AR8600MK2 vs. BC780XLT for VHF?

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sparklehorse

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Hello,
I'm wondering if anyone here can tell me how the AR8600Mk2 compares to the Uniden 780 for pulling out weak signals in the VHF public safety band. I've had my 780 for 14 years now, and it still works like a champ, but I'd like to up my game with something even better. I know the 8600 scan speed is considerably slower, and I'm fine with that. I'm more concerned with sensitivity AND selectivity, as I live just about a mile away from a radio tower that broadcasts nine different FM stations. It would be hooked up to my rooftop 2-meter yagi using LMR-400 coax, and an inline Par FM filter. My focus is pulling in distant public safety transmissions from 60 to 70 miles or more.
Thanks for the help!

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dkf435

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Would lean toward a R7100A or even AR3000 or step into the R8500/ AR5000 range. My AR8600MKI/MKII tend to overload easy. In my setup the R8500 is more selective and the AR5000 is a bit more sensitive. The 8600 will blow squelch a bit sometimes.

If I want something a little better I swing the Icom 821H dual band ham transceiver over into VHF high hooked to a Comet GP9, with that I hear mobiles at 25 miles and handhelds around 10.

David Kb7uns
 

sparklehorse

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VHF lo or hi?

Sorry, VHF-Hi and also UHF Public Safety. I'm closer to the UHF agencies though, so that is less of a concern.


Would lean toward a R7100A or even AR3000 or step into the R8500/ AR5000 range. My AR8600MKI/MKII tend to overload easy. In my setup the R8500 is more selective and the AR5000 is a bit more sensitive. The 8600 will blow squelch a bit sometimes.

If I want something a little better I swing the Icom 821H dual band ham transceiver over into VHF high hooked to a Comet GP9, with that I hear mobiles at 25 miles and handhelds around 10.

Thank you, that is very helpful.

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frankh

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Ive had some success with a similar problem using commercial K&L tunable band reject filters ebayed for around the cost of a couple or three of the Par filters.
A search for "tunable filter" on the bay should yield some results.
Band reject filters tend to work best unless the receiver is only tuned to a very narrow range of frequencies
The thing that I hate about the icom receivers is their long loud squelch tail it just irritates the hell out of me well at least with my 7100 and 8500 this happens
 
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dkf435

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I am close to a 4kw erp FM station and was getting stuff flooding VHF and had one of the Optoelectronics FM filters and put that on the input of the Stridsberg MCA208 and it took care of the problem,

David Kb7uns
 

sparklehorse

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I am close to a 4kw erp FM station and was getting stuff flooding VHF and had one of the Optoelectronics FM filters and put that on the input of the Stridsberg MCA208 and it took care of the problem,

David Kb7uns

The FM transmitter is not big problem for my BC780, or my BCD796. I get a little inter-mod, and one or two frequencies I like to listen to get overloaded, but if I put my Par FM notch filter inline those two radios work great. I have never been able to get my Whistler to play nice on VHF-Hi on my rooftop antenna, even with three FM notch filters and a variable attenuator inline. I've given up on the Whistler. By the way, the Yagi is aimed to help null the FM interference.

I'm not really looking for a solution to the FM problem, just looking for a receiver that can handle it at least as well as my two older Unidens. I have a newer Uniden too, a BCD996XT, and it also handles the FM RF well, but is clearly not as sensitive on VHF as the two older Unidens.

G
 

frankh

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The 780 might be it. The newer unidens seem to be optimized for 800MHZ and the GRE scanners have selectivity issues on VHF hi and the icom receivers have squelch issues.
I still have a 780 that I use for mil air good scanner the only receiver that I have that has a noticeable increase in sensitivity without crazy selectivity problems over the 780 is a aor 5000a (with preamp off).
So what I'm trying to say is that without spending some serious coin you may have the best set up for analogue VHF hi monitoring.
 

sparklehorse

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...the only receiver that I have that has a noticeable increase in sensitivity without crazy selectivity problems over the 780 is a aor 5000a (with preamp off).

Good info there, thank you.

So can anyone comment on how the AR5000A compares to the newer versions of this radio, like the AR5000A+3? Are the newer models equal in performance?

Thanks for the help!
 
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