WM15

A Windows Mobile control widget for the Uniden Bearcat BCT15 radio scanner 


PROLOGUE
Here is a small application I wrote to control my BCT15 using a smartphone running Windows Mobile.
The handheld natively supports BlueTooth communications, while I added BT  capability to the radio using an external dongle. More info about it at the bottom of the page.
Please be aware that functions or keys layout may change anytime while I keep working on the software. For this reason the following documentation may not reflect perfectly what you find in the current release.
Software is written in Basic4PPC: I bought it when I discovered a bug in TCL preventing its use with the Bluetooth dongle and I'm very satisfied with power and ease of use in comparison to the price.

Approach
Development is focused on my needs and my hardware. This means, for example:

Installation
Download the .zip file.
Unzip WM15.EXE and WM.INI
Copy them to your directory of choice on the smartphone.
Please note that .Net Compact Framework 2.0 must be installed on the phone. See here for reasons and link to donwloads.

Configuration
Set serial port speed radio side (Setting > Set Serial Port > Set Baud Rate) at the same rate you'll choose on the entire chain. I normally run 19200bps.
Speed between the Bluetooth dongle and radio shall be set using the utility software provided by manifacturer.
On the smartphone you must:
Then launch WM15, go to the Options > Comms menu and set the same speed here as well, choosing the same serial port created when the BT dongle was paired to the phone.
Settings are saved in the .INI file, so you just have to make them once.

Operation

Once connection is setup you can tell the handset to connect by clicking on the "disconnected" status string. If you normally keep Bluetooth disabled (good idea for battery life), remember to enable it before trying to connect to the radio.
The odd error message may pop-up when you first connect: it has to do with syncing the first exchange of message, just ignore it and tell the software to proceed anyway.

If everything worked fine you should be gratified with a real time reproduction of your scanner's display on the mobile phone.

I had to find a compromise between functions available on the first screen, display availability and touchscreen size, so controls aren't a perfect reproduction as you'd get on the BC-RH96.
My phone has a 4 ways controller + central button, which has been assigned as follows:
up volume increase
down volume decrease
left equivalent to turning vfo knob counterclockwise
right equivalent to turining vfo knob clockwise
central equivalent to vfo knob push ("select"/"F")
Main soft keyboard operates in two ways: normal and number. You can switch to/from number mode by pressing the nbr soft button. When in number mode a "#" is shown in the top right corner of the display.

Main Keyboard


Normal Operation Number Operation
sq- decrease squelch level LO L/O button
sq+ increase squelch level HR HOLD/RESUME
MEN MENU button NO NO/. button
FN same as pushing vfo knob nbr toggles keyboard to number mode
SS SCAN/SEARCH 0 no function so far
YES YES/E button kb2 recalls secondary keyboard
Each button will produce a number 0-9, kb2 will produce a decimal dot.

nbr switches back to normal keyboard operation.
Touching display area has no effect.
Secondary Keyboard
State equivalent to pushing the SQuelch knob Mute equivalent to pushing the VOLume knob © Starts Close Call search
POL Same as POL hardware button HP Same as HP hardware button GPS Same as GPS hardware button (I think you may only use it if the BT dongle is connected to the front serial port)
CustSrch starts a custom band search LOG logs current frequency and time in a plain text file saved in the same folder where the software is installed. File name is <date-wm15>.log SRCH1/SRCH2/SRCH3 same as hardware buttons
ATT/REV same as hardware buttons FUNC same as pushing the vfo knob Back switches back to main screen and keypad

Here is a small video showing operation of a pre-release version.


Known issues

Tested devices
Please send me a note if you get the thing working with other Smartphones, Uniden scanners sharing the same command set and BT dongles. I can write it down here for the benefit of others.
Develpoment platform: MWG ZincII, Windows Mobile 6.1, BT-0240 bluetooth dongle.

Bluetooth dongle
I found mine on eBay from Hong Kong for about €35: model BT-0240 DCE.
Seems well made, including CTS/RTS lines that you will have to "fool" using the wiring below to make it actually talk to the BCT15.

License
Software is distributed complete with source code and is free for non commercial use.
GNU/GPL would be a better choice, but I shall check conditions on the libraries I used before I can  use that kind of license.

Compiling
The following libraries are required (thanks to the developers):
SerialEx.dll v.1.1
FormLib.dll v.2.5
Hardware.dll v.3.51

Feedback
Feedbacks and complimentary beers appreciated.

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Pubblicato: 2 Dec09 Home