Sets up nice to alert with impending storms (SAME programmable). As a weather nerd, this is always nice to have. All in all, this is an awesome unit. Haven't played with all the features yet (like Close Call) but plan to visit those down the road.

Uniden should be ashamed to sell a product of this type, in this price range with such a TERRIBLE manual....it's an HTML document on the included diskette. Poorly organized, incomplete, very maddening to try to understand how to use this complex device. What are they thinking?? Note: I'm not griping about the lack of a *printed* manual, I'm referring to the very poor quality of the disk-based manual. And I'm talking about just programming conventional systems (i.e. non-trunked) which should be very simple to do. BUT: If you don't need the manual (because you've got friends to help you, or you are downloading a specific, custom made package of frequencies) my gripe about the manual gets dialed way back. So I say "Don't buy this product if you NEED the manual to understand how to use it". Otherwise, it appears to be solidly built, comes complete with a mini rear-mount extendable antenna to get you started, a 120VAC power adapter, a 12VDC connector, and the hardware to mount it. the form factor is nice and small, there is a rear panel jack for an external speaker and a front panel jack for headphones. The display is easy to read too. The internal speaker is on the "bottom" of the unit, that may be a problem for some folks but a nice touch for others. But using an external speaker is easy if you have to cover the built-in speaker where you need to mount the unit. Am I going to keep it? Yes, but then I have a "package" of frequencies that are downloaded into the unit via computer (assembled by an associate who needs the scanner for "work" same as me). But trying to program the thing, or even to understand how to do very basic things is frustrating and irritating beyond my ability to communicate to you.

I own two of these. I bought one new and one as a Amazon "warehouse deal". Both of these work great. I am using one in my truck and one in my house to monitor radio traffic in the county I live in. (I volunteer as a firefighter for one of our county's fire departments.) This scanner works great with the supplied antenna and well with a magnet mounted antenna on my truck. Bracket works great for truck mounting and for using with the supplied feet to set as a base. Fire tone-out is definitely a plus, and this is, as far as I could find, the most affordable model currently in production with that feature. I leave the one in the house on tone-out at full volume at night as a backup to my eDispatches app on my phone- as a plus, the radio is usually about thirty seconds ahead of the eDispatches text or the app. There are a couple of drawbacks to this unit, however. It should come with a programming cable that uses USB instead of an outdated serial connection - I had to buy a USB cable separately for my units so I could program them easily. I would certainly recommend Freescan and a subscription to Radioreference for easy importing. Also, this unit is not extremely intuitive. It works, and its great and full featured, but there is certainly a learning curve. Most of my older Radioshack models have been intuitive enough to figure out without manuals, but this one I had to look up a lot of things. I recommend using the "Easier to Read BCT15-X Scanner Manual" avaliable online. Other than these couple of minor complaints, this is an excellent unit if you are looking for a Scanner but don't need a model that handles all the newest digital radio standards.

There are a few small things I don't like about this scanner (I'll get into them in a moment), but considering the price point of this model and general lack of competition, I'm going with five stars anyway. My experience goes back to the days when programmable scanners were relatively new and one could still buy crystal-controlled receivers. Technology has certainly advanced in the twenty or so years since I last bought a scanner! The BCT15X does not have traditional "banks" found on old scanners. Instead, you are get a block of memory and divide it into "systems" and "groups", basically virtual banks that can be as many frequencies as you wish. This is a more efficient use of memory than partially filling a bank and wasting channels for the sake of organization. The "systems and groups" format means better use of memory; it is also one of the things that annoy me. Programming via the keypad is awkward and time consuming. Uniden does offer a data cable and software. My real gripe is that they made programming this thing a lot harder than it needs to be.What about mobile installs, or changes on the fly? Does anyone really want to fire up the computer for every little modification? Once you do trudge through the programming, the scanner pretty much runs itself. The sensitivity is very good, and the signal strength "S" meter is a nice touch too. The audio is above average for a built-in speaker but may fall short in noisy/mobile environments. Another annoyance: Although a very nice mobile mount bracket is included, they don't give you a fold-out stand or rubber feet for base station use. Would it have been such a big deal to include some lousy rubber feet? I almost want to deduct a star off my rating for excluding such an inexpensive, no-brainer option. All considered, the BCT15X is an excellent receiver. If you have an older scanner or have been out of the hobby for a while, you'll be amazed at how the technology has gotten better and cheaper. I had this scanner on my "wish list" for months before I made the leap. Don't repeat my mistake! Just buy one of these and see for yourself what's out there.

Had the scanner about a week now. It is a great piece of engineering. It will do far more than I'll ever need it to do. I do not regret the purchase at all. In fact, I'd do it again. However, I do have two gripes. First, it does not come with a manual. No excuse for this. It comes with a CD with a generic manual on it in wiki form. It's about as useful as a dried up dog turd. In fact, it is so bad, someone put an "easier to read" version on the web [...] .. If it wasn't for this online manual, I would have been sunk. This brings me to the 2nd gripe. I suspect whomever came up with the user interface was a crack addict on acid. Plenty of stuff here, like to turn on the band scope, you press function and then number 6. I mean huh? This might make sense, if button six had something like 'band scope' written under it or something. There is a whole lot of simply having to memorize incoherent key sequences to do things. The device's head is great, and well laid out, they gave the device a beautiful display, the buttons all have a great tactile response... but navigating the unit, and doing some simple tasks have been made far more difficult than necessary... I could not imagine programming this thing without the use of a computer program like Freescan, etc... Personally, key sequences are not a bad thing... if you use something a lot, it can be quicker.. but the designers should have put much more of the functionality in menus, and take advantage of the display and making it far more accessible to a casual user. The reality is that when you buy a device like this, you sign up for a learning curve. However, considering the engineering that had to go into this device, much more time should have went into making a more useful user interface. Other than these two gripes, it is a good unit, and have completely enjoyed this feature risk and powerful device.

First of all I've only owned one scanner in my life and it was the old style non-trunking Type scanner.. Also like other reviewers have said I would be playing it safe and if you plan to order this make sure you order it from Amazon.com directly that way you know you will definitely get the model you paid for BCT 15 X.. There is a difference between the BCT 15 and the BCT 15 X!! And it's funny that the BCT 15 X is cheaper then the other model.. Okay on with the scanner absolutely love this thing.. I had no idea on how to do trunking or what it was or how to program it nothing!! I did my research.. If you go to YouTube and type in Uniden BCT 15 X there is a handful of videos that show you how to program this manually enough to get you started with basic trunking. I live in Portland Oregon where here we use Motorola type II trunking Systems. I watch the videos off and on for about a week and did my research for the Frequencies and talk group IDs in my area in Portland. And just watch the videos on YouTube also the bcd996xt scanner Programs basically exactly the same way as the BCT 15 X .. I learned that from the videos to. Finally I went ahead and ordered it When I got it the first thing I had to do was go into the system make my System for what I was going to scan in Oregon. Again just watch the videos for a few times off and on and it's not hard at all! Apparently most places now in bigger cities use 800 MHz trunking. So I had to re-band the scanner for 800 MHz. Keep in mind I have no computer to hook this thing up to For doing software updates or programming it. The re-banding took me literally maybe a minute and a half. Again YouTube video shows you exactly how to do it. Then I typed in my 4 control channel frequencies. Then I typed in a few talk group IDs that I want to try out first to listen to. And hit the scan button.. and there you have it I was receiving my Portland trucking system PD..fire Departments.. it works great and it wasn't hard to do.. As for the sound quality of this thing is absolutely unbelievably clear. It comes of all the accessories and wires and cables to use it in your car. or use it as a home base unit which is what I'm doing with it.. I've read some of the reviews here and Some people say that they weren't sure on how the sound quality would be if you used it as a base unit because yes the speaker is on the bottom of the unit!! But they Forget to mention that it comes with a bracket that is used for mounting in your car or truck and it just so happens that same bracket works for your base unit sitting on your table. It props up the unit at an angle that is adjustable. It works great on any surface I keep mine on my nightstand next to my bed. And I can angle the unit how I wish. Sound quality?? you can't even tell the speaker is on the bottom!! And the unit looks good to.. One of the best toys I've ever bought for $180.00 I like the fact that you can put names pretty much for everything. In the system. Name it how you want to name it whether it be the system name the scanner frequency name what you're listening to it's very easy to use the Alpha tag naming on this!! It does take a little while to get used to how everything works like pressing the buttons and where everything is at. If you go online there's a very cool free user manual that you can download in PDF format or just look it up on the Internet and bookmark it. Type in easier to read BCT 15 X user manual. The way that the manual is laid out is very cool because when it talks about something you can hit the highlighted area and it takes you right to that section on the how-to and back again to where you left off reading. Because this thing does not come with pretty much any type of user manual. Like I said I've owned one scanner in my life and it was the old-style and I was up and listening to this scanner in about less than 15 minutes!! YouTube YouTube YouTube that's all you have to do!! And you can get the frequencies for your area and the talk group IDs off the Internet I went to radio reference.com.. This is Definitely the best scanner out there that I can imagine on the market!! Don't be intimidated by the scanner and the people saying that it's a nightmare to manually program..those people chances are they didn't do any type of research or even bother to try and find online How to videos YouTube!!!!! Anyways great scanner easy to MANUALLY!! Program If you just take some time while you're waiting for it to show up on your doorstep to Watch some videos and do some research About what's used in your area. You'll absolutely love this thing once you get used to working it.. All this from somebody who has only owned one Low end old-style scanner in his lifetime Short life I'm only 36.. Just make sure you buy it from Amazon only!!! That way you know you're getting what you paid for!! UPDATE DAME THIS THING IS AMAZING!!!! It really upsets me that people I'm not going to mention names just scroll to the bottom of the screen towards the last one star review. Complaining That it can't pick up anything even if you're sitting in front of the station. Well newsflash it's Not going to pick up anything even if you're inside the freaking police station If you don't have it Programmed right!!!! This is only my First high-end trunking scanner. And like I said earlier I don't even own a computer to Program this thing I did all manually.. Anyway I can't believe how great this scanner is. Law-enforcement I get to hear every thing and then some! I hear Stakeouts .swat team. Police pursuits.. Undercover operations.. A lot of stuff that's pretty crazy. And in my town . listening to the scanner is almost more entertaining than Watching my TV!!! I've owned this scanner now for about a month. And I feel like A pro scanner enthusiast.. You simply have to buy this Scanner!!! There is a little bit of a learning curve.. But if you're willing to Just take the time To do a little research.. Believe me you will be rewarded greatly For your efforts.. I am just sorry that I waited so long to pull the trigger on buying This scanner...

I finally decided I should get a trunking radio, and that having one for a base station would be good. Hardly any digital stuff in my area, and decided it was not worth paying more than twice as much for the capability. As others have said, it could use a better manual. You want to look for "Easier to Read BCT15-X Scanner Manual" online, it makes it much easier to figure out all the settings and menus. It's definitely a lot different from my handheld scanners, even though they are all Unidens. Pretty much everything could be programmed by hand, but it takes a lot of scrolling and pressing to do it. I use FreeScan to program it from a computer. The dynamic memory is a huge improvement. I get to set up almost as many groups and channels as I want! The only limit I am anywhere near is the 500 channels/talkgroups per group. I haven't reached it or had any issues, but that is what is in the documentation. You have three levels: systems, groups, and channels. A system would define a trunked system, or could be some collection of conventional frequencies. The groups reside within the systems, and each group contains channels. This really helps organize many channels, especially when you have a ton of talkgroups on a trunked system. The quick keys are also way better than the traditional system. Instead of a number corresponding to only one group of channels, you can set it up with many groups. You can assign multiple groups the same number, so that they are all activated at the same time. This makes it much easier to divide the groups logically so you can activate the ones you want to hear. Radio IDs are also something new for me. You have to go into the settings and enable this (haven't gotten it to work from FreeScan yet), and it will alternate the talkgroup ID and then "UID:ixxxxx" of who is transmitting. The radio has to catch the beginning of a transmission to pick this up. Also, if the conversation continues without the squelch activating, it will keep the ID of the radio that initiated it. You can label these in FreeScan by just putting an "i" in front of the number, as it appears on the radio. Give it a name as you would a talkgroup, and it will show the name on the display. I have also had the chance to use it in the car a bit. A GPS receiver would be really nice to have, because you can set up your groups to only be scanned when you are within a certain area, as well as other things. It costs more than it is worth to me, though. Speaking of cost, you don't have to shell out for the USB-1 cable from Uniden. I got the TRENDnet USB to RS-232 cable and it works great.

Excelente producto, muy buena recepción, a las frecuencias grabadas se les puede poner nombre, equipo sumamente fácil de programar, solo que hay que buscar videos en youtube porque el manual apesta, es muy complicado de entender. 100% recomendado.

J'ai commandé un SCANNER RADIO et malheureusement pour moi, je ne reçois rien car ce n'est pas en FRANÇAIS. Merci.

日本のメーカーでは製造されていないタイプの受信機です。デジタルには対応していませんが.ユニデンの受信機はAMが聞きやすいので、民間、軍用のエアバンドリスナーに特にオススメです。また、国際VHFを受信する方にもいい受信機かと思います。

Fantastic radio scanner and great customer service it come without UK 12v plug converter so I sent them message and straight away they sent one to me within 3 days. Only problem is the delivery service was terrible almost 2 weeks late for the scanner and that's from DPD delivery service in UK

Been using this for over a year now and its worked great. Reception is clear and it doesn't use alot of power when the vehicle is not running.