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Reviews For: Uniden BC245XLT

Category: Receivers: Scanners

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Review Summary For : Uniden BC245XLT
Reviews: 4MSRP: $199.95
Description:
300 Channel Trunktracker II Portable Scanner
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.uniden.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0044
N0VKG Rating: 2008-02-24
Good, but bad on 900Mhz trunking Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I got my bc-245xlt the moment they hit the streets back in the late 1990s. Great radio, except its audio on the 900Mhz trunking is aweful. Not set to decode the NFM properly. All 900Mhz in St Louis, Mo is narrow-band. And the bc-245xlt's FM circuit is set too wide. Too much hiss/static coming thru on the audio. Very poor 900Mhz audio. Standing under the transmit tower will not help (I did this, as a test). Although, the FM audio on the bc-245xlt on 900Mhz is not as bad as that on the PRO-94.
WR2W Rating: 2003-05-23
Very Good Scanner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I find the performance of this model to be very good for the most part. Audio is fairly good from the internal speaker. Very little intermod noted, and the receiver is fairly sensitive. I wish they made a battery case with plug-in lead for emergency back-up when charging the NiCad pack. I sometimes use a telescoping whip to adjust for better reception depending on the frequency I'm listening to. In general a good scanner...
KF6IIU Rating: 2002-06-23
Good value scanner with trunk tracking Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Good basic scanner, has most of the features I need - 10 selectable banks of 30 channels each, follows my local EDACS trunked system (SF BART). I have not had a channel lock on to any images or intermod - nice! - even on air band. Not as sensitive as my Icom T2 HT BUT you do not want a scanner to be exceptionally sensitive or it will have intermod or image rejection problems. Serial port works with USB to serial port adapter, does not require flow control. Runs for over 4 hours on battery charge (new NiCds just out of box). Runs off 12V external. Battery pack is cordless-phone-type shrink-wrapped 4 NiCds. AA cells will fit in compartment, you might be able to "roll your own" pack with NiMh's. A good value for less than $200.

Quibbles:

- Audio quality only fair, somewhat muffled sound, not very powerful, not like a ham HT.
- Does not cover 220 ham band or 200-mhz military aviation band.
- Fixed 12.5 kHZ tuning steps in 440 ham band make unit unsuitable for use as a receiver for FM repeater-sats (UO-14 etc.)
- May not follow some 900 Mhz trunked utility systems (this is in manual. Have not tested to verify this.)
KB4RRC Rating: 2002-02-08
Outstanding Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
As a Communications Manager of a State Agency I demand a lot from a scanner or receiver. The Bearcat 245XLT has far exceeded my expectations. The scanner is very sensitive. More sensitive than my Bendix King VHF Portable which has .22uv sensitivity. The Scanner with the stock antenna on the dash of a vehicle will receive signals as far if not further than a mobile unit. I can not use an external because of the high powered mobile units I operate. It is unbelieveable how well it receives distant signals even 42 MHZ California Highway Patrol Skip with the nob antenna! I have never seen a scanner that sensitive on all bands and I have played with a number of them for over 25 years.
The 245xlt interfaces to a computer for remote control and programming. There are several free programs out there that are written for the 245 and allow logging and alpha numeric tagging. It is neat if you are into all that but it still programs like the older bearcats of 25 years ago.
I was considering purchasing another brand scanner to replace a Uniden made one for another vendor, that I was given used had 1.5uv on 800 and 3 uv on VHF and was rather poor unless the signal was strong to moderate. I read some specs somewhere on the net about the 245XLT sensitivities for all bands except air and it was in the .2 to .3 range and that was convincing. Again it is probably the most sensitive portable Uniden has ever made..
The only negative is that as a TV remote control until you master it it can be clumbersome.
Keep the book nearby for at least a month. The RS232 Connecter cover is designed to open with a paper clip--NO EXCEPTIONS! It is a pain to open to expose the computer connector. The built in 1-900 number to automatically download freqs for a zip code is kinda dumb as it is locked into the prom but that all the bad I found!(Wander who would use it!) The competition scanners can not touch the sensitivity and selectivity for a scanner!
Good Job Uniden.. Next Year Uniden plans to introduce an APCO 25 digital capable unit!!!!