Tuesday, March 24, 2020

"New" BC895XLT computer controlled scanner

I recently acquired a vintage Bearcat BC895XLT scanner from an internet seller (not ebay). I've always had my eye on this scanner because of the nice VFO/memory dial knob, good air band specs, and the ability to have computer control. I purchased this model for a good price and set out to connect it to a computer.



The problem with enabling computer control on this scanner is the non-standard serial port on the back of the radio. It is hidden behind a piece of black, self-adhesive plastic on the right side of the read panel. It uses a 5-pin header style connector that, it turns out, is identical to those used on computer motherboards and CD-ROM's.


A quick internet search and some rummaging through my computer parts box turned up the correct 5-pin connector from an old motherboard, a 9-pin female serial port and housing, and some 5-conductor telephone wire.



There are a few control programs that support the BC895XLT; it turns out that Scan Control Pro ($30) (which I already used to control my Bearcat BCT15X and RadioShack Pro-2052 scanners) also will nicely handle the BC895XLT. I connected this home-made serial cable to the computer through a Keyspan USA-19HS USB-to-serial adapter. You need to set the scanner for remote access by pushing the RMT front-panel button for 3 seconds and, once that was enabled, the program found the scanner right away and was up and running.

Optoelectronics OS-535 board sells on ebay

Apparently there is still a lot of interest in OptoElectronics boards that control the RadioShack line of scanners; an OS-535 board for the Pro-2035/2042 scanner recently sold on ebay for $122...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Optoelectronics-OS-535-board-and-software-for-Radio-Shack-PRO-2035-Scanner-OS535/202931533606?_trksid=p2485497.m4902.l9144


This particular board was removed from a Pro-2035 that died. The Pro-2035 series of scanners currently go for around $50-75 each so this combination still maintains some value.