Owner`s manual

70 MONITORING TIMES February 2005
H
ow would you race car fans like a
scanner specifically designed for
you? Well, that’s exactly what Uniden
F
IRST LOOK
CONSUMER RADIOS AND ELECTRONICS
has done with the new SC230. Yet, even if you
don’t scan car races, this receiver provides
features not contained in the typical scanner. Al-
though it looks very much like the new BC246T,
the SC230 has the NASCAR logo on the front
panel, and has keys that show it was designed
specifically for the race-scanning enthusiast. It
covers the same frequency bands, but does not
provide trunk tracking.
❖ Ergonomics
The 230’s compact design makes it easy to
carry. The concentric volume and squelch knobs
are different heights – the volume being taller
– making it easy to increase the volume without
accidentally changing the squelch setting. An
“orangish” backlight makes viewing the display
a non-issue in low light situations.
There is a programming port on the side,
a jack for external power for operation and for
charging. The 230 has a built-in charge circuit
that allows it to operate while charging the bat-
teries. A small switch, conveniently located in
the battery compartment, selects rechargeable
or non-rechargeable batteries. When you install
your batteries, make sure you select the correct
type to avoid possible damage to the scanner.
The Function and Menu buttons are oper-
ated with the thumb, if held in your left hand,
leaving the other hand for operating the front
panel keys or scroll knob.
❖ No More Wasted Memory
Using Uniden’s new dynamically-allocated
memory system to store race, car, driver, and
frequency information doesn’t waste an ounce
of memory. Not only does it efficiently use
memory, but alphanumeric labeling provides for
logically naming the race, car, and driver; see
Table 1 for a simple example. This way, the user
can quickly see what he is listening to, without
using a look-up table that correlates channel to
content. And, with 1600 to 2000 channels avail-
able, depending on how it’s configured, it would
be difficult to max out this scanner’s memory.
For those of you looking to scan services
such as police, fire, amateur, etc., this scanner
will work great for you, too. I have always been
frustrated when setting up a typical scanner
with fixed frequency banks, because organizing
frequencies to monitor various services would
inevitably waste memory channels.
With the SC230, I can arrange things ex-
actly the way I want them. I can create a system,
create as many groups as I think logically belong
in that system, and then add the frequencies
to the appropriate group. The system, group,
and even the frequency can all be tagged with
a custom alphanumeric label; see Table 2 for
a simple example. Now when I am scanning
police frequencies, for example, and it stops on
an active channel, it displays the label I entered
for that frequency. If I don’t want to enter a label,
I can leave the default the scanner uses when
making my frequency entries.
This new memory management system
may be better understood if equated to a com-
puter’s file system. To scan a racing system, the
race equates to the disk drive on the computer; a
car in the race equates to a folder in that drive;
and the driver for that car equates to a sub-folder
within that folder; within that sub-folder, instead
of files, you have frequencies for that driver.
Scanning a conventional system is similar,
just using slightly different terminology: Using
the drive/folder/file analogy, the conventional
system’s architecture is system/group/frequen-
cies, respectively.
❖ A Little Different
Those of you who have been around scan-
ners for a while will find the 230 also works a
little differently when it comes to finding and
entering frequencies. If you’re like me, you’re
accustomed to having a variable frequency
oscillator (VFO) for tuning around, and then
saving the active frequency to a channel, if
desired.
The best way I can describe this radio is
like a crystal scanner in which you program the
crystal’s frequencies at will, with at least 1600
sockets available. I know it sounds like a step
backward, but that’s the analogy that came to
my mind after learning how to use this scanner.
There is no VFO; you work with what I would
call a “scratch pad” that uses any available
memory.
If you want to tune to a frequency, you
enter it and quick save it to the “Quick Save”
system/”Quick Save” group. As you add fre-
quencies, the group gets larger. However, unlike
a VFO, if you want to go back to one of those
previously tuned frequencies, just select it from
the group. When you’re done checking new
frequencies, you can delete discrete frequencies
from the group, delete the group, or delete the
entire “Quick Save” system.
❖ Other Settings
The 230 allows the user to configure a
channel’s CTCSS or DCS, modulation type,
frequency step, 18dB attenuator, delay time,
priority, alert, and lockout. To help the user
be more efficient while at the track or in the
shack, races, systems, cars, and groups can be
assigned a “quick key” to provide single-key
press selection. When a quick key is pressed,
the corresponding item is enabled (or disabled)
Gentlemen, Start Your Scanners!
First Look at the Uniden SC230
By Jim Clarke, NR2G
4 out of 5 stars