Uniden Bct 8 Radio Scanner Owners Manual

Precautions
Before you use this scanner, please observe the following:
WARNING!
Uniden America Corporation does not represent this unit to be waterproof. To reduce the
risk of fire, electrical shock, or damage to the unit, do not expose this unit to rain or
moisture.
IMPORTANT!
• This scanning radio has been manufactured so that it will not tune 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...

Contents
Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Front and Rear Views  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Icon Display  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....

Trunk Tracking  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Setting the Squelch  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Programming Trunking Frequencies  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
STEP 1: Selecting Trunking System Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....

1
Introduction
The BCT8 is a state-of-the-art Trunk Tracking Scanner with BearTracker technology which
will alert you when the highway patrol is within approximately a 3 mile radius. It can store
250 frequencies such as police, fire/emergency, marine, railroad, air, amateur, and other
communications into 5 banks of 50 channels for a total of 250 channels.
Use your new scanner to monitor:
•Highway Patrol
•Local Police and Country Sheriffs
•Trunking for: 
Motorola 
Type I
Type II
Type II: (Hybrid)
EDACS...

Front and Rear Views
1. Squelch Control / Flash Brightness
Selector (
SQL, FLASH)
2. Alerting Light (
ALERT)
3. Volume Control / Alert Tone Selector
(
VOL)
4. Mute Key (
MUTE)
5. Display
6. Lockout Key (
L/O)
7. Delay Key (
DELAY)
8. Service Key (
SVC)
9. Private Scanning Key (
PVT)
2
STATE HWYPVTSVCSRCHTRUNK
11-50
4151-200 DELAY
L/O
DATA
PRI SQL
BCT8VOLpush
ALERTpush
FLASH
MUTE
ALERT
7
.RMT
251-100
5201-250
8
0
3101-150
6
9
EM-LOCKHOLD/RESUME
12
13 42
3
1
567891011
19201817161415
21. Antenna Connector...

Icon Display
Uniden®
, BearTracker®
and Bearcat®
are registered trademarks of Uniden America
Corporation.
TrunkTracker is a proprietary trademark of Uniden America Corporation.
3
1
10111213141516171819
23456789
20 282122212324252627
1. Trunk Tracking mode (TRUNK)
2. Motorola trunking channel (
M)
3. EDACS trunking channel (
E)
4. LTR trunking channel (
L)
5. Scan list (
LIST)
6. Scan bank (
BANK)
7. Bank’s number and ID’s list number
(
12345)
8. Remote control mode (
RMT)
9. Memory locked (
M-LOCK)
10....

4
Terminology
What are Highway Patrol Alerts?
Most highway patrol vehicles on the road today are equipped with a secondary radio system
known as a “mobile extender” or “vehicular repeater.” Whenever the dispatcher transmits to
any vehicle in the district, “mobile extender” in every car within the district is activated.
Using a constant PRIORITY check of specific frequencies in each state, the BCT8
recognizes and alerts you to transmissions from “mobile extender” radios as well as from
car-to-car,...

5
In a trunked radio system the frequencies are shared among the police and fire departments
and a computer systematically assigns available frequencies when they are needed for
communications.
Sharing of the available public service frequencies, or trunking, allows cities, counties, or
other agencies to accommodate hundreds of users with relatively few frequencies. Following
a conversation on a trunked system using a scanner is difficult, if not impossible. Because
when theres a short break during the...

6
Feature Highlights
•Pre-programmed frequencies specific to each state (except Hawaii).
•Pre-programmed Trunked and conventional Highway Patrol frequencies
•Highway Patrol Priority Alert 
-Receive audible and visual alert when within three miles of many Highway Patrol/State
units
•Pre-programmed frequencies for the following categories: 
-Local Police and County Sheriffs 
-Fire and Emergency Medical Service 
-News Media 
-Weather (continuous NOAA weather and Canadian Coast Guard broadcasts)
-CB Radio...