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.

Works for all frequencies, police, fire and ambulance

Not so user friendly

I am an experienced HAM Radio Operator and someone with substantial RF radio experience: If you have never owned radios of this type then you should know: Scanners, like this one, are not trivial pieces of equipment. many people buy them and think they are like a Mr Coffee appliance, in other words you just plug it in and it works. To get the most out of Scanners: 1.) they require programming. The Uniden supplied PC software is adequate and will get the job done, however it is nothing outstanding but it is FREE 2.) Antennas are the key to any radio reception. Scanners require NON-TUNED wire antennas like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NKDN6YK/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_E41kDbJ7R53JF for $8 it is a bargain. You should DISREGARD other comments you read about using 144/440 tuned ham Radio Transmitting Antennas. They will work fine if all you want to receive is in those frequency bands, but realize they are TUNED so their reception sensitivity will fall off rapidly when the antenna is out of its designed band. 3.) This is a fine piece of well designed gear, and for $100 it is a bargain. It has excellent sensitivity across all bands. PROS: Super fast scan speed, Clever well laid out keypad design that gives you access to menu functions with just a few simple keystrokes. 4.) Of course the CON is that they are using AA NiMH batteries. 4-6 Hours is top run time. Uniden made a bad design choice there, as this radio could have easily been designed to accept 18650 Li-Ion batteries then it would have run for days on one set. If you are going to use this radio on a daily basis then you will need a pocket full of AA and Powerex Charger to properly maintain them. I read many comments here in these reviews from well meaning folks that are simply in over their head and then say this is a bad scanner. My suggestion is to find a local Ham Radio Operator to explain some of the principles of how RF works, and to help you with programming and operation of this type of equipment. It is not rocket science, but there is a little learning curve.

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

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.

Im a little stunned by the bad reviews. I couldnt disagree more. This is a great scanner. For the roughly 100 bucks, you really get a lot. Its handheld, which means it travels nicely. Its great for road trips and can keep you in the loop on weather, accidents, and umm, other police activities. It scans CB, FRS/GMRS/MURS and HAM bands which covers pretty much all of the individual use bands. The first two (CB, FRS/GMRS/MURS) are pretty useful on trips too. Its rechargeable, and uses standard AA Ni-MH batteries (included) and you can recharge the batteries right in the scanner from a USB port. You can charge while its on. Also, just in case it matters, you can run it directly from the USB port without any batteries installed at all! Of course, in a pinch you can always use regular non-rechargeable AA batteries which are pretty much the most common batteries in America. Theres a switch inside the battery compartment to tell the scanner what kind of batteries you have so that it wont try to recharge regular batteries. (I know, too much time on batteries but I cant help it. A scanners no good if you cant turn it on!) There are some nice storage features for storing found stations and you can program them in manually too, if you know the frequency. You can name all the stations as well. Additionally, theres are banks of per-programmed frequencies for different uses (fire, police, CB, etc.) to allow you to get started right away. (If youre looking for frequencies just google scanner frequencies and the city or area you live in. Pretty simple...) But really, its connecting to the PC that has me won over. *All* of the settings can be accessed through the PC software available from the website. (The website also includes the *manual* <ahem>, drivers, and firmware updates. The software isnt all that sexy to be sure, but its plenty functional! Its a lot easier to use than typing into the scanner itself. It allows you to save different configurations in separate files so you can have, for instance, a file for Topeka, and another one for Miami. Again, a really nice feature if youre on the road and have a laptop. Cons: You cant actually control the scanning itself from the computer. Not a big deal but the function might be kinda cool. My biggest complaint is that there is not a standing battery indicator. You only get notification when the batteries get low, but you have no idea when that might be. Its just a minor annoyance... maybe itll get fixed in a firmware update? Overall, totally useful.

This scanner is an excellent choice if you want to listen in on railroad, maritime, aviation, or racing activities. Its also a superb tool for monitoring the police/fire/EMS systems that have not yet become digital. The ability to alpha tag (i.e. label) the display so that you immediately know WHO you are listening to is my favorite attribute of this scanner. You will DEFINITELY want to use your computer to do the labeling and programming as it is SO much easier than trying to accomplish programming via the scanner keypad. The Uniden software is easy to download and pretty intuitive. It basically loads a spreadsheet looking document that is clearly labeled with fields. You just pick a blank field (bank/channel) and fill in the frequency and your custom label. You then export your data right to the radio (write to scanner) via the USB, and the scanner is programmed in a matter of seconds. I also love the functionality of the backlight on this thing. On my 20 year old scanner, the backlight would come on for just 10 seconds and then go off. You also had to hunt for the backlight button in the dark. The BC125AT backlight can be set to either (a) Be on all the time (b) come on when a transmission is received (c) come on anytime you push any button on the unit (d) both options c and d....which is my preference. Very useful. Its small and discrete. Great for carrying around near airports and train stations without looking like a big dork. I was worried the speaker would be tinny on a small unit, but the speaker is every bit as good as the speakers on my older, larger scanners.

Is a decent analog radio

The scanner has been all around good. The small size and computer programming was what sold me and really no complaints from either of those after buying. The battery life indicator is basically just a beep when the battery is out so be prepared to carry an extra set. One thing that bothers me a bit is not having control over the squelch. Especially with the poor antenna you may be scanning for a long time and be missing nearby signals that you could detect if you were able to manually back the squelch down temporarily. Coming from an old desktop scanner this is a bit annoying but maybe I just need a better antenna. Its understandable that concessions were necessary to fit in the small size so maybe not a dial but at least some way to adjust this would have been nice. One other thing I would change is to be able to label the banks somehow in the programming. It would help to remember what is in each one.

Only picks up frequencies that are well below the usual ranges used by first responders. Frequencies need to be manually entered into scanner. If you know which frequencies you want to listen to, makes sure the scanner can pick it up. Otherwise, the unit isnt very useful.