Uniden Bearcat BC125AT Handheld Scanner, 500-Alpha-Tagged Channels, Close Call Technology, PC Programable, Aviation, Marine, Railroad, NASCAR, Racing, and Non-Digital Police/Fire/Public Safety.

I like this scanner (the BC125AT) better than the SR30 because it has Alpha tagging (that is, readable labels displayed for each channel, in addition to the frequency assigned to the channel). Otherwise, this scanner is very similar to the SR30. I like that it is compact and lightweight, and easy to read when set so that the display backlight comes on automatically when a channel activates (and turns off when the channel clears). Although it is quite cumbersome and time-consuming to program these units manually, the available (free) programming software makes it a breeze to create one or more channel files, and download whichever configuration is desired. Also, the configuration currently stored in the scanner can be uploaded to the software, where it can be edited and/or saved as desired for backup and/or to update the current configuration. It's even POSSIBLE to create a program file for the SR30 using a file for the BC125AT or vice-versa but because the two units have different file formats, it's necessary to "work" the files to make them cross-compatible (unless Bearcat has now created a file converter app, or you write your own converter). In any case, this file conversion was useful for me so that I could "easily" program my SR30 to have the same configuration as my BC125AT - or vice-versa - by creating a template file - or by uploading the configuration from one scanner - and then re-formatting its data to produce a file for the other model scanner. (Of course, any Alpha Tagging (labels) had to be added manually for the BC125AT's version). And, of course, the model-appropriate configuration files can be used to program more than one scanner of the same model to have the same configuration, if desired. As for features, the BC125AT is similar to the SR30, although it seems to scan more slowly than the SR30. I like most aspects of both models, but there are a few things about both that annoy me: - The units cannot scan while recharging the installed batteries. (However, the units CAN scan while connected to external power but the batteries won't be recharged while the unit is on - inconvenient!). - The channel lock-out "mechanism" is cumbersome to activate unless the channel is currently active. - Certain other keyboard operations seem more difficult than they need to be. - The multi-function knob makes it difficult to adjust the volume and particularly the squelch functions. - It is like pulling teeth to find out details of how some of the features are used and/or how they are intended to work, because apparently, they are not fully documented anywhere - and even the support folks don't know how some things work. - To my knowledge, there is no mobile installation kit to allow the scanner to be operated in a vehicle and then easily removed for temporary hand-held use. - There is no compatible (32-ohm) external speaker offered for use with these scanners. Despite the annoyances, these scanners otherwise function well.

I have been using scanner-type radios for more than 40 years -- I am a newspaper editor whose job requires them. I have also been a ham radio operator since 1958. While I own even a Uniden Homepatrol -- arguably the top of the line, I consider the BC125AT to be the most remarkable value of any radio of this type I have ever seen. The quality of this unit, its performance, the ability to configure it many ways, the scores of features, and the FREE programming software make this an excellent value. WHAT I ESPECIALLY LIKED: * Low price: You get an awful lot for $119 (or whatever the current price is). * Free programming software: It's no-frills, but it does everything I want, include setting tone codes and text tags, without all the fuss of using the keypad and "scroll control." Setting up the drivers confused me a bit, but Uniden's help service responded within two days with very detailed instructions -- that worked. Virtually every other scanner that's programmable requires one to purchase software to program it. This feature alone is a substantial value. * The volume: Many lower-end scanners do not push out much sound. This one is as loud as I would ever need, even in noisy circumstances, such as a fire scene or parade. * Ability to find channels: This unit has several ways of finding active frequencies in your community, including "Close Call" detection for finding nearby activity and scanning predetermined regions of the spectrum (Marine, Air, railroad, ham, etc.) to find more distance channels by checking thousands of channels that have been preprogrammed in. * CTCSS and DCS squelch: Most people may not care about this, but if you have a distant police department using the same frequency as the local police department, and you're using an external antenna, programming in the squelch code will prevent you from hearing the interference from the distant department. You hear only station you have provided a code for on that frequency (codes can be gotten from Radioreference.com or you can scan for them using the radio). * Adjustability: The unit is very configurable, right down to the contrast on the screen. You will need to study the manual, but you will be rewarded doing so. * Manual: It's extensive, it's clear, and it's pocket size. Best of it, it exists! So many things today come without manuals -- you have to download information or read it on a screen. This has a REAL manual, and it is really useful. And it's not written in broken English! * The build: It's sturdy, well-designed. It would be nice if it could be a bit smaller, like some newer transceivers, but it's certainly not chunky like Radio Shack and Uniden scanners of the recent past. * USB rechargeable: The unit uses standard AA nicads (included) that can be charged in the radio with a USB cable (included). Not included is a five-volt USB power supply "brick." However, everyone has those already; they come with cell phones and other gear. Just plug the charger cable into one of these transformer blocks -- or into your computer. Smart move by Uniden because you don't have to pay the added cost of transformer you already have. The unit can also use standard alkaline AAs -- making it very flexible. * Frequency range: It's got just about every frequency range you would want, including CB. WHAT I DON'T LIKE: * One rotary control: One knob, called a scroll control, is used to change channels and to program, adjust volume and adjust squelch. The priority use is channel changing (and other functions requiring scrolling). To me it should be volume first. In the many situations in which I use a scanner, I am always turning up or down the volume. I need quick access; with this unit, you have to push and hold down while turning to adjust volume. One learns to do that, but it's still cumbersome. I believe that volume adjustment is the most frequently used purpose of a rheostat-type control. Even better would be TWO rotary controls, one for volume/squelch and one for channel changing, etc. There is room on the top for a second control. * No digital: Well, for $119, I guess you can't expect digital coverage. (Fortunately for me, most of my local services are still analog.) But it still irks me that when you can walk into a supermarket and buy a throw-away cell phone for $10, you have to pay nearly $500 for a digital portable scanner. That $10 phone is a digital two-way radio transceiver. It's not only a scanner receiver, it's a multichannel transmitter, too! It's time for technology and price to catch up with radio scanners.

Some reviews on this radio bash it for being unable to listen in on local police department, etc. These users need to do more research. This is an excellent analog receiver, NOT A DIGITAL RECEIVER. Check your local law enforcement radio frequencies and equipment as digital transmissions cannot be picked up by this radio. For where I live this is not an issue. I can hear my local law enforcement clearly and was easy to find their frequencies online. Another invalid complain many users had was how difficult it is to program and use the radio. Seriously, read the manual. There are three different scanning modes, not including Close Call or any of the Priority Scanning functions. I read the manual once and understood their operation and function. I mostly Hold on a single channel but occasionally scan a few banks I programmed from my computer with the included USB cable. Again, follow the directions that came with the radio and you can easily program the radio from a PC. Others have said that the program is similar to Excel, and they are not wrong. It's very simple, it shows you the banks you can program you just fill in the form. My only complaint is the battery life. One one hand, the receiver is relatively compact as it only takes 2 x AA batteries. As a result though, I am averaging about 4 and half hours of listening time before the low battery warning. I wish they would make the receiver a little bigger to accommodate a larger amount of batteries. In summary, I like this scanner a lot. It's relatively small, light, picks up my local frequencies quite clearly, and has decent listening times. Research which frequencies you will want to be listening to to avoid disappointment. I would recommend this to someone as a first time purchase of a police scanner.

My husband goes to local car races and wanted to be able to listen, well this fits the bill! You do need to READ the manual to understand how to program and use it, be patient because it's worth it. It may look confusing at first but once you understand the different buttons and their purpose he was able to program. If you are looking to turn it and and have it working in minutes then this is not for you. As far as range I can't speak to that as he uses it at the race track, but the connection was flawless and crystal clear. He was able to pre-program the frequency and save it for the different tracks he goes to. It does come with 2 AA 2300mAh NI-MH rechargeable batteries. It does have the charging cable too. It is clearly displayed when it charging and when it's done charging. He was also set up the weather alert so we have another way to be notified of storms. He then got HAM radio on the band. He feel this is a quality unit. Attached a Pic of the different bands you can search. Looking forward to exploring more with this scanner

My Uniden BC125AT now reads "SCAN MODE ALL LOCKED!" when I turn it on after just one day of pretty decent reception of my local railroads. When pressing the Hold button twice, it then reads "ALL CHANNELS LOCKED OUT!". The owners manual makes no reference to this particular set of problems. I have erased all programmed channels hoping that this would clear it up but it did not fix it. I have a number of frequencies ready to load into it from my PC, but when I attempt to use the "write to scanner" function I get an error, which I presume is related to this problem. The error reads as follows: "See the end of this message for details on invoking just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box. ************** Exception Text ************** System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException: Configuration system failed to initialize ---> System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException: Unrecognized configuration section system.serviceModel. (c:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Config\machine.config line 134) at System.Configuration.ConfigurationSchemaErrors.ThrowIfErrors(Boolean ignoreLocal) at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.ThrowIfParseErrors(ConfigurationSchemaErrors schemaErrors) at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.ThrowIfInitErrors() at System.Configuration.ClientConfigurationSystem.EnsureInit(String configKey) --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.PrepareConfigSystem() at System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.RefreshSection(String sectionName) at System.Configuration.ClientSettingsStore.ReadSettings(String sectionName, Boolean isUserScoped) at System.Configuration.LocalFileSettingsProvider.GetPropertyValues(SettingsContext context, SettingsPropertyCollection properties) at System.Configuration.SettingsBase.GetPropertiesFromProvider(SettingsProvider provider) at System.Configuration.SettingsBase.GetPropertyValueByName(String propertyName) at System.Configuration.SettingsBase.get_Item(String propertyName) at System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsBase.GetPropertyValue(String propertyName) at System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsBase.get_Item(String propertyName) at BC125AT_SS.Properties.Settings.get_ComPort() at BC125AT_SS.Main.writeToScannerToolStripMenuItem_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.RaiseEvent(Object key, EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripButton.OnClick(EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleClick(EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleMouseUp(MouseEventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEventInteractive(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEvent(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam) ************** Loaded Assemblies ************** mscorlib Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3649 (GDR.050727-3600) CodeBase: file:///c:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll ---------------------------------------- BC125AT_SS Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 1.1.0.0 CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/Uniden/BC125AT_SS/BC125AT_SS.exe ---------------------------------------- System.Windows.Forms Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3645 (GDR.050727-3600) CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll ---------------------------------------- System Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3644 (GDR.050727-3600) CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll ---------------------------------------- System.Drawing Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3644 (GDR.050727-3600) CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll ---------------------------------------- System.Configuration Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3654 (GDR.050727-3600) CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Configuration/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Configuration.dll ---------------------------------------- System.Xml Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3654 (GDR.050727-3600) CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll ---------------------------------------- ************** JIT Debugging ************** To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this application or computer (machine.config) must have the jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section. The application must also be compiled with debugging enabled. For example: <configuration> <system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" > </configuration> When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer rather than be handled by this dialog box." My expensive radio scanner is currently useless to me. There is no customer support available.

Works but the programming is a pain, controls are not very intuitive, and the battery life sucks. Charging is also a pain as it faults out a lot. Gets good reception for drone work, but might recommend getting something nicer.

Bought primarily for railfanning and is a sturdy little bugger. There is a learning curve to the controls but once you get the hang of it it’s pretty straightforward. Reception seems good. Rechargeable batteries are good, there’s a USB-A charger that came with it (and you can use it while it’s charging) or you can pop em out and use your own AA batteries. If using it as a scanner, the batteries don’t last as long but if you’re only tuning in to 1 thing at a time I’ve gone several days without needing to charge it.

Have been messing with scanners for 50 years. Watch some of the YT videos on it from seasoned scanner users on the BC125AT. The best scanner for aviation and railfans. In the county i live in, police have switched over to digital P25 which no analog scanner will receive (although I have BCD996P2 and a HomePatrol-II digital scanners for that), but this receives fire/rescue perfectly. Alphanumeric. WORKS WITH PROSCAN!!! The BC125AT is a bargain. Buy it. I'm thinking of buying a 2nd one for backup if mine ever fails. RadioReference for programming makes it easy. I wish Uniden made a SMALL mobile (for vehicle) scanner with the guts from the BC125AT in it.

Excelente scanner, a pesar de ya tener sus años, sigue captando señales analógicas, muy fácil de usar y programar. La funcionalidad Close Call es super buena. Si quieres mejorar su recepción significativamente cuando lo llevas en mano y quieres pasar desapercibido una antena Diamond RHF10 es un excelente upgrade para bandas de 2m y 70cm.

vendedor ótimo, produto excelente...

Great quality and works perfect. Easily programable with free computer software online. Works well with provided antenna, however, if you’re looking for longer range. Recommend an external antenna connection.

日本語説明書が無いですが日本製の似たような品物を使った事が有れば弄ってれば割りと使い方は判ります(YouTube等の動画もありますし) 米国から出荷だったので時間は掛かりますが配達期限までには届くので問題無しでした 梱包は海外からにしては簡素かな

Me gusta la funcionalidad del scanner, cumple su función y es genial programarlo en la computadora al meterle las frecuencias, es muy rápido en el scan, combinado con una antena más grande es excelente para escuchar frecuencias en VHF y UHF