The Uniden Bearcat BC-246T Scannerby Tom Swisher WA8PYR Uniden has made an interesting leap forward in scanner technology with the BC-246T handheld scanner. An advancement of the Trunktracker III series scanners, the BC246T boasts several new features, including use of ordinary AA batteries and Uniden's new Dynamically Allocated Channel Memory which makes wasted memory a thing of the past. The BC246T is a very small but very powerful little radio. The package includes the radio; a flexible "rubber duck" antenna; a "wall-wart" power supply and two 1800 mAh nickel-metal-hydride (NiMh) batteries; the standard plastic belt clip and a wrist loop. The BC246T scans conventional frequencies, and tracks Motorola, LTR and EDACS analog trunked systems. The radio boasts extensive coverage from 25 to 1300 MHz, with the cellular bands and majority of the UHF-TV band excluded; coverage is as follows: 25-28 MHz Land Mobile & CB The radio is quite comfortable to use, with a large, informative alphanumeric LCD display and a well-designed keypad. The display is backlit using the now-standard Uniden orange color, but unfortunately the keypad is not illuminated. The display backlight is excellent, however. The audio is quite good as well, with quite a bit of punch for such a small radio. Read the manual. Programming the BC246T is a whole new ball game. The new Dynamic Memory Allocation feature in some ways goes back to scanners like the Regency HX1500; the '1500 had 55 channels (remember those scanners with less than 100 channels?) which the user could arrange into 4 banks of any desired configuration. One could have a bank of 5 channels, another of 15 channels, a third of 25 channels, a fourth of 10 channels and so on in any way desired. The '246T is somewhat similar in that the memory is flexibly allocated. However, the scanner allocates memory as you go along, rather than being set up with a fixed number of channels. Dynamic Memory Allocation is really a great way to go, allowing much more efficient use of memory than previous radios with fixed bank/channel usage. Having said that, however, you really have to bend your brain into different modes of thought when programming this radio. Using the menu for programming is absolutely essential, as many of the settings can only be accessed in this way. If you've used Uniden scanners like the BC780 and BC250D, you should have no trouble programming the BC246T. While it can be pretty challenging to the scanning newcomer or old hand alike due to the variety of choices the radio offers, you need not worry; the menu system of programming is quite intuitive and easy to follow. Be sure to read the manual, though, so you know what you're looking at. Reminder: Read the manual. Programming trunked systems is pretty straightforward. With the menu, I was able to program the basics for my local public safety system in a matter of minutes, especially since I was using Control Channel only mode. This allows you to enter only the control channels of a Motorola system; the scanner reads the data from the control channel and uses it to set the scanner to the proper voice channels (just like a Motorola radio). I noticed one major improvement in the '246T over previous models right away; there is no longer a need to select a control channel "plan." Instead, all one has to do is set control channel only mode to on, enter the frequencies, and that's it. I quickly discovered that the sensitivity of the BC246T is excellent... as long as you're not using the stock antenna. With the stock antenna, reception of my local public safety system (with a transmitter only a few miles away) was acceptable, but not outstanding by any stretch of the imagination. So I switched to a ham-band antenna designed for VHF/UHF use, and what a difference! Sensitivity immediately jumped, with the scanner picking up mobile railroad transmissions in the 160 MHz band almost as well as my mobile scanner with an external antenna! 800 MHz sensitivity was also dramatically improved; my local system jumped to full quieting and reception was flawless. Selectivity is also quite good as scanners go; I experienced less trouble receiving my local trunked systems than with some other radios. There were some problems with intermod in certain downtown areas, but that is almost a given with any scanner. One essential feature found in the BC246T is CTCSS/DCS decode capability. Wireless is the way of the world these days, and this leads to increased noise and congestion in the RF spectrum, which is a very limited resource. As such, the CTCSS/DCS decode capability in the BC246T is a necessary feature. Most agencies today use CTCSS/DCS on their radio systems to reduce or eliminate interference from co-channel and adjacent channel users, as well as quite a bit of the RF interference emanating from paging, cellular phone and other transmitters. The CTCSS/DCS decoding in the BC246T allows the user to program a conventional frequency with CTCSS/DCS codes, thus eliminating quite a bit of noise reception. The CTCSS/DCS search feature in previous models left a great deal to be desired, taking entirely too long to catch the correct CTCSS tone; in most cases, it was too slow to catch tones during the brief transmissions typical in public safety. However, the BC246T is way out in front. CTCSS and DCS tone discovery was quite good, being much faster than in earlier Trunktrackers. It's not quite as fast as the Radio Shack Pro-96 and Pro-2096 I've reviewed previously, but it's quite good and much better than previous Uniden models. As in the BC296D, the BC246T has excellent pre-programmed search banks; these allow the user to go through the Service menu, select a service and begin searching with just a few touches of the keypad. The radio also features "Chain Search," which allows one to program up to 10 personal search banks and search them in any combination. The BC246T also has an interesting new feature called Close Capture. This is a feature somewhat like a frequency counter; it allows the scanner to pick up any nearby transmission and display the frequency much more quickly than the regular search function. It works very well indeed; I was pretty impressed with it and had quite a bit of fun latching onto all sorts of eclectic communications. However, if your interest is Other useful features include variable delay times, RF attenuator, lockout restore and auto-store. One of these very useful features is NWR-SAME alert decode. This allows you to enter the codes designated for your area and receive weather alerts sent to your area, and only those, without hearing alerts for areas 50 miles away. The rich feature set means there are plenty of options for even the most persnickity of scanner users. The BC246T is computer programmable, like most of it's Trunktracking predecessors. There are several software options available; two great choices are Scancat-Lite-Plus from Scancat and ARC246 from BuTel. Both are great, with each performing the function of programming the scanner quite well. Reviews of both programs will be coming in the next issue of National Communications. There are, unfortunately, a few drawbacks to the BC246T, all of a relatively minor nature when taken in context with the overall scanner. There is a fairly steep learning curve for features commonly used on a day to day basis. Selecting and deselecting systems and groups to scan, or setting the scanner on a specific talkgroup, is somewhat challenging. It isn't similar to previous scanners where all one had to do was hit Manual and select the list ID number. It gets easier once one gets used to it, but getting used to it takes some time. Another problem is that the BC246T just eats batteries. The fact that Uniden has finally heard the cries of the comsumer, doing away with the custom battery packs and now using ordinary AA batteries is excellent and long overdue. However, like the BC250D and BC296D, the BC246T for some reason seems to have a fairly high current draw. With a fresh pair of Eveready Energizers I got a bit more than 9 hours of continuous use... with the battery saver activated. The brand new 1800 mAh NiMh cells included with the scanner got about 7 hours, again with the battery saver function activated. One caveat to keep in mind here, though, is that this scanner is only using two batteries instead of four as in most previous scanners; this means there is only half the capacity available. A rather aggravating problem that has continued down the line since the BC235 is that the low-battery warning starts beeping several hours before the scanner actually runs out of power. It's very annoying to have to sit there listening to the low-battery warning beep at you for 2 or 3 hours... And finally, why isn't the keypad illuminated? Trying to use the scanner in low-light conditions is somewhat annoying; I usually have to use a flashlight so I can see what buttons I'm pushing. The drawbacks notwithstanding, overall the BC246T is a very nice scanner. It's small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, and the features the radio is loaded with make it well worth the price. Back |