800 xlt setup help

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mamabauman1

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I just purchased a 800 xlt scanner for my mother. She is homebound & enjoysthe company she gets from her scanner. However, no instructiuons were included & I need to program this I am guessing? Can anyone give me tips as to what I need to do? Thanks!!!!!!!
 

W8RMH

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What state, county, city, agencies, etc. does she want to hear?

If they are conventional VHF, UHF, 800 you may be able to receive them.

That scanner is 1985 technology. Radio systems have changed a lot over the last thirty years and the 800XLT may not be able receive them.
 

fredg

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Assuming this is your scanner: RigPix Database - Bearcat/Uniden - BC-800XLT

Your 800 XLT was a very desirable scanner at one time as I believe the analog cellular frequencies were not blocked. (That feature is now useless as cell phones are now digital, also it is illegal to listen to cell phone calls (it was not illegal at the time this scanner was released as cell phones were few and far between and the law had not been written yet)

While it is 800Mhz it does not do trunking or digital (the new stuff a lot if not most areas are now using).

Here are the freq ranges: 29-54 / 118-135 / 136-174 / 406-512 / 800-912 MHz

You have 40 channels.

Note there are two antenna jacks in the rear. One is for VHF/UHF and one is for 800 MHz. Hopefully your scanner came with both.

It is very easy to program.

1) Press "Manual"
2) Press number "1"
3) Press "Manual" again

The scanner should now be on Channel 1

4) Simply enter the frequency you want to program, note the decimal point by the zero key.
5) Press the "E" button to enter the frequency into the scanner
6) Press "Manual" to advance to channel 2
7) Program the next channels the same way.

Press SCAN to start scanning!

Other info... The "DLY" button will add a 2 second delay to any channel. Press "Manual" to get to the channel you want to add a delay to and then press "DLY"

The "PRI" button in Priority, when pressed the scanner will check for traffic on channel 1 every few seconds regardless of what the scanner is doing (kind of a worthless feature in my opinion) if you notice the scanner "blipping" back to channel one or acting weird, it's probably because Priority has been turned on. The screen will display "PRI" when on, just press the button to turn it off.

The L/O button is "Lockout" you can lockout any channel that you do not want to scan or listen to. Say you only enter 10 frequencies you would want to lockout the others so the scanner skips them.

This scanner also has 2 "Banks", meaning the 40 channels are broke up into two sections of 20 channels each. Pressing the 20 button turns on and off the first bank pressing 40 turns on and off the second bank, unless you have frequencies programed past channel 20 you can ignore the 40 button. I believe by default Bank 2 (40 button) is off when the scanner is first turned on.

There is also a search function, but you will probably never use it. Just go to the Database here on RR and look up your area, hopefully you will find something that is not trunked or digital. (Technically you can listen to analog trunked with this scanner, I do it all the time with a non-trunking 800MHz scanner, but it can be a pain and might be confusing)

Hope that helps!
 
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mamabauman1

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thank you both for the MUCH needed help. Stumbled across this forum & was so happy I did. I am completely outta my loop here. Was just trying to help Mom out. She has alzheimers & is home bound. However, loves her scanner. It keeps her in the gossip! haha If by chance this scanner I got off ebay doesnt work, could you suggest one I could purchase for her. It has to be the simplest possible. As in, I set it & she doesnt ever have to change anything! She just cannot perform those kind of tasks anymore. Thanks in advance.
 

fredg

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Before we can recommend anything we need to know the area your mom lives in, City and State. Then we can see what the local services are running for radios and then suggest a scanner.
 
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