An oldie but a goldie
I'm after a copy of the service manual, but at least the schematics would be great.
Some hours of googling haven't turned up either, apart from some repair info documents.
No issues with the unit yet, but I like to be prepared ...
Damien,
Yes, the Uniden Bearcat BC-800XLT is an oldie but a goldie, for sure!
I've still got two BC-800XLTs in my ham shack and they both work for the most part. Sensitivity is degraded and they have the "Blank Display" issue when you first turn them on (reference Monitoring Times, March 1996, Page 100) but will start working after being on for about 5 to 10 minutes.
Like you, I've only found bits-n-pieces of information on the repair of the BC-800XLT. Due to its age and the fact that I have a Uniden BCD536HP now, it is not really worth the expense to have Uniden refurbish the unit to bring it back up to factory specifications.
On the other hand, it would be nice to take what information is available on the Internet and since I believe the printed circuit board (PCB) is single-sided, it may not be too hard to sketch out key areas of the schematic for purposes of fixing the "Blank Display" issue, aligning the receiver section, etc. If you would be interested in undertaking that project with me, we may be able to pull enough information together and figure out the missing parts that would allow us to do a basic maintenance operation on the scanner. I realize that your scanner must be working but if it has not been aligned since it was born, I would venture to say that the receiver section is degraded like mine.
Let me know if you would like to work together in the true spirit of ham radio and get the classic BC-800XLT back up to factory specifications as near as is possible.
One last comment is this. In the following Radio Reference post:
UNIDEN 800XLT
BWRIGHT54 does state "i downloaded a schematic and had it fixed in no time." I have not contacted BWRIGHT54 to ask about what schematic he was referring to.
73, Dave Hamm K4EET
