[carolinatoughguy]

I use a scanner (Uniden Sportcat 180) to monitor marine radio traffic on the Chesapeake Bay. But when I park it on the table beside a dedicated marine VHF handheld radio, I notice that the VHF receives all the normal traffic and the scanner misses some of it. And the traffic that the scanner does pick up is not nearly as clear as what comes through the VHF radio (for both near and distant signals).

I would much prefer to use the scanner so I could listen to nearby EMS and police activity too. But the sound quality in the handheld VHF is far superior so I tend to listen to that more.

Is this just a sensitivity issue on the SC 180? If so, is there a better scanner that might be more sensitive, like a PRO-97? Or am I better off just finding another VHF radio that can scan between several pre-set channels ?