Uniden BC355N User manual

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OWNER’S MANUAL
BC355N
SCANNER

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IMPORTANT INFORMATION
PRECAUTIONS
Before you use this scanner, please observe the following:
Warning
Uniden America Corporation does not represent this unit to be
waterproof. To reduce the risk of re, electrical shocks, or damage
to the unit, do not expose this unit to rain or moisture.
** These products contain Uniden proprietary information.
Software, control codes, protocols and other such related matter
may be the copyrighted work of Uniden America Corporation.
© Copyright 2009-2012, Uniden America Corporation. All Rights
Reserved.
© 2012 Uniden. This product contains Uniden proprietary
information.
Uniden ® is a registered trademark of Uniden America Corporation.
Bearcat ® is a registered trademark of Uniden America Corporation.
Close Call ® is a registered trademark of Uniden America
Corporation.

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THE FCC WANTS YOU TO KNOW
This scanner has been tested and found to comply with the limits
for a scanning receiver, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These
limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against
harmful interference in a residential installation. This scanner
generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and,
if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions,
may cause harmful interference to radio communications. There
is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular
installation. If this scanner does cause harmful interference to
radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning
the scanner on and o, you are encouraged to try to correct the
interference by one or more of the following measures:
• Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna
• Increase the separation between the scanner and the receiver
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is
subject to the following two conditions:
1. This device may not cause harmful interference, and
2. This device must accept any interference received, including
interference that may cause undesired operation.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
IMPORTANTINFORMATION.............................2
PRECAUTIONS............................................. 2
Warning ......................................................... 2
THE FCC WANTS YOU TO KNOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
SCANNINGLEGALLY ....................................... 7
ABOUT YOUR NEW BC355N SCANNER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
FEATURESUMMARY........................................ 9
BANDPLANS ............................................. 11
USABandPlan...................................................11
CanadaBandPlan ...............................................13
INCLUDED IN YOUR SCANNER PACKAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
OptionalAccessories.............................................16
INSTALLING THE BC355N SCANNER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
FOR HOME USE DESKTOP INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
FOR MOBILE USE INCAR INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
TemporaryMobileInstallation....................................18
PermanentMobileInstallation....................................19
Permanently Mounting the BC355N Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Permanently Connecting the
MobilePowerSupply........................................20
SCANNER OPERATION OVERVIEW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
BC355NFRONTPANEL .................................... 21
BC355NREARPANEL...................................... 28

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USING YOUR BC355N SCANNER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
SETUP.................................................... 29
AdjustingSquelch ...............................................29
OPERATINGMODES....................................... 29
SCAN ...........................................................30
SEARCH .........................................................30
SPECIAL NOTES FOR SCANNING PD/FD/EMG
ANDAIR/MRNBANKS .......................................31
ScanningServiceBankTips.......................................33
Searching Band Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
SCREENS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
SCANNINGBANKS ........................................ 37
SEARCHINGBANDS....................................... 38
SPECIALFEATURES....................................38
LOCK OUT CHANNELS / FREQUENCIES ......................39
TypesofLockOut................................................39
TemporaryLockOut...........................................39
PermanentLockOut...........................................40
LockOutLimits ..................................................40
LockOutTips ....................................................41
CLOSE CALL ®...................................................45
CloseCallPriority................................................46
CloseCallDoNotDisturb.........................................46
CloseCallOnly...................................................46
SettingUpCloseCallModes ......................................46
Setting C ‐ C.bAnd Options...................................47

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Setting C ‐ C.ALEt Options...................................48
Setting C ‐ C.PS Options......................................48
CloseCallTips.................................................49
PRIVATEBANK............................................ 51
Programming Frequencies and Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
ProgrammingaChannel.......................................52
Deleting a Programmed Frequency
(programming “000.0000”) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
PROGRAMLOCKFEATURE ................................ 57
CLEARALLMEMORY ...................................... 57
TROUBLESHOOTINGGUIDE ...........................58
GENERALPRODUCTCARE.............................61
LOCATION................................................ 61
CLEANING................................................ 61
REPAIRS.................................................. 62
BIRDIES .................................................. 62
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
WARRANTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

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SCANNING LEGALLY
Your scanner covers frequencies used by many dierent groups,
including police and re departments, ambulance services,
government agencies, private companies, amateur radio services,
military operations, pager services, and wireline (telephone and
telegraph) service providers. It is legal to listen to almost every
transmission your scanner can receive. However, there are some
transmissions that you should never intentionally listen to. These
include:
• Telephone conversations (cellular, cordless, or other private
means of telephone signal transmission)
• Pager transmissions
• Any scrambled or encrypted transmissions
According to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act
(ECPA), you are subject to nes and possible imprisonment for
intentionally listening to, using, or divulging the contents of such
a conversation unless you have the consent of a party to the
conversation (unless such activity is otherwise illegal). This scanner
has been designed to prevent the reception of cellular telephone
transmissions and the decoding of scrambled transmissions. This
is done to comply with the legal requirement that scanners be

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manufactured so they are not easy to modify to pick up these
transmissions. Do not open your scanner’s case to make any
modications that could allow it to pick up transmissions that are
illegal to monitor. Modifying or tampering with your scanner’s
internal components or using it in a way other than as described
in this manual could invalidate your warranty and void your FCC
authorization to operate it. In some areas, mobile and/or portable
use of this scanner is unlawful or requires a permit. Check the
laws in your area. It is also illegal in many areas (and a bad idea
everywhere) to interfere with the duties of public safety ocials by
traveling to the scene of an incident without authorization.
ABOUT YOUR NEW BC355N SCANNER
The BC355N comes with 6 Service banks for monitoring police,
re/emergency medical services, marine, air, weather, and CB
frequencies. In addition, the BC355N has 13 separate band
searches.
You can also save up to 300 frequencies that are scanned along
with the preset frequencies. So whenever you encounter a newly
activated local frequency for any service category, you can add it

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to the bank for that category. This gives you quick access to the
frequencies you want to hear.
FEATURE SUMMARY
The BC355N is a compact mobile/base scanner and one of the
most user-friendly communication products available today. The
BC355N features include:
• Turbo search – Allows your BC355N to search 180 steps per
second. (5 kHz step band only)
• Seven Banks – 6 preprogrammed Service banks and one
standard, programmable Private bank. These banks include:
» POLICE: 1,769 Factory-programmed Police
frequencies with 100 open channels (shared with
FIRE/EMG), allowing you to program additional
police frequencies into this bank.
» FIRE/EMG: 280 Factory-programmed Fire/EMG
frequencies plus an additional 100 (shared with
POLICE) open channels for you to program local re/
EMG frequencies into this bank.
Note: The Police and Fire/EMG banks share a single
key – PD/FD/EMG. Pressing this key will toggle between

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the banks. Additional information is provided in later
sections.
» AIR: 2,280 Factory-programmed frequencies
which covers the complete AIR band, 118.000 to
136.9916 MHz. 100 open channels (shared with
MRN) for user frequencies are also included.
» MRN: 90 Factory-programmed frequencies which
cover the complete Marine band. 100 open channels
(shared with AIR) for user frequencies are also
included.
Note: The Air and MRN banks share a single key – AIR/
MRN. Pressing this key will toggle between the banks.
Additional information is provided in later sections.
» WX: 7 Factory-programmed Weather frequencies
covering NOAA Weather Service.
» CB: 40 Factory-programmed frequencies
covering CB communications.
» PRIVATE: 100-channel, fully user-programmable
bank.
• Search Bands (13) – Press BAND to select a band to search.