Introduction The BC780XLT is a state-of-the-art radio with TrunkTracking™ and automatic scanning capabilities. It can store frequencies such as police, fire/emergency, marine, railroad, air, amateur, and other communications into 10 banks of 50 channels each.
Important Notice • 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 intentionally intercept cellular or cordless telephone transmissions or to market this radio when altered to receive them.
Terminology What is Scanning? Unlike standard AM or FM radio stations, most two-way communications do not transmit continuously. The BC780XLT scans the channels you program until it finds an active frequency. Scanning stops on an active frequency and remains on that channel as long as the transmission continues. When the transmission ends, the scanning cycle resumes until another transmission is received. What is Searching? The BC780XLT can search each of its 27 bands to find active frequencies.
TrunkTrack™ changes this! Not only does your new BC780XLT scan channels like a conventional scanner, it actually follows the users of a trunked radio system. Once you know a talkgroups ID, you won’t miss any of the action. If you're a new scanner enthusiast, you may want to read the first part of this manual and use your scanner in conventional mode before you begin trunk tracking. Understanding scanning fundamentals and its terminology will make trunk tracking much easier.
Feature Highlights • Trunk Tracking – Follow UHF High Band UHF 800/900MHz trunked public safety and public service systems just as if conventional two-way communications were used. • Multi-Track – Track more than one trunking system at a time. Scan conventional and trunked systems at the same time. • 500 Channels – Program one frequency into each channel. You must have at least one channel programmed to use the Scan mode. • 27 Bands, 10 Banks – Includes 27 bands, with Aircraft and 800 MHz.
Where to Obtain More Information Before using your scanner, you must program frequencies into available channels. The Betty Bearcat Frequency Guide lists typical frequencies used around the U.S.A. and Canada that you may program into your new scanner. To obtain another copy of the frequency guide, contact one of the following: • Uniden Parts Department (800) 554-3988 (Hours are from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central Time Monday through Friday.
Setup Connecting an Antenna You must install an antenna before you can operate the scanner. You have been provided a standard telescopic antenna that works well with this scanner, but you may want to purchases another type to increase the range. To connect the telescopic antenna, simply connect it to the BNC type ANT. connector on the rear of the scanner. You can purchase a variety of scanner antennas for both mobile and base station available at a local electronics store.
Typical Mounting Methods The BC780XLT can be conveniently mounted on a table, bulkhead, overhead, or any other desired location (refer to figure below for typical mounting methods). Caution: Make sure there are no hidden electrical wires or other items behind the desired location before proceeding. Check that free access for mounting and cabling is available.
Applying Power for Vehicle Installation You can power your scanner using either the supplied DC power cord or your vehicle’s cigarette lighter socket using DC cigarette lighter power cord. Caution: You must use a power source that supplies 13.8 V DC and delivers at least 700 mA. Your standard 12 V car battery should be sufficient. The cord connector’s center tip must be set to positive and its plug must fit the scanner’s DC 13.8 V jack. The supplied DC power cord meets these specifications.
Desktop Installation You can place this scanner on a desk, shelf, or table to use it as a base station. 1. Flip up the feet for desk installation. 2. Extend the antenna to full vertical position. Adjust the angle for best reception. Applying Power Using Standard AC Power To power the scanner from an AC outlet, use the provided AC adapter with a 5.5 mm outer diameter/2.1mm inner diameter tip. Caution: You must use a Class 2 power source that supplies 13.8 V DC and delivers at least 700 mA.
Listening Safely To protect your hearing, follow these guidelines when you use an earphone or headphones. • Do not use the earphone to listen to the WX alert siren test. The volume is not adjustable and damage to your hearing could occur. • Do not listen at extremely high volume levels. Extended high volume listening can lead to permanent hearing loss. • Set the VOLUME to the lowest setting before you begin listening. After you begin listening, adjust the VOLUME to a comfortable level.
Basic Operation Note: Fold out the Front Cover to see the Controls and Indicators while reading this Guide. Turn the Scanner On Turn the VOLUME control clockwise out of the detent position. The scanner automatically starts scanning. Since there are no frequencies programmed in your scanner initially, you may not receive any signals. Once you set the squelch and program some frequencies, you will be hearing conversations regularly.
Understanding the Menu System It is very important for you to understand the Menu screen. To navigate through the Menu screen is really quite simple. Many of the features of this scanner, can only be accessed by the menu screens. There are several ways to get through the screens. First of all, press MENU to get started. Any time you want to exit this mode or simply quit from where you are, repeatedly press MENU until the scanner returns to the original state.
Menu Description and Numeric Keypad Equivalents Below are the menu screens and a brief description or purpose of the feature. 1:SYSTEM DATA 1:DIMMER Allows you to change the brightness of the display. 2:SCREEN MASK Screen Mask allows you to limit what appears on the display to the alpha tags that you have set for a channel along with a few function icons. Screen Mask removes the frequency, receiving mode, tone data, signal strength bars, and the trunking repeater activity indicators.
3. Tone Search - In this mode, as soon as the scanner stops on any (non-trunked) channel, the scanner will begin to search for any subaudible tone that is being used on a transmitted frequency. The scanner will check each CTCSS tone sequentially and it will find DCS tones instantly. 9:BANK TAG Allows you to set an alphanumeric text tag for individual banks in the scanner (1-10).(The "0" key represents Bank number 10.
6:STEPS Your BC780XLT is programmed with default step sizes for each frequency range (see inside front cover). Steps are important if you are interested in using the VFO to tune off-frequency from a frequency programmed into memory or if you wish to program a frequency that the default step size will not accept. For example, in VHF Hi-band mode, the default step size between 148 and 162 MHz is 5 KHz. However, the FCC has recently instituted 7.5 KHz channel intervals. If you wish to enter 155.
4:L/O ID REVIEW Use this menu item to review the IDs that you have locked out during Search and Scan. Use the Up/Down arrow keys or turn the VFO to the left or right to view the IDs that have been locked out. To leave the lockout IDs unchanged, press MENU to back out of the menu. To unlock an ID, press the L/O key. To unlock all the IDs that have been locked out, press the E (Enter) key. 5:PROGRAM ID You can program IDs into Scan List memory either during Trunk Scan or Search without going into the Menu.
8:STATUS BIT (MOTOROLA) On Type II trunking systems there is a method by which specialized types of communications utilize unique talkgroup numbers. An emergency call will occur on a unique talkgroup from its primary assignment, for example. Because the BC780XLT defaults to Status-Bit On mode, you never need to worry about missing these transmissions. If you've programmed talkgroup 33264 into Scan List memory, for example, and there is an emergency call within the group, you will hear it on 33264.
2:DELAY Set a delay for the search ranges. This applies to all ranges (See CHANNEL DATASTEPS for details). 3:ATTENUATOR Set attenuation for all search ranges. (See CHANNEL DATA-ATTENUATOR for details). 4:TONE DATA The default mode is off. This means that you will receive all transmissions on any frequencies that are active within your search range(s). By selecting CTCSS or DCS you can set the radio to receive only a particular subaudible tone to be received during your search.
Programming Before the BC780XLT can begin conventional scanning, you must program a frequency into at least one channel. Repeat this procedure for each channel you want to program. Storing Frequencies into Channels 1. Select frequencies from your dealer, from various sources on the internet, or from one of the guides listed on page 5. Here is a list of sample frequencies you should try: 156.800 Marine Calling channel 155.340 Ambulance operations 155.280 Ambulance operations 155.
Duplicate Frequency Alert If you enter a frequency which has been stored in another channel, you will hear a beep and the other channel displays WARNING. Press to clear and start again. ––– OR ––– Press E again to store the frequency in both channels. Storing Text Tags You can customize your scanner by storing text tags for easy identification of banks, channel transmissions, trunking talkgroup IDs, etc. The text tags can be set at the menu mode. (Refer to Understanding Menu System on page 13.
Beep Alert The scanner can alert you with three rapid beeps at the beginning of a transmission on an assigned frequency. Assigning the beep alert to a channel This alert can be set on/off to every channel (or to every ID memory for Trunking mode). 1. Press MENU. 2. Press ▲ or ▼ to select CH DATA and then press E. 3. Select the channel number to be tagged using ▲ or ▼ and then press E. (You can also enter the channel number in using the keypad or VFO control and then press E.) 4.
Scanning 1. After programming frequencies, simply press SCAN to begin scanning. 2. The bank indicators selected for scanning appear in the display, and the bank being currently monitored flashes. You can deselect banks from active scanning by pressing their number on your keypad. The indicator for each deselected bank turns off, and the banks channels are not scanned. Note: One Bank must always be active. You cannot deactivate all ten banks at the same time.
Still another method of direct access to a specific channel: 1. Press MAN. 2. Press ▲ or ▼ to select the channel. (or press and hold ▲ or ▼ to scroll more quickly.) Lastly to step up through the channels one at a time, repeatedly press MAN. RF Attenuation Feature The BC 780XLT comes with an RF Attenuation feature. If you're near an unusually strong signal source, the signal may overload the scanner. The scanner may stop repeatedly on that signal and miss other transmissions.
5. Press s or t to select one of the delay periods provided and then press E. DLY appears on the display unless no delay has been set. 6. For Search mode, select SEARCH EVENT - DELAY, then set the delay period. Note: The delay periods are as follows: • None: Delay feature off • 1 sec.: Delays for 1 sec. before re-scanning • 2 sec.: Delays for 2 sec. before re-scanning • 4 sec.: Delays for 4 sec. before re-scanning • Infinite: Stays on until SCAN is pressed • -2 sec.: Stays for 2 sec.
3. The scanner immediately resumes scanning because the locked out channel is no longer in the scanning sequence. Lockout Tips • Write down your locked-out channels and put in a convenient place in case you need to restore them. Restoring a Locked-out Channel 1. Press MAN. 2. Select a locked out channel. a. Enter the channel number. b. Then press MAN again. 3. Press L/O to unlock the channel. The L/O icon goes out.
Changing the Priority Channel You cannot eliminate the Priority Channel, but you can change it to any one of the 50 available channels in each bank. 1. Press MAN. 2. To select a new Priority Channel: a. Enter the channel number. b. Then press MAN again. 3. Press and hold PRI for two seconds to designate this channel as your new Priority Channel. Two beeps indicate that the Priority channel has been changed. The P icon appears in the display.
Searching Setting a Search Range Note: First you must set the search ranges through the menu screen prior to any searching. The BC780XLT can search up to 10 separate frequency ranges to help you discover new stations in your area. To set a search range, enter into the menu mode. 1. Press MENU. 2. Press ▲ or ▼ to select SEARCH EVENT and then press E. 3. Press ▲ or ▼ to select SEARCH BANK and then press E. 4. Press ▲ or ▼ to select the desired bank number and then press E. 5.
Search Hold Feature 1. Press HOLD/▲ at anytime to stop the search. 2. Press HOLD/▲ to move to the next higher frequency. ––– OR ––– Press LIMIT/▼ to move down to the previous frequency. 3. Press SRCH to resume searching. Data Skip A scanner will normally stop on any transmission it receives. This means the BC780XLT will occasionally stop on data signals and unmodulated transmissions. You can automatically skip many of these types of transmissions during search.
Storing Search Frequencies You can quickly store any frequency you find during Search. Caution: You must select the channel in which you will store the frequency before entering the search mode. Otherwise, you may erase a stored frequency that you want to keep. 1. During search, press HOLD/▲ when the scanner stops at the frequency you want to store. 2. Press E to store the frequency in the channel you selected.
Squelch (SQ) Mode The scanner can be set to the following SQ modes. • Carrier SQ mode (default setting) The scanner will stop on any transmission or squelch opening, regardless of whether any sub-audible tone has been programmed for the channel or search range. • Tone SQ mode The scanner will stop on any active frequency for which either no sub-audible tone has been programmed or for which the user-programmed sub-audible tone is also active.
Note: • CTCSS: Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System. • DCS: Digital Coded Squelch. • For example, the scanner shows the following displays. Tone SQ on, CTCSS 123.0 Hz setting Tone SQ on, DCS 325 setting Tone SQ on, CTCSS & DCS non-setting Tone Search, CTCSS 67.0 Hz detecting Tone Search, DCS 023 detecting Tone Search, no signal receiving • If the delay feature (-2 sec/-5 sec/-10 sec) has been set while in Tone search mode, it resumes scanning according to the delay setting.
Service Search The Service Search feature allows you to toggle through the following ten preprogrammed services. The frequencies selected for these services are the most commonly used around the U.S. • 1: PUBLIC SAFETY • 6: RAILROAD • 2: NEWS • 7: AIR • 3: TV BROADCAST • 8: CB RADIO • 4: HAM RADIO • 9: FRS • 5: MARINE • 0: SPECIAL (frequencies) 1. Press SRCH for 2 seconds. the display indicates as illustrated. 2.
Weather Channel Search To hear preprogrammed NOAA weather channels: 1. Press WX. Note: • It’s possible to receive more than one weather broadcast in your area. If the broadcast sounds weak or distant, press SRCH to look for a closer station. • Press HOLD/▲ if you want to stop searching (WX hold mode). NWR-SAME Alert In addition to the conventional weather broadcasts, your BC780XLT is compatible with NWR-SAME weather alert.
Programming FIPS Code The 6-digit Federal Information Processing System (FIPS) codes established by the National Weather Service (NWS) must be programmed in your scanner. These codes specify an emergency and the specific geographic area (such as county) affected by the emergency. 1. At the WX hold mode, press and hold WX for 2 seconds. 2. Select the desired memory number (F1-F15) using ▲ or ▼. 3. Enter FIPS code using the keypad. 4. Press E. 5. To exit from this programming mode, press WX. ––– OR ––– 1.
Trunked Systems Your BC780XLT is designed to track three major types of trunked radio systems. These systems are described here. ❖MOTOROLA - Including Type I, Type II, Hybrid, SMARTNET, and Privacy Plus. Motorola systems are widely used by public safety and business users. Most are on the 800 MHz band, and recent systems are appearing on other bands. (See page 53) ❖EDACS - Including "Wideband" 9600 baud, and "Narrowband" 4800 baud systems.
Programming and Receiving Trunked Systems Programming Trunking Frequencies The first step in tracking a trunked system is storing the frequencies in one of the 10 available banks in your scanner. Remember that you can only store one trunking system in each bank. Important: If you are programming an EDACS or LTR trunked system, you must enter the frequencies in a specific order. Check the frequency guide included with the scanner for the frequencies in your area.
☞Important! 7. Press TRUNK for 2 seconds. A tone sounds, and E, M, or L icon appears on the display according to the system selected. Note: • To clear a mistake while entering the frequency, press (decimal key) repeatedly until the display is cleared. • If you enter a frequency which is out of the system’s trunking range, a distinctive beep sounds and ERROR appears on the display.
Setting the Squelch For trunked reception, a good setting for the SQUELCH control is in the center of the range with the red marker pointing up. See the illustration. If set too high (CCW) in some cases it could prevent your scanner from locking to the control channel reliably. If set too low (CW) it will slightly delay finding the control channel. The best setting is the same as for conventional reception, and is not critical.
Talkgroups display differently in Motorola, EDACS and LTR systems. You should read the appropriate parts of this guide to understand the formats. The bottom line of the display indicates the Bank and the type of trunked system you are monitoring. You can change this to display a bank tag by using the System Menu. Regardless of the system, you won't know exactly who you are receiving until you listen for a while, or refer to frequency guides or internet sites such as www.bearcat1.com.
Restoring Locked-out IDs To unlock a single ID, follow these steps: 1. Press MENU. 2. Select TRUNK DATA - BANK NO. - L/O ID REVIEW using ▲, ▼ or VFO and pressing E, SELECT or VFO. 3. Select the locked out ID you want to unlock using ▲ or ▼. 4. Press L/O. The ID is unlocked and the next locked ID displays. To unlock all locked out IDs in a bank at once: 1. Press E instead of L/O in step 4 above. 2. To exit from this mode, press MENU repeatedly.
Scan Lists Each bank of your BC780XLT can be a trunk tracking bank and it can be a conventional scanning bank. When you designate a bank as a trunking bank, your scanner sets up 10 Scan Lists, which are simply lists used to store your favorite IDs. Each list can contain up to 10 IDs, so you can store a total of 100 IDs for each trunk tracking bank. (1000 if you use all banks as trunking banks!) Scan Lists help you organize the trunking system users into categories.
To enter an EDACS® ID: a. Enter ID you want to store. Use the for the "dash". b. Press E. Hint: Remember that Uniden's AFS format allows you to enter full or partial EDACS IDs for powerful flexibility in all modes. Be sure to read the section "EDACS Reception" on page 49 to learn how this works. Note: The BC780XLT defaults to "AFS" talkgroup displays for EDACS® only. ––– OR ––– To enter a LTR ID: a. Enter Area code and then press . b. Enter Home Repeater number and then press . c.
ID Scan Mode 1. Press SCAN to begin scanning the lists you have programmed. If you haven't programmed any IDs, ERROR appears for a few seconds. 2. To remove a Scan List from active scanning, press the number of the Scan List on your keypad. The Scan List indicator turns off, and the IDs in that list are not scanned. Note: One Scan List must always be active. If you try and deactivate all the Scan Lists, Scan List 1 will automatically be active. 3.
Setting Priority in Trunking Mode You can set priority in your trunking lists, just as you do in your conventional ones. You can set the priority by pressing and holding PRI for 2 seconds. After you’ve set up your Scan List, press PRI to activate it. It’s very similar to conventional priority although there is no "interrupt" during the transmissions. Priorities are checked in between transmissions.
I-Call (Motorola/EDACS) I-Calls are direct unit-to-unit transmissions that are not heard by other system users. Your BC780XLT can receive these transmissions. How you receive I-Calls depends on whether you are in Search or Scan mode. During I-Call reception the display will show the Unit ID number of either the transmitting or receiving mobile unit, not a talkgroup. Unit IDs will display differently according to the type of trunked system, and will replace the 'n's shown here.
I-CALLS IN SCAN AND MANUAL MODE You can store I-Call IDs in scanlists, just like talkgroup IDs, for use by ID Scan and Manual modes. To program a specific I-Call Unit ID into a scanlist: EDACS or Motorola Type 1 Enter followed by the Unit ID digits, then E. Motorola Type 2 Enter 7 followed by the Unit ID digits, then E. HINT - There is a special code to let you receive all I-Call IDs with a single scanlist entry. Simply enter , 0, E.
TRUNK SEARCH: This mode works similarly to TRUNK SCAN. If the scanner finds any (non-locked-out) ID when it checks the control channel, you will hear it. You will then hear any replies that follow within two seconds (or whatever delay you may have set). After that the scanner will move on and not continuously search the system for additional IDs (on busy systems you would never leave the system if this were the case).
EDACS® Reception EDACS® Tracking TrunkTracker III now allows tracking of EDACS® trunked systems. Until now these widely used systems have been almost impossible to monitor with a conventional scanner. With your TrunkTracker III listening to EDACS(s) is remarkably easy, and perhaps even easier than conventional scanning. EDACS systems use 'Transmission Trunking', which means that each transmission is assigned a new frequency.
An EDACS® Trunked system This chart shows how talkgroups are organized within an EDACS system at the AGENCY level. The individual talkgroups cannot be shown at this scale because there are over 2000. However the chart can show the 16 Agencies in this example. The system is logical and easy to understand. EDACS systems are typically arranged in an outline structure. The system users are given blocks of talkgroups. Sizes vary but most large cities and other agencies have blocks of 128 channels.
Special EDACS® Features AFS Partial Entry Feature AFS is Uniden's method of encoding EDACS talkgroups. AFS stands for 'Agency-Fleet-Subfleet'. AFS talkgroups are used in all EDACS reception -- in ID SEARCH, ID LOCKOUT and ID SCAN scanlists. The powerful AFS Partial Entry feature designed into the BC780XLT lets you use either a complete talkgroup code, or just the most significant part. This feature lets you expand or narrow searching and scanning to one of 4 levels.
LTR® Reception LTR® Tracking LTR® (Logic Trunked Radio) systems are trunking systems used primarily by business or private communications service providers, such as taxicabs, delivery trucks, and repair services. These systems encode all trunking information as digital subaudible data that accompanies each transmission. Users on an LTR system are assigned to specific talkgroups, which are identified by the radio as six digit numbers.
Motorola Reception Motorola Tracking There are really two types of Motorola trunking systems. These are usually referred to as Type I and Type II systems. Type I only occurs on some 800 MHz systems. All VHF, UHF and 900 MHz trunking systems use Type II. One important distinction between these two systems is the amount of data transmitted by each radio when its push-to-talk button (PTT) is pressed.
Fleet Map Programming If you have programmed a trunk tracking bank for Motorola type and press TRUNK to start Multi-Track, you will see user IDs display on your screen. Since the BC780XLT defaults to Type II systems, all the IDs will appear as numbers. However, if you notice a mix of odd and even user IDs, for example 6477, 2560, 6481, 6144, 1167, etc., then you are probably monitoring either a Type I or Hybrid systems. You may also notice that you are missing responses when you hold on an active ID.
3. Select the size code for the first block using ▲, ▼, or VFO. 4. Press E, SELECT, or VFO. The next available block displays. 5. Repeat step 3 and 4 until you have selected a size code for each block. For details about each size code, see Fleet Map Size Codes in the Appendix. Programming a Hybrid System A Hybrid system is simply a Type I system with some blocks designated as Type II blocks. To program a Hybrid system, follow the steps listed in Programming a Fleet Map in the previous section.
7. Enter a new offset channel with the keypad. Note: You can only input within a range of 380-759. 8. Press E. The display changes for entering the next base frequency. 9. To exit from this mode, press MENU repeatedly. Note: • If the system is not tracking properly, you may need to try a new base frequency or offset channel or you may be missing frequencies from the system. • You can set up to three base, spacing and offsets for Motorola VHF/UHF trunked systems. 10.
Control Channel Only Mode When this function is activated, trunking is performed using control channel data only. Voice channel (also known as "working channel") frequencies do not have to be programmed into memory. When using this feature, the scanner will display "CC" and channel activity indicator bars will not operate. This feature only applies to Motorola 800 MHz and 900 MHz systems. To turn this function on, choose Motorola Type-2 800 MHz or 900 MHz or TYPE 1 by selecting TRUNK DATA - BANK NO.
Disconnect Tone Detect Option (End Code) When this function is disabled, the radio looks for squelch before returning to the control channel instead of waiting for the disconnect tone. Only in rare instances will you need to adjust the default settings. The condition to return to control channels depends on whether the signal is present or not. To set this function on/off, enter TRUNK DATA - BANK NO. - END CODE.
Remote Interface You can communicate and program your BC780XLT in numerous ways with peripheral devices using the Remote Interface Cable port. This radio offers the following modes: ❖ PC Control MODE Program and control your scanner from a PC using third party software. ❖ CLONE MODE Clone all the frequencies, trunking talkgroups, and fleet maps programmed into your scanner to another BC780XLT scanner.
Uniden Parts Department (800) 554-3988 (Hours are from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central Time Monday through Friday) scanner.uniden.com Scanner Master (800) 722-6701 (Hours are from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
You can clone all of the programming of one BC780XLT into another, including frequencies, talkgroup IDs, alpha tags, delay settings, etc. After connecting the two scanners, turn the radios on. Prepare each scanner for clone mode as follows. 1. Press MENU. 2. Select SYSTEM DATA - CLONE using ▲, ▼ or VFO and pressing E, SELECT or VFO. 3. Determine the scanner that has the frequency data that you want to transfer. This one must be set up as the "Master Unit", and the other must be set as the "Slave Unit". 4.
Care and Maintenance General Use • Turn the scanner off before disconnecting the power. • Always write down the programmed frequencies in the event of memory loss. • If memory is lost, simply reprogram each channel. The display shows 000.0000 in all channels when there has been a memory loss. • Always press each button firmly until you hear the entry tone for that key entry, unless you have turned off the KEY BEEP in the menu system.
One Year Limited Warranty Important: Evidence of original purchase is required for warranty service. WARRANTOR: UNIDEN AMERICA CORPORATION (Uniden) ELEMENTS OF WARRANTY: Uniden warrants, for one year, to the original retail owner, this Uniden product to be free from defects in materials and craftsmanship with only the limitations or exclusions set out below. WARRANTY DURATION: This warranty to the original user shall terminate and be of no further effect 12 months after the date of original retail sale.