Bearcat Bearcat 101 manual

[trentbob]

Good days, indeed!
Here in the Los Angeles area, Sheriff was 39 MHz, County FD was 154 MHz, CHP 45 MHz, LAPD 154 MHz and LA City FD 33 MHz. Small cities were usually either VHF Lo or VHF Hi. No UHF and certainly no trunking, digital or the dreaded "E". Even FBI and SS were (mostly) monitorable on the high end of VHF.

My next step up from the BC 101 was the BC 250! I still have one or two of my original 250's. We had some BC 300's at work, but I never put one in my mobile 'cause they were so BIG. Next came the BC 800 XLT then the BC 760 XLT (they were so small--had three in my mobile).

Believe it or not the first system I monitored in the 60s was a VHF High repeater system in the 154 and 155 megahertz area and the FBI was in the mid 160 megahertz area. It wasn't until a few years after that that I started monitoring VHF low simplex systems.

Something very attractive about those days and the systems that were used like that VHF High repeater like terrific, clear, trouble free communications that covered huge areas. My, how things have changed.

I really like this thread, great comments from everyone.

 

[MrColad]

Speaking of, anybody remember Bearcats first attempt at a true mobile scanner? The ads appeared to target the public safety sector and it worked for officers who were high up enough on the food chain to take their cars home. Only problem was the units were prone to overheating and various command staffs ordered the units removed as a fire safety factor. The keypads were prone to breakage, the power cord was attached to the PC board which made no sense. I think Bearcat kind of forgot to include an actual knob on the dimmer control too. Other then that it was a cool concept especially the 45 degree upward facing control panel. If I could find a working model I would definitely use it as a desktop especially with it's very small footprint.

 

[trentbob]

Yeah I still have that dog in the scanner boneyard in my garage.

Very poor performer, big speaker, couldn't have made the display smaller if they tried. It was green fluorescent though.

I do distinctly remember a hard to turn little stick in the upper right hand corner to dim the display?

That Puppy was Heavy too.

 

[trentbob]

Just another note, I remember the Bearcat 260 had a distinctive whine or dare I say hum that was directly related to the brightness of the display which was hard enough to see at full brightness but if you lowered the brightness the whine would get quieter, it still interfered with with receiving.

My feeling about mobile installations was I liked the diodes in a row with a tab for each Channel that would scan, like you had in the Bearcat 101. Some scanners had push buttons or slide switches under the diode but for mobile operation while driving that was the safest and most convenient way of adding and removing channels that you were scanning.

As I had mentioned the Bearcat 101 was not made for Mobile use as it was AC only but I had it in my car using a large converter on the back floor behind the driver seat. I would start the car, toggle the converter on and then turn the Bearcat 101 on. It worked great in the car.

 

[MrColad]

Just another note, I remember the Bearcat 260 had a distinctive whine or dare I say hum that was directly related to the brightness of the display which was hard enough to see at full brightness but if you lowered the brightness the whine would get quieter, it still interfered with with receiving.

My feeling about mobile installations was I liked the diodes in a row with a tab for each Channel that would scan, like you had in the Bearcat 101. Some scanners had push buttons or slide switches under the diode but for mobile operation while driving that was the safest and most convenient way of adding and removing channels that you were scanning.

As I had mentioned the Bearcat 101 was not made for Mobile use as it was AC only but I had it in my car using a large converter on the back floor behind the driver seat. I would start the car, toggle the converter on and then turn the Bearcat 101 on. It worked great in the car.

You had to really love a 101 to install that cinderblock in your car. Ha ha ha, lol.

 

[N4DJC]

@trentbob the Four Six TS was a cool scanner. A lightning fast 8 channels per second

 

[MrColad]

 

[MrColad]

The FourSix was definitely a class act. Sort off like portable scanner arm candy.

 

[trentbob]

I definitely have those blank Combs in the Boneyard but I don't think I could find them. LOL.

When my daughter told me that when I pass she's just going to hire a dumpster I made sure at least one friend would come and Rescue a few items.

The top picture is not the thin scan, the middle picture is an actual photo of the radio I had. Believe it or not over the years I got a few dents in that radio and it made no difference. I primarily used that on a UHF repeater for police.

Excellent reception, just using the antenna on the radio I would tuck that up in my sun visor attached to a remote speaker.

Just as with movies, they don't make them like that anymore. Thanks for the photo!

 

[MrColad]

I definitely have those blank Combs in the Boneyard but I don't think I could find them. LOL.

When my daughter told me that when I pass she's just going to hire a dumpster I made sure at least one friend would come and Rescue a few items.

The top picture is not the thin scan, the middle picture is an actual photo of the radio I had. Believe it or not over the years I got a few dents in that radio and it made no difference. I primarily used that on a UHF repeater for police.

Excellent reception, just using the antenna on the radio I would tuck that up in my sun visor attached to a remote speaker.

Just as with movies, they don't make them like that anymore. Thanks for the photo!

Thanks for picking that up. I tried to redact it but I guess the edit feature has a time limit.

 

[trentbob]

Thanks for picking that up. I tried to redact it but I guess the edit feature has a time limit.

yep you have 1/2 hour After your original post to edit. The top one was the four six just not the TS.

I just appreciate the photos. It's a lot of fun looking at old stuff I used to own. I still think that the Bearcat 101 was a thing of beauty not just the way it looked but what it actually did. That was a phenomenal accomplishment to develop that radio.

Thanks again for the photos!

 

[buddrousa]

My four six TS would eat batteries faster than I could afford them.

 

[trentbob]

My four six TS would eat batteries faster than I could afford them.

Haha yes I think I remember that budd, I used to slip that radio up in my visor where it fit really good using the rubber duck that came with it. Easy to reach the on-and-off volume wheel. Very sensitive receiver and that metal case took a beating, it had a few dings in it. It was a very fast scanner, like turboscan.