Uniden BC890XLT Questions

[chadbyoung]

Hello all

Does anyone have a pdf copy of the owners manual for the Uniden BC890XLT?
-Could you post a link or PM me with a copy?

Does the Uniden BC890XLT recieve trunked systems, manily EDACS?

Can you share your likes and dislikes about the scanner.

Thanks For the help
Chad

 

[ka3jjz]

As I recall, not a particular favorite of the scanning community. Like it's RS cousin, very prone to images and overloading. It's brother, the 895 was far and away better, and was the first desktop trunktracker. 73 Mike

 

[tonsoffun]

As Mike mention, mine was prone to overload and I got rid of it. I could not find a manual on the Uniden site for the 890xlt but did find the manual for the 895xlt, that might give you some help.
Of coarse the 890xlt does not have trunking abilities like the 895xlt.
Here is the link:
http://www.uniden.com/pdf/BC895XLTom.pdf
Take care

 

[af5rn]

I too have been unable to find a manual for mine. It's not on the Uniden site, but the 895 manual is, which is what I use for now. Scanner World sells the 890 manual:

http://www.scannerworld.com/content/product/model/OMBC890XLT

Dislikes? That would take too much bandwidth. I got this thing dirt cheap in a returns bin at a discount store. It sure wasn't worth full price.
1. Universal delay is the stupidest idea I have ever seen on a scanner. WTF? Had I know it did that, I never would have bought this, even cheaply!
2. Even with the 12.5 and 2.5khz tuning steps, you still can't program some of the odd frequencies, and have to settle with "close enough".
3. Good sensitivity, but horrible rejection. Even in low RF areas, the bleedover tears up reception on this thing.
4. Just like in the 760, they put a place to plug in a PL decoder on this thing, yet never made the damn boards available anywhere. Just put the thing in there! Everybody needs it!
5. Ergonomically, the faceplate sucks. The programming keys are right up against the big ass tuning knob, so a right hander can't hardly program it unless he's sitting off to the left. The layout just makes no sense.
6. The annoying "SCAN SCAN SCAN SCAN" rolling text across the screen when scanning.
7. Not enough channels for such a big scanner.
8. Limited frequency coverage range. Would be nice if it at least went down to 11 metres.

Pros?
1. Nice loud, clear, top-fire speaker.
2. Turbo scan speed. Very quick for it's time.
3. Tuning wheel is nice for searching small ranges, or trying to track down bleedover. Would be better if it tuned in smaller steps though.
4. At least it had the capability for PL, even if nobody ever did actually carry the boards.

That's about it. I'm probably going to replace this thing with a couple of 898s for my conventional scanning and on-the-fly searching. Even though you can get the BCT-15 for about the same money, the 898 is a lot easier to program and work with, and is better for on-the-fly work.

And yes, it does receive trunking. But it will not follow the conversations. It will only scan the frequencies conventionally.

 

[radiocacher]

This scanner doesn't seem to find much love amongst scanner enthusiasts but in my experience, it's not that bad. The optional CTCSS board makes a WORLD of difference and it's like a different machine when it is installed. Another thing is not to overdo it when it comes to antennas and it will work fine.

 

[k3cfc]

Look at this for a manual.

http://www.repeater-builder.com/uniden/pdf/uniden-bearcat-bc890xlt-owners-man.pdf