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.

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 was new to railfanning, and after some research I chose this model over the slightly lower in price SR30C due to the better overall reviews. Now to the basics: Pros: Easy to use and program (I never tried manual input) It has a companion software you can install on your PC for easier channel programming (great if you have the frequencies you plan to use) Battery life is solid, when using a pair of 2300 mAh energizer rechargeable batteries it lasts a good 12-14 hours from testing. Cons: The stock antenna is great if you’re less than 2-3 miles from the transmission source, but it can be spotty at times depending on radio environment (the diamond rh77ca is a good choice for better range and clarity) Audio quality: it can be tough to clearly hear at times if you have interruption factors such as metal or thick walls, that can be mitigated with headphones (it comes with a 3.5 mm jack for connecting headphones)

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.

I had a BC75XLT, which is also a good scanner from Uniden. But I upgraded my handheld ham radio and fell in love with the ability to assign an alphanumeric tag to each channel/frequency pair. The cheaper 75XLT allows you to assign channels to channel memory banks, but doesnt allow alpha tagging. You just have to know what the frequency means. Thats hard with 100+ civilian public service frequencies. So I wanted alpha tagging for my scanner too. The 125AT displays your tag as well as the frequency and the channel memory bank. for example, I have all of Chicago PDs District frequencies and their City Wide frequencies labeled, so I know where the reported action is by area. As a Ham, also nice to assign the actual callsign to repeaters. Same goes for using Amtrak route labels (AAR frequency codes) out of Chicagos Union Station, since I take trains to downstate Illinois. One thing it does NOT do though is allow you to assign an alpha tag to memory bank numbers. My Yaesu ham radio HT does support that. So I just keep a reference note on my cell phone listing what category of frequencies I chose to store in each bank. This and the 75XLT are both great radios for travelers. They can search for nearby signals and you can easily add those to memory, without traveling with a list of local frequencies or looking them up online. There is also a great feature called Service Search, which is preprogrammed to search the frequency ranges of government assigned frequencies for Ham Radio, Weather, Police, Fire, Racing, FRS, Aviation, Railroad etc. Then when you find a frequency you want, you can add it to memory. I use PC software to program it with the included USB A to USB Mini cable. You can buy software from various online sources. That makes data entry a breeze and most will support auto import of known frequencies when you put in a zip code. Also, Since this radio also supports rechargeable NiMH batteries (2 AA), I recommend you buy a AA rechargeable battery starter kit with 4 batteries and a charger included. That way you have a fresh pair to swap back in when the batteries die. It also takes disposables, but you must select alkaline versus NiMH using the tiny switch under the batteries. Now the negatives. Its expensive and has good competition from China. The 125AT isnt waterproof or made of metal, like most Japanese handheld ham radios, so that isnt a benefit over Chinese radios and scanners, which are pretty much all plastic and not water or shock proof, like the name brand ham radios are over their Chinese competitors. So never pay full MSRP for this scanner. Also consider a cheap $30-$50 Chinese multi-band ham radio, like a Baoefeng, Remember though, unless you have the right level of ham license, you CANNOT transmit on ham radio frequencies or you will face steep fines if discovered. But they make good generic police scanners too and can be programmed from a PC, usually requiring you buy a custom cable. But they are not durable at all.

Fast scanner. Wideband. Analog only.

The BC125AT is a fine analog only scanner. The sensitivity on receive is very good. Almost as good as my Icom R30 which is hundreds of dollars more. The scan rate is typical of other scanners and I dedicate one of my BC125AT scanners for military air on 225-380 Mhz AM and it works very well for that. Of course, using good quality coax like LMR-400, a military air band tuned antenna on the roof, or a discone, and a 225-400 MHz filter really helps. Additionally, most scanners /receivers are plagued by interference from FM broadcast stations that transmit using an incredible amount of watts. Every scanner user should have an FM Broadcast filter inline on their coax. The FM filters range from $20 to $100. *The BC125AT is not a digital scanner. It will not decode P25, DMR, NXDN, D-Star, C4FM, etc. It will never have a firmware upgrade to enable that. It will also never decode encrypted audio. I never charge my batteries in my scanners. I adjust the battery settings to alkaline so that it never charges the batteries even if rechargeable. I use an external charger for my batteries. I also use an external USB battery bank to keep it powered up for long periods of time when remote. At home I leave the BC125AT powered on 24/7 via the USB power port. It also programs using the same USB power cable. For programming I use Scan125 made by a guy in the U.K. The software is free. The only thing I regret is not buying one earlier. It works well enough for my needs that I purchased another. Military air to air or air to ground communications are quick. With two or more scanners one can split (not share) the frequencies in order to increase odds of hearing something. I do not use the antenna that came with it. I always use after market antennas. An all around good one is the Diamond RH77CA. For military air I use a Diamond RH951S. I swept it with an analyzer and the results were so good I purchased another, compared to the RH77CA and many other handheld flexible antennas.

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

Will not hold a charge more than a hour. Rechargeable batteries are anything but.

Hard to program and instructions are not user friendly.