which bearcat scanner is better

angelmum

im looking for a pressie for dh and thought about radio scanner as he said he used to have it when he was single and loved it but sold it when he lost his job. i dont have any idea about radio scanner and found 3 different models on ebay. i hope someone can tell me which is the best or whats the diff between the 3

-Bearcat UBC360CLT
-Uniden Ubc72Xlt Radio Scanner 25-512Mhz (With Gaps)
-Bearcat UBC-125XLT

thanks

Xantia

Wouldnt it be great if all women were so kind and thoughtful to their radio afflicted men....

I have a UBC72XLT and it's OK, I also have 2 AOR's but that's another story.

If it was me I would get him the UBC-125XLT

Because the UBC360CLT is a 'base station'/non portable one and he may like to bring it around with him.

The UBC72XLT as you say has gaps.

If he only listens in the house then the 360CLT one is OK also.

And it depends on the price as well.

angelmum

thanks xantia running out of ideas for pressies and this is the only thing on his wishlist that i havent given so i'll give it a go this year

would this be better Uniden USC-230E Closecall Scanner
found this cheaper than 125 xlt on proviation website

i remember that he was reviewing a yupiteru brand as well but no idea where i could get this. would this be better than the bearcat?

any suggestion welcome budget would be around 100-200

thanks again

GekkePrutser

I don't know how long ago he had his scanner but I just wanted to point out that a lot has changed in the last 5 years or so.

Gardai are now all digital mostly everywhere. Lots of businesses are too. Which means all you'll hear is bursts of static.

You can still listen to some of the taxis, ham radio, aviation and some random businesses but a lot of the interesting stuff is gone unfortunately. I always turned on the scanner when I heard sirens. Though nowadays you can just look at boards.ie or twitter

waterfordham

If you are near the coast, you will also get Marine band and the Coast Guard Helicopters.

angelmum

it's been a couple of years now since he had a scanner i hope this would still be a good present as i've already ordered one. fingers crossed that he'll still enjoy it. thanks for all your help

martinsvi

there are still a lot of interesting things to look out for - dublin bus, NOAA weather satellites, airport ATC

GekkePrutser

martinsvi wrote: »

there are still a lot of interesting things to look out for - dublin bus, NOAA weather satellites, airport ATC

That's true, I imagine that in Dublin there's a lot more to listen to!

It's very quiet on the bands here in Galway, but I forgot that doesn't apply everywhere else.

martinsvi

GekkePrutser wrote: »

That's true, I imagine that in Dublin there's a lot more to listen to!

It's very quiet on the bands here in Galway, but I forgot that doesn't apply everywhere else.

you have to have some marine action, SAR etc in Galway, don't you? Shannon is not that far too for ATC

GekkePrutser

martinsvi wrote: »

you have to have some marine action, SAR etc in Galway, don't you? Shannon is not that far too for ATC

I suppose so, when I listened to the bands I was only interested in the local stuff. I often have the Galway tower freq on and the local ham repeater (as I'm a ham myself). I also monitor the space station regularly (which would be a cool one to catch with a handheld scanner too and is definitely doable)

But I've never really been interested in the maritime comms. Never thought about it

I do miss the days when the guards were still on analog, it was a lot more interesting when something was going on.

But I realise now I'm not a typical scanner listener. Sorry if I gave the wrong idea. You're right, there is more going on than I realised.

pixbyjohn

GekkePrutser wrote: »

But I realise now I'm not a typical scanner listener. Sorry if I gave the wrong idea. You're right, there is more going on than I realised.

Compared to days gone by scanner listening now is dull