Over the years I’ve rewritten several blog posts about the Uniden Bearcat BC125AT Scanner. This is still one of the best tools for monitoring the railroads out there.
If you are an avid watcher of Train Aficionado Live I’ve spoken about my Anytone AT-D868UV. I purchased this radio back in 2018 at the Dayton Hamvention from BridgeCom System. I was looking for a two-radio to monitor the railroads. This radio was being sold at the Hamvention at a great price so I couldn’t pass it up. Although this radio is geared towards Ham Radio operators it was ideal for my needs. The radio provides monitorable coverage in the railroad’s 160-161 MHz band.
The 868 is rugged and has a robust 4000 channel memory. The radio can scan a group of frequencies, it can also monitor two channels at the same time. I’ve programmed my radio with all of the 97 American Association of Railroads (AAR) channels. I usually have the radio dual monitoring mode and locked in on two railroad channels. Oftentimes it is locked in the “road” and “dispatch” channels. Although the radio scans it isn’t as fast as the BC125AT scanner.
This is a two-way radio, not a scanner, requiring more steps when programming. I can’t stress enough that when programming the railroad or any other channels you are not authorized to, be sure to program each channel with the transmit-off. The 868 can be programmed with free programming software provided by the manufacturer. Not only is BridgeCom a great source to purchase the radio, plus they also have an excellent YouTube channel with how-to videos.
Once the 868 was programmed it was able to pull in weaker distant signals and the onboard battery would last for days since the radio is always in standby mode (not transmitting). When I go railfanning I often have both radios with me. The Uniden BC125AT is faster at scanning channels and has railroad service search. Which is ideal for railfanning places you’re not familiar with.
The Anytone AT-D868UV has been discontinued and replaced with the current AnyTone AT-D878UVII. I would highly recommend getting the radio with a case, spare battery, and the Smiley VHF railroad antenna.
