Railfan Technology > Bearcat 125 Scanner

Good Afternoon:

I just purchased a Bearcat 125 scanner. I also purchased a magmount antenna as well. I chose it due to being capable of handling narrowband transmissions. Anyone else have any experience with this scanner? I will only use it for railroad frequencies.

Thank you in advance.

I have just one question. I have Mac software will it be able to program this scanner.  Looks good....
...Swede........Albany,Or..... On the road in Wenatchee,Wa.

Since no one has voiced an opinion I took a look at the spec's.  They don't say a bunch but they indicate that the sensitivity for railroad frequencies is 0.2 microvolts.  I have seen slightly better (0.15uV for example, or even 0.1uV) but that's not really bad.  It didn't indicate anything about selectivity but it did mention "near channel" interference and those numbers looked pretty good also.  They just didn't get real detailed in the manual.  If you are going to be using it with an external antenna you should get good results.  Even a quarter wave antenna (about 18" long) outside the car is a real improvement over the rubber duck antennas.  If you have a 5/8 wave antenna (about 35 or 40 inches long with a coil in the base or in the middle of the whip, you will notice slightly better performance over the 1/4 wave antenna.  After that, the rest of the radio is just features and how it operates.  If you have enough channels to make you happy and it scans fast enough and the speaker sounds OK, and you can program it and control the scanning like you want, then you should be happy.  The one weak point of a lot of the scanners is the speaker.  An external speaker would be another improvement if you are using it in your car or truck.

Have fun,
John

EDIT to correct a spellin error.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/15 16:25 by wa4umr.

I have a couple of friends who use that radio for monitoring aircraft as well. That includes the military band, 225 - 380 MHz. They seem happy with it. If you use it for military airshows, having a head set would be helpful, they're pretty noisy...

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

Will be interested to hear your experiences with the BC125 when you receive it.  My favorite radio at the moment is the old Bendix King EPH VHF series radio.  It does narrowband, though is a bit harder to program than an average scanner.  Audio is outstanding and selectivity no problem, batteries last forever.  Radio is getting a bit old however and no bells and whistles.  But performance is what counts for me, not the extra features.

I have a BC125T that I use in my truck with a 1/4 wave magnet mount on the roof and it works just fine.  Reception  has increased to about thirty miles for Dispatcher base radios in hilly terrain.  Mobiles and Hot Box Scanners are good and clear to about ten miles.  Having the railroad freqs programmed is great.  I can just let it scan.  If there is traffic I can just hold on that one freq's.  For a hundred bucks for the radio and twenty for the mag mount and another twenty for a power outlet adapter I am well pleased.

DMC

A friend had me look at his a few years ago. He could not program it. I tried but I had the same result. He sent
it back and his money was refunded. I was still couries and so bought one for my self. I tried all my former tricks
and finely read the book that came with it. Vela all was clear. I have programmed almost all of my freqs. in it
and have finely felt Okay with it. The only change I have made is I purchased a Diamond RH77CA as part of
the bundle. I did my programming and used it for a few days then installed the Diamond antenna, what a difference.
I heard some signals but could not determent the message. I now hear dispatches from farther down the line.
The final info for new buyers is read the book and follow the directions.......NA7SL....Swede....Albany,Or.
PS: No Mac software for programing............................SL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/15 08:07 by GN_X838.

I recently got one of these scanners and mine seems to work pretty well.  It is not as sensitive as my previous scanner, a Bearcat 75XL, which ended up in the Willamette River (long story).  However, there is much less interference from NOAA Weather broadcasts on 162.400 than from the 75. The "Close Call" feature is handy and the temporary lockout feature is useful when I don't want to hear yard switchers, etc.  I also love the alpha numeric channel tagging - there are two short lines nearby as well as the UP.  Hope you enjoy yours.

Tom