Bearcat BC200XLT

I saw a classified ad for one of these for $40. Any good?

(first scanner, just want to use for RRfanning)

Although this scanner is an "antique" by today's standards, it is a darn good scanner for Railroad Monitoring. I have had one since about 1990. The biggest problem are the ni-cad battery packs which will probably not be any good, especially if the scanner has not been used in some time. I have two battery cases for mine, and have periodically had to replace the rechargeable packs (which requires soldering) about every 3 or 4 years. Most recently, I found some Nickel-Metal-Hydride rechargeables that fit the cases. These seem to perform much better than the ni-cads and don't seem to need replacing as frequently....at least in my experience. If RR scanning, and conventional police/fire scanning are all you need, this radio should perform quite well.

I use one too. Bought it off of Ebay, and the batteries were junk like kr4bd said. If you're not the technical type, like me, our local battery shop rebuilt the pack for I think it was around $20. Lasts all day. The shop's name is Battery House, used to be Battery Warehouse until it when private to give you a name to look for. The thing with ni-cads is that you have to let them drain completely periodically or they will aquire a memory and only charge so far in the future. The above shop will recondintion your battery for I think $5. They do our work radios for free because were non-profit, but it's on their time. I let mine drain everytime unless I "need it now." My 200XLT has been drop tested from climbing down from a cab ride, and she still works.

Another thing: When I was researching my battery problem, I found somewhere that if the scanner has 1/2 dome shaped battery contacts, it has a glitch in it that makes it think that the battery is dead and will shut off. The pointed contact models are fine. It may have came straight from Uniden's Customer Service too. Don't remember for sure. The pointed contact models are the newer post glitch editions.

So I ended up buying a BC100XLT for $25. It's being shipped to me, should get it this week. Another question: Where can I go to find some good DIY mods for the scanner?

Why would you want to modify it?

I don't know if I really want to, just depends on what the mods are.

Maybe some DIY antennas? Or something to increase it to 200 channels?

There is a mod to upgrade the BC-100 to 200 channels and some other enhancements but it is not "DIY". You will need a memory chip and some other parts that may or may not still be available from Uniden, a service manual and, most important, the skills and shop equipment to do surface mount pc board solder rework.

G&G Electronics in LeRoy, NY used to offer this modification. If they still do, I suspect it will cost a lot more than you paid for the scanner.

The original antenna works reasonably well for RR frequencies. Avoid the temptation to install any rigid or longer antenna or it is almost guaranteed you will eventually break the antenna connector or the internal solder connection between the antenna connector and the circuit board.

I forgot about this thread, but thanks to this spammer, I thought I'd advise that my BC200XLT is up for sale. Check the For Sale thread for more info. Haven't posted yet, that's next. Gimme a few.

lol, I just got this same model this week! got it for 40 bucks with shipping. The battery died after 30 minutes, and a 13 hour charge time. went out and got a wall adapter, now it works fine. Just trying to figure out how to program channels now, anyone got a reliable source for freqs?

I'm sure there's sites out there. Your best bet is to find someone local who railscans and mooch off his freq list

Did you get the BC200 or the 100? both pretty much the same, my battery is crap too. Anyone wanna buy mine? LOL

vaRails wrote:lol, I just got this same model this week! got it for 40 bucks with shipping. The battery died after 30 minutes, and a 13 hour charge time. went out and got a wall adapter, now it works fine. Just trying to figure out how to program channels now, anyone got a reliable source for freqs?

Adreil wrote:I'm sure there's sites out there. Your best bet is to find someone local who railscans and mooch off his freq list

Did you get the BC200 or the 100? both pretty much the same, my battery is crap too. Anyone wanna buy mine? LOL

See posts #3&4 of this thread. It may not be the battery. Another problem is leaving batteries charge constantly. It burns them up.

Frequencies, here's a good start: http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?aid=2484 and http://www.railfanswelcome.com/

BTW, mine is still up for sale too Charge lasts 10-12 hours, plus has a belt clip, AC and DC charger, and it is pre-programmed with AAR 2-97 in respective channels.

I got the 200xlt, for 35 bucks shipped. Found some frequencies, and ran with em. I did buy a longer antenna for it, and wall adapter, and I love it. I can only pick up 2 channels for csx in my area, even though Acca yard is only 50+ miles from my house.

How can I pick up transmissions that are farther away?

vaRails wrote:I got the 200xlt, for 35 bucks shipped. Found some frequencies, and ran with em. I did buy a longer antenna for it, and wall adapter, and I love it. I can only pick up 2 channels for csx in my area, even though Acca yard is only 50+ miles from my house.

How can I pick up transmissions that are farther away?

The correct answer is that you cannot.

Another answer is to elevate your rcvg antenna, try about 3000 feet for starters.

VHF/UHF transmissions, which are the frequencies the RR uses, are more or less line of sight unless enhanced by humidity or atmospherics. A "Radio Horizon" nomograph can be found in "Referance Data For Radio Engineers", a believe it is an ITT/RCA publication, available at your local library...

Ed

EdM wrote: The correct answer is that you cannot.

Another answer is to elevate your rcvg antenna, try about 3000 feet for starters.

VHF/UHF transmissions, which are the frequencies the RR uses, are more or less line of sight unless enhanced by humidity or atmospherics. A "Radio Horizon" nomograph can be found in "Referance Data For Radio Engineers", a believe it is an ITT/RCA publication, available at your local library...
Ed

The unscientific method is to look from the top of your antenna and see how far you can see. (picture a world without trees or houses) Multiply that 1.33 and that's how far you'll be able to pick up signals.