I'm after a scanner - Where to buy/how much?

Smile_Bitches!

Hi

As title says really, any input appreciated on places to buy/prices.

Irish Steve

A lot will depend on what you want it for, if for use at home with a PC or similar, it may well be cheaper to get a USB receiver device, and run it with the relevant software, as it can then do everything that a scanner can do, and it will probably be a lot cheaper go to that route.

If however, you want a receiver that can be used stand alone, at somewhere like an airport, or an airshow, then you're looking for a genuine air band scanner. There are cheap and nasty sets out there that pretend to be air band scanners, but they are not really as they are wide band, and designed more for FM than AM signals, and air band is AM still, (sorry I'd better explain that a little, FM is frequency modulation, where the signal is imposed on a fixed frequency carrier wave, and varies the frequency slightly above and below the designated channel frequency, AM is amplitude modulation, where the frequency is fixed, and the signal varies the strength of the transmitted signal. The FM receivers can sort of process an AM signal, but they're not really designed to do that, so there can be problems with the signal quality, and because they are effectively wideer band than the AM signals used for aviation, you can get problems with bleed over where 2 channels are close together Frequency wise at a geographic location.

For air band, you ideally want a narrow band AM scanner, they are available, but tend to be more expensive than the "cheat" scanners that are really a FM broadcast receiver set up with tuner that can access the air band frequencies, which are adjacent to the normal FM broadcasting band, so it's a cheap mod to make to the receiver to access the extra channels, albeit not particularly well.

Maplin have some scanners, and that might be a good place to start, though there are other suppliers, one group would be the specialist shops that sell supplies for pilots.

Hope that helps

Bussywussy

If you want a handheld get a Uniden Bearcat.I have one about 15 years and it's great,I've also a yaesu but the bearcat trumps it...you'll get them on Amazon,don't go near maplins,find them overpriced..there's a bearcat BC125AT model looks good.

PapaSierra

I only just bought this one. It works quite well so far but I need to run the cable to the outdoor aerial to see how well it will really perform. It's my third scanner and I'm going to use it for LiveATC feed (I'm splitting Cork into two channels very soon) so it will be sitting on my desk but it's also suitable for fitting in a car.

I'm also using handheld Uniden UBC3500XLT for the last 5 years. The builtin speaker failed and I had to replace it for around €20 but otherwise it's an excellent piece of hardware and is quick and easy to use (very important on a handheld radio).

pepe the prawn

PapaSierra wrote: »

I only just bought this one. It works quite well so far but I need to run the cable to the outdoor aerial to see how well it will really perform. It's my third scanner and I'm going to use it for LiveATC feed (I'm splitting Cork into two channels very soon) so it will be sitting on my desk but it's also suitable for fitting in a car.

I'm also using handheld Uniden UBC3500XLT for the last 5 years. The builtin speaker failed and I had to replace it for around €20 but otherwise it's an excellent piece of hardware and is quick and easy to use (very important on a handheld radio).

Looks good, may I ask which two feeds will you be having at cork? I'm a regular listener of the feed, thanks for providing it

PapaSierra

I will be splitting GND, TWR, APP into:
1. GND, TWR
2. APP

There is currently too many overlapping transmissions. The place is getting very busy at times.

I will be also installing a new, better aerial for the APP channel as sometimes it isn't picking up low altitude traffic outside the zone.

Smile_Bitches!

Thanks for all the replies. I guess Im just looking for an airband scanner, portable type to listen in at airfields and that sorta thing.

Some fairly expensive ones mentioned above, this is a good one I think - ht tps: // ww w .amazon . co. uk/Uniden-EZI-33XLT-Radio-Scanner/dp/B00864J60C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1481313279&sr=8-2&keywords=radio%20scanners.

Would I be able to beat that on price? Or is that low on features I should be looking for?

Foggy43

It is here also
https://www.flightstore.co.uk/pilot-supplies-c1/airband-radio-c51/airband-radios-c700/uniden-ezi-33-xlt-airband-radio-p3439?gclid=CLbExeXr6tACFZAW0wodAPMGiQ

Of course there is the post and packing. I assume you have looked at www.maplin.ie who are out of stock. The price though.....Ouch!

I bought one for my brother in Ireland a few years ago. Reception and audio quality are very good. Ideal say for Shannon and Cork. Using buttons 1, 2 and 3 you can save frequencies for quick access. At these airports all you would need is approach, tower and the ground frequency. Dublin has a few more frequencies as it is a bit more busy.

Irish Steve

The other option if you are looking at home use and are reasonably close to the airport is a USB DVR stick, RTL SDR is the generic type, and while it wasn't originally designed for use on airband, they work, and can be bought on E-Bay and a number of other sites for less than $20, and with the right antenna, give good results. There is also software available to enable scanning on specific frequencies.

Not so sure on this aspect, I think it's also possible to get an adapter to enable these devices to work with android tablets and smartphones, so effectively a portable scanner. They certainly also work with the Raspberry Pi computers, user Mech1 is at present installing one for the LiveATC feed for Dublin, which has proved to be very successful.

sReq | uTeK

New to this and would really like to get into it.

Is there somewhere someone can point me to get started.

Pc will suffice for now

PukkaStukka

I've an elderly Uniden Bearcat 220XLT that has served me faithfully and faultlessly for years. If you can get a second hand one that works well then this would be a very cheap way of getting started on scanners.