Since there is some reminiscing here, I have many happy memories of my first airband radio - a Sanyo VH-26S Jetset costing about £20 in the early 70s. It was expensive for a teenager but it opened up a whole new world.

Strangely enough there's not a single mention of this model on the entire WWW. Are there any users out there? Any links out there?

The best airband scanner ever was the Signal R-535 (532 was almost as good). Not very portable, but with an external fixed antenna on my bear pit, Biggin Hill and Birmingham radar ground based transmissions are pulled in with ease! Okay I live on top of a hill in Bedfordshire, but the performance of the 535 compared to the MVT-7100 is astonishing!

Still change hands for £200-250 on eBay and are worth every penny!

My former employer, SAS, used 532s to monitor ground frequencies to check on their inbounds at their stations.

I had one rigged up to a roof aerial in Teesside, and could hear Concordes reporting over MARTIN (Bristol Channel, opposite Swansea), aircraft over Clacton and inbound to Perth VOR from Aberdeen.

Not bad...

r

Still have my R535 as my main scanner, after over 13yrs service, sadly starting to internally "buzz" which it didn't do before! :uhoh:

Still wouldn't part with it though!

I actually traded in my R532 for a 535 all those years ago!

What a pity Signal aren't around these days, agree they were - ARE - the best.

Guess I'll have to keep my eye on E-Bay...

Sharp Airband Radio
 

Curly Blue

Check your PM's I can help you :)

MattH

Best under £60 scanner
 

Hi,

I was wondering what scanner is the best for under £60, sorry it's so simple but thats all I could say.

oh, btw, I have to use Internet explorer to post this thread, Mozila Firefox (which is what I use all the time) just has the message section blanked out, and I can't type in this box.

anyway, my first post here, nice forums.

suddste

Have a look on the Maplin website mate. £60 won't get you much, and I'll try to post a link...

For what it's worth mate, I have learned almost everything about ATC and its relation to flying by listening to ATC at Liverpool.

I have been VERY lucky to have visited ATC a few times.

Good luck with your hobby mate.

Thanks very much, my friend :)

What will be the range on one of these things? Sorry if it's to hard to tell. :)

Buy one with a replaceable antenna (BNC or SMA connector) so that you can upgrade the antenna or attach an external antenna (at home or a small magnetic mount antenna on the car).

This will give MUCH improved reception.

I'm not really into scanners, but I am a licensed HAM so have a bit of experience with these things :)

The range depends upon:

The position and the power of the transmitter.

If the 'person' transmitting is the pilot in a 'plane at, say, 10,000 feet, you might well pick his transmission up many miles away.

If the 'person' transmitting is an air traffic controller at an airport, it will depend on numerous things... location and size/importance of the airfield, geographical features: hills/buildings etc.


And it goes without saying...

You are not allowed to listen in to ANY radio transmissions unless authorised to do so. I'm sure someone will be along to point you in the direction of that rule...................

yea, thanks for the info.

So I basically could get into trouble if I listen trough these devices?

Thanks! :)

I am sooo very new to this radio stuff.. so forgive me for sounding 'noobish'

Would I be able to somehow connect this air band radio to a external indoor TV aerial?

You need a specific antenna for the frequencies you want to listen to, so no, a TV antenna will not work.

The antenna that Clifftop linked to is one of a range of scanner antennas that are purpose made for the job.

Yes, it's illegal to listen to transmissions that you are not licensed to hear, however unless you listen in public without an earpiece, or you publish what you've heard... :)

ahh ok, thanks! :)

Quote:
"You need a specific antenna for the frequencies you want to listen to, so no, a TV antenna will not work.

The antenna that Clifftop linked to is one of a range of scanner antennas that are purpose made for the job.

Yes, it's illegal to listen to transmissions that you are not licensed to hear, however unless you listen in public without an earpiece, or you publish what you've heard... :) "

I have a friend ;) who has 3 scanners, comprising 2 base sets in his house and a hand-held job in his car, the base sets operate from external aerials, the hand held has its own rubber ducky type but can be connected to a mag-mount which improves reception immensely.

Thanks for that :)

Why don't you have a look here and take the opportunity to learn a lot more about radio and how it works? :ok: 2E0WOM

As DXWombat has rightly pointed out... There is a lot more to radio than listening ;)

M0JMO

I second (or 3rd) that...

er.. M5DND

Sharp Airband Radio
 

Good afternoon Curlyblue. I do not whether you have received any info ref the above radio, if you have not, I hope that this will be of interest to you.
Model No FX 213 AU.
Freq. Range MW 520-1620 kHz
AIR 108-136 MHz
Regards MacRobart