Greg has the details as he has one he got from Radio Shack. He receives CHP traffic and I believe the range is about 1 mile. It has saved us several times as he has heard radio traffic and shortly there was a CHP car on an onramp, etc. We went by at the posted speed, safe again.
I have a Uniden BearTracker/BCT-12 and for the most part it has been very useful -- in certain circumstances. Two things greatly affect the usefulness of police/CHP scanners. One thing is the scanner itself. The second thing is the police use of the airwaves.
On the first point, the BearTracker is pre-programmed to scan all the known police and highway patrol frequencies in the state you set. It can be set for all the United States states and each of the Canadian provinces. It can be set for highway patrol only or both highway patrol and local police together. It also detects repeater (from the officer to his patrol car) transmissions. It even will pickup weather alerts. It's a little larger than the smaller radar detectors and smaller than a V1.
However, and a big however, in a city environment it picks up too much. You end up listening to dispatches to and conversations from cars for miles around if in the police setting. It may be fun but it is not helpful in trying to determine if there is a traffic cop or highway patrolman close by. Even if the range were limited to one mile, and keep in mind the signal going from the car to the dispatch is much weaker than the signal from dispatch to cars, a one mile radius covers a lot of ground, and in all directions! The only key is if the officer tells the dispatcher his current location.
Which leads to the second point. If nobody is talking the scanner is useless. In my experience, the California Highway Patrolmen rarely get on the radio. They may do a warrant or want search but it will probably be by "e-mail," not by calling a dispatcher. If they are not going to run your plates of license, they won't talk to any one. They'll just write the ticket and go for the next victim. As a result, there is nothing for the scanner to detect.
Now Arizona is a different story. There the State Troopers call in every stop, giving their location. The scanner works perfectly.
But there is one big use in California, the conversations between the "Bear-in-the-Air" and the guys on the ground. On a couple of trips I picked up these conversations a couple of miles before I got to their area. Drove by the cops at the speed limit. But on my last trip to Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago a car went off the road an rolled. There were two CHP cars and the CHP helicopter at the scene. I don't know how long they were there but I never heard anything on the scanner. I don't know if I should have.
Bottomline, a scanner is useful but is far from perfect protection. It's just one more tool to go along with a good radar detector and a good pair of eyes.
I won an auction on Ebay for a "new in box" BCT-12 last week for $50. I haven't received it yet, but assuming it arrives OK that's one heck of a price.
In summary, I recommend checking ebay.
-Brett
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Brett Coon - brett@transmeta.com - www.cheesepipe.com
2001 M5 - Royal Red w/ black sport interior
I was wondering if Uniden has any plans now to have a programmable chip in their BCT-12's?
I used to use one years back, but when Florida put their radio's out to bid, the new frequencies were different. At that time, Uniden said making the BCT-12 upgradable would add too much cost.
As far as I can tell, Uniden has been selling the same junk for years, complete with outdated frequencies. It seems they stopped making them some time ago and are trying to unload them via the web store. Note that the BCT mobile scanners are nowhere to be found on thier web site.
What *I* would like is a CB radio with approximately the same form factor as the BCT-12. Anyone have any clues?
Chas - check out Scanners Unlimited on Laurel Street in San Carlos. They specialize in scanners and can tell you what you need to know. They have many products, frequency guides, etc.
For non-California drivers (although I still believe bear-in-the-air detection is worth the price of admission), I'd strongly recommend the Uniden BearTracker BCT-12. This is the fourth-generation unit I've owned (Used to be a converted Uniden, sold by Gray Electronics, and YOU had to program the unique repeater frequencies!). Combined with my V1 on highway road trips, I feel pretty much invincible!
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