Uniden Bearcat UBCD3600XLT Digital & Analogue Radio Scanner

Product Information

I've been hankering after one of the two choices above for a while and now is the time to pull the trigger on one of them. Adjustable Scan/Search Delay/Resume – Set a delay up to 30 seconds or a forced resume up to 10 seconds for each channel or search.

The official UBC3500XLT Manual can be a bit difficult to understand, however there is another 'easier to understand' manual online. The links to both these manuals are below:

UBCD3600XLT price

Searches a range of frequencies to find unknown radio traffic and automatically records audio from and logs new channels for later review. I've read that it only does either a Service Search or (what sounds like 1 only) Limit Search. Is it possible to setup multiple limit search ranges as with custom search on the Uniden? Or maybe you can edit the Service Searches? Frequency AutoStore - automatically store frequencies from a service or limit search into a conventional system This scanner can receive both civilian and military aircraft transmissions as well as receiving many more frequencies such as emergency, marine, amateur (ham radio) and other communications. To receive civilian aircraft transmissions you will need a scanner that has a frequency range of 108-137Mhz. If you want to listen to military aircraft transmissions then you will need a scanner that has a frequency range of 225-400MHz. You should also set the scanner to the AM mode (Amplitude Modulation).

The 3500XLT is not particularly user friendly for inputting data, requiring constant turning of the selector knob to find alpha numerics. The easiest way is to take advantage of the ability to connect to your PC or Mac. Get a connection cable. Mine came with a serial port connector, so I had to add a serial/USB adaptor. I'd be grateful to anyone that owns either of the above scanners (or even better, both of them!) if they'd give me some honest opinions.

Contents

Multi-Level Display and Keypad light – Makes the display and keypad easy to see in dim light with three light levels. BCT15, BCT15X, UBC800XLT, UBC3500XLT, BR330T, UBR330T, BCD996T, BCD996XT, BCD996P2, BCD396T, BCD396XT Intermediate Frequency Exchange – Changes the IF used for a selected channel/frequency to help avoid image and other mixer-product interference on a frequency.

Multicolor LED Alert – The alert LED with 7 colors, Blue, Red, Magenta, Green, Cyan, Yellow, or White, can be used with your Custom Alerts. You can program the scanner to alert when you receive, a Channel or Unit ID, a Close Call hit, an ID is transmitted with an Emergency Alert, or a Tone-out hit. For each alert in the scanner, you can select from 9 different tone patterns, 15 volume settings, 7 colors (white, blue, red, yellow, magenta, green, cyan), and 2 flash patterns. The UBC3500XLT has a decent screen and a keypad as well as many different features such as 'Close Call' which will detect nearby signals. With all of these features it can be a little complicated to use, but it is well worth the effort to learn how to use this excellent scanner. Monitors radio traffic on a trunked system to find unknown ID and automatically records audio from and logs new channels for later review. Broadcast Screen - ignore hits on 10 custom frequency ranges during Close Call or search operation.Search Keys – You can assign 3 of the number keys to start a Custom Search, Tone-Out Search, or Close Call Search. The Step size will depend on the scanner and some can scan through a list of frequencies using the following steps:- 5, 6.25, 8.33, 10, 12.5, 15, 20, 25, 50, 100kHz. Using the correct Step size will mean that you don't miss any frequencies. Recently the spacing between airband frequencies has been reduced from 25KHz spacing to 8.33KHz spacing so as to increase the number of frequencies available. Therefore your airband scanner should have a step size of 8.33KHz. Independent Alert Tone Volume – lets you set the volume level of the following tones: Key Beep, Emergency Alert, Channel Alert, and Close Call Alert. Also (not getting at you here) I love how people expect absolutely everyone to be on FarceBook. I've resisted it for this long so I can't see me being on that group anytime soon, ah well... With a GPS receiver, for precise system selection and continuing reselection when you travel. The scanner can automatically avoid and unavoid Systems and Departments based on your current location.

Duplicate Input Alert – Alerts you if you try to enter a duplicate name or frequency already stored in the scanner. A scanner usually lets you set either AM (Amplitude Modulation) or FM (Frequency Modulation). The scanner may also have NFM (Narrow FM) and WFM (Wide FM) but for listening to aircraft transmissions you should only use the AM mode. PC Programming – Use the Sentinel software to manage your scanners Profiles, Favorites Lists, and firmware updates. The Uniden Bearcat UBC3500XLT was probably one of the best airband hand-held scanners, but it has now been discontinued, although it can of course still be found on the second-hand market.nacl1 wrote:The 3500XLT is not particularly user friendly for inputting data, requiring constant turning of the selector knob to find alpha numerics. The easiest way is to take advantage of the ability to connect to your PC or Mac. Get a connection cable. Mine came with a serial port connector, so I had to add a serial/USB adaptor. With this scanner you can program in your frequencies by connecting the scanner to a computer. Below is a freeware program which works with several Uniden scanners including the Bearcat UBC3500XLT. The software runs on Windows 2000, XP, Vista & Windows 7: For example if you're a mil airband listener you can setup a group profile to include you favourote airfields, control frequencies, JTAC etc. When you want to