Bearpaw

Getting Started

Plug in the scanner, launch Bearpaw, and you're watching live traffic on screen. This walks the path from cable to first hit. It assumes you know your way around a BC125AT; if a Bearpaw-specific term is new, the Glossary has it.

What you'll need

Step 1: Plug in and launch

Connect the scanner to your computer with the USB cable, turn the scanner on, and open Bearpaw.

The colored dot in the bottom-left corner shows where the connection stands:

Step 2: The first sync

Each time Bearpaw launches, it reads all 500 channels out of the scanner, and it takes a few seconds.

A "Syncing Scanner Memory" panel covers the screen with a progress bar while it runs.

Bearpaw doesn't keep a copy of your channels on the computer between sessions. It re-reads them fresh every time it starts, so what you see is what's actually in the radio.

Step 3: Watch it scan

The big amber panel is designed to resemble the display panel on your scanner, scaled up to fill the window.

Step 4: Your first hit

When the scanner lands on an active frequency, that's a hit.

  1. "Scanning…" is replaced by the signal. The big line shows the channel's name (its alpha tag) if it has one, or the frequency if it doesn't.
  2. The detail line fills in underneath: the frequency, the modulation (FM, AM, or NFM), the channel number, and, if the transmission carries one, the CTCSS tone.
  3. The signal-strength bars on the right fill to match the RSSI.
  4. When the transmission ends, the scanner resumes and the display goes back to "Scanning…".
Bearpaw's Scan tab during a hit: the big amber display reads 'WOF Security' with frequency 463.425 NFM CH 84, the Recent Hits list on the right, and the Busiest Channels and Activity Heatmap dashboards below.
The Scan tab during a hit — big display, Recent Hits, and the activity dashboards.

Step 5: Look at what you've caught

Bearpaw records every hit and turns the record into a read on your local activity:

Where to go next