I got a Bearcat BCT15 by Uniden a while back.  The main reason I got it was to be able to hear the weather and road conditions in the winter. It's also fun to listen to the hams.  I've heard Alaska talking to Australia on the way home from work.

 I like the radio a lot but I don't like the orange face nor can I really see it while driving to know what channel it is on.  Since this radio will hook up to a computer that means there is an API making it possible for me to make my own interface.  They do sell a remote face for these, but it's still the awful orange color and it is exactly like the one on the radio.  I want more of a simplistic favorites type of remote interface.  I can do the complicated stuff on the radio face while parked. 

So, started the pic based remote interface.

 A note for anyone getting one of these. There are 2 serial ports on this radio.  On the front there is a small proprietary plug for serial.  It has a computer icon on it.  On the back is a db9 (normal serial connection).  It's marked GPS/Remote. It will work to the computer also.  Both ports have different baud rate settings. I bought the computer cable not knowing this and had I known, I might not have bought the cable.  I do like that I have the two cables now so I can have one on the computer and on for the remote face. If you are a new buyer you don't have to get the cable to connect this radio to your computer.

I found the control codes pdf on Uniden's site for the BCT15.  You do have to register to get to them but they are free.  That made it much easier than having to sniff the serial port for the commands.  I did get the software to use the computer with it giving me that possibility.  Using a terminal I tested out a few of the commands, and turns out it is quite easy to get the screen information. 

The one problem is that to navigate the radios menu system you really have to navigate it.  I haven't found any way to go to an option directly.  You have to send the command for  press menu button, then scroll # of times (or check what's highlighted), then send press select, etc... till you get where you want.  This made me use the quick keys and program then for my own use.  I programmed the groups in the radio to what I wanted instead of using the pre-programmed groups like HAM, CB, and the like.  I didn't want the remote to have to do that much string parsing to turn on the groups.  Though due to this my code is pretty proprietary to how the scanner is programmed.  I didn't want it this way but I wanted icons for the groups so quick key 1 is Local Radios, 2 is Ham channels, 3 is CB and so on.  The remote shows the icon for ham when group 2 is on.  If group 2 had some other range of frequencies the remote would still act like this was the HAM channels.  I wanted the remote to get this from the radio, but oh well.

Here is how the groups layout.

Group 1 is the local Police, Fire, public works, etc.  Basically any local entity with a radio.

Group 2 is as many of the HAM frequencies as I could fit.  I couldn't get them all .

Group 3 is the CB Ban.

Group 4 is a couple of UHF/VHF frequencies for the drive throughs I have found.  It's just kind of fun.

Group 99 is the weather stations.  Since these are continuous broadcasts I decided to put them way at the end.

I used a knob off a ford car stereo for my volume and squelch.  It is a multifunction knob. The center spins without hitting end stops which is great because I want both faces to stay in sync. There is anouter selection ring with 4 places it stops at.  I used the first two for volume and squelch selection.  The 3rd I haven't decided to do anything with yet and the 4th puts it in to WX mode (Weather Station).  This turns off the other stations and on the weather group.  When in WX mode the knob rotates through the programmed stations.  Leaving this position turns back on the the groups you had and turns off the weather group.  It also has a push on/off feature that I will want to implement for on/off for the remote in the future.

I made a little card board box with no bottom to mount the knob in during development.  This way it was easy to deal with and I didn't have to worry about anything shorting by accident.  There are 9 leads coming off this knob. The numbers on the box are the a/d values the pic gets when the selection ring is in that position.  It wasn't too hard to reverse engineer this to be able to use it. 

 Here is the screen on my development board that I have created so far for the remote.  I hope to get a green LCD for the final one.

I plan on having 6 buttons and maybe a contrast wheel.  Not sure of the final form factor yet.  I still have a speed issue with the rs232.  It all works but I would like it to refresh and react faster.  There are some other features to include too.  Then I have to draw the wiring diagram.  I thought I might try etching my own board this time too. 

I'll post more details as I get them done.