A macOS-compatible tool for programming the Uniden BC125AT scanner without Windows. No virtual machines. No Parallels. Just plug in your scanner and go.
Built and tested for Apple Silicon Macs. Other macOS hardware may work, but is not currently an officially tested target.
Most well-known BC125AT programming tools (including Uniden's official software, FreeSCAN, and BuTel ARC) are Windows-only. This project focuses on making BC125AT programming work directly on macOS.
This tool communicates directly with the scanner over USB, bypassing the macOS serial driver that doesn't work properly on Apple Silicon. It uses libusb for direct USB access, so no kernel extensions or special drivers are needed.
- Full Channel Programming — Read, write, and manage all 500 channels across 10 banks
- Bank Management — View bank enable/disable state, clear banks, and manage banks from the web UI or CLI
- Built-in Frequency Presets — One-click loading for:
- IMSA Racing (race control, safety, timing, pit lane)
- NASCAR (race ops, officials, example team frequencies)
- IndyCar (race ops, example teams)
- Marine VHF (distress, USCG, working channels)
- NOAA Weather Radio (all 7 frequencies)
- Civil Aviation (emergency, UNICOM, tower, approach)
- FRS/GMRS (all 22 channels)
- MURS (all 5 channels)
- Railroad (AAR road, yard, police, defect detectors)
- Safe Global Settings Editing — Volume, squelch, contrast, backlight, priority mode, weather alert, key beep, key lock, band plan, and battery charge timer
- Search & Close Call — Custom search ranges, service search groups, Close Call configuration, global frequency lockout
- CTCSS/DCS Tones — Full support for all 50 CTCSS tones and 104 DCS codes
- Import/Export — CSV, JSON, BC125AT season files, and full backup restore/export
- Web GUI — Clean, modern browser-based interface
- CLI — Full command-line interface for power users and scripting
- Programming Session Workflow — Explicitly start/release scanner control so the app does not interfere with normal scanning by default
This tool does not perform firmware updates, bootloader access, or low-level flash writing. It is limited to normal channel, bank, search, and settings programming commands.
Safe editable settings currently exposed are:
- Volume
- Squelch
- Contrast
- Backlight
- Priority mode
- Weather alert
- Key beep
- Key lock
- Band plan
- Battery charge timer
In normal use, the most likely failure mode is a bad channel or an unwanted setting change, which you can usually correct from the app, CLI, or the scanner's own controls.
This project is provided as-is, without warranties of any kind. You are responsible for reviewing changes before writing them to your scanner and for using the software in a lawful and safe manner. Pine Heights Ventures LLC, and Costa Mesa Tech Solutions as a brand of Pine Heights Ventures LLC, are not liable for data loss, missed communications, configuration mistakes, hardware issues, regulatory misuse, or any indirect or consequential damages arising from use of this project.
-
Homebrew (if you don't have it):
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)" -
libusb:
brew install libusb
-
Python:
brew install python
git clone https://github.com/costamesatechsolutions/bc125at-tool.git
cd bc125at-tool
./setup.shIf you prefer the manual path, this does the same thing:
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install -e ".[gui]"cd bc125at-tool
git pull origin main
./setup.shThen launch it again with:
./run.shStart a programming session only when you want the app to take control of the scanner for editing, import/export, or settings changes. When the session is released, the scanner is left free to scan normally.
Launch the browser-based interface from the repo root:
cd bc125at-tool
./run.shIf you prefer the manual launch path:
source .venv/bin/activate
export HOMEBREW_PREFIX="$(brew --prefix)"
DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH="$HOMEBREW_PREFIX/lib" python -m bc125at.web.appThe app opens automatically at http://localhost:5125. From there you can:
- View and edit all channels visually
- Load presets with one click
- Adjust all safe global settings with sliders and dropdowns
- Manage bank enable/disable state
- Clear a bank before repurposing it
- Edit Search and Close Call settings, custom search ranges, and lockout frequencies
- Take a manual status snapshot from the dashboard without background polling
- Export/import channel programming
- Create and restore full backups including channels, settings, search configuration, and bank enable state
- Import or export BC125AT season files (
.bc125at_ss) for compatibility with Windows users
Audio note:
- The BC125AT control connection here is USB data, not USB audio
- If you want scanner audio on your Mac, feed the scanner's headphone/line output into your Mac audio input or a USB audio interface
- Use the app as a programmer/editor; it does not try to be a full live remote-control front panel
Control note:
- Current computer control covers safe programming, banks, settings, search/Close Call, backups, and manual status snapshots
- Direct front-panel style remote navigation such as scan/hold/channel-jump/key emulation is not currently implemented in this project
- While a programming session is active, the scanner may briefly show
REMOTE LOCKor pause normal scanning; that is expected behavior for BC125AT computer control
# Activate the local virtual environment
source .venv/bin/activate
# Set the library path (add to your .zshrc for convenience)
export HOMEBREW_PREFIX="$(brew --prefix)"
export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH="$HOMEBREW_PREFIX/lib"
# Scanner info and status
python3 -m bc125at info
# Read a specific channel
python3 -m bc125at channels 51
# Read all channels in a bank
python3 -m bc125at channels --bank 2
# Program a channel
python3 -m bc125at set 1 155.0000 --name "My Channel" --modulation NFM
# List available presets
python3 -m bc125at presets list
# Load IMSA racing frequencies into bank 2
python3 -m bc125at presets load imsa --bank 2
# Load all racing presets into bank 1
python3 -m bc125at presets load racing-all --bank 1
# View/change settings
python3 -m bc125at settings
python3 -m bc125at settings volume 10
python3 -m bc125at settings backlight KY
python3 -m bc125at settings keybeep 99
python3 -m bc125at settings keylock 1
python3 -m bc125at settings bandplan 1
python3 -m bc125at settings battery 13
# Show/modify bank enable state
python3 -m bc125at banks
python3 -m bc125at banks --disable 3 4
python3 -m bc125at banks --enable 3 4
# Export channels to CSV
python3 -m bc125at export --format csv
# Full backup (channels + settings + search config)
python3 -m bc125at export --full-backup
# Export Windows-compatible BC125AT season file
python3 -m bc125at export season.bc125at_ss --full-backup
# Import from file
python3 -m bc125at import channels.csv
python3 -m bc125at import season.bc125at_ss
python3 -m bc125at import bc125at_backup.json
# Live monitor
python3 -m bc125at monitor
# View all search/Close Call settings
python3 -m bc125at search show
# View tone code reference
python3 -m bc125at tonesThere are three useful formats in this project:
- Full Backup JSON — This app's richest backup format. Includes channels, settings, search configuration, and bank enable state.
- BC125AT Season File (
.bc125at_ss) — Compatibility format used by the Windows BC125AT software. - CSV / pasted text — The most portable interchange format for shared channel lists and race sheets.
Recommended workflow:
- Start from the included templates: examples/import_template.csv or examples/import_template.json.
- If you already have channels programmed, you can instead use
Export Channels (CSV)orExport Channels (JSON)in the web app, or runpython -m bc125at export --format csvorpython -m bc125at export --format json, to create a template from your own scanner data. - Edit that file and import it back into the app or CLI.
There is no universal BC125AT JSON standard shared across Windows apps. CSV is the closest thing to a common interchange format, so treat CSV and pasted text as the most portable options. Full Backup JSON is this app's own round-trip backup format. .bc125at_ss exists for compatibility with the official Windows workflow.
Channel CSV/JSON exports include programmed channels by default, not every empty slot from 1-500. That is normal and keeps shared files easier to edit. Sparse imports are supported, so you do not need to fill in every empty channel manually.
The importer also recognizes race-style CSV layouts where one row contains a car, driver, and multiple frequency columns such as Primary, Secondary, and Other. Those rows are automatically expanded into individual scanner channels during import.
The included templates match the app's current channel export format. The importer is also more forgiving than the exporter and accepts simpler files too.
This project accepts both its native field names and some common aliases often produced by AI or radio users, including:
channelorchannel_indexnameoralpha_tagfrequencyorfreqmodulation,mode, ormodtoneorctcss_dcs
Accepted JSON shapes:
{
"format": "bc125at-tool",
"version": 1,
"exported": "2026-04-01T00:00:00",
"channel_count": 1,
"channels": [
{
"channel": 101,
"name": "Anaheim ARA",
"frequency": 146.79,
"modulation": "NFM",
"tone": "Search",
"tone_code": 127,
"delay": 2,
"lockout": false,
"priority": false,
"bank": 3
}
]
}{
"metadata": {
"bank_target": 3
},
"channels": [
{
"channel_index": 101,
"alpha_tag": "Anaheim ARA",
"frequency": 146.79,
"modulation": "NFM",
"ctcss_dcs": "Search"
}
]
}If a JSON file does not include channel numbers, you can still import it by adding "bank_target" inside the top-level "metadata" section and listing the channels in the order you want them written. In the web app, both file imports and pasted text let you preview the destination bank before anything is written.
When you choose Use saved channel numbers from file/text, the importer keeps the channel positions already stored in the file and only overwrites the channels included in that import. Clear destination bank first only applies when you pick one specific destination bank for a sequential load. Full backup JSON files and BC125AT season files always restore their own saved bank layout, settings, and search data.
Motorsport team frequencies change per event. The presets include race operations channels (race control, safety, timing) which are generally stable, plus example team frequencies.
For current race-weekend team frequencies, check:
- Racing Electronics (official NASCAR scanner partner)
- RadioReference.com (user-submitted databases by track)
The BC125AT is an analog-only scanner. F1 team radio is fully encrypted digital and cannot be monitored.
- Scanner: Uniden BC125AT (USB Vendor ID
1965, Product ID0017) - Also works with: UBC125XLT, UBC126AT (international variants, untested)
- Mac: Apple Silicon Mac running macOS 11+ with USB
- Connection: USB cable to scanner, directly or via USB-C hub
The BC125AT presents as a USB CDC ACM (Communications Device Class, Abstract Control Model) device. On macOS, especially Apple Silicon, the built-in AppleUSBCDCACM kernel driver does not bind reliably, so no usable /dev/tty.* serial port is created.
This tool bypasses the kernel driver entirely by using libusb for direct USB bulk transfers to the scanner's endpoints. All communication uses the Uniden BC125AT serial protocol with ASCII commands terminated by carriage return (\r).
- The web app does not continuously refresh scanner data in the background. This is intentional, because repeated reads can interfere with normal scanning on the BC125AT.
- The web app and CLI both target the same safe, reversible scanner programming surface. Firmware and other unsafe operations are intentionally out of scope.
- If the scanner is not detected, make sure it is powered on, then reconnect the USB cable and try again.
- If detection is still flaky, unplug the scanner, power-cycle it, and reconnect before launching the app again.
- If you see an access denied or insufficient permissions error, close any other scanner software and reconnect the scanner.
- If the connection times out after a failed attempt, release the scanner in the app, reconnect the USB cable, and try again.
Contributions are welcome! Some areas that would be great to improve:
- Additional frequency presets for specific regions/services
- Testing on UBC125XLT/UBC126AT international variants
- UI improvements and new features
- Bug reports from different Mac/macOS configurations
This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0). See LICENSE for details.
A polished native macOS GUI application is planned separately from Pine Heights Ventures LLC.
Built by Costa Mesa Tech Solutions, a brand of Pine Heights Ventures LLC.
Protocol reference: Uniden BC125AT PC Protocol V1.01