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Subject: Scanner purchase                                                   
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Here are the files I mentioned before. This guy is the guru of gurus
in the field....

Enjoy
-----------------------------------------------------------------------


In article <1992Jun15.164147.7814@uwm.edu>, arsic@cs.uwp.edu (Dragan
Arsic) writes:

   > Any oppinions on UNIDEN BC 200XLT - $269.99 + S/H $6.50 ?????

Here is a review I published a few years ago:


                     UNIDEN/BEARCAT 200XLT
                         SCANNER REVIEW

                      by Bob Parnass, AJ9S

  For a long time now,  radio  enthusiasts  have  awaited  the
  arrival  of a decent portable scanner with 800 MHz coverage.
  Users had grown accustomed to the good sensitivity and reli-
  able  performance  found in portable models without 800 MHz,
  like  the  Uniden/Bearcat  100XL,   the   Azden-manufactured
  Regency  HX1500,  and  GRE-manufactured  Radio Shack PRO-30.
  Unfortunately,  early  800  MHz  models,   like   the   AOR-
  manufactured Regency HX2000 and HX2200 were disappointing.

  Now, the wait for a good 800 MHz portable is  over,  because
  the Bearcat 200XLT is here and it's a winner.


                            Physical

  The new Uniden/Bearcat 200XLT is manufactured in Taiwan, and
  looks identical to the  tall,  gray  100XLT.1  The  case  is
  entirely  plastic, and the battery and charging circuitry is
  contained in a slide on pack.  The differences  between  the
  200XLT  and  the  100XLT  are  in  800 MHz band coverage and
  number of channels (200 vs. 100).

  The "real" volume and squelch knobs on top have  a  positive
  feel, and there is little play in the squelch control.

  The closely spaced keys on the 200XLT keyboard are  made  of
  soft  rubber,  and are well labeled.  Marshmallow-like keys,
  combined with fat fingers, require extra care when  entering
  frequencies.   The  lack  of  a  "beep"  tone to confirm key
  depressions, and the  slight  amount  of  tactile  feedback,
  makes it necessary to watch the display to ensure you pushed
  the keys far enough.



  __________

   1. See "Uniden/Bearcat 100XLT Scanner Review," by Bob
      Parnass, AJ9S, in The Radio Enthusiast, March 1988.












                             - 2 -



                      Memory Organization

  As with the 100XLT, the 200XLT's strong point is the  amount
  and organization of its memory.  The 200 memory channels are
  divided into ten banks.

  Memory 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 1-20, Bank
  2  channels  21-40,  etc.   Regency  used "soft partitioned"
  banks in their HX1500  and  TS2  models,  but  the  peculiar
  Regency  system prevents channels from being locked out dur-
  ing a bank scan. Now that Uniden bought out Regency's consu-
  mer  line,  the  soft  bank concept may die with the current
  Regency models.

  The large channel banks do have  their  place,  particularly
  when scanning 800 MHz trunked systems and cordless phones.

  Banks aside, having 200 channels means no longer  having  to
  settle  for 10 or 16 most favored frequencies when away from
  home.  Now you can bring it all with you.  My  200XLT  banks
  are programmed with frequencies for different situations:

     - Bank 1: 20 of the most important frequencies for  local
       sheriff,  fire,  ham  repeater, plant security, etc.  I
       usually scan this bank unless I'm  hunting  around  for
       something else.

     - Banks 2, 3, 4: Government frequencies by agency.

     - Bank  5  contains  VHF-lo  and  VHF-hi  low  power  and
       itinerant  business frequencies.  Bank 6 contains simi-
       larly allocated UHF frequencies.  I  scan  these  banks
       when  I'm  at a shopping mall, fair, sporting event, or
       anywhere else I see walkie-talkies in use.

     - Bank 7: Just the frequencies I want to monitor while in
       the office.

     - Bank 8: Police, fire, and emergency services for  other
       communities  in this part of the state.  There's almost
       always something happening on these channels,  even  in
       the wee hours of the morning, when my county is asleep.

  The remaining banks leave 40 channels  just  for  trial-and-
  error searching!

  The 200XLT scans at 15 channels/second, about twice as  fast
  as  Radio Shack's top of the line PRO-32 handheld.  When the
  200XLT is powered  on  it  always  comes  up  scanning  with











                             - 3 -



  priority off.

  The LCD display panel contains all the usual indicators, and
  can  be  back lit for 15 seconds with a green light when the
  proper button is pressed.


                          Innovations

  Both  the  200XLT  and  100XLT  feature  set   include   new
  surprises.   The  first  channel  of  each  active bank is a
  priority channel, making 10 priority channels in all.  There
  are  10 levels of priority.  For example, channel 1 priority
  takes precedence over priority channel 11, which takes  pre-
  cedence over priority channel 21, etc.  When the priority is
  switched on, the 200XLT samples all  the  unlocked  priority
  channels (in active banks) every 2 seconds.

  I program the first channel  of  each  bank  with  the  most
  important  frequency  for  that bank.  The priority sampling
  does appear to "chop up" signals a little more than on older
  models that sample only a single priority channel.  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 positioned 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 200XLT that has already been programmed in another
  memory channel, the display will flash the channel number in
  which  the  frequency  has already been programmed.  One can
  override by depressing ENTER again, and the  frequency  will
  be stored in the current channel.

  This "query" feature is great - especially in a scanner with
  so much memory.

  There is a single button to  search  all  VHF  NOAA  weather
  channels,   a   feature  now  commonplace  on  newer  UNIDEN
  scanners.


                          Battery Pack

  The 200XLT comes with a BP-200  7.2  V  Sanyo  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











                             - 4 -



  back  of  the  pack.  The pack is not supposed to be opened,
  but the curious need only remove 2 screws.  Inside, are  the
  charging components (regulator circuit), and 6 AA size Sanyo
  cells wrapped in yellow heat shrunk plastic.

  The BP-200 battery pack has a 600 mAH capacity, whereas  the
  BP-205  (supplied with my 100XLT) contained batteries inter-
  nally marked 550 mAH.

  When you buy the 200XLT, the 16 hour wall  power  supply  is
  furnished,  and  is  marked 12 VDC 500 mA.  The wall unit is
  not a charger - the regulator/charging circuit  is  actually
  inside the battery pack and uses the 12 VDC furnished by the
  wall power supply for charging the NiCds at  60  mA.   Since
  the  200XLT  draws  about  60 mA while scanning (while fully
  squelched), the  batteries  will  not  be  charging  if  the
  scanner is on while the power supply is connected.  To depo-
  sit a net charge into  the  batteries,  the  radio  must  be
  turned off.

  The radio can be used with the wall power  supply  when  the
  batteries  are  dead,  but  unlike  older crystal controlled
  portables, there is no easy way to power the scanner  exter-
  nally,  while  effectively  charging  the  internal battery.
  Neither is there a way to  fast  charge  the  supplied  NiCd
  pack,  and  the manual cautions against leaving the supplied
  power pack plugged in for long periods  of  time  (I  assume
  Uniden means with the scanner OFF).

  A PS-001 mobile power cord is available for $4 from  UNIDEN,
  as is a spare antenna.

  The owner's guide says to expect "up to 5 hours  of  depend-
  able  use"  between  charges.   Now 5 hours isn't enough for
  many scanner buffs, but perhaps UNIDEN's idea is  to  stimu-
  late  demand  for  extra  BP-200 slide-on battery packs.  My
  200XLT was used for about 7 to 8 hours  before  the  battery
  indicator began to flash, but Dan Doyle reports he gets only
  5 hours between charges.  It is the  audio  amplifier  stage
  that  draws  the  most current, so battery life is dependent
  upon channel  activity,  and  the  volume  control  setting.
  Using  an earphone, which draws less current than a speaker,
  can mean longer battery life.


                          Great Audio

  The audio output is rated at 480 milliwatts.   As  with  the
  100XLT,  the  200XLT audio sounds great!  There is plenty of
  undistorted audio available from the front speaker, making a
  Radio Shack PRO-30 sound like a whisper.











                             - 5 -



                      Inside Construction

  The internal  construction  of  the  200XLT  is  clean,  but
  thoughts  of  home  repair  vanish  as soon as one opens the
  200XLT 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 the IF and 800 MHz front end circuits are
  on small circuit boards,  mounted  vertically  on  the  main
  audio/RF board.  The PLL is on another small board.


                       How Does It Work?

  My first 200XLT had a problem.  The  squelch  threshold  was
  different  for different bands, and had too much hysteresis,
  which caused it to skip over VHF signals and  stop  only  on
  UHF  signals.   This  is  probably  caused  by misalignment,
  rather than a design flaw, as four friends with 200XLTs  had
  no  such problems.  Grove Enterprises graciously swapped the
  defective radio  for  another  brand  new  200XLT,  and  the
  exchange took about a week using UPS shipping.

  The squelch action on the new 200XLT  is  quite  good,  much
  better  than  on the 760XLT and PRO-2004, both of which have
  too much hysteresis.   UHF  sensitivity  is  excellent,  and
  while  I  don't often listen to aircraft, the sensitivity in
  the AM aircraft band appears adequate.

  Using an outside antenna, the 200XLT is  sometimes  bothered
  by  the obnoxious 300 watt paging transmitter nearby, but so
  was my 800XLT on  an  indoor  whip.   Expecting  a  portable
  scanner  to  behave well on an outside antenna may be asking
  too much.

  Most  every  superheterodyne  receiver  has  birdies,  those
  places  on  the dial where the receiver "hears itself."  The
  200XLT owner's guide does  not  list  birdies,  but  they're
  there.  Many of the birdies are weak, and disappear when the
  heliflex antenna is replaced with an outdoor antenna.

  The first IF is 10.85 MHz, and the second  IF  is  450  KHz.
  Images  of  stations  in  the  UHF range were noted 21.7 MHz
  higher than their assigned frequencies. The  cellular  tele-
  phone  bands are disabled, but strong cellular phone signals
  are heard 21.7 MHz higher than  their  assigned  frequencies
  anyway.   Some  people  might  consider  this  an advantage!
  Besides, there's not much activity above 892 MHz  to  listen
  to yet.











                             - 6 -



  The 200XLT hears TV stations where they shouldn't  be  -  in
  the  850  and  890  MHz bands - thanks to multiple injection
  into the mixer stage, no doubt.

  Scanners  sold  by  Grove  Enterprises  are  supplied   with
  instructions  detailing  how  to restore cellular phone band
  coverage.  The instructions  for  the  200XLT  just  involve
  crushing one resistor, but I haven't tried this.

  Both my 200XLTs were a few kHz off frequency in the 800  MHz
  band.   Weak  signals were slightly distorted, and using the
  search feature revealed an asymmetry - I could hear the sta-
  tion  +12.5  kHz  stronger than -12.5 kHz away from what was
  supposed to be the center frequency.

  Having no schematic, I deduced that the  orange  non-ceramic
  trimmer  capacitor on the PLL board (the board with the hor-
  izontal crystal on top of the IC) determined the PLL  refer-
  ence  frequency.   I  programmed a frequency near 850 MHz on
  the  200XLT,  then  adjusted  the  trimmer  capacitor  while
  listening  to the local oscillator signal 10.85 MHz lower on
  my ICOM R-7000.  The discriminator meter on the R-7000 makes
  that  radio a great test instrument, but be sure your R-7000
  is properly aligned before using it to align other radios!


                          What You Get

  Like the 100XLT, the 200XLT comes with a leather-like  case,
  but  it's  gray  instead of black.  The case has openings in
  all the right places, so one can charge the battery  without
  removing the radio from the case.  There is a belt loop sewn
  on the back, but a user must unfasten his/her belt to thread
  it  through the loop, a big inconvenience.  The scanner can-
  not be left standing up while in the case, because the  case
  bottom is rounded.

  There is no belt clip on the 200XLT.  To carry  the  scanner
  on  my belt, I use a yuppie-ish Bianchi, hand-tooled leather
  case, made for the old Kenwood TR2400.  My wife  bought  the
  used case at a hamfest for $1.50.

  The 200XLT also comes with an AC wall adapter, an  earphone,
  and a helical antenna blessed with a BNC connector.

  UNIDEN scanners no longer come with an owner's  manual,  but
  with  a  difficult  to  use  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, but
  you can order it.2












                             - 7 -



                           Summing Up

  The UNIDEN 200XLT works well.  It scans fast,  sounds  good,
  and  excels  in  the  amount  and organization of its memory
  channels.  The 800 MHz  coverage,  multiple  priority,  fre-
  quency  finding,  and slide-on battery pack features make it
  the "Lincoln Town Car" of portable scanners.

  So far, the 200XLT is the best handheld  scanner  I've  ever
  used.   Now  I'm  waiting for Radio Shack to shrink the PRO-
  2004, so we can enjoy continuous  frequency  coverage  in  a
  portable scanner!


-- 
==============================================================================
Bob Parnass, AJ9S - AT&T Bell Laboratories - att!ihlpm!parnass - (708)979-5414

Xref: ucla-mic alt.radio.scanner:962 rec.radio.shortwave:7906