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From: parnass@ihuxz.ATT.COM (Bob Parnass, AJ9S)
Newsgroups: rec.ham-radio
Subject: Reviewing the Bearcat 200XLT (Portable) Scanner
Message-ID: <3105@ihuxz.ATT.COM>
Date: 22 Jul 88 00:31:43 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 468
Posted: Thu Jul 21 20:31:43 1988
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UNIDEN/BEARCAT 200XLT SCANNER REVIEW
by Bob Parnass, AJ9S
For a long time now, radio enthusiasts have awaited the
arrival of a decent portable scanner with 800 MHz
coverage. Users had grown accustomed to the good sensi-
tivity and reliable performance found in portable models
without 800 MHz, like the Uniden/Bearcat 100XL, the
Azden-manufactured Regency HX1500, and GRE-manufactured
Radio Shack PRO-30. Unfortunately, early 800 MHz models,
like the AOR-manufactured Regency HX2000 and HX2200 were
disappointing.
Now, the wait for a good 800 MHz portable is over,
because the Bearcat 200XLT is here and it's a winner.
Physical
The new Uniden/Bearcat 200XLT is manufactured in Taiwan,
and looks identical to the tall, gray 100XLT.1 The case
is entirely plastic, and the battery and charging circui-
try is contained in a slide on pack. The differences
between the 200XLT and the 100XLT are in 800 MHz band
coverage and number of channels (200 vs. 100).
The "real" volume and squelch knobs on top have a posi-
tive feel, and there is little play in the squelch con-
trol.
The closely spaced keys on the 200XLT keyboard are made
of soft rubber, and are well labeled. Marshmallow-like
keys, combined with fat fingers, require extra care when
entering frequencies. The lack of a "beep" tone to con-
firm key depressions, and the slight amount of tactile
feedback, makes it necessary to watch the display to
ensure you pushed the keys far enough.
Memory Organization
As with the 100XLT, the 200XLT's strong point is the
amount and organization of its memory. The 200 memory
__________
1. See "Uniden/Bearcat 100XLT Scanner Review," by Bob
Parnass, AJ9S, in The Radio Enthusiast, March 1988.
- 2 -
channels are divided into ten banks.
Memory banks and channels may be selected or locked out.
The banks are "hard partitioned," just like Bearcat scan-
ners of old. By this I mean, Bank 1 includes channels
1-20, Bank 2 channels 21-40, etc. Regency used "soft
partitioned" banks in their HX1500 and TS2 models, but
the peculiar Regency system prevents channels from being
locked out during a bank scan. Now that Uniden bought out
Regency's consumer line, the soft bank concept may die
with the current Regency models.
The large channel banks do have their place, particularly
when scanning 800 MHz trunked systems and cordless
phones.
Banks aside, having 200 channels means no longer having
to settle for 10 or 16 most favored frequencies when away
from home. Now you can bring it all with you. My 200XLT
banks are programmed with frequencies for different
situations:
- Bank 1: 20 of the most important frequencies for
local sheriff, fire, ham repeater, plant security,
etc. I usually scan this bank unless I'm hunting
around for something else.
- Banks 2, 3, 4: Government frequencies by agency.
- Bank 5 contains VHF-lo and VHF-hi low power and
itinerant business frequencies. Bank 6 contains
similarly allocated UHF frequencies. I scan these
banks when I'm at a shopping mall, fair, sporting
event, or anywhere else I see walkie-talkies in use.
- Bank 7: Just the frequencies I want to monitor
while in the office.
- Bank 8: Police, fire, and emergency services for
other communities in this part of the state.
There's almost always something happening on these
channels, even in the wee hours of the morning, when
my county is asleep.
The remaining banks leave 40 channels just for trial-
and-error searching!
The 200XLT scans at 15 channels/second, about twice as
fast as Radio Shack's top of the line PRO-32 handheld.
When the 200XLT is powered on it always comes up scanning
with priority off.
- 3 -
The LCD display panel contains all the usual indicators,
and can be back lit for 15 seconds with a green light
when the proper button is pressed.
Innovations
Both the 200XLT and 100XLT feature set include new
surprises. The first channel of each active bank is a
priority channel, making 10 priority channels in all.
There are 10 levels of priority. For example, channel 1
priority takes precedence over priority channel 11, which
takes precedence over priority channel 21, etc. When the
priority is switched on, the 200XLT samples all the
unlocked priority channels (in active banks) every 2
seconds.
I program the first channel of each bank with the most
important frequency for that bank. The priority sampling
does appear to "chop up" signals a little more than on
older models that sample only a single priority channel.
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 200XLT that has already been programmed in
another memory channel, the display will flash the chan-
nel number in which the frequency has already been pro-
grammed. One can override by depressing ENTER again, and
the frequency will be stored in the current channel.
This "query" feature is great - especially in a scanner
with so much memory.
There is a single button to search all VHF NOAA weather
channels, a feature now commonplace on newer UNIDEN scan-
ners.
Battery Pack
The 200XLT comes with a BP-200 7.2 V Sanyo 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
- 4 -
opened, but the curious need only remove 2 screws.
Inside, are the charging components (regulator circuit),
and 6 AA size Sanyo cells wrapped in yellow heat shrunk
plastic.
The BP-200 battery pack has a 600 mAH capacity, whereas
the BP-205 (supplied with my 100XLT) contained batteries
internally marked 550 mAH.
When you buy the 200XLT, the 16 hour wall power supply is
furnished, and is marked 12 VDC 500 mA. The wall unit is
not a charger - the regulator/charging circuit is actu-
ally inside the battery pack and uses the 12 VDC fur-
nished by the wall power supply for charging the NiCds at
60 mA. Since the 200XLT draws about 60 mA while scanning
(while fully squelched), the batteries will not be char-
ging if the scanner is on while the power supply is con-
nected. To deposit a net charge into the batteries, the
radio must be turned off.
The radio can be used with the wall power supply when the
batteries are dead, but unlike older crystal controlled
portables, there is no easy way to power the scanner
externally, while effectively charging the internal bat-
tery. Neither is there a way to fast charge the supplied
NiCd pack, and the manual cautions against leaving the
supplied power pack plugged in for long periods of time
(I assume Uniden means with the scanner OFF).
A PS-001 mobile power cord is available for $4 from
UNIDEN, as is a spare antenna.
The owner's guide says to expect "up to 5 hours of depen-
dable use" between charges. Now 5 hours isn't enough for
many scanner buffs, but perhaps UNIDEN's idea is to
stimulate demand for extra BP-200 slide-on battery packs.
My 200XLT was used for about 7 to 8 hours before the bat-
tery indicator began to flash, but Dan Doyle reports he
gets only 5 hours between charges. It is the audio
amplifier stage that draws the most current, so battery
life is dependent upon channel activity, and the volume
control setting. Using an earphone, which draws less
current than a speaker, can mean longer battery life.
Great Audio
The audio output is rated at 480 milliwatts. As with the
100XLT, the 200XLT audio sounds great! There is plenty
of undistorted audio available from the front speaker,
making a Radio Shack PRO-30 sound like a whisper.
- 5 -
Inside Construction
The internal construction of the 200XLT is clean, but
thoughts of home repair vanish as soon as one opens the
200XLT 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 the IF and 800 MHz front end circuits
are on small circuit boards, mounted vertically on the
main audio/RF board. The PLL is on another small board.
How Does It Work?
My first 200XLT had a problem. The squelch threshold was
different for different bands, and had too much hys-
teresis, which caused it to skip over VHF signals and
stop only on UHF signals. This is probably caused by
misalignment, rather than a design flaw, as four friends
with 200XLTs had no such problems. Grove Enterprises
graciously swapped the defective radio for another brand
new 200XLT, and the exchange took about a week using UPS
shipping.
The squelch action on the new 200XLT is quite good, much
better than on the 760XLT and PRO-2004, both of which
have too much hysteresis. UHF sensitivity is excellent,
and while I don't often listen to aircraft, the sensi-
tivity in the AM aircraft band appears adequate.
Using an outside antenna, the 200XLT is sometimes both-
ered by the obnoxious 300 watt paging transmitter nearby,
but so was my 800XLT on an indoor whip. Expecting a por-
table scanner to behave well on an outside antenna may be
asking too much.
Most every superheterodyne receiver has birdies, those
places on the dial where the receiver "hears itself." The
200XLT owner's guide does not list birdies, but they're
there. Many of the birdies are weak, and disappear when
the heliflex antenna is replaced with an outdoor antenna.
The first IF is 10.85 MHz, and the second IF is 450 KHz.
Images of stations in the UHF range were noted 21.7 MHz
higher than their assigned frequencies. The cellular
telephone bands are disabled, but strong cellular phone
signals are heard 21.7 MHz higher than their assigned
frequencies anyway. Some people might consider this an
advantage! Besides, there's not much activity above 892
- 6 -
MHz to listen to yet.
The 200XLT hears TV stations where they shouldn't be - in
the 850 and 890 MHz bands - thanks to multiple injection
into the mixer stage, no doubt.
Scanners sold by Grove Enterprises are supplied with
instructions detailing how to restore cellular phone band
coverage. The instructions for the 200XLT just involve
crushing one resistor, but I haven't tried this.
Both my 200XLTs were a few kHz off frequency in the 800
MHz band. Weak signals were slightly distorted, and
using the search feature revealed an asymmetry - I could
hear the station +12.5 kHz stronger than -12.5 kHz away
from what was supposed to be the center frequency.
Having no schematic, I deduced that the orange non-
ceramic trimmer capacitor on the PLL board (the board
with the horizontal crystal on top of the IC) determined
the PLL reference frequency. I programmed a frequency
near 850 MHz on the 200XLT, then adjusted the trimmer
capacitor while listening to the local oscillator signal
10.85 MHz lower on my ICOM R-7000. The discriminator
meter on the R-7000 makes that radio a great test
instrument, but be sure your R-7000 is properly aligned
before using it to align other radios!
What You Get
Like the 100XLT, the 200XLT comes with a leather-like
case, but it's gray instead of black. The case has open-
ings in all the right places, so one can charge the bat-
tery without removing the radio from the case. There is
a belt loop sewn on the back, but a user must unfasten
his/her belt to thread it through the loop, a big incon-
venience. The scanner cannot be left standing up while
in the case, because the case bottom is rounded.
There is no belt clip on the 200XLT. To carry the scan-
ner on my belt, I use a yuppie-ish Bianchi, hand-tooled
leather case, made for the old Kenwood TR2400. My wife
bought the used case at a hamfest for $1.50.
The 200XLT also comes with an AC wall adapter, an ear-
phone, and a helical antenna blessed with a BNC connec-
tor.
UNIDEN scanners no longer come with an owner's manual,
but with a difficult to use fold out sheet instead. The
- 7 -
instructions aren't great, but will tell you most of what
you need to know. Of course, you don't get a schematic,
but you can order it.2
Summing Up
The UNIDEN 200XLT works well. It scans fast, sounds
good, and excels in the amount and organization of its
memory channels. The 800 MHz coverage, multiple prior-
ity, frequency finding, and slide-on battery pack
features make it the "Lincoln Town Car" of portable scan-
ners.
So far, the 200XLT is the best handheld scanner I've ever
used. Now I'm waiting for Radio Shack to shrink the
PRO-2004, so we can enjoy continuous frequency coverage
in a portable scanner!
__________
2. UNIDEN, Parts Department, P.O. Box 50822, Indianapolis,
IN 46250.
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Bob Parnass AJ9S, AT&T Bell Laboratories - att!ihuxz!parnass - (312)979-5414