Johnny Kirkham Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 Hi guys im in the market for a portable frequency scanner that i can listen to airband when i go to shows etc.....just had a quick look on ebay but unless your up on these things its a bit of a mindfield to say the least. Do any of you guys use these and can you reccomend a decent one?? Ps i dont want to spend more than a hundred quid Johnny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julian Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 Hi Johnny, I have a Maycom AR-108 which I've had for a couple of years.It's perfect for airshows and listening in to local airfields I don't know how it compares some of the more expensive scanners though but I'm happy with it. I think that it's been discontinued but I got mine from Maplins for £45. Julian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Kirkham Posted November 11, 2014 Author Share Posted November 11, 2014 Thanks Julian, i have a local Maplins ill take a look in there.......why didnt i think of that lol Cheers Johnny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Green Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 Mine was a Tandy/Realistic which I never bothered replacing when it packed in last year. Things to look for - check the bandwidth - EU channels are now split at 8.3khz which is pretty tight. Check it does AM on all the aircraft bands you need - some are FM only on the UHF bands. Check how easy it is to program - some need to be connected to a pc to set channels. Maplin kit tends to be a generation behind the times - which is fine if you want something basic. I like Yaesu, Trio/Kenwood and Icom - these are quality brands. Uniden are ok. Cheers Phil Edited By Phil Green on 12/11/2014 00:23:37 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Barlow Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 I have a Uniden race scanner USC230 which I use for air traffic and marshalling on motorsport events. It's probably outside your requirements if you only want to listen to air frequencies but it is also capable of picking up PMR radio used by baggage handlers, airport staff and ground communications for airlines. It can also pick up marine and coastguard frequencies if you're anywhere near the coast or if you want to take it on holiday with you. Have a look at Knight CB and Thunderpole for a range of scanners but be aware of the law which basicaly states it's not illegal to receive the radio signals but it is to listen to them or act on the information received. In reality it's sort of a back door in law to allow wrongdoers to be prosecuted. As long as you're sensible and not up to no good you should be OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Green Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 You've got me pondering another scanner now. I remembered why mine is broken - I reversed the power to it. I'm looking at the Uniden hand-helds on ebay, seems you have to be careful with the specs as they obviously use the same descriptive text for many different models and forget to edit out features a particular model doesn't have. Some have 35mhz which is nice, and the 88-108 MHz FM broadcast band. They're also very handy as a piece of test gear - 26mhz is useful for faulting 2.4g sets, as is 105mhz for 35mhz sets (if it doesn't have a 35mhz band, use 3rd harmonic) I notice they're a lot smaller now than my old Realistic scanner! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanN Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Alex Whittaker made some recommendations on this in the "Weekenders" article in the Oct 2014 mag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Green Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 After watching a few used scanners on ebay that rapidly approached 'new' prices, I think I've settled on this new one: **LINK** Covers everything my old one did, and more - close call is useful - 27, 35 & 459 mhz for flying checks, 2m & 70cm for ham stuff ... air/marine etc... that'll do me nicely. I see there are a lot of cheapies without a full numeric keypad, I wonder if they're tedious to use? (ie entering a 6-digit freq means nudging each digit up & down one at a time...) Cheers Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Barlow Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 I had an Alinco before my Uniden and that didn't have a keypad. It was a pain when you knew the frequency you wanted and had to scroll through the numbers to get there. Keypad is useful if you know what frequency you want. If you're just scanning for activity then it's not so important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Barlow Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 Posted by Phil Green on 15/11/2014 11:47:15: After watching a few used scanners on ebay that rapidly approached 'new' prices, I think I've settled on this new one: **LINK** Covers everything my old one did, and more - close call is useful - 27, 35 & 459 mhz for flying checks, 2m & 70cm for ham stuff ... air/marine etc... that'll do me nicely. I see there are a lot of cheapies without a full numeric keypad, I wonder if they're tedious to use? (ie entering a 6-digit freq means nudging each digit up & down one at a time...) Cheers Phil That looks nice. Is that a new model? Best accessories I ever bought for my scanner was a good earpiece (mono, not stereo!) and a discone antenna which massively increased the frequencies received. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Privett Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 I have a Uniden EZI33XLT which I got cheap (£25 or £30?) s/hand off the 'bay. It's small and does the job for my uses. Covers FM broadcast band (not that I ever use that on it) as well as the usual - though nothing below about 70 or 80MHz. It doesn't have a keypad which would probably improve useability, but generally I know in advance the frequency (or frequencies) I'm interested in on the day, so can set them up in advance. Earpiece is very handy essential IMHO, then you can hear the show commentary in one ear and listen to ATC in the other. Without the scanner I wouldn't have known that the arriving Mustang at Duxford recently had suspected undercarriage problems - no confirmed lock on one of the main legs. The show commentator kept that quiet until it had landed safely... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Kirkham Posted November 16, 2014 Author Share Posted November 16, 2014 Well guys i visited Maplins this afternoon and to be honest the staff wern't very helpful for a newbe like me so i came away empty handed and a bit disapointed. Many thanks to you guys that have posted links above which i have followed with interest.....i am now learning a bit of this can of worms that ive opened lol. Thanks again chaps......Johnny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Green Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 What did you go for in the end Johnny? these people seem to be competitive with pricing & stock. I decided on for one of these , just ordered it today. Cheers Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avtur Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 Shame that Maplins didn't come up to expectation. I use a TTI model TSC-100RA which came from Maplins, it's a small format type, no number pad but at less than £70 including rechargeable batteries and charger it has been good value for money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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