uniden scanners?

[rosawendel]

so after almost a year of using my old sc180 scanner as a second baby monitor, i just bought a "nearly new" sc230 from Uniden.

Buying "nearly new" from uniden means that you get a scanner that is not preprogrammed as the new ones are. So, I've started toying with the pc program, and i've got to say, it's not very intuitive. Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks in advance.

[KLang]

WinScanSport V2.0 is what I have. It is probably 5+ years old. Is that what they are still using? I find it easiest to download a file off the internet, http://www.racebyrace.com/ is usually pretty good, and start with that.


This reminds me. I may have a couple scanners I probably won't need anymore. :irked:

[TravelGal]

This reminds me. I may have a couple scanners I probably won't need anymore. :irked:

I thought the same thing when I saw the thread title. :(

[rosawendel]

thanks for the insight.
oh, and it's for ALMS.

[Opposite Lock]

I bought an SC230 just before RA 2006. It was my first scanner. I figured that I’d be able to skim the manual and set it up during the 2 ½ hour ride to Elkhart Lake. I was wrong. Relying only on what was already pre-programmed, about all I heard that weekend was the tv director talking to the camera operators. And the NOAA forecasts. (It’s raining like 10 *************? Thanks - I hadn’t noticed!) By the 2007 season, I eventually learned enough about how to operate it to actually enjoy it. And after finding freq lists for a lot of local non-racing public agencies (Hi, Chicago Police Department!) and practicing with them, I got mildly proficient at using this scanner.

The OEM manual pretty much sucks. I found an “easier to read” manual at:
http://myweb.cableone.net/marksscanners/230/230.html

I also subscribed to a Yahoo SC230 users group. About all I ever found of use there were several posts stating that the commercially available programming software for the SC230 generally sucked, so I learned to “program” it manually, per the instructions contained in the above link. (In particular, see the section on "quickly programming a race".)

It took a lot of getting used to, and it’s still pretty far from intuitive, but I’ve learned to like it, even though I know I'm not using it nearly to its full potential.

[Andrew Longman]

The wife bought me a scanner years ago and I've loved having it. It especially helped gain interest in racing for my kids because when they were young it helped them follow the action.

Can't say the manual ever helped me much and mine never came preprogramed. Always downloaded or paid for frequencies a day or two prior to the race, then spent 20+ minutes hunting and pecking and trialing and erroring until I remembered how to program it. Doing it only 3-4 times a year doesn't do much to build expertise.

To me the most maddening thing was my scanner has no meter for battery strength. It was always a guess how much life was left in the charge and so I always had to charge a second battery just in case.

I hope I have reason to use it in the future for more than trainspotting with Trevor