steve writes:
>From the little 
> I've
> picked  up in some internet searches, it seems that Uniden / Bearcat
> scanners can be remotely controlled via pc.

	I have a Bearcat BC780 that I bought in 2003 and use it
under Linux.  If you want to operate it with speech, you can
learn how to access it via the manual which may still be on the
Uniden site in PDF format.  The BC780 has been replaced by
scanners that have the capability of monitoring unencrypted
digital voice transmissions as well as conventional analog and
trunked systems.  The BC780 is analog only.

	If you want to go this route, you also need to find a
text file called protocols.txt in which some good-hearted hackers
have reverse-engineered the serial port protocol that the BC780
uses with a computer.  I got my copy off a site called
freqofnature but I don't know if the site or the file is still
there.  If you do a Google search, you should find it.

	By going back and forth between the manual and the
protocols.txt file, you can figure out what you need to do and it
usually works as advertised.

	The BC780 key pad still works when you are in remote
control mode so if the power goes off, it will still be in
whatever mode it was last in when you were using the computer to
control it.

	You will need a null-modem cable with a female DB9 on the
end that connects to your scanner and most likely another female
DB9 on the end that connects to a serial port on your computer.

	You can read the display, set all the trunking commands
and anything else except for volume and squelch via the computer.

	When tracking a Motorola SmartZone system, you can put
the BC780 in Search mode and listen to all the talk group ID's as
the transmissions start and end to help you decide which ones are
worth listening to.

	I have not tried to track anything other than Motorola
SmartZone systems because the Oklahoma Department of Public
Safety is about the only trunked system, actually systems, you
can hear in North Central Oklahoma that has anything worth
listening to.

	We have some commercial operations in the Oklahoma City
area that I can hear from Stillwater which is about 50 miles
away, but unless you like to hear people move dirt and cement all
day long, the listening is pretty dull.

	The manual tells you how to track GE/Erickson and Johnson
trunked systems.  I just never tried it yet due to lack of
anything interesting to hear.  The Oklahoma City Police and Fire
Departments are using a GE system now, but they are too far from
here to receive.

	Sorry for the length of this message, but I figured I
could let anybody interested know what they are in for if they
want to do a bit of experimentation.

	You can also use a DOS P.C. and Kermit or a similar modem
program.  The commands are all 2 or 3 characters long and all in
upper case, ended by a carriage return.  The responses are also
very terse.  Usually, the scanners sends "ok" if your command
worked or "err" if not.  There is also a sort of not now response
which means that the scanner understood the command but you can't
do it here such as if you try to read the scanner's channel
number while listening to a trunked system.  That response is the
letters "ng" or no good.

	Remember that when doing this sort of thing, patience is
a virtue.  I have had to simply sit down for hours, at times, to
finally figure out how to translate the manual instructions in to
what you must send from the computer to accomplish the same
thing.  Good listening.


Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK 
Systems Engineer
OSU Information Technology Department Network Operations Group