UASD
Programming systems into the BC-246T can be done from the scanner itself, but the truth is that an interface that works great for scanning does not work so well for programming. It's much faster to use software to program the 246T. Not only that, but using software also allows you to keep a backup of your scanner's configuration in case you need to restore it.
The Uniden Advanced Scanner Director (UASD) is software from Uniden that interfaces the BC-246T scanner with a computer. There are currently two main software options when it comes to programming the 246T via computer; UASD from Uniden and ARC246 from BuTel Software.
BuTel Software does have a matrix that compares the two applications on their Web site, but it compares ARC246 to UASD version 1.0.1.15. The lastest version is 2.0.1.7 and many of the limitations that BuTel points out have not existed for quite some time. The latest version of UASD is quite good, but it's a lot like the BC-246T itself; you have to work with it for a while before you are comfortable with it enough to appreciate it.
Figure 1 - UASD Main Interface
Figure 1 shows the Data Base view of UASD. In this view, the screen is broken into two areas; the Scanner Configuration and the System Data Base area. The System Data Base (on the right in figure 1) shows the systems that are available on your hard drive. In figure 1, there are only a few systems listed because I have changed UASD to point to a directory that contains only those systems of interest to me where I live. By default, there are a ton of entries here and you're sure to find several from your area that you can dump right into your scanner.
The right side of the display shown in figure 1 is the Scanner Configuration list. I have one configuration listed called Home Config. To program your scanner, you add systems from the right into your configuration and then write the configuration to your scanner. Figure 2 shows the configuration editor window where you can add systems that are available to you into your configuration.
Figure 2 - The Configuration Editor
The cool thing about this approach is that you can have any number of scanner configurations that can quickly be written to your scanner whenever you choose. For example, suppose that you travel often for your work. You can create a separate configuration for each area to which you usually travel and then easily reprogram your scanner for that area with the click of a button! Once you get used to the scanner configuration method that UASD uses, you simply will not want to use any other method. It's amazingly convenient and efficient.
As I mentioned before, you can edit everything in the scanner's configuration via the UASD software. The following page in this review gives you a peek into all of the configuration screens and what you can configure in UASD.
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