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Author Topic: Uniden Announced New BearTracker 885 Hybrid CB Radio/Digital Scanner  (Read 3016 times)

Offline PirateSWL

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Brian D. - PirateSWL
Pirate Radio Shortwave Enthusiast from NY
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Offline RST111

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Nice.  If it had SSB and I hadn't just got a 980SSB, I'd be looking at it for double-duty in my shack.  I have a BCD536HP and it looks like this uses a similar programming system which is a lot easier to deal with than 1000 channels of banks, especially with trunking.

I've had Beartracker scanners before, and the Beartracking part didn't work that great.  What it does is look for strong signals on the police repeater inputs, and if it sees one, assumes that the cops are nearby.  Not very reliable, as one might imagine.

Pls qsl to rst111@protonmail.com ty!

QTH: 30mi East of Seattle

IC-R75, Afedri SDR, Airspy Discovery, Stridsberg HF Multicoupler, MFJ-1020C, Palomar CMNF-6, 40m dipole @ 100' AGL

Offline redhat

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I do like what they call that feature...the bear tracker :)

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Somewhere under the stars...
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Offline Josh

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Five Hundred Smackers!


cough
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Offline Token

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If I am not mistaken I think the “Beartracker” feature, and scanners bearing that name, goes back to at least the mid 1980’s, and maybe before that.  The feature has a couple of dedicated priority channels (it hits them every couple seconds, regardless of what else it is doing) that are specific to police vehicles being close by.  For example in the past you could scan 154.905 MHz and if you got a hit there you knew a CHP was within a couple of miles, this being the frequency of the mobile extender that allowed the Hi- VHF hand held on the officers hip to be cross banded to the Lo-VHF CHP dispatch frequency.

As for the cost of $450, that really is not too bad.  The scanner is full featured, digital modes, trunking, GPS enabled (to automatically select frequencies in your are), etc.  If you were to grab any scanner with these features it would be in the $400 area anyway.  So the addition of a CB, and the convenience of a single unit to do both jobs, for $50 or a little more does not seem excessive.

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Mojave Desert, California USA

Offline Pigmeat

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They were using the "Bearcat" moniker in those days, too, Token. Remember Betty?

Offline Token

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Yeah, the Bearcat name goes back to at least the mid / early 70's, and probably a bit before.  I think it was originally used by Electra Scanner Company for their police scanners, and then the line was sold to Uniden at some point, maybe the mid 1980's?

I know I have a crystal controlled Electra scanner that has the Bearcat name and paw print from maybe 1973 or so.  I used to have a Bearcat 4 channel scanner that was an 8 track plug in.  A scanner built into a body that could be plugged into an 8 track player, then the audio played through the 8 track player speakers.

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Mojave Desert, California USA

Offline RST111

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I used to have a Bearcat 4 channel scanner that was an 8 track plug in.  A scanner built into a body that could be plugged into an 8 track player, then the audio played through the 8 track player speakers.

Wow, that's a sweet collectible.  Nothing says the 70's more than 8-track.

I had one album on 8-track:  AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (I was part of anti-Disco back then; actually still am, lol).  The Shack had those portable 8-track players in different colors like the Flavoradios.

My oldest Uniden that I bought new was a BC70XLT hand held.  Not sure of the year - late 80s?  Still works fine, though getting harder to find the battery pack.  It's a simple one, so I could probably build a new NiCd pack if necessary.  That scanner is what eventually led me to a DX440 and HF listening.
Pls qsl to rst111@protonmail.com ty!

QTH: 30mi East of Seattle

IC-R75, Afedri SDR, Airspy Discovery, Stridsberg HF Multicoupler, MFJ-1020C, Palomar CMNF-6, 40m dipole @ 100' AGL