BCT15X Reading the Display & Icons

Summary: A guide to the icons and lines you’ll see on the BCT15X’s screen and what each of them means.

The Main Display

The 64 x 128 LCD has a text area for the system, group and channel names and frequency, plus an icon area. The icons change with what the scanner is doing. Some appear only after you tap FUNCTION.

Icons and Their Meanings

• Alert Mute – steady means permanent alert mute is on; blinking means temporary mute.
• Attenuator – steady means attenuation is on for the current channel; blinking means it’s on globally for all channels.
• Channel info – Cxx.x shows a received CTCSS tone; DCSxxx shows a received DCS code.
• Close Call – an open icon steady means Close Call Priority is on; blinking means Close Call Only is on or a hit has been detected. A reversed (filled) icon steady means Close Call Do Not Disturb is on; blinking means DND is on and a hit was detected.
• Function (F) – steady after you tap FUNCTION (three-second window); blinking when latched by press-and-hold.
• Group line (GRP) – in Scan mode it shows the Group Quick Key numbers of unlocked groups in the current system (the one being scanned blinks). In Hold mode it shows the current group’s number only. In Custom Search it shows the programmed search range numbers.
• Hold – the scanner is in Hold mode.
• IFX – the intermediate-frequency exchange is active.
• GPS – the scanner is receiving data from a GPS receiver.
• Lockout – the current channel is locked out.
• Modulation – AM, FM, NFM, FMB or WFM for the current channel.
• Priority – the current channel is a priority channel.
• PRI – steady means Priority Scan is on; blinking means Priority Plus.
• REP – Repeater Find is switched on.
• Signal level – zero to five bars.
• State-by-State icons – PL (Local Police), DT (Department of Transportation), HP (Highway Patrol) and BT (BearTracker Warning System). While any of these are on, the scanner periodically interrupts other reception to check them.
• System number line (Sx:) – in Scan mode it lists the System/site Quick Key numbers of unlocked systems, with the current one blinking. In Hold mode it shows only the current system’s number. For Quick Key numbers above 9, the tens digit replaces the X in the icon. In Service Search, SCR appears here if the broadcast screen is on.
• V+0 – the volume offset for the current channel (-3 to +3).
• Weather Alert – Weather Alert Priority is on.

Special Displays

Some modes switch to a very different screen, and often have two or three views you can cycle through with FUNCTION + 6 (Display mode):

• Band Scope – a graph of signal strength, described in BCT15X Band Scope Mode.
• Hold mode – different layouts for conventional systems, trunked systems, a trunked control channel and service search hold. Tap FUNCTION in some of these to see an alternate line of information.
• GPS mode – see BCT15X GPS, Location-Based Scanning & Programming Locations.

On a trunked system, holding on an idle system stays on the active control channel. On Motorola systems the site name alternates with the System/Site ID, and as channels become active their TGID or channel name appears.