Uniden-Bearcat UBC100XLT reviews

I can't remember when I got mine, but it was new, and a long time ago! . Had a lot of use at the time and apart from dodgy connection between battery pack and body has fired up fine. If battery is allowed to get too low, memory seems to remain but all channels go to L/O (locked out). Tell Elmer its an easy job to open up the battery pack and replace the cells. With todays high capacity recharbles he will be surprised how long it will run.
Only gripe thats not the gears fault, the only online manuals are all the same lousy scan, only just readable. You need a manual as a little clunky on the programming.

Being a scanner from the 1980's, the word 'vintage' definitely does apply. I bought my UBC100XLT at a flee market for 2 euros. The owner couldn't tell me if it was working or not, but for 2 euros I'm not going to be picky.
Well, it is still working okay, except for the batteries. The NiCd cells (AA) are leaking and beyond repair. Guess for the time being I'll just have to use the UBC100 connected to a wall socket.

Sensitivity is quite good, considering the age of the rig. Also, 100 memory channels is very nice. For a handheld receiver, it is large. Quite a bit larger than more recent receivers. But I do like the solid feel when handling it. The volume and squelch knobs are a bit on the small side though.

I took a look at the inside of the receiver. It looks like it just came out of the factory. I'm pretty sure I'm the first person to ever open this example. If you plan to add a discriminator output to the UBC100, that's not a problem. The IF stage is easy accessible. Only thing is you have to connect your output to a SMD chip, to it will take a steady hand on the soldering iron.

All in all, not bad for 2 euros!