Uniden Bearcat 55XLT Information

The radio is a basic 10 channel scanner. Nothing fancy. If you disconnect wall power and it doesn’t have batteries in it, it will lose its memories.

It uses 5 AA batteries. If you put NiCd’s in it, you can flip a switch in the battery compartment and they will charge when you plug it in. (If you use an external charger you don’t have to flip the switch. Leave it on Alkaline.)

The keypad switch “locks” the keypad so you don’t accidentally press a button and change your settings.

Programming a Channel

1. Turn on radio.
2. It will be in scan mode. Press Manual (orange button) to stop scanning.
3. Press Manual to step through channels to get to the one you want. (Or press the channel number and then the Manual button.)
4. If “LockOut” is displayed it means this channel isn’t being scanned. Pressing Lockout will toggle the status. You will want to lock out the NWS WX (National Weather Service/Weather) frequency.
5. Select channel. Use the keypad to enter the frequency. Use E for Enter. If the radio displays an E this means Error — usually the frequency you typed is outside the capabilities of the scanner.
6. Once you hit Enter you will immediately start hearing anything on the frequency you entered.

Press the Review button and the scanner will display the frequency programmed for the channel. A - will be displayed for the decimal point.

Suggested Starting Frequencies

These may be used differently in your area, but they are a good starting point. Radio Shack or the NOAA web page can provide your exact NWS frequency.

There is lots of stuff out there — Amateur Radio, Public Service, Utilities, Businesses, etc. Have fun!

Use the word “scanner” and your state name in any search engine and you are bound to turn up lots of local frequency information.