View Full Version : Comparison of Uniden BCT12 versus BCT8
jbird
03-01-2005, 06:57 PM
Has anyone tried both of these products recently? I ask because I am thinking about upgrading my BCT12 to a BCT8 mostly to get some updated frequencies and listen to CB channel 19. The one thing that I will miss is the signal strength meter on the beartracker warning system which the BCT8 does not have. I usually ignore alerts that come in at only "1" or have a decreasing signal strength. I have an external antenna on my car that drastically improved my signal reception (maybe a little too much.) I would especially like to hear from someone who drives through the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states.
The BCT series is awesome! I have used one and it has saved me 2 times. I don't use them to detect police officers on the road. I use them to detect air patrol!!!! Air patrol uses a specific frequency when it radios down to the patrol officer which car to nab. Hopefully, like a radar detector, you will capture the "radio in" on the car ahead of you 2 miles out. Once the frequency is detected an audio alert goes off and then you can hear the transmission.
It surprises me that radar roy doesn't carry these. Why Roy?
Chris
www.laserjammertests.com
raresvx
04-04-2005, 08:00 PM
That signal feature is not what you think it is. Its a show the signal strength coming from the tower not the partrol vechile. Basicly all it does is. Is when the officer is away from his car. He keys up his handheld radio and it repeats over his mobile radio in his car. So if the officer isnt talking on his handheld its not going to trip the that alert feature on the bct 8,10,12.
Those are very old radio scanners most cops are on digital.
That signal feature is not what you think it is. Its a show the signal strength coming from the tower not the partrol vechile. Basicly all it does is. Is when the officer is away from his car. He keys up his handheld radio and it repeats over his mobile radio in his car. So if the officer isnt talking on his handheld its not going to trip the that alert feature on the bct 8,10,12.
Those are very old radio scanners most cops are on digital.
Hi guys, sorry for bringing up an old thread. In any case, I just ordered the BCT 8, and I was curious if the "800 MHz TrunkTracker" meant "digital". In Calgary our police are all on digital, so I was just checking. I purchased a few things off Roy awhile ago including a couple of Bell RX65's.
jimbonzzz
06-06-2005, 05:39 AM
Hi guys, sorry for bringing up an old thread. In any case, I just ordered the BCT 8, and I was curious if the "800 MHz TrunkTracker" meant "digital".
No, if it was digital you would probably have paid $400-$500 for it. Only a few Uniden and Radioshack models are digital, the BCT-8 isn't one of them...
Jim
What's the smallest digital available then? Do you really need digital if all you want to do is detect police near you? That being said, which is better the BCT8 or 12?
I wonder why Uniden stopped making them.
jimbonzzz
06-06-2005, 08:08 AM
What's the smallest digital available then? Do you really need digital if all you want to do is detect police near you? That being said, which is better the BCT8 or 12?
I wonder why Uniden stopped making them.
The smallest digital would be one of the Uniden/Radiosack handhelds.
You don't need a digital scanner for "Highway Patrol Alert" in the BCT's, since it just detects the presece of signal. You only need a digital scanner if the police in the area you are driving has a digital radio system, AND you want to be able to listen to what they are saying.
The BCT-8 is better because it is newer than the BCT-12 and has all of the frequencies updated. The BCT-12 can still be useful in some states that haven't changed frequencies or radio systems recently.
Uniden only stopped making the older BCT-12. The BCT-8 is the current model.
Jim
Thanks Jim. I think in Calgary they are using all digital, so the scanning might be useless. According to Uniden the BC-8 is the only model with "Beartracking". So I guess buying the digital might be useless to me anyways?
Thanks again.
Nothegger
06-06-2005, 12:32 PM
Not exactly, Uniden's more advaced units like BC7xx series have features that alert you to transmissions, just they are not limited to highway patrol, instead you can set them up to alert you to a transmission on any channel/frequency you like. "Beartracking" is just a preprogrammed function for people who don't want to be bothered with more advance scanner usage.
Not exactly, Uniden's more advaced units like BC7xx series have features that alert you to transmissions, just they are not limited to highway patrol, instead you can set them up to alert you to a transmission on any channel/frequency you like. "Beartracking" is just a preprogrammed function for people who don't want to be bothered with more advance scanner usage.
So that being said, if I live in a city who's on digital the BCT-8 is a waste of money?
Nothegger
06-07-2005, 07:04 AM
Check the prices on both BCT-8 and some other unit like BCD396T heandheld or BC796D base who have digital ability and decide if you can afford it. Personally, I would say yes, it's a waste of money to buy BCT-8 if you know that they use digital where you live, as it's only use would be to give you a beep if a patrol car is near by (if youre decision to get a scanner is based on wanting to be aware of police primarily). Choice is yours.
I like this forum, people respond quickly even to dumb questions, thank you!
Nothegger, that's all I want - I want the ability for the scanner to tell me if there is a police officer around me in the city. I don't care about listening in on their calls - at least not yet.
So will it work for this even in the city when they're all on digital?
jbird
06-07-2005, 07:32 AM
I seriously doubt it. The radios can tell if a police officer is close by if they have their mobile extender on (if they have a mobile extender at all anymore.) Most city cops do not have these. Usually it is highway patrol or rural law enforcement that may find themselves far away from the radio towers that use mobile extenders. If you do not want to listen then buying a scanner now is probably not a good idea unless you want to use it for traveling purposes. Scanning also can be an intensive hobby requiring upgrades with new equipment and the ability to find frequencies and program the scanner if things change. Digital scanners are quite expensive now and young in technology so I would be hesistant to buy one especially if everyone decides to use encryption to prevent you from hearing for the purposes of homeland security supposedly.
Nothegger
06-07-2005, 07:38 AM
You don't need a digital scanner for "Highway Patrol Alert" in the BCT's, since it just detects the presece of signal. You only need a digital scanner if the police in the area you are driving has a digital radio system, AND you want to be able to listen to what they are saying.
I think Jimbonz said it all. As for using it in the city where police cars are obviously more dense, I'm not sure how usefull it would be, you should ask someone with a first hand expirience. Another thing is, it says unit is preprogramed with highway patrol frequencies, so alert would not include local police. Now you may be able to enter freques manually and store them under "highway patrol" alert, but, again, you should get this answer from someone who uses the actuall unit.
CLTX11
06-07-2005, 03:45 PM
With this unit you can leave it in HWY mode and scan whatever you want at the same time.
I used it on a road trip the night I got it. I didnt know much about it as I recieved it at work without getting to play with it and left after that. I did scan HWY and CB channel 19. On the way down there I did get an alert from a HWY patrol and listened to their transmission and he was going the opposite direction about a mile down. As he said he was on North 367 I was passing South 368.
Listening to CB I was saved by a trucker from a city cop using laser. I heard it well ahead of the location. The trucker called it out as radar but as I neared I saw it was a laser gun.
If you have any questions about this unit I have been playing with it for a little over a month and know alot about it.
If you have any questions about this unit I have been playing with it for a little over a month and know alot about it.
Yes one major question - I don't care about scanning in the city, but I am certainly interested in the bear tracking thing - so I essentially want to track police in the city (if possible) even though they are using digital. Possible or do I need another model?
CLTX11
06-07-2005, 09:29 PM
As someone stated before most cities do not use extenders anymore. Only ones who usually use extenders are going to be your State Troopers (HWY Patrol) and Rural cops in the middle of no where. Since cities are more dense and well used for radio transmission they will erect towers where need be.
Since they are on digital the answer to your question "track police in the city" is going to be a no, however if the HWY patrol in your state are still on a conventional system it will be helpful.
fireant
06-07-2005, 09:31 PM
If they are using digital where you leave you would have to go with a digital scanner uniden has Bc 296 and the Bc 250d and the 796 in a base model. Radio Shack has a 2096 which is made to mount in your vehicle however it does not have the features that you want to pick up the bear tracking you are talking about and the Pro 96 digital handheld. I don't actually know of any current digital scanner that does maybe the new digital unit from uniden that set to come out this summer the 396 will.
fireant
If they are using digital where you leave you would have to go with a digital scanner uniden has Bc 296 and the Bc 250d and the 796 in a base model. Radio Shack has a 2096 which is made to mount in your vehicle however it does not have the features that you want to pick up the bear tracking you are talking about and the Pro 96 digital handheld. I don't actually know of any current digital scanner that does maybe the new digital unit from uniden that set to come out this summer the 396 will.
fireant
..but then why does the BCT-8 say it does 800MHz Trunk Tracking? If it does that, doesn't it mean it will work for tracking?
CLTX11
06-07-2005, 09:36 PM
Trunk tracking is different than digital
Trunk tracking is different than digital
800MHz trunk tracking is tracking communications from an 800MHz frequency, which is digital. This is why I'm confused. The BCT-8 was updated to support this .. Ugh, maybe I should ask Uniden to see what they say...
CLTX11
06-07-2005, 09:41 PM
Unidens digital models have the APCO 25
jbird
06-07-2005, 09:44 PM
Trunk tracking is different than digital
800MHz trunk tracking is tracking communications from an 800MHz frequency, which is digital. This is why I'm confused. The BCT-8 was updated to support this .. Ugh, maybe I should ask Uniden to see what they say...
Trunk tracking just refers to being able to follow the transmissions because a computer gives a short burst telling the radio which frequency to use. This allows a lot of people to use only a few frequencies to communicate effectively. The voice transmissions themselves can still be either analog or digital though. If they are digital you won't be able to make it out.
CLTX11
06-07-2005, 09:48 PM
read up on this:
Trunk Tracking: http://www.police-scanner.info/scanning/trunking-police-scanners.htm
Digital: http://www.police-scanner.info/scanning/digital-police-scanners.htm
The voice transmissions themselves can still be either analog or digital though. If they are digital you won't be able to make it out.
Yeah see I don't care about hearing them at all - the question is will this thing detect communication amongst these users, thereby saying there's an officer about?
jbird
06-07-2005, 09:58 PM
The transmissions could be from so many different people on a trunked system other than traffic enforcement so you would be getting all kinds of alerts most of which would be false alarms. You also would not be able to judge where the people were who were doing the transmitting as they could be right in front of you or miles away.
CLTX11
06-07-2005, 09:59 PM
That site I sent showed who was on ALL digital meaning NO analog what so ever. If your state or city isnt among the list then you will be able to hear some transmissions. You said you dont care about hearing them, just detecting them. I stated this earlier, most and I mean most of the city cops DO NOT use a mobile repeater or extender so the beartracker will be pointless unless you are on the HWY considering the HWY patrol isnt on digital or live in the backwoods. If you are just using it for the sole purpose of detecting cops I wouldnt spend the money.
CLTX11
06-07-2005, 10:02 PM
Also from my understanding it only detects the units that the scanner already has pre-programmed.
I have mine set up to listen in on the cops in the traffic enforcement. If they use their handheld it will not kick in the extender cause there is towers located throughout the city. I listen to their location where they have someone pulled over.