BC125AT: New BC125AT

[Trucker700]

In a moment of weakness, I ordered a BC125AT off of Amazon a couple of days ago. It arrived yesterday evening. When powered on it said everything was locked! I hit the lock button, but nothing changed. Finally, I dimly remembered that I probably needed to reset the radio. I looked online and found the key combination to hold When powering on the radio to reset it. That worked great. I decided to do a service search for Airband. ( my main reason for buying it) With the stock antenna indoors or out it was pretty deaf. I switched to my Diamond RH77CA and the radio came to life. Even indoors it receives well.
Outside it even picks up the automated terminal information from a small airport about 5 miles away.
My other scanners, including a BCD160DN cannot receive that weak signal.
What really surprised me is how good the audio is from the small internal speaker. I think it sounds better than the BCD160DN. While the BC125AT doesn't have all of the features of the BCD160DN, it certainly isn't a bad radio at all.
I have found that the BCD160DN picks up a lot of noise indoors . The BC125AT doesn't seem to let that stuff through so easily. Quite a good radio in a small package.
( and another addition to my scanner collection)
James

 

[kc2asb]

Congrats! Excellent information about the RF performance vs the 160DN. The 125AT definitely appears to be a lot of bang for the buck.

 

[vagrant]

I have three and they are a favorite for analog, in particular Mil Air. I have a handful of filters inline due to RFI problems, but they perform well. Their low cost is a bonus. I also use the USB port for direct power.

Other analog only scanners I no longer use, or gave away…except for a Uniden 2500XLT. I am pleased with the results, but it is dedicated to single frequency use.

 

[spongella]

I've owned one for several years and it's a great performer.

 

[Scan125]

FYI the "All Locked Out" was because you had no data in the Scan banks or all the data there was deselected. Search and Service scans will always work on a new BC125 scanner.

 

[D31245]

Good choice. Glad you are enjoying radio.

 

[Trucker700]

FYI the "All Locked Out" was because you had no data in the Scan banks or all the data there was deselected. Search and Service scans will always work on a new BC125 scanner.

Except, it would not let me do a Service search. I tried that before doing the reset. Once I reset the radio I was able to do a Service search.
James

 

[Scan125]

Except, it would not let me do a Service search. I tried that before doing the reset. Once I reset the radio I was able to do a Service search.
James

OK. Don't think Ive seen this issue reported before. Thanks for the update.

 

[Trucker700]

Spent the better part of yesterday evening comparing the BC125AT, BCD160DN and my BCD436HP on Airband. Very informal test using the Diamond RH77CA on each radio. All three radios seem to be very close as far as reception. ( I was sitting on the patio) I had the BCD436HP setup to just search Airband using the database. And the other two radios using the Service search feature. Certainly not a balanced comparison. But, all three radios could hear the same things with basically the same signal strength. I did find that the BC125AT has a slight edge in receive audio quality. But, not really dramatic.
Once I turned off Close Call in the BC125AT, I found that scanning speed between it and the BCD160DN to be the same. ( I had noticed that the BC125AT would pause momentarily during scanning)
The BCD436HP does take longer to boot up. ( I know why) But, once it gets to scanning the database it is quite fast. The receive audio isn't quite as good as the other two radios. But, it still sounds very good.
I didn't compare my SDS100 as I have found it to not be a great Airband receiver. It's not horrible, it just seems to miss things that the BCD436HP catches. It's great on everything else. But, now that nearly all of the public services like Fire and PD in my area have or are in the process of, switching to the big E, it is more scanner than I need. I did use it in an 18 wheeler for a few years before I retired. It worked well. But, now I am focusing on Civil and Mil air. Plenty to listen to every day.
James

 

[Scan125]

Nice report / comparison. I've got the UBC125XLT and compare it to the Yaesu 250.

Now the Yaesu is approved/certified air band transceiver, ruggedise d, waterproof etc, pucker Li-Ion battery etc. and unlike many scanners gets the 8.33kHz absolutely correct (as one would expect for a piece of kit that pilots etc. use).

The Yaesu speaker audio quality a poor by comparison to the 125. However I suspect that the audio quality for pilots headsets is going to be excellent and I've seen no bad comments on the Web.

The Yaesu 250 will scan but the scan rate is very slow compared to the 125. That said 'scanning' is not something most pilots/commercial users will be doing.

A nice feature of the 250 is the Dual Watch for 121.5. That said you can program the equivalent into many scanners.

Also with the 250 there is no Close Call a feature many users of scanners appreciate when visiting new locations.

With the 250 the keypad is smaller and this I think is typical of the difference compared to scanners.

I post this as a general comment of Scanner vs Commercial Airband Transceiver.

My previous comments about Yaesu API was that I was hoping to do a program like Scan125 to give full virtual control over the 250 like I have done for the Uniden 125/75 kit and the Alinco DX-R8.

 

[K5MPH]

Yeah these are great Aircraft Rx scanners have had mine for years.......

 

[RCjim]

Glad to hear your story for me the 125 wins hands down against my 160! Volume on the 125 set to 10 out performs the 160 set at 15! Backlight on 125 stays on way longer than the 160 when set to squelch, screen brightness 160 when outside I can’t read the display on my 125’s I can! Yes the 160 does DMR and it works great for me, but the 125 is the scanner I depend on if I’m not in Simulcast country and then it’s my SDS100.