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 purchased this product for use when I go out railfanning, to be able to listen in on where trains are located on my local rail line. The scanner works really well and is able to receive radio signals from a pretty far distance away when youre close to an active rail line. The build quality is good for the product, its mostly made of plastic. But thats not a deal breaker in my opinion, since the product feels very durable and doesnt feel like it will fall apart the second it falls onto a concrete floor. I found the interface very easy to understand, all the button functions are clearly labeled and are very easy to figure out all of the functions. The programming software was very easy to use as well, its very similar to using Microsoft Excel. I personally prefer the BC125 over the BC75, because the 125 can store a lot more frequencies and you also get the ability to add in custom names/alpha tags. The only drawback to the product is the range is not very good... But that comes with using the antenna that is provided with the scanner, since its not very long. The scanner can receive signals from channels I programmed as far as 10 miles away from my local railroad mail line, but that applies mainly frequencies that are used on my local railroad. Overall the scanner works very well for my uses, I am very happy with the product, and I would recommend any railroad enthusiast to purchase a radio scanner to use while railfanning. Since it will make your railfanning sessions a lot more fun, since you will know ahead of time whats coming in your direction.

Works great love big backlit screen so easy to read also when you enter your channels in you can give them a name so your not just looking at a bunch of numbers running across the screen . Picks up very well in our area. If you area uses digital this one is not for you it is anti-log. It was a little hard to learn how to set up, but if you go to YouTube and watch a video it well make life a whole lot easier while setting it up. Picks you all emergency channels in our town without a hitch. Love the weather channel..

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.

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.

This scanner works great no issues!

Easy to use but no matter what batteries I used(ask were brand new) they lasted 2 days. I only had it on for 3 to 4 hours each day. All my previous and current scanners last weeks. Maybe it was defective but wont order unidentified anymore.

I had a 25 year old Radio Shack Scanner 10 channel (not ten bank) scanner and it was time to update. Living in the rural area of Northern California, and being an ex-volunteer firefighter, my wife and I depend on our scanner to keep alerted to local emergency events. I decided on the Uniden BC125AT after helping a friend program his. There were a number of things I found that helped me decide: THE GOOD • Good sound. The filtering in this scanner was able to filter out the static noise from the various electronics in our home. • Compact size and comfortable in the hand. • Alpha Numeric channel programming and labeling. The ability to add labels to each channel as it appears on the screen during a transmission makes it easier to know what is actually happening. I can instantly know what dispatch center is transmitting. • The free Windows software available from the Uniden website (link in the owners manual) allowed me to quickly and easily enter the frequencies I wanted along with a name for each channel, save it to a file on my computer, then upload the file to the scanner. With ten separate banks of 505 channels each, it was a simple matter to create separate banks for Fire, Police, Air Firefighting Resources, and even separate banks for local city emergency resources. After I programmed the friends unit I received mine about two days later and it took just a few seconds to upload the data into my BC125AT. • The ability to lock out banks. It is very easy to lock out any of the banks so, for example, you can lock all out except one bank where you program local fire resources. • Scan all banks, scan one bank, or pick on channel to scan. In an emergency it is nice to be able to just listen to the main fire dispatch channel and it is easy to select that function. • The multi-function volume knob. The rotary knob has many functions including setting the volume, adjusting the squelch, scrolling through the channels saved in banks. • Adjustable screen brightness and contract THE BAD (or at least, not as good) • The included rechargeable batteries are decent but the charger in the Uniden is set by time only in hours. Insert a fully-charged pair of cells and plug the Uniden in and if the charger is set to charge for six hours, it will charge for that period of time. This overheats the batteries which can shorten their life. Thy get quite warm to the touch, but so far not dangerously so. I suggest keeping a spare set of batteries charged and switch them out as needed. • It charges through the USB cable, and only charges the batteries when the unit is turned off. If the BC125AT is on, the batteries will not receive a charge. When turned off the charge restarts and will run the full length of time you selected in the menu system. • When I purchased this, the Amazon link to the warranty information was to an old PDF page from 2010 from Uniden that stated the unit had a three (3) year warranty. THAT IS INCORRECT. The printed manual that came with the scanner (©2012) states it has a one (1) year warranty. I called Uniden today (8/6/2018) and that information was confirmed. • The owners manual could be better. This is a powerful unit and can do a lot of things. To access much of the menu system takes multiple button presses. The manual describes these is somewhat more complicated text than is necessary. Flow charts for each functions would have been MUCH better. I know- I have written owners manuals and created flow charts for similar programming and function systems. CONCLUSION I give this unit 4 stars instead of 5 only because of the outdated battery charging system. Other than that, this is a very nice scanner for under $100. I do suggest purchasing the extended warranty so that you have more than one years protection. NOTE: The linked PDF warranty file on the Amazon sales page when I purchased this scanner stated that the warranty was three (3) years. IT IS NOT! That PDF file was from 2010. The ©2012 owners manual that comes with the scanner states that the warranty period is one (1) year. I verified this with Uniden Customer Service.

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.