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.

It is very easy to use but the included antenna is not very good. I recomend the Diamond RH77CA insted.

I mainly purchased this to monitor aircraft frequencies which it does well. I hear many airborne aircraft, but not much from the ground unless I am near an airport. Except for fire paging and ambulance to hospital comms, it does not receive police and fire services in my area for two reasons; 1. Most of those are above 512 Mhz, and 2. Those that are below 512 Mhz are mostly digital which sound like a loud buzz on this radio and any other radio that is not equiped to decode digital. The radio has 3 main modes to chose from; 1. Scan mode scans 10 banks of 50 frequencies each plus a close call bank. The active banks show up at the bottom of the screen, and pressing a corresponding number on the keypad turns each bank on or off. The two search modes allow searching for CTCSS (subaudible tones) and DCS (Digital Coded Squelch). Active frequencies can be saved along with the privacy code. 2. Service search allows searching for activity on 10 different pre-programmed frequency ranges / lists. Similar to the scan mode, the different ranges can be turned on or off by pressing a number. Service search bank 3 is ham radio and includes 6 and 2 meters and 440 Mhz. Service search bank 9 includes FRS / GMRS / and MURS frequencies (mostly UHF and a few VHF). 3. Search gives you 10 different frequency ranges that you can program yourself - low and high limits. The close call technology works in all 3 main modes and has three options; 1. Do not disturb turns off close call when the scanner is receiving a signal 2. Priority mode has close call turned on all the time, and will interrupt reception of other signals. However, unlike turning a priority channel on, normal reception is unaffected while receiving other channels. With a priority channel enabled, other channels are briefly interrupted every few seconds while the priority channel is checked. 3. Close call only listens only for close calls Temporary lockout is a nice feature. When the power is reset, all the temporary lockouts are reset. To permanently lock out a channel, press the lockout button twice. This also works for close call channels. Cons - there are a limited number of lockouts - 100 temporary and 100 permanent. If you decide that you do not want to monitor a permanent channel, it is easy to delete it. The weather alert is a nice feature if you do not have a dedicated weather alert radio. It even alerts you if it can no longer receive your local weather service channel. The computer interface works well which allows you to input information into a sheet similar to a spreadsheet. It allows you to read information from the radio or save information to the radio. Rows or blocks of rows can be copied and pasted to easily move frequencies around within a bank or put them into other banks (tabs).

Bought for 86$. The scanner works fine but the interface is way too complicated from a fresh start. After many youtube videos, I was able to set up my channels and tune my banks the way I want. Have JFK, LGA, NYPD, and some military channels on separate banks and can scan what I want. I get about 10-15 miles range from aircraft that are IN THE AIR, and rarely on the ground at airports that are in the same range. Can listen to NYPD from over 15 miles away so thats cool. I wish I could listen to airport transmissions that happened on the ground like the Tower and planes on the ground with the standard antenna. Probably need a larger antenna for that though. Also, I wish I could charge and listen at the same time, i don’t think it can do that.

I am going to write a good honest review on this scanner and not rate it a perfect 5 just because I bought it! First off, I will list the negatives. 1. It only comes with a USB cord for recharging it or powering it. I think that is disgusting that Uniden is so cheap they cant throw in a $5 AC Wall Charger with that cord. Yes, you can hook that cheap cord up to a PC providing your PC is left on and charge or power your Uniden. But it is just so much simpler and easier to plug it into an outlet! 2. It only is made for 2 rechargeable or alkaline AA batteries. Most of the older scanners or even new ones have 3 or 4 batteries providing more using time before recharging or changing them. 3. I am old fashioned and would much rather prefer an AC-DC power supply over this USB thing! Yes, it requires a learning curve and can be complicated until you have the patience to take the baby steps and learn all the functions. If you realize you are the kind of person that has a hard time programming a DVD recorder or VCR, this is not for you. You should have known better before you bought it! Now for the good points: 1. The volume is surprisingly loud, crisp and clear for that small of a radio. 2. It has a very nice, large display screen that you can easily see and read. 3. I think it is fantastic that a $112 scanner can be programmed to have an alpha-numeric display for all your frequencies. It is so nice seeing what that frequency is, instead of trying to remember the numbers. 4. It also offers Ctcss which is a simple code you can program with each frequency to block others from interfering on that same frequency. 5. For those of you that can handle a scanner with a learning curve, this scanner has many things to offer you once you get into the programming modes. You can customize the close call for various bands to monitor and activate the DND, (Do not Disturb) so it doesnt interfere with frequencies you are listening to. A 4 is a decent, honest review on this scanner considering the positives and negatives I found. There is only one handheld Analog Scanner I would rate a perfect 5. That is the former Gre-Psr 310. That scanner pretty much done the same as this one except it went all the way up to 1300 MHz and this one only covers to 500. The Gre 310 had more batteries which allowed it to stay on longer before charging or changing. It also had a regular power receptacle on it for charging or powering the unit instead of this USB thing. Whistler is now taking over Gre/Radio Shacks line of previous scanners but doesnt have that model in their lineup yet. When they do, I would take that model in a heartbeat over the Uniden BC-125 even if it was $50 more. For the money, this Uniden 125 is probably the best ANALOG scanner CURRENTLY on the market.

It is my first scanner so I knew I would have to learn how to use it, but it wasn’t as easy as the box would have you believe. The included manual is comprehensive and complete, that being said it’s a lot of information to ingest. But if you look up the frequencies you’d want to listen to online, and watch a video on how to program them, you will not be too lost. As far as signal and functionality goes, A+ With the stock antenna I get all (analog) signals within a reasonable range. Battery life is pretty good if you are fine not having the backlight on the whole time, as that cuts the usage time by 70% with my testing at full volume which is plenty loud for those wondering.

The BC125AT is actually a very good scanner for the price. Most of the negative reviews were written by idiots who have no business with a scanner. One person complained it wasn’t digital so it couldn’t receive police and fire channels. That person should have read the specs. This is a conventional scanner for analog voice reception. If you don’t understand what that means, you shouldn’t buy any scanner! This scanner is for receiving conventional systems only, which means it won’t receive trunked systems. This scanner is for receiving analog voice only, which means it cannot receive digital voice. If you need trunking or digital voice capability then buy the appropriate scanner type. There are still some police and fire departments using conventional systems and broadcasting in analog voice, and this scanner does an excellent job of receiving those, and it does an excellent job receiving railroad channels, commercial aircraft frequencies, and any other conventional systems using analog voice. Don’t blame the scanner for your ignorance of radio communications! And BTW, aircraft frequencies use the AM mode, not the FM mode, so that is why one idiot couldn’t hear aircraft. Is it difficult to program for the average layperson? Yes! Radios require a fair amount of knowledge to program. If you cannot figure out how to do it then you are the problem, not the scanner. The BC125AT is not a CB nor an AM/FM preprogrammed radio. It was designed for radio enthusists who know how to program and use it. If that describes you, then I recommend this conventional system with analog voice scanner.

Other then the its not a new scanner and 11 years old, its not bad! It cuts out a lot of the time!

Really like this Scanner, very easy to program and easy to use with a lot of nice features. Ive always been a radio geek and like listening to radio traffic when Im on trips and traveling. Even though this scanner can only do conventional radio traffic (not digital), for the money it is a very solid unit with a lot to like and only a few drawbacks for the price. Pros: - 500 Channels, with fast 80 channel per second scan rate works real well, no missing transmissions - 10 banks for easy organization of types or areas of frequencies - Very easy to program with the software available online - Has a Close Call feature that quickly locates and temporarily stores in use frequencies that are close to you, even if not programmed in - Temporary lock out for quickly preventing transmissions on busy or nuisance channels (I use this a lot) - CTCSS/DCS tone search on received channels works really really well and is handy for unknown frequencies - Reception is really really good across the spectrum, I use this with a mag mount car antenna and I can scan 2m amateur radio and main public safety repeaters from almost 100 miles away...very impressed - Awesome Alphanumeric display that quickly shows all the data about the user, frequency, tone, and other information Cons - I only have one Con with this unit, and its regarding the battery consumption. It can be a battery hog if you dont have good rechargeable batteries. I usually go through 2 sets of AAs on standard day road trips, and have gone through 3 on day/evening trips. I highly recommend this scanner and have been thoroughly satisfied with it. No it doesnt do digital channels, but that is another total class of unit.

It is suppose to be good, and You Tube video on it shows it in action. I obtained my refurbished in Canada and it came less a wrist strap but that is easy to fix at any camera store. Also any camera power plug you have with a USB port on it will charge this up off the wall socket and it has protection circuitry in it any way if you get the one that is to high up on the volts. Bad news so far there is no Macintosh software updater on it and it is best you use a PC to get the Uniden driver sorted out properly. I have not started it at all and there is some indication it will not work until you set it up on your PC first .. or wait till you get access to a PC to set it up with the driver download on the USB port. Once UNIDEN gets this worked out for Macintosh computers then it get 5 stars. I use it for the neighborhood watch as we do not have many cops in my county and the neighbors look out for each other for the most part. Lots of theft going on here apparently as there are lots of addicts in full drug mode.

The user interface is very confusing until you fiddle with it and practice a lot. I wanted to just key in a frequency, save it, and then tell it to pull that up. Yes, this is possible, but not intuitive. However it’s a solid unit, comes with rechargeable batteries and a charge cable, and does everything I need, so I’m keeping it. Best value for sure!