Uniden unveils P-25 scanners
Uniden Corporation of America, Fort Worth, TX, has released details about its plans to offer scanners capable of monitoring radio communications signals that use APCO Project 25 digital technology.
“Our retailers have been pushing us for a Uniden APCO 25 product for months, and our new BC250D hand-held and our BC785D base-and-mobile scanning unit represent the fulfillment of our promise. With the ability to monitor conventional, trunked and APCO 25 conventional and trunked systems these models are state-of-the-art radio scanners,” Uniden Product Manager Scott Carpenter said.
According to Uniden representatives, the Bearcat BC250D and the Bearcat BC785D models would reach dealer shelves in late 2002. The products are designed to offer 1,100 channels, 10 banks and a frequency range of 25MHz-1,300MHz.
The new hand-held offers all of the features of Uniden’s current BC780 XLT in a portable model, along with APCO 25 capability and an additional 600 channels. Users of both models would have to purchase an APCO 25 card, the BCi25D, separately, to activate the APCO 25 monitoring feature.
“We’re pleased to be bringing these great Bearcat APCO 25 units to market,” Carpenter said. “We expect more big cities to migrate to the APCO 25 digital technology, like Los Angeles did this past year, to ensure agency interoperability among police, fire, EMTs and the like. We know news organizations, businesses and consumers will want to monitor their signals.”
Uniden officials stressed that APCO 25 digital scanning technology simply gives users the ability to monitor the day-to-day activities and signals of standard city and government service departments, but in no way allows users to monitor encrypted signals from national and local security organizations.
