Recommended Scanners

[Vampy]

Hello all,

I was hoping for some advice.

A friend of my parents has called and he's looking for a scanner to buy for his wife for her birthday. He's done an internet search but found that there were so many on the market, he didn't have the first clue where to start.

Can any of you recommend a decent scanner he can buy for her? I'm not sure what his budget is but he would want to buy a good one, so if it's a bit pricey that's fine.

Thanks in advance :ok:

[ukv1290]

It depends what she wants to use it for really....

I use the Maycom AR-108 and I can pick up Heathrow APP I live in Blackheath so quite far from the airport as well as loads of En route broudcasts.

The battery life on it is gr8 and can store 99 freqencys in the memory...

I am not that familiour with any other scanners I am thinking of upgrading to a base station soon...

Good luck

Tom

[Charley B]

I have the Maycom as well and can second that-fits nicely in the pocket to take to the end of the runway.
I also have the Yupiteru 7700--that has a good range-there are quite a few around on e bay etc--that is a good scanner,stronger signal than the other one but more pricey.
Have been told by a friend,that the Uniden Bearcat priced around 149.00 (hand held) is good and also their basestations--have also been told by HWMBO I cannot have any more--2 is enough!!(He did say i can have the Bearcat one for my birthday -will keep him to that!!)
The yupiteru one will then have to go on e bay!!!

[HeathrowAirport]

Also your on a hill :) UKV1290

My Uniden picks em nicely too. Shame about TWR though.

[Delight]

I have an Alinco DJ-X3, which is neat looking little unit. The performance is ok, I can just about get Edinburgh ATIS from 15 miles away, although I have to use external antenna for decent tower reception. No problems once you have line of sight to the airfield.

Unfortunately it's not the easiest to use and I am constantly referring to the manual when editing frequencies and changing configuration. Once you have the frequencies programmed it's easy to use. I would recommend it for someone who wants to monitor a fairly static group of frequencies.

Hope this helps,
Delight

[trident3A]

I've got a Maycom Ar108 too, very compact and seems to work well, the only thing I'd say about it is that the speaker isn't that loud and will be drowned out by plane noise if near an airport. Obviously you can use headphones.

[steve wilson]

To boost the performance of your MAYCOm take it to a branch of Maplin and ask for a BNC ariel converter. You will then be able to use a telescopic ariel with it. My maycom is now hooked up to a portable discone ariel thats half assembled and lying flat onto of a kitchen unit so that its out of sight and performing brilliantly.

Steve

[colsie]

Alternatively wait till 2012 and just use your old FM radios. :}

[e-jet190]

how much is the converter kit ? My wife says i could do with some extra length !

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

<<Alternatively wait till 2012 and just use your old FM radios.>

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[TurningFinals]

I can recommend the Alinco DJ-X3 too.

Once you get the hang of programming it it's great. It pics up UHF too, unfortunatley I broke my one, a small part fell off the inside of the antenna and got stuck inside it.

Consequently I can also recommend the Maycom AR-108. Basic, quite cheap, easy to use, and quite rugged too.