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UNIDEN/BEARCAT 100XLT SCANNER PREVIEW
by Bob Parnass, AJ9S
OK, so I couldn't resist - I bought another scanner.
This time it's the brand new UNIDEN/Bearcat 100XLT porta-
ble, and I'm here to give you a sneak preview.
Physical
The new 100XLT looks nothing like the 100XL or the ori-
ginal Bearcat 100. Rather, it looks identical to the
200XLT that everyone's asking about - tall, thin, and
entirely gray plastic. The keys on the keyboard are made
of soft rubber, and most are well labeled.
The "real" volume and squelch knobs on top are a welcome
The "real" volume and squelch knobs on top are a welcome
change from the side mounted, dust vulnerable knobs on
the 70XLT.
The difference between the 100XLT and 200XLT appears to
be that the 100XLT has 100 channels and excludes the 800
MHz band.
The 100 memory channels are divided into 10 channel
banks. Of course, banks and channels may be selected or
locked out. The banks are "hard partitioned", just like
Bearcat scanners of old. By this I mean, Bank 1 includes
channels 1-10, Bank 2 channels 11-20, etc. Regency is
using "soft partitioned" banks in their HX1500 and TS2
models, but the peculiar Regency system prevents channels
from being locked out during a bank scan.
The LCD panel has all the usual indicators, and can be
back lit with a green light when the proper button is
from being locked out during a bank scan.
The LCD panel has all the usual indicators, and can be
back lit with a green light when the proper button is
pressed.
CONTINUED IN BC100XLT.2
BC100XLT.2
Innovations
The 100XLT feature set includes new surprises. The first
channel of each active bank is a priority channel, making
10 priority channels in all. There doesn't appear to be
10 levels of priority, but channel 1 priority seems to
take precedence over the other priority channels. When
the priority is switched on, the 100XLT samples all the
priority channels every 2 seconds. When the power is
turned off, then on again, the priority key must be
pressed manually.
Let's see, did I program in that new K-Mart frequency,
154.6 MHz somewhere? Just type 154.6, ENTER when posi-
tioned to a channel you don't care about, and the LCD
will display "CH 29", for instance, if you already have
154.6 MHz in channel 29.
Stated a different way, if one tries to type a frequency
into the 100XLT that has already been programmed in
another memory channel, the display will flash in which
Stated a different way, if one tries to type a frequency
into the 100XLT that has already been programmed in
another memory channel, the display will flash in which
channel it has been programmed. One can override by
depressing ENTER again, and the frequency will be stored
in the current channel.
This is a great feature, especially in a scanner with so
much memory.
CONTINUED IN BC100XLT.3
BC100XLT.3
NiCd Battery Pack
The 100XLT comes with a 7.2 V 600 mAH battery pack which
slides onto the bottom of the radio. There is a charging
jack, marked 12 VDC, and a red charging LED on the back
of the pack. The pack is not supposed to be opened, but
the curious need only remove 2 screws. Inside is the
charging components, and 6 AA size cells wrapped in heat
shrunk plastic.
When you buy the 100XLT, the 16 hour wall charger adapter
is supplied, and is marked 12 VDC 500 mA. There appears
no way to fast charge the supplied NiCd pack, and the
manual cautions against leaving the supplied charger
plugged in for long periods of time.
no way to fast charge the supplied NiCd pack, and the
manual cautions against leaving the supplied charger
plugged in for long periods of time.
The radio can be used with the wall charger when the bat-
teries are dead, but unlike older crystal controlled por-
tables, there is no easy way to power the scanner exter-
nally, without charging the internal battery.
A PS-001 mobile power cord is available from UNIDEN, as
is a spare antenna.
The owner's guide says to expect "up to 5 hours of depen-
dable use" in between charges. Now 5 hours is a lot less
than what scanner buffs want, but perhaps UNIDEN's idea
is to stimulate demand for extra BP-205 slide on battery
packs.
Memory Backup - Unimpressive
Having 100 memory channels is great, especially when
thoughtfully partitioned into 10 banks. It takes time to
program a scanner with so many channels, so you wouldn't
want to do this often.
A weak point of the 100XLT is that the memory is only
backed up for 30 minutes by a capacitor when the NiCd
battery pack goes dead.
Take the scanner outside for an afternoon of fun. When
the BATTERY warning blinks, do you have only 30 minutes
to find an AC outlet? The manual claims the scanner will
shut itself down automatically if the warning has been
flashing for 10 minutes, but it's not clear how "dead"
the NiCd is by then.
CONTINUED IN BC100XLT.4
BC100XLT.4
Great Audio
The audio output is rated at 480 milliwatts, but who
believes manufacturers' specifications any more? The
good news is that the 100XLT sounds great! There is
plenty of undistorted audio available from the front
speaker, making a Radio Shack PRO-30 sound like a
whisper.
Inside Construction
The internal construction of the 100XLT looks very clean,
but thoughts of home repair vanish as soon as one opens
the 100XLT case. Tiny surface mount components abound.
You won't find these parts at Radio Shack, and you
wouldn't want to solder them in anyway.
The 2 main circuit boards are surrounded by an internal
metal frame, and a few small circuit boards are mounted
vertically on the main audio/RF board.
I did see what appeared to be "jumper" diodes, but
resisted the temptation to cut them. Maybe one expands
memory capacity to 200 channels?
How Does It Work?
Truth be told, it is just too early to say how well this
radio hears. UHF sensitivity seems very good, but sensi-
tivity in the AM aircraft band needs more testing.
Using an outside antenna, the 100XLT is sometimes both-
ered by the obnoxious 300+ watt paging transmitter
nearby, but so is my 800XLT on an indoor whip. Expecting
a portable scanner to behave well on an outside antenna
may be asking too much. More evaluation needs to be done
here also.
What You Get
The 100XLT comes with a reasonably good leather-like
case, a wall charger/AC adapter, an earphone, and what
appears to be a VHF high band heliflex antenna. The
antenna is blessed with a BNC connector.
UNIDEN scanners no longer come with an owner's manual,
but with a fold out sheet instead. The instructions
aren't great, but will tell you most of what you need to
know. Of course, you don't get a schematic.