Scan125 Control Program User Manual

A program to control the Uniden Bearcat UBC125XLT, BC125AT, UBC126AT and Albrecht AE125H Scanners - © Nick Bailey 2013-2018

http://www.nick-bailey.co.uk/scan125

You are requested to fully read this and any other documentation prior to installing and using the Program.

In using the Program you are agreeing to accept all of the terms and conditions stated herein.

Manual Version 2.5.0.0 - 25 Aug 2018

Contents Index

Author and Copyright Information

Preface

Donate To DEBRA Charity

Send Me Your Comments

Program Overview

Program Main Panel for UBC125XLT and AE125H Scanners

Program Main Panel for BC125AT Scanner
Program Main Panel for UBC126AT Scanner

UBC125XLT, BC125AT, UBC126AT and AE125H Differences

Program Locale/Region Setting

Program and Driver Installation

Obtaining and Delivery

Driver Installation

Program Installation

Program Patch Installation

Removal

Upgrade Process

Running / Program Start-up

Running when Connected to a Powered On Scanner

Running with No Scanner Connected

Controls and Functions

Title Bar

Menu Bar
DONATE
COMMENTS

About

Check for Program Update

Help

Save Scanner Settings

Load Scanner Settings

Reset Colour Scheme
Butel .RSF (Butel RSF File Save & load)
Options

Auto PREV File Backup
Virtual Display/Status Refresh Period

Battery Display Refresh Time

Battery Display Splash Time
CB Default Region
Air Band Settings
Notepad Settings
Program Update Check
Form Margin Snap Size
Recording File Name Header
WAV File Auto Delete

Scanner General Controls Group

Volume

Squelch

Power Off/Reset/Read Controls

Power Off Scanner

Reset Scanner

Read Scanner

Band Plan Group
Band Step and Modulation Settings (UBC125XLT and AE125H only)

Priority Mode Group

Search and Close Call Group
WX Weather Alert (BC125AT only)

Global Frequency Lockouts Group

View/Edit Global Frequency Lockouts

Close Call Settings Group

Close Call Mode

Close Call Bands

Close Call Alert

Close Call Lockout
Close Call Bank

View Close Call Bank Registers

Scan / Search / Services Bank Settings Group

Scan Bank Settings Group

View/Edit Scan Bank Settings

Grid Columns / Data Fields
Frequency Prefix Keys

Bank View Group Controls

Fast Tune and Hold Group Control ( Quick Search and Hold)

Find Group Control

Channel Select Group Controls

Function Select Group Controls
Store Group Control
Duplicate Frequency Group Control
Cell Copy and Paste Controls

Print Form Group Control
Print Bank Group Controls

Custom Search Bank Settings Group

View/Edit Search Bank Settings

Grid Columns / Data Fields

Save To File Button

Print Form Button
Reset All Defaults

Services Search Bank Settings Group

Scanner Virtual Console Group

Scanner Display

RSSI Signal Strength Meter and Sensitivity Adjustment

Big Scanner Display
Ribbon Scanner Display

Bearcat Button Group

Squelch Indicator
Bearcat Label - Big Scanner Display Enable

Mute Indicator

Store Button

L/O Lockout Button

TL/O Temporary Lockout Button

Mode Button

Scan Control Button Group

Scan, Srch and Svc Buttons

< (Scan Down) - > (Scan Up) Buttons

- (Step Down) - + (Step Up) Buttons

HOLD Button

Bank 1 to 0 Buttons
Autoscan A-Scan, A-Srch and A-Svc check boxes

Average Status and Display Refresh Time

Notepad and Auto Save Group

Notepad Log and Auto Saved Frequencies

Notepad Log Group

Auto Log Checkbox
Clear Notepad Button

Auto Saved Frequencies Group

Frequency Log File

Audio Recorder and Player Group

Sound System Overview
Record/Play Controls

Record Button
Pause Button
Play Button
Stop Button

Automatic Record Settings/Options

Auto Pause Check Box
Auto Split Check Box
Auto Record Check Box

Play Saved Button

Clock Display Group

Com Port Control Group

Com Port Display

Com Port List Box
Com Refresh Button
Com Error Retry Count

Battery Voltage Charge Meter

No Scanner Connected Mode

Support, Program Suggestions, Recommendations and Bug Reports

Warranty, Liability and License Agreements

Recognised Trademarks, Proprietary Code and Copyrights

Author and Copyright Information

This program has been written by Nick Bailey and is his sole Copyright.

Scan125 Control Program © Nick Bailey 2013-2018

Please Donate to my supported charity which I would very much appreciate, as will they, and will keep me developing and supporting the programs.

The Program is currently Freeware (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeware) with a Careware/Charity status and objective (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Careware). It operates with no limitations. The author reserves the right to change the program status and limitations on any future release. Existing releases will retain their status and your right to use them but support may not be available.

This document may mention Scan125, Scan125 Program or Scan125 Control Program. They are the one and the same and are to be read, understood and respected as being so and thus covered by the Copyright, Warranty, Liability and License Agreements detailed here and in Section/Chapter 7.0 of this document.

The creator of this program asserts that the appearance of the user interface screens is a work art and therefore attracts Copyright protection under EU law.

This product contains Uniden proprietary and/or copyright control codes. Used with permission.

My website can be found at http://www.nick-bailey.co.uk and for this program at http://www.nick-bailey.co.uk/scan125

My contact Email address is scan125 AT nick-bailey DOT co DOT uk (replace AT with @ and DOTs with . and remove blank spaces).

I apologise for munging my Email address but as we all know SPAM is a major problem and keeping my scan125 email address free of spam will help us all.

Preface

Welcome to the Scan125 Control Program specifically designed for controlling the Uniden Bearcat UBC125XLT, BC125AT, UBC126AT and Albrecht AE125H scanners.

The UBC125XLT is a European market orientated scanner
The BC125AT is an American market orientated scanner
The UBC125AT is an Australian and New Zealand market orientated scanner
The AE125H is a European market orientated scanner based on an Albrecht licensed clone of the UBC125XTL scanner

These scanners are supported by some commercial programs but these are either expensive or lack real time control functions and only support data loading and editing. Scan125 supports both data management and real time control of these scanners.

All the above reasons are why I have written the Scan125 Control Program.

This program supports both the UBC125XLT, BC125AT, UBC126AT and AE125H scanners. However I must point out that as I do not have a BC125AT, UBC126AT or AE125H scanner to test against there may be some issues I may have to resolve. I will only know of these issues if people are kind enough to let me know what they are.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Phil. Phil is one of the Beta Testers who has been absolutely fantastic, not only in bug hunting but also in suggestions and encouragement. I must also thank Paul who has the UBC126AT scanner and has kindly lent his time in helping me by testing his scanner with this program.

Please read this manual in conjunction with your scanner's Owner's User Manual.

Donate To DEBRA Charity

The Program is currently Freeware (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeware) with a Careware/Charity status and objective (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Careware). It operates with no limitations. The author reserves the right to change the program status and limitations on any future release. Existing releases will retain their status and your right to use them but support may not be available.

Please Donate to DEBRA my supported charity which I would very much appreciate, as will they, and will keep me developing and supporting the programs.

Send Me Your Comments

After you have had the opportunity to use Scan125 for a while it would be appreciated if you could send me your comments, good or bad. You can do this via the "Comments" item on the menu bar or by visiting the Scan125 website page.

Program Overview

The program is a standalone portable application that only requires Microsoft Windows and the Microsoft .NET V3.5 platform to be installed. The program is designed to fully function with a scanner attached. Without and attached scanner then functionality is limited.

The User Interface design has been created to give maximum and easy control from a single Main Control Panel form. There are also four other important user interface forms that cater for the Viewing and Editing of Scan Channels, Search Frequencies, Band Step & Modulation and Global Lockout Frequencies. Use of other forms/panels has been limited to confirmation dialogs, error messages, options, file management and other items not frequently used.

HELP - All control groups, keys, buttons and displays have "Mouse Over" help prompts. The Menu Help function will display the Scan125-Manual.html in your default Web Browser.

Controls are grouped together into the following main logical function groups (some of which contain sub groups):

Scanner General Controls
Band Plan Settings
Priority Mode Settings
Band Step and Modulation Settings (UBC125XLT and AE125H only)
Search/Close Call Settings
Global Frequency Lockouts
Weather Priority Settings (BC125AT only)
Close Call Settings
Scan/Search/Service Banks Settings
Com Port Settings
Scanner Display and Scan Control Buttons
Notepad and Autosave
Audio Recorder and Player

These are supported by information displays:

Virtual Scanner Display
Signal Strength Meter
Program/PC Clock Display
Com Port Display

Finally there is the Menu Bar. Here besides the typical About and Help menu items you will find the following additional scanner functions:

Save Scanner Settings
Load Scanner Settings
Reset Colour Scheme
Butel .RSF File Load and Save
Options

The Global Frequency Lockouts, Band Step Size and Modulation, Scan Banks and Search Banks are supported in View/Edit mode with their own dedicated data entry forms which contains additional functions like Save To File, Print, Add, Delete, Copy, Move and Find.

NOTE! The UBC125XLT, BC125AT, UBC126AT and AE125H scanners have some differences which affect the program's main panel content depending on which scanner is connected. This manual will for the most part will use images for the UBC125XLT scanner when describing program controls and functions. I will however mention differences in the text where appropriate.

The following three sections clearly show the main panel visual differences and a corresponding table of differences. With these in mind one should have no difficulty in understanding the differences and relevance of documentation.

Program Main Panel for UBC125XLT and AE125H Scanners

The Scanner is in Scan Mode and Hold status. (Note: Model: UBC125XLT number will change to AE125H as appropriate)

Scan125 Main Panel with UBC Scanner

Program Main Panel for BC125AT Scanner

The Scanner is in Scan Mode and Hold status.

Scan125 Main Panel with BC125AT

Program Main Panel for UBC126AT Scanner

The Scanner is in Scan Mode and Hold status.

Scan125 Main Panel with UBC126AT

UBC125XLT - BC125AT - UBC126AT - AE125H Differences

Item / Function	UBC125XLT and AE125H	BC125AT	UBC126AT
Battery Capacity / Charge Period	14 Hours - 2300mAh	16 Hours - 2700mAh	14 Hours - 2300mAh
Band Plan 0	n/a	USA	n/a
Band Plan 1	Band Plan 1	Canada	Australia
Band Plan 2	Band Plan 2	n/a	New Zealand
Band Step Size and Modulation Adjustments	25 fixed frequency bands from 25MHz to 960MHz, steps of 5, 6.25, 8.33, 10, 12.5, 20MHz, and AM, FM modulation	n/a	n/a
Weather Priority Alert WX	n/a	Yes	n/a
Pager Screening	n/a	n/a	Yes
Close Call Bands	6 Bands	5 Bands	6 Bands
Close Call Band Names	VHF Low, Aircraft, VHF Hi1, VHF Hi2, UHF, 800MHz	VHF Low, Civil Air, VHF Hi, MIL Air, UHF	VHF Low, Civil Air, VHF High, Military Air, UHF, 800MHz
Modulation Types	AM, FM	AM, FM, NFM	AM, FM, NFM
Frequency Range 1	25MHz - 88MHz	25MHz - 54MHz	25MHz - 88MHz
Frequency Range 2	108MHz - 174MHz	108MHz - 174MHz	108MHz - 174MHz
Frequency Range 3	225MHz - 512MHz	225MHz - 380MHz	225MHz - 520MHz
Frequency Range 4	806MHz - 960MHz	400MHz - 512MHz	806MHz - 960MHz
Service Banks	7	10	9
Service Banks Names	Emergency, Freenet, PMR, Marine, Aircraft, CB Radio, HAM Radio	Police, Emergency, HAM, Marine, Railroad, Civil Air, MIL Air, CB Radio, FRS/GMRS/MURS, Racing	Aircraft, Marine, UHF CB Radio, CB Radio, Police, Fire, Ambulance, Railroad, Racing

Program Locale/Region Setting

This program is designed to run in en-GB locale mode where we use the Full Stop/Dot/Period ( "." - ASCII decimal 46) as the decimal mark/separator character and not the Comma ("," - ASCII decimal 44).

You DO NOT need to change your system's Region and Language settings to use this program. You will however have to use the Full Stop/Dot/Period ( "." - ASCII decimal 46) as the decimal mark/separator character when entering data.

Program and Driver Installation

The program is written as a portable application requiring no installation program. As long as you have Windows and the .NET V3.5 framework installed then getting the program up and running is simple

Obtaining and Delivery

The program and drivers can be obtained from my web site http://www.nick-bailey.co.uk/scan125. Here you will find program information, download link and MD5 checksum information so you can validate the integrity of your download.

The download will usually consist of a single ZIP file for the program and separate driver .inf files.

Driver Installation

Windows 10 should already have a driver for your Scanner. When connecting and powering on the scanner for the first time Windows 10 should detect the scanner and install the appropriate driver.

For other versions of Windows, or if your Windows 10 does not install the approprite driver, then please follow these instructions.

If you do not already have a USB driver installed for your scanner then you will have to download and install the appropriate driver for your scanner. This can be done by following the following steps:

The download directory contains a file named Uniden_Universal_Driver.zip. This zip file contains two files: uniden_usbser.inf and uniden_usbser.cat. If you are using Windows 8 and above then you MUST have/extract BOTH files as Windows 8 and Windows 10 do not allow the use of unsigned drivers and the .cat is the driver's security catalog file!
Download the zip file to a directory of your choice on your PC and extract both files. (NOTE! This should be a directory on the SAME drive/partition that Windows is installed on, otherwise the driver install may fail!!!!!)
Connect your scanner to a USB port and then power the scanner on. Windows will start to look/search for a driver. You can cancel this search or wait for it to it to fail.
If you wait for it to fail then you will be offered an option to manually locate the driver.
If you cancel you can then open Device Manager, navigate to the Ports section where you will find an unknown device. Open the properties for this device and on the Driver tab you can select to install/update the driver.
With 4) or 5) above you be be shown a dialog box where you now need to browse and select the directory where downloaded the .inf and .cat files are located. Windows will now search for and install the signed driver.
Device Manager will now show/list Uniden Serial Port (COMn) in the Ports section.

NOTE! The Scan125 Control Program will try to locate a powered on scanner on a USB/COM port does. If the scanner is not powered on or the program fails to find the scanner then you will have to identify and manually select the correct USB port yourself. See here.

Program Installation

To install the Scan125 Program is very straight forward. You will have received Scan125 in either a ZIP file or as separate files. The program has no specific install program and does not make registry changes.

Just follow these simple steps.

Create a directory of your own choice on your PC. It is suggested to give this directory a name like 'Scan125 Control Program' for easy recognition
Un-ZIP / copy the program files to the directory you have just created
Read the Scan125-ReadMe.txt and Scan-History.txt files. They have important information
It is suggested to create a short cut to the Scan125.exe file on your desktop or elsewhere
Optional/Suggested - backup the original distribution file(s) to a safe location
Read the Scan-Manual.html file to familiarise yourself with the program

NOTE! It is suggested that you do not place the program in a system directory like Program Files (x86) or Program Files etc, as these directories require Administrator privileges and you will encounter file write error issues unless you force the program to Run As Administrator which is not recommended for security reasons.

Program Patch Installation

There may be times when just a Patch Release EXE file on its own is released. This EXE file must be installed into the program directory of a current Scan125 program installation. The EXE file will not work on its own. If you are a new Scan125 user then you must first install the base full release and then apply the patch.

Removal

The Scan125 Program can be simply and fully un-installed at any time.

CAUTION! The following steps will completely remove Scan125 Program and all your associated data. If you want to keep any data files you have created then you should move/copy these files to another directory first.

Delete the folder you created and all the files therein
Delete the short cut you created (if any)

Upgrade Process

Upgrading to a later version of Scan125 is simple and straight forward. Upgrading will retain your important configuration files. Following all the steps of this procedure will also give you a backup version(s) of the program to revert to should you wish or need to.

Warning! The program will either create or use any existing configuration files it needs. These files are:

scan125-ini.ini
scan125-runlog.txt

Other files that contain your personal saved data / settings not be overwritten by the installation process as they are not shipped with the Scan125 Control Program. You are however strongly advised to back these files up for your own protection, together with any of your own user files you have created.

To upgrade follow these simple steps:

Locate your current installation folder
Create a new sub folder named Vn.n.n.n corresponding to the version number of your currently installed version, e.g. V1.0.0.9
Copy ALL the contents of the current installation folder into the new backup Vn.n.n.n sub folder you just created
Un-ZIP / copy the new program release files to the current installation folder and OVERWRITE/REPLACE the existing files
Read the Scan125-ReadMe.txt and Scan125-History.txt files. They contain important information
Read the Scan125-Manual.html for help or details on any new functions that may have been added

If there are any release specific files or instructions then you will be notified of these on the web site prior to downloading the program.

Running / Program Start-up

Running the program is a simple matter of invoking the scan125.exe file. This can be done via a Windows shortcut link or by using the Windows 'run' command.

Running when Connected to a Powered On Scanner

When the program is started and a powered on scanner is present and connected to the program's currently configured COM port then the program will read ALL the scanner's current settings and data values. This data will be used by the program as a "statement of fact" regarding the scanner's data and model version.

Once running then any changes you make via the program will be sent/committed to the scanner. Any changes you make directly on the scanner will not automatically be sent to the Scan125 Control Program. In simple terms the Scan125 Control Program is the dog (master) and the scanner is the tail (slave).

It is important to understand this Master/Slave (Dog/Tail) operational relationship so that you do not inadvertently lose data.

Where you do make changes on the scanner then you can use the Scanner General Controls/Read button to force the program to completely re-read the scanner. If you do this then for the duration of the read process the scanner is the master and the program is the slave. This means that if you have made any changes with the program that you have not saved then they will be overwritten by the Read process.

Running with No Scanner Connected

When the program is started with no scanner attached, or powered on, or with incorrect manual COM port selection then the program will enter No Scanner Connected mode of operation. You will have to power on yourscanner and select the correct COM port manually or close and restart the program. When a connection is made then the program will read the scanners data as defined in the above "Connected" state. See here for information about No Scanner Connected operation.

Controls and Functions

As already mentioned the Main Control Panel contains all the essential controls and functions in one easy to understand and navigate layout. Controls and Functions are grouped in containing titled and outlined defined areas.

Some controls and functions are disruptive in that the scanner is put into and taken out of Program Mode and doing this will disrupt/stop and reset any Scan, Custom Search or Services Search that is in progress. Also the scanner will automatically clear it's Close Call Hit Registers.

The non disruptive controls and functions are:

Volume - including On/Off
Squelch - including On/Off
Lockout (L/O)
Temporary Lockout (TL/O)
Modulation (AM/FM)
Scan Control (all)
Notepad and Autosave
Audio Recorder and Player

All other controls and functions are disruptive with the aforementioned effect.

Title Bar

The program title bar displays the following information:

Program Name
Program Author
Program Copyright
Program Version Number - e.g. V1.0.0.1
Program Website URL
Scanner Model Number
Scanner Firmware Version
"No Scanner Connected" Message

The No Scanner Connected message will replace the scanner Model and Firmware information.

Menu Bar

The menu bar is similar to any Windows menu bar. Here you will find:

DONATE

This will allow you to make a donation to the DEBRA charity. Please do this in appreciation of this free program and my user support.

COMMENTS

This will allow you to anonymously give any comments you may have about Scan125.

About

About provides the following:

Program Name, Version, Copyright and Author information
Warranty, Liability and License Terms and Conditions and other information.
Check for Program Update button (manual)

About will display program Name, Version, Copyright and Author information together with Warranty, Liability and License Terms and Conditions and other information.

Check for Program Update

If you press this button then the program will check your version against the latest official full version on the Scan125 website. The response will look as follows:

Update Info Image

Depending on the version you have you will see one of the following messages:

"You have the latest version so no update is required."
"Your version is NOT up to date. V1.n.n.n is now AVAILABLE!"
"Your version is later than the official version. No update available."

The above image shows that we have a version later then the official version. If you see/have this condition then it means that you are running a "special" patch or test version of the program.

Instead of using this manual check you my wish to enable the Automatic Program Update Check on the Options menu.

Please Note! For both the manual and automatic program update checks no data (other than the update information) is download or installed to your PC. If you want the updated version of the program then you must go and fetch it yourself.

Help

This will open the Scan125 User Manual file Scan125-Manual.html in your default Web Browser. Besides this help file you will also find that all control groups, keys, buttons and displays have "Mouse Over" help prompts.

Save Scanner Settings

This will save all the program's current scanner settings, channel data, etc. to a file of your choice. This is in effect a complete backup/snapshot of all data, all selected states and settings.

When this file is subsequently loaded then the program will send all the data, states and settings to the scanner.

This save is FULL save and the file is marked with "#full#" in the header. When the saved file is reloaded it will clear and overwrite all the scanner settings.

It it suggested you choose a sensible and informative file name when saving any data so that you can easily identify what the files contain when you load them in the future.

Load Scanner Settings

This will load the settings and data in the chosen file into the program and into the scanner. The file to be loaded may contain a full backup/snapshot as made with the Save Scanner Settings menu item or may just contain data you have previously selected and used the Save To File function in any of the View/Edit forms.

If the file to be loaded is a FULL save file as marked with "#full#" in the header, then when the file is reloaded it will clear and overwrite all the scanner settings.

If the file to be loaded is a PART save file as marked with "#part#" in the header, then when the file is reloaded it will only update those scanner settings as defined in the file.

When you load a data file, if enabled, the Autobackup PREVnnnn function (control via the Options Panel) will first save a copy of the program's current scanners data settings to a PREVnnnn file for safety just in case you have any unsaved work.

Reset Colour Scheme

This will reset the programs background colours to their default values.

The program allows the user to change the background colours used for the Main Panel/Form, Menu Bar, and all Control Groups. In all there are over 20 definable background areas that can be configured on the main control panel form.

To configure an area colour then use a right mouse button click when over the area and then select your chosen colour from the palette table.

Butel .RSF (Butel RSF File Save & load)

This menu has two drop down items.

Save As Butel .RSF File
Load .RSF File

The program supports the loading and saving of some specific data as would be found in Butel's ARC125 program's user data files. These load and save functions are specifically provided to allow program interoperability and user data sharing between Scan125 and the Butel ARC125 program.

The loading and saving of Butel data files are PART and not FULL datasets so when loaded no scanner data is cleared and the file content will just update the current scanner settings.

The specific data field settings supported are:

[NUMBANKS] - number of scan banks - (save only)
[NUMCHAN] - number of scan channels - (save only)
[C-BANK] - scan bank tag names - multiple, one for each bank - (load and save)
[C-CHAN] - scan channel settings (frequency, tag name, modulation, lockout, priority) - multiple, one for each channel - (load and save)
[SRLIMIT] - custom search settings (start frequency, end frequency) - multiple, one for each custom search bank - (load and save)

All of the other scanner and user settings supported by Scan125 are not compatible with Butel's ARC125 program support.

If you Load a Butel data file then the Butel file data will overwrite any existing scanner data, as defined by the [C-BANK], [C-CHAN] and [SRLIMIT] values. [NUMBANKS] and [NUMCHAN] data is ignored.

If you Save a Butel data file then all the above defined fields/records are written.

Options

The Options Panel allows you to control the following settings:

Auto PREV File Backup
Virtual Display/Status Refresh Period
Battery Display Refresh Period and Meter Splash Time
CB Default Region Setting
Air Band Settings
Notepad Settings
Program Update Check
Form Snap Margin Size
Recording File Name Header
WAV File Auto Delete

Auto PREV File Backup

This function can be turned On or Off by checking or un-checking the check box.

When enabled then every time you load a Scan125 scanner settings file or a Butel .RTS file the program will automatically save the program's scanner data settings to a PREVnnnn.txt file in the 'prev' directory of your normal file load and save location.

The combo drop down box allows you to set the number of PREVnnnn files you wish to keep. The default setting for this is 50 files but you can set from 5 to 1000 files should you so wish. If you set say 100 then at PREV0100.txt the file numbering will wrap back to PREV0001.txt and overwrite existing files.

Virtual Display/Status Refresh Period

The program dynamically determines the best Display/Status Refresh periods when the AUTO check box is checked. The default settings is AUTO.

You should always use the AUTO Status/Refresh unless you experience specific communications and stability issues. If you are running nativeley on a Windows machine then there should be no reason to manually select the refresh period. Manual selection *may* be required if you are running the program on a MAC or Linux PC.

Should manual configuration be required then the following information will be of interest.

The display on the Main Control Panel and on the right here, show in milliseconds the actual average time (latency) in any given 1 second period the program takes to do the following:

Get all required status data from scanner
Analyse said data
Build and display the virtual scanner display.

A warning sound may be issued and the background colour changes as follows:

If Status Pole Time is set to less than the actual average time then colour goes RED and a system exclamation sound is issued.
If Status Pole Time is set to greater than the actual average time then colour goes ORANGE.
If Status Pole Time is set to TWICE the actual average time then colour goes GREEN.

For manual settings the you should set the Status Pole Times for GREEN for reliability and command responsiveness. For more modern PCs / laptops then a pole time setting of 20ms to 50ms should be achievable.

You can change the Status Pole Time refresh period from 5ms to 2000ms. It should be set to the lowest / fastest time possible but not so fast that it is more often than not in the RED zone. It defaults to the normal/default and conservative value of 300ms. For most people and systems a faster/lower value should be selected.

When running on a non native Windows PC, e.g. Apple MAC machine, Virtual Machine software or Windows Emulator software, then the Status Pole Time may have to be significantly increased to avoid warnings or errors.

The Mute Status Timer Warning Sound check box when checked will turn off the audio warning system exclamation sound. It is inevitable that periodically your PC's system performance will be impacted by other events and programs and these could temporarily put Scan125 status times into the Red/Warning zone due to a slower average time. The more aggressively faster you set the status pole times the more frequently warnings could occur.

Running with ORANGE is normally OK but not advised. Depending on how deep into the orange you go you may get USB/program response issues.

Running in the RED will cause user interface command issues as the program is spending all it's time attending to status and display duties. You will almost certainly experience some USB/program response issues.

Battery Display Refresh Time

The battery voltage default update period is every 10 seconds. This time period can be adjusted 5 seconds and 60 seconds.

Battery Display Splash Time

On program start-up if a scanner is attached and powered on the Battery Meter will be displayed and will auto close after a default 3 second 'splash' period. You can change this default time from 0 second to 5 seconds. If a value of 0 is set then no 'splash' will occur on program start-up.

CB Default Region Setting

Here you can set your default CB region to be used when using the Frequency Prefix Key of "cb". Setting a default region will enable you to use a prefix key of just cb as opposed to cbuk, cbeu or cbus.

Air Band Settings

Here you can set that Civil Air Band ATC frequencies will be automatically corrected to the correct real frequency without have to enter the Frequency Prefix Key of "ab". Any frequency entered from 118MHz to 137MHz will automatically be corrected to recognised ATC Channel Frequencies thus overriding the Uniden scanner's default 8.33KHz step values.

Notepad Settings

The Notepad and Autosave functions can log the time in GMT or Local time. For GMT check the Notepad Time in GMT check box. The chosen setting will also be indicated in the Program/PC Clock display by the chosen time setting having a light green coloured background.

Program Update Check

The program can automatically check for updates. It *always* defaults to never check. If you leave at the default setting then please remember to occasionally do a manual program update check via the About menu and the Check For Program Update function.

To enable the program to automatically check for updates then check the Enable Automatic Program Update Check check box. The default interval period in days between update checks is 5 days. However you can use the Check Every n Days combo box control to select 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 20 or 30 day intervals.

The automatic update check will only make a single check per day regardless of how many times the program is started and stopped.

Should a later/updated version of the program be available then you will be informed accordingly. Please Note! For both the manual and automatic program update checks no data (other than the update information) is download or installed to your PC. If you want the updated version of the program then you must go and fetch it yourself.

Form Margin Snap Size

Most of the program's main windows/forms can "Snap To" either of the four screen corners or to the screen's top, bottom or sides. The margin size to which a window/form has to be dragged to, or within, can be set from 0 to 150 pixels. If a value of 0 is set then the Snap To feature is disabled. For any other non zero value then when a major window/form is moved to/within the margin snap size then the window/form will snap to the corresponding corner or edge location.

Recording File Name Header

Here you can choose how the recorded audio files are named.

If Frequency and Modulation is selected then the file names will be of the form "frequency-modulation-yymmdd-hhmmss-timezone.wav". For example 01202250-AM-141108-104737-LCL.wav is a recording of frequency 120.2250 MHz in AM modulation, on year 2014, month 11, day 08, started at time 10 hours, 47 minutes and 37 seconds Local Time.

If Channel Name Tag, Band or Service is selected then the file names will be of the form "name-yymmdd-hhmmss-timezone.wav". In this form then name will be either the Scan Banks Channel Name Tag, or the Search Bank Name or the Services Bank Name depending on the type of scan being done.

Examples:

Solent_Zone-150918-112536-LCL.wav for a Scan Bank Channel scan
SEARCH_BANK9-150918-145603-LCL.wav for a Search Bank scan
CB_Radio-150918-145646-LCL.wav for a Services Bank scan

Option selection is disabled if the program is currently recording.

WAV File Auto Delete

Depending on your usage of the audio recording function you may find old WAV files building up and taking valuable storage space.

WAV file management and moving/backup is a User responsibility.

To aid WAV file management you can choose to enable the WAV File Auto Delete function, to permanently delete WAV files that are older than the selected number of days. When enabling this function you will get a warning message which you should review and check the selected days, after deletion will occur, is correct.

The default settings are: Off/Disabled and 365 days.

Scanner General Controls Group

These are general scanner controls plus specific Power Off/Reset/Read controls.

Volume

Adjust Volume level here using the slider bar. Set level is also numerically indicated. This is a non disruptive control.

In addition to the slider there is a volume On/Off button. If turning the volume to Off then the current volume level is saved and will be restored when the volume is turned back On again. If the volume is Off and the slider is adjusted to a non zero value then the volume is set back to On.

Squelch

Adjust Squelch level here using the slider bar. Set level is also numerically indicated. This is a non disruptive control.

In addition to the slider there is a squelch On/Off button. If turning the squelch to Off then the current squelch level is saved and will be restored when the squelch is turned back On again. If the squelch is Off and the slider is adjusted to a non zero value then the squelch is set back to On.

Contrast

Adjust display Contrast level here using the slider bar. Set level is also numerically indicated.

Backlight

Adjust display Backlight setting here using the slider bar. Set level is also descriptively indicated.

Battery Charge Time

Adjust the rechargeable battery Charge Time setting here using the slider bar. Set level is also descriptively indicated with charge time in hours and associated battery mAh capacity. This is a non disruptive control.

Note! Available settings depend on the scanner attached. The UBC125XLT and AE125H support up to 14 Hours for 2300mAh batteries and the BC125AT up to 17 Hours for 2700mAh batteries.

Battery Voltage

The current measured battery voltage is displayed just below the Battery Charge display. The battery voltage is updated every 10 seconds. This time period is user adjustable between 5 seconds and 60 seconds via the Options Panel.

If you mouse hover over this display then the pop-up graphic Battery Voltage Charge Meter (here) will be displayed for the duration of the mouse hover event or the meter auto close timeout.

This is non disruptive.

Key Settings

The two check boxes allow the setting of Key Beep and Key Lock status.

Note! Setting the Key Lock will block some program functions.

Power Off/Reset/Read Controls

Power Off Scanner
This will initiate and immediate Power Off of the attached scanner.

Reset Scanner

This will initiate a Factory Reset of the scanner. All user data will be deleted and the factory defaults settings will be restored. Before the reset is carried out you will be presented with a Reset confirmation dialog. Only select OK if you wish to continue with the reset.

Note! As soon as the scanner reset has completed the program will read all the scanner settings and data back. Please be sure you have saved to file any settings and data you wish to retain as they will be overwritten once the reset is complete.

Read Scanner

This will initiate and immediate Read of the attached scanner. There are no confirmation dialogs.

The main uses of this Read function is to allow the program to pick up any changes made directly on scanner itself and not via the program. i.e. Re-synchronise the program to the scanner.

Band Plan Group

Here you can see which current Band Plan the scanner is set to. It is not possible to change the Band Plan with this control. To change Band Plans you must use the scanner's Power On and Keyboard method.

Note! Available settings depend on the scanner attached. For the UBC125XLT and AE125H this will be Plan1 or Plan2. For the BC125AT this will be USA or Canada. For the UBC126AT this will be Australia or New Zealand.

Band Step and Modulation Settings (UBC125XLT and AE125H only)

This control gives access to Viewing and Editing the scanner's Band Step and Modulation settings for the scanner's current operational Band Plan.

When View/Edit is pressed then a new form is loaded.

View/Edit Band Step and Modulation Settings

Here you can edit the Band Step size and Modulation via the drop down combo boxes for the current Band Plan. Available settings are only those supported by the scanner for each band plus a DEFAULT option.

On the right of the form is a quick reference table of the Default scanner setting for each of the 25 fixed frequency bands. These are what will be set if a Reset All Defaults is made.

The Print Form button will raise a printer dialogue where you can select the required printer and printer properties to print the form.

The Reset All Defaults button will reset all 25 frequency bands back to their default values.

Note! Unlike other scanner settings any changes you make can not be saved and later reloaded. This is due to the way the scanner handles these Band Plan, Band Step and Modulation settings.

When the Band Plan is changed the Band Step and Modulation settings are set to their default values
When the scanner is Powered On then the Band Step settings are set to their default values but the Modulation settings are retained

Priority Mode Group

Here you select the Priority Mode of the scanner. Off, Scan, Scan Plus and Do Not Disturb being the available settings.

Search and Close Call Group

Here you select the Search and Close Call response settings.

Delay has available settings of 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, -5, and -10.

SCCTone when checked will cause the scanner when it stops on a Search or Close Call received signal to then look for and display any accompanying CTCSS or DCS tone transmitted with that signal.

Note! Setting a Delay of 0 may affect the logging accuracy of Search and Services Scan data, except for frequency and modulation which should not be affected. The sort of discrepancies you may see are a frequency and modulation being logged or Auto Saved with and without any relevant channel number in two different Auto Saved storage locations. Logging of Programmed Scan Banks channels should not be affected. Please also Note that when a Delay of 0 is set then the program will NOT log any DCTSS/DCS tones in any scan mode.

Global Frequency Lockouts Group

This control gives access to Viewing and Editing the scanner's stored Global Frequency Locks.

When View/Edit is pressed then a new form is loaded.

View/Edit Global Frequency Lockouts

Here you can Add new frequencies to the Global Lockout list. Entered frequencies are validated against the scanner's permitted frequency ranges/limits.

You can also Select, via the check boxes, those existing frequencies that you may wish to Delete or Save To File. The Select All / Deselect All, Delete, and Save To File buttons will be appropriately enabled and change their foreground colour to Green to signify their availability.

This Save To File is a PART save file as marked with "#part#" in the header and when the file is reloaded it will only update those scanner settings as defined in the file.

The Print Form button will raise a printer dialogue where you can select the required printer and printer properties to print the form.

Close Call Settings Group

Here you can control the Close Call Settings of the scanner.

Close Call Mode

Set close call mode. Available settings are: Off, Priority, Do Not Disturb and Only.

Close Call Bands

Set which bands will accept/respond to close call signals.

UBC125XLT and AE125H available band settings are: VHF Low, Aircraft, VHF Hi1, VHF Hi2, UHF and 800MHz and above.

BC125AT available band settings are: VHF Low, Civil Air, VHF Hi, MIL Air and UHF.

UBC126AT available band settings are: VHF Low, Civil Air, VHF High, MIL Air, UHF and 800MHz and above.

Close Call Alert

Set if a scanner alerts on close call with Beep and/or display Light.

Close Call Lockout

Set if the scanner close calls are Locked Out during a Scan.

Close Call Bank - (limited functionality)

The scanner can log Close Call Hits in 10 special Close Call Registers. The associated frequency, modulation and any tone are stored.

When View is pressed then a new form is loaded where you can View, Store and Print the contents of the Close Call Registers.

HOWEVER Scan125's functionality here is limited as follows:

If you use any of Scan125's disruptive functions then the scanner's Close Call Registers will be cleared by the scanner
When the Scan125 program starts the scanner's Close Call Registers will be cleared by the scanner
Switching Close Call modes via the Scan125 controls will result in the scanner's Close Call Registers being cleared
Scan125 can only view Close Call Hits when in Close Call Priority and Close Call Do Not Disturb modes

With the above limited functionality then following points are worth noting:

If you have been mobile and return home with the scanner still powered on to retain any Close Call Hits it has recorded then you must manually save any Close Call Hits in the scanner via the scanner's own controls before attaching the scanner to you PC and the Scan125 Control Program
If scanning whilst the Scan125 Control Program is in control then be sure to View and Store any Close Call Hits as soon as possible and do not use any disruptive functions

View Close Call Bank Registers

The CC Store button allows the selected register's frequency and modulation data to be stored into a Scan Bank Channel. Any tone data is not stored.

When the button is pressed the following things happen:

The selected register's frequency and modulation are stored to a temporary buffer. To select a register then left mouse button click the chosen register's prefix field
If the current frequency and modulation are already stored then a Duplicate Store Dialogue is displayed showing the channel number of the first duplicate found. You can "OK" to continue or "Cancel"
The button turns green to indicator that there is now a Store action pending
The button text turns to Canc (for Cancel)
The Scan Channels View/Edit screen is displayed ready for you to complete the store process
A Store Information Message box is displayed confirming the frequency and modulation to be stored
A channel tag name of CCn-dd/mm/yyyy or CCnn-dd/mm/yyyy will be entered during the store process. Example CC10-29/01/2016 indicating Close Call register 10 stored on 29 January 2016

You can now complete the Store as described here.

The Print Form button will raise a printer dialogue where you can select the required printer and printer properties to print the form.

The Clear Bank button will clear all the registers.

WX Weather Alert (BC125AT only)

The BC125AT scanner supports the weather alert system. Here you can Enable/Disable the Weather Priority alerts.

Scan / Search / Services Bank Settings Group

This large group contains the main Scan, Custom Search and Services bank settings

Scan Bank Settings Group

This gives access to Setting, Viewing and Editing the scanner's Scan Banks and Channel settings.

Here each of the scanner's 10 channel banks can be enabled or disabled for when the scanner is scanning in Scan Mode.

Note! Although the banks are named Bank 1 to Bank 10 if you have given a bank a Bank Tag Name in the View/Edit panel then when you mouse hover over that bank a pop-up will appear with the Bank Tag Name you have actually allocated to the bank.

When View/Edit is pressed then a new form is loaded where you have full control over channel data and settings.

View/Edit Scan Bank Settings

The following new form/panel will open when the View/Edit button is selected.

Scan Channel View/Edit Panel Image

Unlike other programs that use a tabbed interface to each Banks data I have chosen to consolidate all the channel data onto a single navigable form with a scrollable grid view of the channel data.

The main advantage of doing this is that one can sort the data by column (by clicking column header) and also select data in different banks.

The vertical height of the form/grid has been chosen so that channels are paged up and down in 25 channel chunks at a time. Two page ups and downs per bank.

Grid Columns / Data Fields

The column/field details (left to right) are as below: (all columns/fields can be sorted by clicking the field/column header)

The following columns/fields are always accessible:

Row Header - this is a blank non editable field used to select a row in the grid. It can be used for Quick Search/Fast Tune.
Bank - this is a fixed named non editable field. It can be used for Quick Search/Fast Tune.
Bank Tag Name - this is an editable field allowing you to name a bank. The program will automatically apply the name to all channels/rows in the applicable bank. Note! This is a program specific function only. The scanners do not support bank naming. However any name you give a bank will be saved and loaded by the program. Additionally the bank name will appear as a pop-up when you mouse hover over that bank on the main control panel form.
Channel Number - this is a fixed named non editable field. It can be used for Quick Search/Fast Tune.
Channel Name Tag - this is an editable field allowing you to name a channel. Names up to 16 mixed characters are allowed. It can be used for Quick Search/Fast Tune.
Frequency - this is an editable field allowing you to enter a frequency. The format is nnnn.nnnn MHz. Any entered frequency is check for an Out of Band value. Entered values are sent to the scanner and the scanner may adjust the frequency you enter to its nearest supported Band Plan step value. If this happens then the program will change your entered frequency to the value chosen by the scanner. It can be used for Quick Search/Fast Tune. This input field also supports Air Band Frequency Correction and CB Channel and Marine Channel direct input via associated prefix keys. See Frequency Prefix Keys.
Select - this editable check box is used in conjunction with the Channel Select and Select Function buttons.

The following columns/fields are only/conditionally available if the Frequency field contains a value other than 0000.0000.

Modulation - this is a conditionally editable field via a combo box. Available values are Auto, AM, FM and NFM. The default value is AUTO which will be changed to AM, FM or NFM by the scanner depending on the current Band Plan setting. You can also force/choose AM, FM or NFM should you wish to. Note! The UBC125XLT and AE125H do not support NFM and if you select NFM it will automatically be changed to AUTO.
CTCSS / DCS - this is a conditionally editable field via a combo box. Available values are SEARCH, DCS, CTCSS and NO TONE. Selecting either DCS or CTCSS will result in either a DCS Table or CTCSS Table being shown from which you can select the required value (see tables below).
C/D Value - this is a non editable field. If will display the appropriate CTCSS or DCS value chosen from the CTCSS Table or DCS Table (see tables below).
Delay - this is a conditionally editable field via a combo box. Available values are 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, -5, and -10. Please Note! When a Delay of 0 is set then the program will NOT log any DCTSS/DCS tones.
Lockout - this is a conditionally editable field via a combo box. Available values are LOCKED and UNLOCKED. A double left-mouse-button will toggle the setting. This field will always display LOCKED until a valid frequency is entered and it will then automatically change to UNLOCKED. Any LOCKED channels will be skipped during a Scan.
Priority - this is a conditionally editable field via a combo box. Available values are OFF and ON. A double left-mouse-button will toggle the setting. Only one priority channel is allowed per bank. If there is already one Priority channel in a bank and you select another channel in that bank to be a Priority channel then the program will flip the Priority of the previously set channel.

Note! When a Delay of 0 is set then the program will NOT log and DCTSS/DCS tones.

CTCSS and DCS Tables Image

Frequency Prefix Keys

The frequency input field supports several Frequency Prefix Keys. These keys fall into the following categories:

Frequency Modification Keys - civil airband frequency correction
Frequency Quick Input Keys - quick frequency input for known CB and Marine Channels

Table below show examples of inputs and actions taken.

Prefix Category	Prefix (any case)	Prefix Example	Prefix Action Frequency	Prefix Action Modulation	Prefix Action Tag Name
Civil Airband Frequency Correction	ab	ab118.030	Set 118.0250MHz	FM	None
UK CB Channel Quick Input	cbuk	cbuk10	Set 27.69125MHz	FM	CB UK Chan 10
EU/CEPT CB Channel Quick Input	cbeu	cbeu19	Set 27.18500MHz	FM	CB EU Chan 19
US CB Channel Quick Input	cbus	cbus40	Set 27.40500MHz	AM	CB US Chan 40
Default CB Region Options Setting	cb	cb12	Set 27.71125MHz (UK example)	FM or AM	CB UK Chan 12
Marine Channel Band A Quick Input	ma	ma25	Set 157.2500MHz	FM	Marine Chan 25 A
Marine Channel Band B Quick Input	mb	mb25	Set 161.8500MHz	FM	Marine Chan 25 B
Marine Marina 1 Channel	m1	m1	Set 157.8500MHz	FM	Marine Chan M1
Marine Marina 2 Channel	m2	m2	Set 161.4250MHz	FM	Marine Chan M2

The Civil Air Band Correction requires a little explanation with regards to Channel Spacing. This well explained in this Wikipedia article. With the arrival of 8.33kHz spacings between channels then the frequency Air Traffic Controllers will tell pilots to set on their radios will not be the actual frequency that the radio uses. Looking at the table below you will see that the Uniden scanner sets the correct actual frequency in some cases but it also sets an incorrect frequency (shown in bold and underlined) in other cases.

ATC Controller     Actual frequency    Uniden Scanner 
says               used by radio       uses        
118.000	           118.0000            118.0000
118.005            118.0000            118.0083
118.010            118.0083            118.0083
118.015            118.0166            118.0166
118.025            118.0250            118.0250
118.030            118.0250            118.0333
118.035            118.0333            118.0333
118.040            118.0416            118.0146
118.045            118.0416            118.0146
118.050            118.0500            118.0500
118.055            118.0500            118.0583
118.060            118.0583            118.0583 
118.065            118.0666            118.0666
118.070            118.0666            118.0666
118.075            118.0750            118.0750
118.080            118.0750            118.0833
118.085            118.0833            118.0833
118.090            118.0916            118.0916
118.100            118.0100            118.1000

The above Uniden scanner setting discrepancy for Civil Air Band actual frequencies continues throughout the 118MHz to 137MHz frequency range. By using the "ab" prefix, or using the Automatic Air Band Frequency Correction setting in the Options menu then the Scan125 Control Program will override the scanner and set the correct frequency.

Bank View Group Controls

Across the top of the form, from the left, are the Bank View Controls - Bank 1 to Bank 10. These give fast access to the start of each bank. e.g. pressing Bank 5 button will scroll the start of Bank 5, (5 - 1 and Channel 201), to the top of the viewable grid.

Fast Tune and Hold Group Control

Pressing the Tune button will cause the scanner to directly tune/jump to the chosen channel.

One can also perform a Fast Tune by double left mouse button clicking any of the cells in the Header, Bank, Bank Tag Name, Channel No., Channel Tag Name or Frequency fields.

Find Group Control

Pressing the Find button will open a Find Form dialogue box where you can enter either a simple string search term and/or a frequency. This is a simple search looking for the text or frequency you have entered. There are no advanced "this and than but not the other" options. The Find command is currently restricted to finding data in the Channel Name Tag and Frequency fields only. However all table columns are sortable by clicking the header field so like data is also readily grouped together, e.g. all CTCSS tones of the same value.

When entering text into the Text String box any leading and trailing spaces will be removed but middle spaces will be retained. So becomes " London " becomes "london" and " London Airport ATC " will become "london airport atc". All text searches are case insensitive.

When entering a frequency into the Frequency box the entered frequency is formatted to MHz format. So "125" is changed to "0125.000", "125.6" is changed to "0125.6000". Only the digits 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and a decimal point are accepted.

When the required data is found the table view focus is taken to that table cell and the cell background colour is set to light blue to highlight the found data. This will happen for all subsequent finds. All found cells in this find/search session will remain back highlighted until the Find Form is closed. This means that you can change find/search data within a session and build up a back highlighted composite view.

All highlights are removed on form closure.

The Find button will find and highlight data cell by cell on each button click. The Find All button will traverse the whole table highlighting all found data.

Channel Select Group Controls

These Select All, Select B1 ......... Select B10 buttons allow the selection of all channels in all banks, all channels in one bank, or any combination of banks. When one of the buttons has been selected the button colour will turn to Green and it's label change to Deselect.

The Select Count Display displays the number of currently selected channels.

Selecting one or more channels will enable the Select Function Control Group buttons.

Function Select Group Controls

There are six function command buttons in this group. These commands will ONLY operate on the selected channels. When a command button is available for use the button colour will turn to Green.

Delete - this will delete all data associated with the selected channel(s)
Save to File - this will save all data associated with the selected channel(s) to a file of your choice. A File Save dialogue will be shown. This save is a PART save and the file is marked with a "#part#" and when the saved file is reloaded it will only overwrite the scanner settings as defined in the file.
Format CSV - when checked the Save To File function will create a CSV file containing Frequency in MHz,Modulation,Channel Tag Name only. No file headers are added. If you wish to share your data with others in CSV format then check this option before pressing. To use / import a CSV file then you have to use the Scan125Convert utility program.
Copy / Move - this will copy all the data associated with the selected channels into a copy buffer. This will then enable to Paste and Move buttons. The Copy / Move button will then turn Yellow to indicate that a Copy / Move action is in progress.
Paste - this will Paste the data in the copy buffer to the selected target location. To select a target location simply mouse left button click the header field to select and highlight the whole row. The data copied will now be pasted to here when you select the Paste button.
Move - this will Move the data in the copy buffer to the selected target location. To select a target location simply mouse left button click the header field to select and highlight the whole row. The data copied will now be moved to here when you select the Move button. The source data will be deleted only after the move has been successful.

Store Group Control

The Store button will ONLY operate if the Main Control Panel, Scanner, Store button has been pressed or the Close Call Bank register Store button has been pressed. If a frequency has been asked to be stored then this button colour will turn Green to signify that a store is pending. The button will not be enabled until an unused channel store location has been chosen. To choose a channel store location one has to left mouse button click the channel row header field on the far left of the row. The whole row colour will now turn Blue to indicate that the channel row has been successfully selected.

If the desired location already contains data, either a Name Tag and/or a frequency, then an error message dialogue will be shown asking you to select another location/channel to store the data to.

Any pending store is cancelled on form closure.

Duplicate Frequency Group Control

The Warning On check box when checked will cause a message box to be displayed if the frequency you have justed entered into a channel also exists in any other channel. Existing channels containing this frequency will be listed in the message box. The frequency entry is still permitted but you may wish to review it. The setting of Warning On is stored in the ini file on program close and is reloaded on program start.

Remember you can bring all the same frequencies together for review by sorting the frequency data column (by clicking column header).

Cell Copy and Paste Group Control

The data grid / table supports SINGLE cell Copy and Paste to and from the Windows Clipboard. This means that cell data can be copied and pasted both within Scan125's Scan Channels View/Edit form and also outside e.g. to and from a spreadsheet or other document.

The supported actions/methods are:

Select a cell and use the Copy and Paste buttons in this control group
Select a cell and use Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V key actions
Right Mouse Button click to select a cell and use the pop-up Context Menu options

I will hopefully be revisiting better Copy and Paste support in the future but it is fraught with issues issues and Scan125 stability is my major objective. Meanwhile the existing Select/Copy/Move, Save to CSV and Import from CSV (via Scan125Convert) abilities of Scan125 will ensure that data import and export is still very much possible. Add Scan125's Butel RSF file support then I believe we have most cases covered.

Print Form Group Control

The Print Form button will raise a printer dialogue where you can select the required printer and printer properties to print the form and it's currently visible channel data. To print a complete banks of channel data use the Print Bank Group Controls.

Print Bank Group Controls

The Bank 1 to Bank 10 buttons will raise a printer dialogue where you can select the required printer and printer properties to print the chosen bank of channel data. The chosen bank's 50 channels are printed 25 to a page.

The ALL Banks button will cause all 10 banks, 500 channels of data to be printed. This will produce 20 pages of 25 channels per page.

Custom Search Bank Settings Group

This gives access to Setting, Viewing and Editing the scanner's Custom Search Banks and Frequency settings.

Here each of the scanner's 10 custom search banks can be enabled or disabled for when the scanner is scanning in Custom Search Mode.

Note! Although the banks are named Bank 1 to Bank 10 if you have given a bank a Bank Tag Name in the View/Edit panel then when you mouse hover over that bank a pop-up will appear with the Bank Tag Name you have actually allocated to the bank.

When View/Edit is pressed then a new form is loaded where you have full control over the custom search settings.

View/Edit Search Bank Settings

The following new form/panel will open when the View / Edit button is selected.

Custom Search Bands Image

Grid Columns / Data Fields

The column/field details (left to right) are as below:

The following columns/fields are always accessible:

Row Header - this is a blank non editable field used to select a row in the grid.
Bank - this is a fixed named non editable field.
Bank Tag Name - this is an editable field allowing you to name a bank. Note! This is a program specific function only. The scanners do not support bank naming. However any name you give a bank will be saved and loaded by the program. Additionally the bank name will appear as a pop-up when you mouse hover over that bank on the main control panel form.
Start Frequency - this is an editable field allowing you to enter a frequency. The format is nnnn.nnnn MHz. Any entered frequency is check for an Out of Band value. Start Frequency must be greater then the End Frequency. Entered values are sent to the scanner.
End Frequency - this is an editable field allowing you to enter a frequency. The format is nnnn.nnnn MHz. End Frequency must be greater then the Start Frequency. Any entered frequency is check for an Out of Band value. Entered values are sent to the scanner.

On the right of the form is a quick reference table of the Default Start and End Frequencies for the bands. These are what will be set if a Reset All Defaults is made.

Save To File Button

A file save dialogue will be show. All the 10 banks of data will be saved to the file of your choice. This Save To File is a PART save file as marked with "#part#" in the header and when the file is reloaded it will only update those scanner settings as defined in the file.

Print Form Button

A printer dialogue will be shown where you can select the required printer and printer properties to print the form.

Reset All Defaults

A confirm dialogue will be shown. Selecting OK will result in the all the Custom Search values being reset to their default values. Any attached scanner will also be updated with these default values. The default values set will depend upon the model of scanner attached.

Services Search Bank Settings Group

This gives access to Setting scanner's Services Search Banks.

Here each of the scanner's service search banks can be enabled or disabled for when the scanner is scanning in Services Search Mode.

The number of banks and their names depend upon the scanner attached.

UBC125XLT and AE125H have 7 fixed banks available which are named: Emergency, Freenet, PMR, Marine, Aircraft, CB Radio, HAM Radio.

BC125AT has 10 fixed banks available which are named: Police, Emergency, HAM, Marine, Railroad, Civil Air, MIL Air, CB Radio, FRS/GMRS/MURS, Racing.

UBC126AT has 9 fixed banks available which are named: Aircraft, Marine, UHF CB Radio, CB Radio, Police, Fire, Ambulance, Railroad, Racing.

Scanner Virtual Console Group

Scanner Virtual Console is virtual representation of the scanner's display and support for the key scanner buttons that one would normally press when scanning.

Scanner Virtual Control Image

Scanner Display

The orange scanner display is a dynamically constructed display based on the current content/status of the scanner.

This display supports the 6 line display as provided on the scanner but does not support the graphic character symbols that the scanner display can display. Instead these graphic symbols are replaced with meaningful text strings as detailed in the table below.

Display Line No.	Graphic Symbol Description	Replacement Text
1	Reverse Video F symbol	F
1	Hold symbol	Hold
1	L/O symbol	L/O
1	TL/O symbol	TL/O
1	Key Lock symbol	Key
1	Signal Strength Bars symbols	Sig (with horizontal meter above display)
1	Battery Meter symbols	Bat
3	Scan Up Arrow symbol	u
3	Scan Down Arrow symbol	d
4	Reverse Video P symbol	P
4	Priority PRI symbol	PRIi
4	Priority PRI+ symbol	PRI+
4	Priority PRI in Reverse Video symbol (DND)	PDND
4 & 5	Close Call symbol	CCPRI
4 & 5	Close Call DND symbol	CCDND
4 & 5	Close Call Only symbol	CCONLY
5	Pager Screen symbol	SCR (UBC126AT only)
6	Reverse Video C symbol	C
6	Horizontal Graphic Bar (volume/squelch/etc)	************ ( one * per level - 0 to 15)

Due to using the replacement text strings to replace the scanner's more compact graphic symbols it has been necessary to slightly vary the size of the virtual display lines and of the font size used to ensure that no data is lost out of view.

In addition to this normal Scanner Display there are also a Big Scanner Display and a Ribbon Display.

RSSI Signal Strength Meter and Sensitivity Adjustment

The signal strength meter bar is an uncalibrated indication of signal strength in the range from 0 to 10 discrete levels. The scanner does not provide any information that directly corresponds to it's own display signal strength meter. Instead Scan125 has to interpret a raw and uncalibrated Received Signal Strength Indicator value obtained from the scanner.

Depending on your aerial and levels of signals and noise in your reception area you may find that Scan125's signal strength meter is too sensitive or not sensitive enough.

The sensitivity of the meter can be adjusted by left mouse button clicking the meter display bar. On doing so you will see:

Signal Meter Sensitivity Adjust

Any anjustment made here will be saved and restored each time the program is run.

It is not possible to adjust the meter sensitivty from the Big or Ribbon scanner displays.

Big Scanner Display

To enable this display then left mouse button click the Bearcat Indicator.

When enabled this will open a separate and larger duplicate scanner display with "On Top" properties. This big display can be resized or minimised. This big display will allow the easier monitoring of the scanner display from a distance. As with the program's other forms this ribbon display can be docked anywhere on the screen.

The display also has the following control functions:

Scanner HOLD/Release - Left mouse button clicking any of the display fields will alternately initiate a scanner HOLD or HOLD Release
Main Control Panel Minimise/Normalise - Right mouse button clicking the top display field (RSSI Signal Strength) will alternately minimise and normalise the main scanner control panel
Volume Slider - Adjust the scanner volume level. Right mouse button clicking the slider will toggle Volume OFF and ON.

Ribbon Scanner Display

To enable this display then right mouse button click the Bearcat Indicator.

When enabled this will open a separate and large ribbon scanner display with "On Top" properties. This ribbon display can be resized or minimised. This ribbon display will allow the easier monitoring of the scanner display whilst doing other work on your PC. As with the program's other forms this ribbon display can be docked anywhere on the screen.

The ribbon also has the following control functions:

Scanner HOLD/Release - Left mouse button clicking any of the display fields will alternately initiate a scanner HOLD or HOLD Release
Main Control Panel Minimise/Normalise - Right mouse button clicking the left most display field (RSSI Signal Strength) will alternately minimise and normalise the main scanner control panel
Volume Slider - Adjust the scanner volume level. Right mouse button clicking the slider will toggle Volume OFF and ON.

Bearcat Button Group

Squelch Indicator

The squelch indicator will turn Green when the squelch is Open.

Bearcat Indicator

The Bearcat indicator has three functions:

To gently pulse - Mood Light :)
To enable the Big Scanner Display when clicked with the left mouse button
To enable the Ribbon Scanner Display when clicked with the right mouse button

Mute Indicator

The mute indicator will turn Green when mute is in operation.

Store Button

The Store button is only enabled when the scanner is in Custom Search Mode or Services Scan Mode. When the button is pressed the following things happen:

The current frequency and modulation are stored to a temporary buffer
If the current frequency and modulation are already stored then a Duplicate Store Dialogue is displayed showing the channel number of the first duplicate found. You can "OK" to continue or "Cancel"
The button turns green to indicator that there is now a Store action pending
The button text turns to Canc (for Cancel)
The Scan Channels View/Edit screen is displayed ready for you to complete the store process
A Store Information Message box is displayed confirming the frequency and modulation to be stored

You can now complete the Store as described here.

To Cancel a pending store then just press the button again.

L/O Lockout Button

The L/O button performs a Lockout and Unlock with a single press as follows:

If the scanner is in scan mode and the channel is unlocked then it will be locked
If the scanner is in scan mode and the channel is locked (L/O) then it will be unlocked
In both cases the View/Edit Scan Banks table and scanner are updated

If the scanner is in Search/Services mode and the frequency is unlocked then it will be added to the Global Frequency Lockout list
If the scanner is in Search/Services mode and the frequency is locked then it will be removed from the Global Frequency Lockout list
In both cases the View/Edit Global Frequency Lockout table and scanner are updated

TL/O Temporary Lockout Button

The TL/O button performs a Temporary Lockout and Unlock with a single press. There is no program related data to be updated and TL/Os are local to the scanner only.

The TL/O button performs two functions:

The TL/O button performs a Temporary Lockout with a single Left mouse button click/press. There is no program related data to be updated and TL/Os are local to the scanner only.
The TL/O button enables/disables the program's Automatic Temporary Lockout with a single Right mouse button click/press. When Automatic Temporary Lockout is enabled the TL/O will turn Yellow to indicate this enabled state.

TL/Os only last for the duration the scanner is powered ON. TL/Os can not be listed. Powering the scanner off and on again will clear all TL/Os.

The Automatic Temporary Lockout function will be useful when you wish to profile/log new transmisions only. To avoid unwanted Automatic TL/O operation the state off the function is NOT saved on program closure. Automatic TL/O will be off/disabled when the program starts.

Mode Button

The Mode button changes the reception mode of the scanner. When the scanner is receiving an AM signal (i.e. in AM mode) then the button text will display AM. Pressing the button will switch the scanner reception mode to FM and the button will display FM. Similarly for FM to AM changes.

Note 1 - reception mode changes may be blocked by certain scanner Band Plan limits
Note 2 - this button is disabled if a BC125AT or UBC126AT scanner is being used as these scanners do not support direct reception mode changes

Scan Control Button Group

These buttons directly control the scanners scanning.

Scan, Srch and Svc Buttons

Scan - will start a Scan Channels scan. The button will turn Green when scan is active. The button will turn Pink if scan is in Hold
Srch - will start a Customer Search scan. The button will turn Green when search is active. The button will turn Pink if search is in Hold
Svc - will start a Services Search scan. The button will turn Green when a search is active. The button will turn Pink if search is in Hold

< (Scan Down) - > (Scan Up) Buttons

These buttons perform the same function as the scanners scroll wheel when in scan/search mode.

< - will start or change direction of current scan/search to a downwards direction
> - will start or change direction of current scan/search to an upwards direction

- (Step Down) - + (Step Up) Buttons

These buttons perform the same function as the scanners scroll wheel when in HOLD mode.

- - will cause the current channel or frequency to be decremented by one channel or one frequency step size
+ - will cause the current channel or frequency to be incremented by one channel or one frequency step size

HOLD Button

HOLD - will cause the current scan or search to go into HOLD mode. The button colour will turn Red.

To release the HOLD then press any of the Scan, Srch, Svc, < or > buttons.

Bank 1 to 0 Buttons

These buttons perform the same function as the scanners 1 to 0 buttons when in scan/search mode.

When pressed they do the following:

Select and Deselect that numbered bank
Turn Green if that numbered bank is currently enabled for the current scan/search

Autoscan Check Boxes: A-Scan / A-Srch / A-Svc

Each of these automatically initiate/start a Scan or a Search or a Services scan when the program starts.

Normally the scanner will be put into a Scan HOLD state when the program starts. By selecting one of the Autoscan check boxes then the chosen scan action will be initiated immediately after the program starts.

This Autoscan ability can be used in conjunction with the Auto Log, Auto Save and Automatic Record function to enable one to use Scan125 in a scheduled manner (via Windows Task Scheduler) to capture activity unattended at any time of day or night. To do this use the Scan125 program to select the Scan Banks/Channels or the Search Banks/Frequencies or the Services Banks, set any other functions and options and then check/select the appropriate A-Scan, A-Srch or A-Svc action and then close the program. Leave the scanner powered on in HOLD mode and the PC running. When the Windows Task Scheduler starts the Scan125 Control Program at your chosen date and time then Scan125 will get on and do what you have set it to do.

Average Status and Display Refresh Time

This display shows in milliseconds the actual average time in any given 1 second period the program takes to do the following:

Get all required status data from scanner
Analyse said data
Build and display the virtual scanner display.

A warning sound may be issued and the background colour changes as follows:

If Status Pole Time is less than this time then colour goes RED and a system exclamation sound is issued.
If Status Pole Time is greater than this time then colour goes ORANGE.
If Status Pole Time is TWICE this time then colour goes GREEN. (recommended setting)

The Status Pole Time by default is determined by the program.

The Status Pole Time refresh period can be user adjusted on the Options Panel from 5ms to 1000ms. It defaults to a high 300ms. Unless you experience problems then you should always use the Auto Status/Refresh setting on the Options Panel.

If manually setting the Status Pole Time then it should be set for GREEN for reliability and command responsiveness. For more modern PCs / laptops then a pole time setting of 20ms to 50ms should be achievable.

Running with ORANGE is normally OK. Running in the RED will cause user interface command issues as the program is spending all it's time attending to status and display duties.

Clock Display Group

The Clock Display shows the current Local and GMT/UTC date and time. These are taken from your PC's Time Zone and Date and Time Settings.

The current selected time for logging (as set in the Options) is shown with a light green background.

It is not possible to adjust these times with the Scan125 Program.

Clock Group

Notepad and Auto Save Group

The program has a built Notepad and Autosave functions.

When the View/Edit button is pressed a new Notepad Log and Auto Saved Frequencies form is opened.

When the Log Current is button pressed then the current frequency and reception mode of the scanner, along with the date and time are added to the Notepad Log. Depending on the settings on the Notepad Log and Auto Saved Frequencies form a number of actions may take place.

Notepad Log and Auto Saved Frequencies

This form is split into two main components. A Notepad Group on the left and an Auto Saved Frequencies Group on the right.

The Date and Time entries will be in either GMT (23/09/2014,13:48:55,GMT) or Local time (23/09/2014,13:48:55,LCL). The logging of time in GMT or Local time is determined by the Notepad Settings.

Both groups have Goto Top and Goto Bottom buttons which will scroll the relevant data views to the top and bottom of their respective data views. No further detailed explanation required.

If either the Notepad Auto Log function and/or the Auto Saved Frequencies function are enabled then frequency data will be stored/added to the file called "scan125-frequency.log"

Notepad Log Group

This Notepad information is stored in a file called "scan125-notepad.txt" and this will be located in the program directory or where you have chosen to locate your other scanner data files. It is capable of storing 2048 MB of data. The data will be loaded and saved when the program starts and ends. The current Notepad usage in Bytes/KB/MB is displayed at the top of the Notepad area. You will receive a program warning when the currently stored data in the file exceeds 5 MB. When you start to receive these warnings then you should ideally backup your data as soon as possible and then use the Clear Notepad function. Loading and saving data exceeding 5 MB will slow down the program start and shutdown performance.

The entries in the Notepad are in CSV format as follows:

08/06/2017,11:27:39,GMT,0000.0000,---,-----,--,----------------,-----,--,-- -------,Startup,
08/06/2017,11:28:22,GMT,0156.4750, FM,00000,00,Marine          ,CH69 ,AE,AS NEW=132,
08/06/2017,11:32:14,GMT,0156.5500, FM,00000,02,Marine          ,CH11 ,AE,AS NEW=133,
08/06/2017,11:32:23,GMT,0156.6000, FM,00000,04,Marine          ,CH12 ,AE,AS NEW=134,
08/06/2017,11:33:06,GMT,0357.0250, AM,00000,05,                ,00050,AE,AS NEW=001,
08/06/2017,11:33:41,GMT,0121.0250, AM,00000,05,Sothampton Tower,00036,AE,AS NEW=002,
08/06/2017,11:33:43,GMT,0357.0250, AM,00000,05,                ,00050,AE,AS OLD=001,
08/06/2017,11:34:20,GMT,0357.0250, AM,00000,05,                ,00050,AE,AS OLD=001,
08/06/2017,11:34:32,GMT,0124.9250, AM,00000,06,dupe test       ,00032,AE,AS NEW=003,
08/06/2017,11:34:35,GMT,0121.0250, AM,00000,05,Sothampton Tower,00036,AE,AS OLD=002,
08/06/2017,11:34:38,GMT,0357.0250, AM,00000,05,                ,00050,AE,AS OLD=001,
08/06/2017,11:34:59,GMT,0118.0500, AM,00000,03,CB UK Channel 05,00004,AE,AS NEW=004,
08/06/2017,11:35:04,GMT,0357.0250, AM,00000,05,                ,00050,AE,AS OLD=001,
08/06/2017,11:35:46,GMT,0357.0250, AM,00000,05,                ,00050,AE,AS OLD=001,
08/06/2017,11:36:04,GMT,0156.5500, FM,00000,02,Marine          ,CH11 ,AE,AS NEW=005,
08/06/2017,11:36:10,GMT,0156.6000, FM,00000,03,Marine          ,CH12 ,AE,AS NEW=006,
08/06/2017,11:36:22,GMT,0156.6000, FM,00000,04,Marine          ,CH12 ,AE,AS OLD=006,
08/06/2017,11:36:31,GMT,0156.6000, FM,00000,03,Marine          ,CH12 ,AE,AS OLD=006,
08/06/2017,11:36:50,GMT,0156.5250, FM,00000,03,Marine          ,CH70 ,AE,AS NEW=007,
08/06/2017,11:36:57,GMT,0156.5250, FM,00000,03,Marine          ,CH70 ,AE,AS OLD=007,
08/06/2017,11:37:34,GMT,0026.9000, AM,00000,09,SEARCH BANK1    ,     ,AE,AS NEW=008,
08/06/2017,11:37:43,GMT,0027.4650, AM,00000,10,SEARCH BANK1    ,     ,AE,AS NEW=009,
08/06/2017 11:44:28 GMT,0000.0000,---,-----,--,----------------,-----,--,-- -------,Shutdown,(max=496,min=121),

The fields are date,time, local (LCL) or GMT, frequency, modulation, CTCSS/DCS tone, signal strength (00-10), Name (16 characters), Channel Number (5 characters), AE (if enabled) and AS field (if enabled)

The Name and Channel Number will be one of the following:

For a Scan Bank Channel scan the Name will be the channel Tag Name (if any), e.g. 'Sothampton Tower' and the Channel Number will be Scan Bank Channel Number e.g. '00036'
For a Services scan the Name will be the Service Bank Name, e.g. 'Marine', and the Channel Number will be the Service Channel Number (if any) e.g. 'CH70'
For a Search scan the Name will be the Search Bank Name, e.g. 'SEARCH BANK1' (as known by scanner not what you may have allocated), and the Channel Number will be blank

The signal stregth is Scan125's uncalibrated signal strength value, as displayed at the top of the virtual console display and ranges from 00 to 10.

The AE denotes an Auto Entry added automatically by the program.

The AS denotes an Auto Saved entry added automatically by the program with either a NEW=nnn or OLD=nnn where nnn is the Autosaved Location.

The Startup entry is when the current program run was started.

The Shutdown entry is when the current program run ended. The (max=nnn,min=nnn) is the maximum and minimum uncalibrated raw signal strengths received during the session.

To manually make a new Notepad entry then double click in the notepad text area and a new record will be created for the current reception data. To this entry, or any other entry you can add your own text.

Auto Log Checkbox

This check box, when checked, will enable the Notepad Auto Log function. When scanning or searching and the scanner hits and active frequency and the Squelch opens then the current date, time, frequency, modulation and any received CTCSS/DCS tone, signal strength, Name and Channel Number are automatically entered into the Notepad area together with an AE (auto entry) additional tag.

Please note with a scanner or channel setting of Delay 0 then CTCSS/DCS tones if present will be recorded as 00000.

Clear Notepad Button

This will clear the current Notepad of all data. Please ensure you have backed up/copied this data as appropriate. You will be given a confirmation dialog and option to cancel the clear request.

Auto Saved Frequencies Group

Auto Saved consists of 200 separate storage locations where "hits" can be automatically saved. This information is stored only in the program's scan125-ini.ini file. Any of your personal scanner saved data files will not contain these autosave frequencies.

Auto Saved Quick Tune and Store

Any stored entries can be "Quick Tuned" by mouse double clicking any particular entry. The scanner will be tuned the the relevant frequency and modulation. Should you wish to Store this frequency to a particular Scan Bank and Channel then use Store Button and complete the store process.

Auto Save Checkbox

This check box, when checked, will enable the Auto Save Frequency function. When scanning or searching and the scanner hits and active frequency and the Squelch opens then the current date, time, frequency, modulation, any received CTCSS/DCS tone, Name, Channel Number and Hit Count are automatically entered into the next available Auto Saved location together. The received signal strength is not recorded in the Auto Saved location. In addition an AS (auto saved) additional tag is added to the reciprocal entry the Notepad area. This AS entry will be supplemented with either a NEW=nn or and OLD=mm entry. These entries show if the frequency, modulation mode and CTCSS/DCS codes are NEW and have been stored in location new nn or they are OLD and were previously stored in an old mm location.

Please note with a scanner or channel setting of Delay 0 then CTCSS/DCS tones if present will be recorded as 00000.

Once the Auto Saved data/locations reach 200 then the entries will wrap back to location 1 thus overwriting previous data. It is your responsibility to manage these special 200 locations/data.

Clear Auto Saved Button

This will clear the current Auto Saved locations of all data. Please ensure you have Stored any entries you wish to keep to an appropriate Scan Bank and Channel. You will be given a confirmation dialog and option to cancel the clear request.

Frequency Log File

If either the Notepad Auto Log function and/or the Auto Save Frequencies function are enabled then frequency data will be stored/added to the file called "scan125-frequency.log". This log is cumulative and can be user edited or deleted .

The log file is a simple CSV file with entries as follows:

08/06/2017,11:34:32,GMT,0124.9250, AM,00000,06,001,dupe test       ,00032
08/06/2017,11:34:35,GMT,0121.0250, AM,00000,05,002,Sothampton Tower,00036
08/06/2017,11:34:38,GMT,0357.0250, AM,00000,05,004,                ,00050
08/06/2017,11:34:59,GMT,0118.0500, AM,00000,03,001,CB UK Channel 05,00004
08/06/2017,11:35:04,GMT,0357.0250, AM,00000,05,005,                ,00050
08/06/2017,11:35:46,GMT,0357.0250, AM,00000,05,006,                ,00050
08/06/2017,11:36:04,GMT,0156.5500, FM,00000,02,001,Marine          ,CH11
08/06/2017,11:36:10,GMT,0156.6000, FM,00000,03,001,Marine          ,CH12
08/06/2017,11:36:22,GMT,0156.6000, FM,00000,04,002,Marine          ,CH12
08/06/2017,11:36:31,GMT,0156.6000, FM,00000,03,003,Marine          ,CH12
08/06/2017,11:36:50,GMT,0156.5250, FM,00000,03,001,Marine          ,CH70
08/06/2017,11:36:57,GMT,0156.5250, FM,00000,03,002,Marine          ,CH70
08/06/2017,11:37:34,GMT,0026.9000, AM,00000,09,001,SEARCH BANK1    ,

The fields are date,time, local (LCL) or GMT, frequency, modulation, CTCSS/DCS tone, signal strength (00-10), hit count (000-999), Name (16 characters) and Channel Number (5 characters)

The Name and Channel Number will be one of the following:

For a Scan Bank Channel scan the Name will be the channel Tag Name (if any), e.g. 'MUAC Mnster High' and the Channel Number will be Scan Bank Channel Number e.g. '00036'
For a Services scan the Name will be the Service Bank Name, e.g. 'Marine', and the Channel Number will be the Service Channel Number (if any) e.g. 'CH70'
For a Search scan the Name will be the Search Bank Name, e.g. 'SEARCH BANK1' (as known by scanner not what you may have allocated), and the Channel Number will be blank

The signal stregth is Scan125's uncalibrated signal strength value, as displayed at the top of the virtual console display and ranges from 00 to 10.

The hit count is a count of the times the given frequency has been encountered.

If the count = 0 then this a frequency that has been logged when the Auto Saved Frequencies function is NOT enabled.

If the count is 1 or greater then the frequency was logged when the Auto Saved Frequencies function was enabled.

As the log is cumulative all logged frequencies encountered may or may not appear in the current Auto Saved Frequencies table depending on when the table was last cleared or the storage locations wrapped.

Apart from writing data to this file the program does nothing else with the data. The data is intended for use by anyone interested in analysing the gathered data.

Audio Record and Player Group

The Audio Record and Player Group contains the controls and options for the program's ability to record and playback recorded sound. Before detailing the various controls and options a little further information is required about the basic sound implementation used by this program. There is also an option to change the recording file naming convention in "Recording File Name Header".

Audio Record and Playback Controls

PLEASE NOTE! It may be illegal to record certain types of, or even *any*, radio transmission/traffic in your particular Country, State or Jurisdiction. It is your responsibility to check the legality of recording any transmission. Whilst there may be no restriction on recording, the playing of or sharing that recording with another person(s) or party(s) may be illegal. The author does not condone, support or otherwise encourage any illegal activity. This program's recording features must ONLY be used in compliance with the laws of your particular Country, State or Jurisdiction.

Sound System Overview

It was never intended that the sound recording and playback functions of this program would be able to compete with other sound recording and playback software available. Instead the design focuses on using the existing resources that will/should already be available on your Windows system and tightly coupling these to the program thus allowing for a more closely controlled scanner recording environment and recording control options.

It is important to understand the following points:

No sound feed is available over the scanner USB connection so you will have to plug into the scanner headphone socket to obtain a sound feed
To record the program uses your default sound card and input feeds on your system. You need to set these up in your sound card controls along with the recording volume level
When setting recording volume level remember that you can also make adjustments with the scanner's volume level as well, either on the scanner or via this program's scanner volume level control
To playback recorded sound files the program uses your default media player for .WAV files
All recoding is to WAV files only. Remember to set the appropriate "quality" in your sound cards controls. As scanner/reception audio signals are of low quality it is recommended to set a lower quality level to reduce recorded file sizes
All sound is recorded to a buffer before being committed to a recorded WAV file. This enables the last recording to be be immediately replayed without having to open a specific WAV file. The current buffer is automatically saved to a WAV file at end of recording
All recorded WAV files are automatically saved in the "wav" sub directory of the program's installation directory. Unlike with the scanner settings/data files it is not possible to specify a target location for recorded files
All recorded file names are determined by the program and take the form either "frequency-modulation-yymmdd-hhmmss-timezone.wav" or "name-yymmdd-hhmmss-timezone.wav". Details on how to select which form is to be used and more details on the name formats can be found in "Recording File Name Header".
I thought long and hard about the file naming convention and this is the only one that captures the details of the recording and also allows sorting by frequency and date and time ordering

Record/Play Controls

These consist of four buttons. Record, Play, Pause and Stop. Just to the right of these are two information lines. The top/first line displays the current status, this being Stopped (in black), Recording (in red), Recording Paused (in red), Playing (in blue) and Playing Paused (in blue). The second/bottom line displays nothing/blank if status is Stopped or the recording file "tag name" e.g. 01133500-AM.wav in red if status is Recording or in blue if the status is Playing. Note. The tag name is a shortened version of the full audio recording file name.

All buttons start with neutral colours. Only the Record button is initially enabled.

Please read the functions of these buttons taking into consideration the Automatic Record/Settings/Options which can override/take control of the buttons.

Record Button

The Record button when pressed will turn Red and become disabled, recording of the current audio sound stream will start. The Pause button will turn Yellow and become enabled. The Stop button will turn Grey and become enabled. The Play button will be disabled. The recording can be paused or stopped. Please Note! Unless the Split check box/function is enabled then the current recording will have a file name starting with the initial frequency the scanner was tuned to when the recording first started.

Pause Button

The Pause button will become enabled and turn Yellow when either the Record or Play buttons are pressed. If pressed the current recording or playback will be paused and the button text will change to Resume. Subsequent Pause button presses will toggle the Pause/Resume action.

Play Button

The Play button only becomes enabled if there is a recording present in the sound buffer. The Play button when pressed will play back the currently recorded sound and turn Light Blue. The Pause button will turn Yellow and become enabled. The Stop button will turn Grey and become enabled.

Stop Button

The Stop button when pressed will stop the current sound buffer recording or playback. All buttons will revert to their neutral colours. The Record and Play buttons will remain enabled.

Automatic Record Settings/Options

These check box settings control how the recording process works. It is IMPORTANT to understand that these settings can effectively override your control over the above Record, Play, Pause and Stop buttons. They are also cumulative in their operation when selected/checked. They basically work by actively pressing the Record, Pause and Stop buttons on your behalf this can result in a little end user confusion until you are more experienced in using all the recording and playback functions. It is suggested that you initially play with these boxes unchecked.

Any selections made will be saved and re-loaded when the program is next started.

Auto Pause Check Box

When checked and a recording is in progress then whenever the sound is muted/squelch closed then the current recording will be automatically paused until the sound is no longer muted and the squelch is open. This pause/resume record process will continue for all recordings until this box is unchecked.

Note! If you manually pause a recording with the Pause button and this Auto Pause is enabled then recording will immediately resume if the current scanner audio is not muted thus overriding your pause command. This is normal/expected behaviour.

Auto Split Check Box

When checked and recording then every frequency change encountered will be recorded into a different file with a file name starting with the current frequency. Whilst scanning, and the scanner is not in Hold status, then multiple files will be created for every frequency encountered. It is suggested that for continuity of recording to the same frequency named file that you set the Search/Close Call delay to 3 or greater.

Auto Record Check Box

This is potentially the most disruptive and confusing recording option. When checked then whenever the sound is not muted/squelch open then recording will automatically start. The suggested/preferred setting for this is unchecked. As this and the other record settings are saved and restored at program start-up then this setting can be an issue. However if every time you have your scanner powered on and want the Scan125 program to automatically go into record mode then this is the box to check.

Note! If you manually stop a recording with the Stop button and this Auto Record is enabled then recording will immediately resume if the current scanner audio is not muted thus overriding your pause command. This is normal/expected behaviour.

Play Saved Button

This button is specifically for accessing and playing files that have been previously recorded and saved to the wav directory. When clicked a file open dialog box will open where you can choose a WAV file to playback. This playback function uses your default play program for WAV files and the playback will open in that program's own separate window and it's controls will then take over. This Play Saved function is totally independent from the above Record, Play, Pause and Stop functions and thus you can be actively recording scanner audio whilst also listening to previously recorded files.

Com Port Control Group

The Com Port Control Group is for managing the communications port to which the scanner is connected. It consists of the following components:

Current Port and Speed Display
Port Selection Box (not normally required)
Refresh Ports Button (not normally required)

Note! Currently the program only supports and lists port names named COMn or COMnn, e.g. COM7 or COM13.

The Scan125 Control Program and the scanners use 115200 baud, 8 data bits, no parity and 1 stop bit. The Scan125 Program will try to configure any selected port to these settings. If you experience communication problems then it is suggested to try setting these values in Windows - Control Panel - Device Manager - Ports - Port Settings for the relevant port.

When the Scan125 program starts it enumerates all available COM ports and adds them to the list of available ports. It will also scan these ports looking for your powered on scanner. If there are no COM ports available or the program fails to detect your scanner an error message will be displayed and the program will enter No Scanner Connected mode. You will then need to manually select the correct COM port or close and restart the program.

The program does not support dynamic port detection, i.e. ports or devices added or removed whilst the program is operating are not automatically added or removed from the list of available ports. The program does however have a port Refresh button that performs this function.

Com Port Display

The Com Port Display shows the currently selected Communications Serial Port and Port Speed.

It also shows the status of communication as seen by the Scan125 Program. The background light colour indicates the following status:

RED - There is no selected and valid COM port available on the system or an error occurred on that port
GREEN - A valid COM port on the system has been selected and is operational

Com Port List Box (use not normally required)

When the program starts it will detect all the COMn and COMnn ports currently available on your PC. It will also search these ports looking for your scanner. If your scanner is not powered on or the program fails to find it then you will have to manually select the COM port yourself.

The Com Port List Box contains a drop down list of all communication ports that are named COMn or COMnn and are available on your PC.

You should select the appropriate port for your interface.

If you are unsure of which port to use then do the following:

Ensure your interface is connected to the PC
Open Windows - Control Panel - Device Manager - Ports and review the list of ports and most importantly check the names of devices against each listed port
Note device names and use the port named Uniden Serial Port (COMn)

Com Refresh Button (use not normally required)

This R button when clicked will cause the program to go through a port detection routine that will remove missing or invalid ports from the available port list and add any new ports found.

Com Error Retry Counts

The program supports the following COM error retry strategies.

Send Command Retry - should the initial command send fail then the program will try retry to send the command THREE times.
Receive Response Retry - should the initial receive or no data is received then the program will try retry to receive the expected response THREE times.
Command Cycle Retry - should either of the send or receive strategies fail then the program will flush all COM input and output buffers and then repeat the Send/Receive cycle THREE times.

If the program is unable to successfully recover then the program will display permanent COM error messages.

Battery Voltage Charge Meter

This meter provides both a battery charge indication and a voltage reading. The meter voltage range from 2.0V to 3.0V is designed to cover both the use of Ni-MH rechargeable batteries and normal alkaline cells.

This meter is displayed as follows:

On program start-up if a scanner is attached and powered on and will auto close after a default 3 second 'splash' period. Period is user adjustable.
For the duration of a mouse hover over the battery voltage display in the Scanner Controls General Group on the main control panel

For voltages less than 2.30V the meter bar is Red
For voltages 2.30V to 2.69V the meter bar is Orange
For voltages 2.70V and over the meter bar is Green

The length of this 'splash' period on program start-up can be adjusted from 0 second to 5 seconds in the Options Panel. If a value of 0 is set then no 'splash' will occur on program start-up.

If Ni-MH batteries are being used a voltage of 2.80V or greater indicates a Fully Charged state. The text "Fully Charged" will be shown above the OK button to the right of the 2.80V bold marker graduation line.

Note! - Determining an accurate state of charge of Ni-MH rechargeable batteries under no load conditions is very difficult to achieve. When the scanner is connected to the USB port then the batteries will be on charge and thus under no load conditions. If you want to accurately determine the battery state then you should disconnect the USB cable and press the scanner's scroll control knob and read the battery voltage, under load, at the top right corner of the scanner's display.

If alkaline batteries are being used and the scanner's battery compartment switch is set correctly to the alkaline position then the Battery Voltage Charge Meter will be displaying the actual battery voltage under load and can therefore be considered to be accurate.

No Scanner Connected Mode

The program is designed to run when connected to a scanner via the scanner's USB connection. The program will enter and run in No Scanner Connected mode whenever there are no COM ports available on the system or a port has not been selected or a scanner is not detected.

When running in No Scanner Connected mode the Title Bar on the form will also contained the text "No Scanner Connected!" Only program specific controls will be enabled.

Scan125MenuBar

The program will automatically exit No Scanner Connected mode as soon as a valid COM port has been selected and a scanner is present.

Support, Program Suggestions, Recommendations and Bug Reports

I welcome support requests, any suggestions, recommendations or bug reports. These should be sent to:

scan125

nick-bailey

I can not guarantee to fix or implement what you report/suggest but what I can say is that this Scan125 Program would not be what it is today without the feedback, suggestions and bug reports that I have received.

Warranty, Liability and License Agreements

The Scan125 Control Program is hereunto referred to as the 'Program'.

In using the Program you are agreeing to accept all of the terms and conditions stated herein.

The Program is currently Freeware (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeware) with a Careware/Charity status and objective (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Careware). It operates with no limitations.

The author reserves the right to change the program status and limitations on any future release. Existing releases will retain their status and your right to use them but support may not be available.

The Program is supplied 'ASIS' and the author neither accepts, implies nor offers any warranty, liability or any other responsibility for any damages, loss or other claim of any type in respect of this Program, its usage or consequence of its usage.

**You use it at your own risk**.

The Program has no guarantee of support or implied right to support.

The Program is the sole Copyright of the author and all rights are reserved. The author's Copyright is restricted to those files containing 'Scan125' in their name and any other file clearly written by the author. The Copyright includes the intended operation, design and function of the Program. The Program requires other runtime files to function and the Copyright of these files belongs to their respective owners/authors.

This product contains Uniden proprietary and/or copyright control codes. Used with permission.

The creator of this Program asserts that the appearance of the user interface screens is/are a work of art and therefore attracts Copyright protection under EU law.

You may not disassemble, reverse engineer or otherwise interfere with any of the Program executable files.

You may not use this Program for any illegal or unlawful purpose.

You may not sell, rent or otherwise charge for this Program.

The preferred availability and distribution of the Program is from the authors website to which you and others should refer to.

You may however freely distribute the Program but must do so entirely free of charge, save for any reasonable charge in respect of any physical media used in its distribution. All electronic or other non physical media distribution must be free of all charges. You may not alter, modify, remove, or in any way change any of the files that comprise the Scan125 Program Control Package as released by the author. You may add your own text or other information files but these must be clearly identifiable as yours, added by you and in such a manner that they do not in any way form part of the Scan125 Control Program or could easily be considered to be part of the Scan125 Control Program. Neither must they infringe the Copyrights of any author, person or organisation and must not contain offensive, illegal or other illicit material.

Should you believe that your version of the Program package has been subject to any infringement of the above conditions then please contact the author immediately providing as much information as possible.

Prior to release, the author has to his satisfaction checked that the Program is free of any Virus or other potentially destructive software/code, but this is not guaranteed.

Before using the Program you are advised to Virus check the version of the Program you have prior to using it. The author's Website may also carry MD5 checksums for the critical files. You are advised to verify these as well.

You are requested to fully read this and any other documentation prior to installing and using the Program. In using the Program you are agreeing to accept all of the terms and conditions stated herein.

The author hopes that you find Scan125 Control Program both easy to use, reliable and of assistance to you and your Uniden Scanner. He may be contacted at his Email address and would certainly like to hear of any bugs, criticism, suggestions etc. that you may have.

Please remember. The Program is supplied 'ASIS' and you use it at your own risk.

Recognised Trademarks, Proprietary Code and Copyrights

Visual Basic, Windows, Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10, .NET are registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation.
Bearcat is a registered trademark of the Uniden Corporation.

This product contains Uniden proprietary and/or copyright control codes. Used with permission.

Other Trademarks may be mentioned in this document and the author acknowledges them.

© Nick Bailey 2013-2017