To determine whether the information on this page applies to your scanner, see the tags at the bottom of the page.
Use this menu to start a search, to change the options for the three different types of searches, and program the 3 search keys.
Service Search
Start a search of one of the 12 preset service bands. Choose from
Public Safety, News, HAM Radio, Marine, Railroad, Air, CB Radio, FRS/GMRS/MURS, Racing, FM Broadcast, Military Air , or
Special .
Edit Service
This menu lets you change the default settings for the 12 preset service bands. Select the service you want to edit from the list, then set the following options:
Set Delay Time
Set the number of seconds the scanner should wait after a transmission stops before moving on to the next channel. Select
0,
1,
2 (default),
5,
10, or
30 seconds.
To have scanner leave the channel after a designated number of seconds whether the transmission stops or not, select one of the negative values. Choose
-10 seconds to have the scanner leave the channel after 10 seconds even if the transmission is still going on; choose
-5 seconds or
-2 seconds to have the scanner leave after 5 seconds or 2 seconds, respectively.
Set Attenuator
Turn on attenuation to reduce the signal strength by 20 dB. All frequencies in the search range are attenuated during search.
Set Audio AGC (BCD996XT and BCD396XT Only)
Turn on Automatic Gain Control (AGC) for this system. When you activate this feature, the scanner automatically adjusts the volume for each channel based on the signal strength. You can turn on the gain control for
Analog and
Digital signals separately.
To change the settings for the audio AGC, see
Adjust Audio AGC
Set Record (BCD996XT and BCT15X Only)
Set the scanner to provide the audio from found transmissions to the RECORD OUT jack on the back of the scanner.
P25 Waiting Time (BCD996XT and BCD396XT Only)
When searching in a band that has a mix of analog and digital signals (i.e., where the
Audio Mode is set to
All), it is possible to have
false decode problems that results in digital noise at the beginning of transmissions. To prevent this, a user-configurable P25 wait time (from 0 to 1000 ms) has been added.
During the wait time, the scanner evaluates the received signal; if it detects P25 data, the scanner opens squelch immediately. If it does not detect any P25 data, the scanner opens squelch as soon as the wait time expires.
Note: Any analog transmissions on this channel will lose the first part of the transmission, up to the wait time you set here.
Select the number of milliseconds (after the start of a transmission) the scanner should wait while checking for P25 data. Choose a number from
0 through
1000 ms in 100 ms increments. The scanner only applies the wait time when
Tone/Code Search in
Srch/CloCall Opt is set to
Off.
Custom Search
Start a search of the 10 custom search ranges.
Edit Custom
This menu lets you program the ten custom search ranges. Select the custom search you want to edit from the list, then set the following options:
Edit Name
Enter a name or edit the existing one. Names can be 16 characters long, and they can contain upper and lower case letters, punctuation, and spaces. Turn the
SELECT-VOLUME-SQUELCH knob on the handheld scanners or the
SCROLL / FUNCTION knob on mobile scanners to choose the character you want, then press
6 (right cursor) to move the cursor to the next character.
Edit Srch Limit
Change the range of frequencies covered by this custom search. The scanner prompts you to input the lower frequency limit and then the upper frequency limit.
Set Delay Time
Set the number of seconds the scanner should wait after a transmission stops before moving on to the next channel. Select
0,
1,
2 (default),
5,
10, or
30 seconds.
To have scanner leave the channel after a designated number of seconds whether the transmission stops or not, select one of the negative values. Choose
-10 seconds to have the scanner leave the channel after 10 seconds even if the transmission is still going on; choose
-5 seconds or
-2 seconds to have the scanner leave after 5 seconds or 2 seconds, respectively.
Set Modulation
Select what type of modulation the scanner should use for this frequency or channel. (Only the modulation types available for this frequency or channel are displayed.)
| Auto |
The scanner uses the default modulation type for this frequency. You can change the default by editing the Band Tables (BCD396XT/BC346XT Band Defaults, BCD996XT Band Defaults, BCT15X Band Defaults). |
| AM |
The scanner treats the frequency as AM modulation. |
| NFM |
The scanner treats the frequency as Narrowband FM modulation (about 7.5 kHz deviation; also referred to as SNFM in some references). |
| FM |
The scanner treats the frequency as FM modulation (about 15 kHz deviation; also referred to as NFM in some references). |
| WFM |
The scanner treats the frequency as Wideband FM modulation (over 100 kHz deviation; used for pre-digital conversion TV broadcast reception and similar). |
| FMB |
The scanner treats the frequency as FM broadcast modulation (about 75 kHz deviation; used for FM radio station reception and similar). |
It is important that you correctly set the modulation type for the channel you are programming. If you program a channel as NFM that is transmitting in FM mode, the audio will sound too loud as compared to correctly programmed channels. Similarly, if you program a channel as FM that is transmitting in NFM mode, the audio will be too quiet as compared to correctly programmed channels. Incorrectly matching the modulation setting to the actual modulation used is the biggest reason for unbalanced audio between channels.
Set Attenuator
Turn on attenuation to reduce the signal strength by 20 dB. All frequencies in the search range are attenuated during search.
Set Step
Select the number of kHz between each channel. Choose
5.0, 6.25, 7.5, 8.33, 10.0, 12.5, 15.0, 20.0, 25.0, 50.0 or
100.0 kHz. Select
Auto to use the default step for this band.
Set C-Ch Only
If you set C-Ch Only Mode to On, the scanner will only search for control channel data. If it detects such data it will stop on the control channel and display channel activity for the found system. For Motorola systems, it will try to follow voice channel traffic using the Motorola Band Plan you select in the next setting. It will also display the name of the found system if the system's ID matches a known system.
Set MOT Band Plan
If this custom search is a Motorola system, you need to select a band plan, just like you do when you program a Motorola system for scanning. See
Edit Band Plan for more information.
Set Audio AGC (BCD996XT and BCD396XT Only)
Turn on Automatic Gain Control (AGC) for this system. When you activate this feature, the scanner automatically adjusts the volume for each channel based on the signal strength. You can turn on the gain control for
Analog and
Digital signals separately.
To change the settings for the audio AGC, see
Adjust Audio AGC
Set Record (BCD996XT and BCT15X Only)
Set the scanner to provide the audio from found transmissions to the RECORD OUT jack on the back of the scanner.
P25 Waiting Time (BCD996XT and BCD396XT Only)
When searching in a band that has a mix of analog and digital signals (i.e., where the
Audio Mode is set to
All), it is possible to have
false decode problems that results in digital noise at the beginning of transmissions. To prevent this, a user-configurable P25 wait time (from 0 to 1000 ms) has been added.
During the wait time, the scanner evaluates the received signal; if it detects P25 data, the scanner opens squelch immediately. If it does not detect any P25 data, the scanner opens squelch as soon as the wait time expires.
Note: Any analog transmissions on this channel will lose the first part of the transmission, up to the wait time you set here.
Select the number of milliseconds (after the start of a transmission) the scanner should wait while checking for P25 data. Choose a number from
0 through
1000 ms in 100 ms increments. The scanner only applies the wait time when
Tone/Code Search in
Srch/CloCall Opt is set to
Off.
Search a stored system and save the frequency information of any active channels.
Set Search Key
The scanner has three one-touch search keys (number keys
1 ,
2 , and
3 ) that you can assign to any saved search range.
- Select the search key you want to program ( Search Key 1 through Search Key 3 ).
- Select the search range you want to assign to this key. The search range can be a service search, a custom search, a tone-out search, or a band scope search.
- Press YES to confirm the selection.
Once you assign a search range to a key, you can start the search just by pressing the appropriate key.