Uniden 2500 and 3000XLT handhelds differences and history

[danesgs]

I was wondering looking at both of these, other than the 2500XLT having an amber LED backlight these seem identical radios. I do not see the 2500XLT in the Uniden Wiki though. The knob functions are a little different as well and both were made in the Phillipines in 1994-1995. Was this the year that Uniden bought Beacat? They are both very sensitive MIL-AIR radios.

 

[trentbob]

I love scanner nostalgia oh, I started in the mid-60s around 10 or 11 years old before there was scanners, we used tunable monitors. A great company was the Electra bearcat company in Cumberland Indiana. They made the first Crystal controlled Bearcat scanners of which I owned most of them.

There has been some debate over this about Uniden purchased Electra in 1983. Electra made the Bearcat 100 which was the first handheld programmable keyboard scanner. That was before the transition and Uniden improved on that radio when they took over.

The Electra company made the first programmable scanner or I should say one of the first. The Bearcat 101. It used tabs and a programming book. I bought one in late 1974 for $399.99. They also made the first keyboard entry programmable scanner the Bearcat 210, RadioShack had their version made by GRE, that was around 1978... By the time we got to the Bearcat 210xlt, Uniden had taken over and was making their own radios. I had a bc 2500 XLT, it was a great radio, with superb reception and was pretty much identical to the 3000 but I believe the 3000 was a European version? Uniden scanners at that time were great! The only drawback was that battery pack, didn't last very long.

 

[danesgs]

I have both and so far they are lasting better than expected. RigPix shows both made in the Philipines but the 3000 could have been for the EU market, but usually its says that there. I think when I started in the mid 70's it was the early Radio Shack tunables but I did have som odd-ball ones like the Lafayette Micro-P50 which was low band VHF.

 

[trentbob]

I liked the Radio Shack tunables, I had a pro one vhf High, made by GRE Japan in the 60s, we didn't even have trade with China at that time until Richard Nixon went there in the late 60s and started trade agreements. That Pro one was solid, heavy Steel case with a great lit up slide rule dial, very sensitive and also had 2 crystal's.

I was an avid Lafayette shopper. They had a super store in Philadelphia. Those were the days.

 

[danesgs]

Some good memories

 

[pro92b]

The FCC site has no files for the BC2500XLT (AMWUB230)
The site does list the final action date as 03/09/1993

Communications Electronics Inc advertised the BC2500XLT
in Monitoring Times from January 1993 through October 1994.

Grove Enterprises advertised the BC2500XLT in the March 1993
issue of Monitoring Times.

Bob Grove reviewed the BC2500XLT in Monitoring Times,
September 1993.

Modifying the Uniden BearCat BC2500XLT
by Howard Bornstein and Russell Keating

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This article shows how to open up cell frequencies.
The last production run, date code OGID (7/1994),
is not modifiable.

Bob Parnass mentioned the BC2500XLT in his
Scanner Radio Review Briefs article.
"Plagued by intermod and images. Early units drained
batteries quickly even while turned off."

The BC2500XLT had a short production life of less than
two years. It was replaced by the BC3000XLT which had
a better reputation than the BC2500XLT. Communications
Electronics Inc advertised the BC3000XLT in Monitoring
Times from November 1994 through October 1999.

 

[danesgs]

I have both units, the 2500 and the 3000. I must have gotten a good unit as I don't seem to have the intermod problem and have the earlier modifiable version. It came with a hard wired 6 volt battery pack to a wall wart. Bought a replacement battery on Amazon and am not having the battery drain issue mentioned. The 3000XLT I think also had a EU model where the 2500 did not. Rigpix lists the BC3000 and later down the list UBC2500 and UBC3000 but no mention of a BC2500 so maybe I have something unique.

 

[vagrant]

I have the 2500xlt and purchased it new in 1994. The battery came and went, so I repacked it just once as later the alphanumeric scanners arrived. The repacked battery is long dead, so I use the wall wart to power it and still use it today 24/7. The sensitivity and selectivity are good so I use it to monitor one off frequencies instead of scanning. When the 3000 came out, I think the main difference was that it could scan faster.

I believe I paid around $500 for the 2500xlt new in 1993 or 1994. It was a major step up for me at the time with the number of banks/frequencies it could handle, plus the handheld size. I enjoyed it most every day. Back then one could monitor some cellular frequencies and mine was not modified. It was the later model as well. I can tell you it was a bit weird to listen to a persons phone call while watching them on a video system. Normally I would try to read their lips.

I recently purchased a Uniden 125AT for around $100 and while it has many improved features, the sensitivity is very similar, at least on UHF simplex where I compared the two. They both beat old Radio Shack branded scanners on RX.

 

[buddrousa]

If I remember the 3000 was an updated 2500 that could not be modified like the 2500 could.

 

[eorange]

I had the 3000 and really liked it. Ditto on the batteries and I ended up buying a new pack from Batteries America. The upper 900 MHz to low 1 GHz range pulled in crystal clear cell images. The scan speed was spectacular and was great for mil air. I used it for many years but eventually couldn't live without computer-assisted programing and no alpha tags, so I next bought a VR-500. I kept the 3000 for a while but eventually sold it - didn't need to keep the nostalgia and still got a good buck for it.

 

[Swipesy]

I think the first programmable scanner was the Tennelec manufactured in Oak Ridge Tenn in early 1974. I owned and still have a Tennelec Memorscan 2. Not sure about if it preceeded Electra Bearcat but was one of the first.

Tennelec - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org