Device Config
The Device Config page holds the scanner's everyday settings, in four cards: audio and power, display and system, scanning logic, and a read-only device-information panel.
Changes to scanner settings apply immediately. There's no Save button. When you move a slider or flip a switch, the app enters the scanner's programming mode to write the change, and live scanning pauses while that write happens. A failed write shows a red error message.
Not every scanner has every setting. Bearpaw only shows controls your scanner can actually accept. On a BC75XLT, Battery Saver, Backlight, Contrast, Key Beep and Weather Alert Priority don't appear — that hardware has no command for them. (It does have a backlight and a key beep; they're controlled on the radio itself, not by software.) If a control below isn't on your Device tab, your scanner doesn't support it.
Audio & Power
- Volume: 0 to 15. The scanner's speaker level.
- Squelch: 0 to 15. The gate that mutes background hiss until a signal is strong enough to break through. Too high and you'll miss weak signals; too low and you'll hear constant static. (See squelch.)
- Battery Saver: 1 to 16 hours. The rechargeable-battery charge time the scanner is set for.
Display & System
- Backlight: when the scanner's screen light comes on. Always On, Always Off, Keypress (on a button press), Squelch (when a signal opens), or Key + Squelch (either).
- Contrast: 1 to 15. The scanner's LCD contrast.
- Key Beep: on or off. Whether the scanner beeps when you press its buttons.
Scanning Logic
- Priority Mode: Off, On, Plus, or DND. Priority scan periodically checks your priority channel even while you're scanning or holding elsewhere, so you don't miss traffic on a channel that matters. DND ("Do Not Disturb") only checks between transmissions, so it won't cut into a call you're already listening to.
- Weather Alert Priority: on or off. Watches for the NOAA weather-service alert tone and interrupts to warn you of severe weather.
Priority modes need a priority channel to watch. If no channel is flagged as priority, the scanner won't engage any of these modes and Bearpaw shows a warning under the dropdown — flag a channel on the Channels page first.
Device Information
Read-only, not settings: your scanner's Model, the Port it's on, the connection Status, and the Firmware version. A connection problem shows a diagnostic message here, and a USB issue adds a short troubleshooting checklist.