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 bought this scanner to listen to Air Traffic Control frequencies while Im flying my drone. This does the job nicely once you have it set up. With the included software you can specify a freq and name it so you can easily identify which airport the freq youre hearing is for. If you set up a bank of freqs that cover the airports youre typically flying in the scanner can run through those freqs in about a second and you dont miss much. However if you dont set up the scanner to just scan those select freqs it can take a while and you might miss conversations. This is the 2nd one Ive bought. I lost the 1st one during a hectic day and was never able to find it. I plugged the 2nd one into the computer, fired up the software, uploaded my freqs and I was right back where I was supposed to be.

This purchase was made when the display on my old PRO-95 quit working. I decided I didnt need the 800MHz channels or trunking capability since I mainly use the scanner for listening to railroads. I was very happy with the BC125AT and the software that you can download for free. The first two banks I programmed in all the railroad frequencies and then the remaining ones used for police, fire, HAM, and CB frequencies. The software makes it easy to replace the frequencies with only railroad frequencies with one railroad occupying one bank. I like the fact that it uses standard AA rechargeable batteries that can be charged in the scanner. Seems to hold the charge for a long time, but am considering ordering batteries with higher mAH capacities for extra batteries. I havent had a chance to use the scanner with my railroad frequency tuned antenna on my vehicle, so I dont know how sensitive it is to pick up trains calling out signals from a good distance away. Overall, I am very happy with this replacement for my old scanner.

Bought this handheld scanner for my Dad on May 9, 2021. He is a Past Chief of our Fire Dept. and still enjoys listening to what’s going on. He noticed it wouldn’t charge and opened the battery compartment to find the rechargeable batteries from 2010 ( ELEVEN YEARS AGO) had deteriorated and melted the inner compartment. He cannot switch it over from rechargeable to AA batteries because the old rechargeables melted the switch and contacts. Very disappointed. I had not realized this handheld was released 2011. I never would have purchased such an OLD product!!! Now to see if the original retail warranty applies to me or the radio company that is selling these. I will update this review once I find out what course of action I have. We missed the Amazon return date because we lost my Mom recently and our minds were not on this scanner.

I bought this scanner for my husband who used to be a volunteer firefighter but is now disabled and can no longer participate. I figured it would take some playing around to get it set up to scan our local channels and I was not wrong. The scanner does what it is supposed to once you figure out how to program it. There are instructions of course for programming but they are written for someone who has some idea of what they are doing which was definitely not the case in my situation. With a little help from the internet, I was able to get things set up. But if youre a newbie- just know that youll need some help or some patience!

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.

There was no way to connect it to the electrical receptacle in the wall.

Son says this unit is just as good as the high-priced units that the RRs use.

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.

Not very user friendly.

1st scanner purchase for me. I bought it mainly for airshow events. But, I live in the Pacific Northwest, and theres a lot of other interesting chatter going on-shipping, military, ham, etc. The radio has a steep learning curve, not so much with regards to radio freqs, as to Unidens method of user interface. Not intuitive at all. Read the manual closely, and also do a search for radio forums with this as a topic. Itll take a few days for you to get to know the ins and outs of using the radio. I like the battery feature. You can use regular alkaline AAs, or a rechargeable set. The radio can recharge these while installed, and it has a switch inside depending on which you use. I try to choose electronics that use AA batteries in order to streamline my battery needs. I see some folks have purchased an aftermarket antenna for it. I myself havent had any problems with the stock antenna. I havent been out much with it, but it seems to pull down signals fine from my patio. The only thing that annoys me about the radio is that stupid electronic squawk when you turn it on. My Uniden CB does that too. What is up with that, Uniden? Ugh. Not a fan. Other than the above, thats all I got. Seems to be a good radio so far.