Technical description and definitions

Technical Description - Definitions

This report is an attempt to provide a set of instructions, a technical description, and a definition of the process for programming a police scanner. The instructions described show how to perform the step-by-step programming of a BCL-145XL Bearcat police scanner. The technical description details the scanner and its purpose. Definitions that are needed to understand the process are included. For example, since the report is describing the process of programming a Bearcat scanner, the report also incorporates a brief description of how a police scanner retrieves information in most communities as well as provides necessary definitions for unfamiliar terms. The report is broken down into three sections: the instructions which describes the major and minor programming process steps; the technical description which provides insights into the scanner itself; and the unfamiliar terms and definitions.

Technical Description

A police scanner permits an average citizen to tune into police, fire, weather, emergency, "ham," FRS, Military, Government, and more as long as the frequencies used by these services or agencies are between 29-54 MHz, 137-174 MHz, 406-512 MHz. This information is public and free and no license or special permit is needed to listen in. I use an old BCL-145XL Bearcat police scanner even though there are models available today that have thousands of channels available and come preprogrammed for unbelievable ranges of information.

The original Bearcat scanners were created by the Electra Company which is a subdivision of the Masco Corp of Indiana. Around 1984, a Japanese company called Uniden purchased the Bearcat scanner line. The BCL-145XL is a 16 channel one way receiver that can be programmed to listen in on specific frequencies in both a scan mode where all 16 channels are constantly monitored or by tuning into a single channel for listening to a single or continuous event transmission and a feature that allows the listener to skip over channels they don't want to hear.

Scanners allow individuals to listen in on tomorrow's news as it is happening. Because there are constant dramas unfolding from domestic abuse to a police chase of a bank robber, scanning can be exciting and often fun. There is a serious side to scanning as well. There are professionals such as news teams, private investigators and even ambulance chasing lawyers who use scanners to get the scoop on the competition. The key to using a programmable scanner is to get the necessary frequencies and program them into the scanner so that you can listen in to what you actually want to hear.

Frequencies can be obtained from many sources. "Scanner Master also publishes regional frequency guides for Illinois, Florida, Virginia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and other states." (Parnas, Bob) Other sources include book stores, the internet, the local authorities, federal pamphlets and tons of other sources including friends, neighbors and relatives. "The most convenient source of fire and police frequencies is the Police Call Plus, published each year in 9 regional volumes by Hollins Radio Data, and sold at Radio Shack and larger book stores for under $13." (Parnas, Bob)

Step-By-Step Instructions

Programming the frequencies into the scanner is simple and can be accomplished by anyone including children. A quick look at the scanner reveals several well documented buttons. There is a number series buttons from zero through nine. There are two other buttons in the number series, a decimal button and an 'E' button. The decimal button is for adding decimals for the frequencies and the 'E' button is an button.

Next to the number series are six bigger buttons: , , ,

eview>, and . Buttons not needed for programming will be described in the definition section of the report.

Step one is picking a frequency to enter. I choose a local police department from a frequency book from any library. I could have chosen a paramedic unit, or one of millions of available frequencies. I just happen to choose frequency 162.015.

Step two consists of first turning the scanner on and if need by plugging it in if it is not a battery ready. The LED display lights up -- 000.000. I want to add 162.015 to channel 1 of the available 16 channels.

PRESS -- this step identifies channel 1 for programming

PRESS -- this enters the frequency

Step three is to verify that the frequency took.

PRESS -- and the frequency that is on channel 1 will be displayed

Step four is to repeat steps one through three until all 16 channels have different frequencies on them.

Step five is to hit the button and the listener is ready to listen to tomorrow's news today.