Uniden Close Call

Close Call™ RF Capture Technology

A Uniden Specific feature that instantly tunes to signals from nearby transmitters. Close Call can operate by itself or in the background (like Priority Scan) while scanning and/or searching. Similar to the Signal stalker feature on some RS models, and much like a frequency counter.

The feature is designed to catch signals that are "Close" (hence, the name). While you might not get a hit often, it should be the case that any hit you do get is from a relatively nearby transmitter, so could be of enhanced interest to you.

For the Close Call feature to detect a signal, that signal must be about 15-18dB stronger than the RF noise floor in the band being checked. This means that there is no real way to predict the range within which signals will be caught. The factors that influence range, however are:

RF Noise Floor in the band (lower noise floor increases range)
RF Power Output of the Transmitter (higher power increases range)
Antenna being used to receive (too complicated to predict, but it does have an effect)(by acting as a tuned system, it can preselect within the required band. Other out of band signals will be attenuated) )

Note that "RF Noise Floor" in this context includes signals from any other transmitters operating in that band. So, at busy airports, getting a hit might be difficult (lots of VHF signal sources all the time, as well as a few continuous VHF broadcast sources). In general, a 1W portable will be captured up to around 100' (30m). 4W portable around 250' (75m), 25W mobile up to a half mile (805m) or more, and 100W base stations up to several miles/km. Other signals will affect Close Call range due to the nature of nearfield reception.

Uniden Scanners that support Close Call include:

Close Call Do Not Disturb

When set in this mode, the scanner will periodically make Close Call checks whenever the scanner is not receiving audio in another mode. This eliminates the annoying breaks in conversation while still allowing for the Close Call functionality.

Uniden Scanners that support Close Call Do Not Disturb include:

¹ version 3.0 firmware

Close Call Priority

Checks for a Close Call signal every 2 seconds.

Close Call Auto Store

Automatically stores frequencies found by Close Call to the Close Call system, Found Channels group. This mode is particularly useful when listening to the scanner is not possible (ex. shopping in a department store, walking through a casino, etc.), but one would like to later review what frequencies and CTCSS/DCS tones were found active.

Close Call Temporary Store

When this option is turned on, when the scanner gets a Close Call “hit", it temporarily saves the hit and includes that frequency when scanning. The scanner keeps the last 10 hits (older hits are erased by newer ones). Hits are lost when power is cycled. You can store a hit into memory by pressing “E" when on that frequency.