
          UNIDEN/BEARCAT 100XLT SCANNER PREVIEW

                  by Bob Parnass, AJ9S

OK, so I couldn't resist  -  I  bought  another  scanner.
This time it's the brand new UNIDEN/Bearcat 100XLT porta-
ble, and I'm here to give you a sneak preview.

                        Physical

The new 100XLT looks nothing like the 100XL or  the  ori-
ginal  Bearcat  100.   Rather,  it looks identical to the
200XLT that everyone's asking about  -  tall,  thin,  and
entirely gray plastic.  The keys on the keyboard are made
of soft rubber, and most are well labeled.

The "real" volume and squelch knobs on top are a  welcome
The "real" volume and squelch knobs on top are a  welcome
change  from  the  side mounted, dust vulnerable knobs on
the 70XLT.

The difference between the 100XLT and 200XLT  appears  to
be  that the 100XLT has 100 channels and excludes the 800
MHz band.

The 100 memory  channels  are  divided  into  10  channel
banks.   Of course, banks and channels may be selected or
locked out.  The banks are "hard partitioned", just  like
Bearcat scanners of old.  By this I mean, Bank 1 includes
channels 1-10, Bank 2 channels 11-20,  etc.   Regency  is
using  "soft  partitioned"  banks in their HX1500 and TS2
models, but the peculiar Regency system prevents channels
from being locked out during a bank scan.

The LCD panel has all the usual indicators,  and  can  be
back  lit  with  a  green light when the proper button is
from being locked out during a bank scan.

The LCD panel has all the usual indicators,  and  can  be
back  lit  with  a  green light when the proper button is
pressed.
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BC100XLT.2
                       Innovations

The 100XLT feature set includes new surprises.  The first
channel of each active bank is a priority channel, making
10 priority channels in all.  There doesn't appear to  be
10  levels  of  priority, but channel 1 priority seems to
take precedence over the other priority  channels.   When
the  priority  is switched on, the 100XLT samples all the
priority channels every 2 seconds.   When  the  power  is
turned  off,  then  on  again,  the  priority key must be
pressed manually.

Let's see, did I program in that  new  K-Mart  frequency,
154.6  MHz  somewhere?  Just type 154.6, ENTER when posi-
tioned to a channel you don't care  about,  and  the  LCD
will  display  "CH 29", for instance, if you already have
154.6 MHz in channel 29.

Stated a different way, if one tries to type a  frequency
into  the  100XLT  that  has  already  been programmed in
another memory channel, the display will flash  in  which
Stated a different way, if one tries to type a  frequency
into  the  100XLT  that  has  already  been programmed in
another memory channel, the display will flash  in  which
channel  it  has  been  programmed.   One can override by
depressing ENTER again, and the frequency will be  stored
in the current channel.

This is a great feature, especially in a scanner with  so
much memory.
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BC100XLT.3
                    NiCd Battery Pack

The 100XLT comes with a 7.2 V 600 mAH battery pack  which
slides onto the bottom of the radio.  There is a charging
jack, marked 12 VDC, and a red charging LED on  the  back
of  the pack.  The pack is not supposed to be opened, but
the curious need only remove 2  screws.   Inside  is  the
charging  components, and 6 AA size cells wrapped in heat
shrunk plastic.

When you buy the 100XLT, the 16 hour wall charger adapter
is  supplied, and is marked 12 VDC 500 mA.  There appears
no way to fast charge the supplied  NiCd  pack,  and  the
manual  cautions  against  leaving  the  supplied charger
plugged in for long periods of time.

no way to fast charge the supplied  NiCd  pack,  and  the
manual  cautions  against  leaving  the  supplied charger
plugged in for long periods of time.

The radio can be used with the wall charger when the bat-
teries are dead, but unlike older crystal controlled por-
tables, there is no easy way to power the scanner  exter-
nally, without charging the internal battery.

A PS-001 mobile power cord is available from  UNIDEN,  as
is a spare antenna.

The owner's guide says to expect "up to 5 hours of depen-
dable use" in between charges.  Now 5 hours is a lot less
than what scanner buffs want, but perhaps  UNIDEN's  idea
is  to stimulate demand for extra BP-205 slide on battery
packs.

              Memory Backup - Unimpressive

Having 100 memory  channels  is  great,  especially  when
thoughtfully partitioned into 10 banks.  It takes time to
program a scanner with so many channels, so you  wouldn't
want to do this often.

A weak point of the 100XLT is that  the  memory  is  only
backed  up  for  30  minutes by a capacitor when the NiCd
battery pack goes dead.

Take the scanner outside for an afternoon of  fun.   When
the  BATTERY  warning blinks, do you have only 30 minutes
to find an AC outlet?  The manual claims the scanner will
shut  itself  down  automatically if the warning has been
flashing for 10 minutes, but it's not  clear  how  "dead"
the NiCd is by then.
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BC100XLT.4
                       Great Audio

The audio output is rated  at  480  milliwatts,  but  who
believes  manufacturers'  specifications  any  more?  The
good news is that the  100XLT  sounds  great!   There  is
plenty  of  undistorted  audio  available  from the front
speaker,  making  a  Radio  Shack  PRO-30  sound  like  a
whisper.

                   Inside Construction

The internal construction of the 100XLT looks very clean,
but  thoughts  of home repair vanish as soon as one opens
the 100XLT case.  Tiny surface mount  components  abound.
You  won't  find  these  parts  at  Radio  Shack, and you
wouldn't want to solder them in anyway.

The 2 main circuit boards are surrounded by  an  internal
metal  frame,  and a few small circuit boards are mounted
vertically on the main audio/RF board.

I did see  what  appeared  to  be  "jumper"  diodes,  but
resisted  the  temptation to cut them.  Maybe one expands
memory capacity to 200 channels?

                    How Does It Work?

Truth be told, it is just too early to say how well  this
radio hears.  UHF sensitivity seems very good, but sensi-
tivity in the AM aircraft band needs more testing.

Using an outside antenna, the 100XLT is  sometimes  both-
ered  by  the  obnoxious  300+  watt  paging  transmitter
nearby, but so is my 800XLT on an indoor whip.  Expecting
a  portable  scanner to behave well on an outside antenna
may be asking too much.  More evaluation needs to be done
here also.

                      What You Get

The 100XLT comes  with  a  reasonably  good  leather-like
case,  a  wall  charger/AC adapter, an earphone, and what
appears to be a VHF  high  band  heliflex  antenna.   The
antenna is blessed with a BNC connector.

UNIDEN scanners no longer come with  an  owner's  manual,
but  with  a  fold  out  sheet instead.  The instructions
aren't great, but will tell you most of what you need  to
know.  Of course, you don't get a schematic.


