Uniden BC8500XLT

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EarleH

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Jan 16, 2008
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Texas
I need some help. Being almost 80, and have not been into scanning. I had a PRO 2004 that I cooked while trying to install a back light. Should have pulled the plug instead of just turning off. Anyway, been looking for something to occupy my time, so I drug out my Cobra and Scanner of which could have died from being unused! A friend has offered to sell me a BC8500XLT for well under a hundred. I have scoured the internet for info. Needless to say there is very little info out there. Seems Uniden quickly went to the BC 9000XLT. Listen, I don't need anything fancy, in fact we live in a rural area and I don't even know if I can pick up anything. So will I be happy with it? Earle
 

mciupa

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Nov 5, 2002
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Hi EarleH ,welcome to RadioReference :)

If you are in a rural area and trunking systems are not used out your way then it should do fine. A bonus is the Military Air band in the 200 to 400 MHz range.

Only drawback I heard was that since it is a double conversion scanner , it may be prone to picking up some unwanted "crap" that the newer triple conversion scanners would filter out.

Under a hundred bucks... why not ?
 

kingpin

Trailer Park Supervisor
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Mar 2, 2004
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426
Location
Seattle, WA
I had one of these. Bought it new in 94 for $369 from Scanner World in NY. I sold i two years ago so it was in service for almost 12 years. The backlight went out after 10 years but, well, who can blame it? LOL

It's a fine scanner for conventional systems. I never had any problems with overloading from other nearby frequencies. I used mine mainly for Military air. The Alpha Tags were a new thing back then and this one will allow 250 channels to be alpha tagged. I put a discriminator tap in mine and it worked well with ACARS data, POCSAG, ect....

Getting it for under $100? Go with it man. That's a good deal. I miss mine everytime I sit down at the radio desk.
 
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