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Review on Uniden Bearcat Scanner with FM Radio πŸ“» - 500 Channels, Model BC365crs: The Ultimate Scanning Power by Noah Lewis

Revainrating 3 out of 5

Stop complaining about missing cable channels!

For beginners, the sound quality can be improved. My PDA sounds better and even has a bigger speaker. This speaker is tiny. Don't complain about the lack of trunking ability. You get what you pay for! Trunked scanners typically cost $300 to $500. For the roughly $60 you're paying, don't expect a digital or trunk connection. The BNC antenna will fall down if you do not position the antenna horizontally. The bayonet slots had to be oriented differently to allow the antenna to stand on its own. There are very good memory banks for scanning (10 banks x 50) channels. FM radio is 3 banks x 10 which makes me wonder why is FM a feature at all? I believe since the scanner covers these frequencies it may also contain an intermediate band. It has a wide frequency range. Given the sound quality, I doubt anyone would want to listen to music. I can understand including NOAA weather; and FM? Why clock radio? I'm not sure I want to wake up to reports of an MVA on the highway with possible casualties. IDK. As I mentioned before, it covers a wide spectrum: HF, VHF, UHF. 10m, 6m, VHF, Broadcast, 2m, 70cm, GMRS, Police, Fire Brigade, EMS, Business Land Mobile, Maritime, MURS. Hell, that even applies to cordless phones and baby monitors! Good fast scan times. The instructions are not well written. I had to read it many times. Don't complain about frequencies that aren't pre-programmed. How can a seller or manufacturer know in which area someone will use it? Impossible. Tip: Search the FCC ULS database to find the frequencies you need. (FCC.GOV) Bottom Line: You get what you pay for. PS: DON'T YOU DARE to use the antenna to transmit! First, the connector is not a true BNC connector. It only looks like BNC. It doesn't connect to a real BNC. Second, the SWR is BAD BAD BAD, it gave me a 5.1 to 1 ratio. This SWR will finally fry your station. Just use it for the scanner. I was hoping to split the antenna 2 meters with the scanner as the receiver and a 5 watt QRP transmitter connected to the antenna switch. Bad idea.

Pros
  • One-year trial version
Cons
  • High price