Railfan Technology > Uniden BC125AT

I just received subject radio from Universal Radio in Worthngton, OH.  Is there a quick way to program this radio for AAR channels and then lock out the ones I don't need right now.

Thank you,

John

You can search the entire RR band using the preprogrammed band search.  If you want to program the AAR channels into the memory bank, the quickest way to do it is to use the programming software available from the Uniden website, then add or delete channels to the memory scan function.  Note I said "quickest," not "quick."  You will have just under 200 frequencies to enter for the AAR "old" narrow-band and newer "splinter" channels.  It is possible to program the channels from the keypad, but it is very slow and very easy to make mistakes.  The good news is that, if you program all the AAR channels, you should only have to do it once.  

Thank you for your help.  Once I had the drivers installed on my hp laptop (win 10  pro), I put the channels I nededed in the "spreadsheet" and download the data to the radio.  Working at squelch level 2.  Radio has much bettter rejection of stray RF than my FX-270 has.John

Where on the Uniden website is this app? I have looked all over it and don't find any software related to the BC 125 AT.

Rmosele Wrote:
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> Where on the Uniden website is this app? I have
> looked all over it and don't find any software
> related to the BC 125 AT.

http://info.uniden.com/UnidenMan4/BC125AT 

Thanks, WW.

I have one-you will like it!
The channel identification feature is nice.

Mike Bannon
St Catharines, ON

Does the data on the attached image look okay? Reason fo asking is that radio doesn't pick up much versus my Yaesu FT-270.  I am located about 5 miles NE of DeLand, FL, Amtrak station and about 3 miles east of the railroad (CSX Sanford Sub).  My understanding is that only trains running on Sanford sub north of DeBary Sunrail station are Amtrak and CSX A766 local freight on Tuesdays.

John

 

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if iyou are using the stock antenna, it is very poor.  Get an antenna cut for 160MHz.  Smiley Antennas, or Larrsen.  or, get an Amatuer Ham antenna that is very close, and it will work better than the original.  I like Diamond for Ham antennas.

Thank you.  I now have the Smiley 160MHz antenna.  Somewhat better, can at least hear some voices, but not clear.  If I lower Squelch below Level 2, I get nothing but static.  Should this be the case?

John

Lower than number two is all static for my BC 125AT. I think that is normal.
Bob

WW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You can search the entire RR band using the
> preprogrammed band search.  If you want to
> program the AAR channels into the memory bank, the
> quickest way to do it is to use the programming
> software available from the Uniden website, then
> add or delete channels to the memory scan
> function.  Note I said "quickest," not "quick." 
> You will have just under 200 frequencies to enter
> for the AAR "old" narrow-band and newer "splinter"
> channels.  It is possible to program the channels
> from the keypad, but it is very slow and very easy
> to make mistakes.  The good news is that, if you
> program all the AAR channels, you should only have
> to do it once.  

I just spent the morning programming the 97 AAR frequencies into my new 125.  Is it really necessary to add the 99(?) splinter channels?  I don't want to miss important radio traffic, but the website where I got my frequency list mentioned that th the splinter frequencies weren't used much.  Won't the "Close Call" feature on the 125 pick up splinter frequency broadcasts?

We went into 'splinter' channels in this post:

Date: 04/21/19 11:26
Icom&Yaesu Handheld Ham Radios
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?9,4776558,4777381#msg-4777381

I'm standing by my comments about 'splinter' channel reception, I don't have any info on who is using splinter channels. I would tend to scan the whole RR band if I was worried about missing something, or discovering something not listed anywhere. My chasing and monitoring is mostly in the western North America and not in urban areas, your mileage may vary.

Bravo on entering all the channels.

I have the BC125AT software loaded on one of my PC's.  How do I make the radio go to the RR band and ignore the frequencies had have entered into Bands 1 and 2?

Also, in the software, there was a questoin about time for charging.  How does this really work.  What do I need to do to make radio get full charge.

Thank you,

John

I don't have one but have been reading a lot about them. Here's some info about Locking out channels, there's also some info about battery charging around pg 25, that's a pretty comprehensive manual btw:

Locking Out Channels
You can increase the scanning speed by locking out channels that have a continuous transmission such as a weather channel.While receiving a channel or while in Scan Hold mode, press L/O once to temporarily lock out the channel. Temporary L/Oand TL/O briefly appear in the display. Turning the scanner off clears the temporary lockout. Press L/O twice quickly to permanently lock out the channel. Locked Out and L/O briefly appear in the display. Turning the scanner off will NOT clear the lockout.If you lock out a channel in Scan mode, the scanner will resume scanning from the next channel.To Lock Out a Specific Channel

Enter the channel number you want to lock out and press Hold again. (You can also press Hold and scroll to the channel.)
3. Press L/O once to temporarily lockout or press L/O twice quickly to permanently lock out the channel.
Note: You can still manually select locked-out channels. If you lock out all channels in the selected bank, the scanner displays All Locked! on the second line.

Some charts, some s/w links and additional battery info in here:
http://info.uniden.com/twiki/pub/UnidenMan4/BC125AT/BC125AT.pdf

https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/BC125AT



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/20 14:16 by TCnR.

Here is how I have my channels entered (picture of sample page attached).  I enter the frequenies in the channel no. that the AAR channel would be the same (e.g., Radio Channel CH012 is AAR channel 012.  Entering all of the "regular" and splinter channels takes most of the first 3 banks in the radio, with a few empty channels spaces because of keeping with AAR numbering. (e.g., the first 6 channels in Bank 1 are blank because the US does not use the first 6 AAR channels).   ALL AAR analog channels in the US are narrow band, so setting the modulation to "NFM" may help the reception a little bit.  I usually initially program the radio with only a couple of channels not locked out.  Once one is using the radio, one can add channels to the scan list (unlocking them) as is needed.  I also have a 2 second delay before the radio resumes scanning--you miss fewer replies in a conversation that way.  As a parenthetical note, while many railroaders stil refer to the AAR channels using the older "wide-band" desigantion (e.g., "Channel 97"), the proper designation for the narrow-band AAR channels in use (since 2013) would be "097" in this example.  The three-digit description is what I use in the Channel Name field when programming the radio.  Also, almost NOONE, except railfans and radio techs refer to a railroad channel by its frequency--the AAR channel number is what is used.  For example, a 161.5650 mHz simplex channel (both transmit and receive frequency the same) would be Channel 097 097.  The first channel no. is the transmit channel, the second the receive channel.  For a repeater channel (different transmit and receive frequencies) the nos. are different. If for example, the transmit channel is AAR 036 and the recieve channel is 097, the number would be 036 097.  In these examples, railroaders often will still use the language "Go to channel 97 97," or "Go to channel 36 97."

For some of the other BC-125AT operation questions, here is a link to the manual:  http://info.uniden.com/twiki/pub/UnidenMan4/BC125AT/BC125AT.pdf 

 Yes, get a different antenna.  By personal preference is either the Smiley Slim Duck tuned to 160 mHz, or the Laird EXH-160, though finding the EXH-60 with a BNC connector is getting difficult.  I posted sometime back that I use a "stubby" 3.5" (not counting the BNC connector) antenna of "unknown pedigree" that works very well on the BC-125.   I inherited it in a box of radio equipment--no brand name, but the package indicated it is tuned for 155-165 mHz--it's probably close to 20 years old.  As I've posted earlier, get the leather case for the BC-125AT.  The BC-125AT plastic body is not that tough--protect the radio with the leather case.  As to the charging question, set the parameter in the radio to 14 hrs. when programming the radio.  That is how long it takes to fuily charge the radio (one of its few big drawbacks).  Carry extra rechargeable batteries and a quick charger for those when going out in the field.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/20 08:38 by WW.

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