Scanner Radio Reliability

[HancockCountyHal]

It's time for me to go digital here in NW Ohio and upgrade from the BC895. I'm glad I found this great stie but after searching, I don't see anything about the reliability of scanners sold by Uniden, GRE, and Radioshack. There are a lot of posts regarding specific issues with various models but not too much about the new digital models.

Can anyone shed any light on which manufacturer makes the most reliable scanners?

HCH

[AlabamaRS]

Theree all about the asme lol, I like the RS ones because of the cheaper price & been them foro ver 15 years now. look out for thr F & F coupon & get the 197/106 for 279 or 299.99. also The FRS 1 are exact same as the GRE 500 & 600, GRE makes em for RS

[Swipesy]

Easy. Stay with Uniden or GRE and you will find the reliability is well into the high 95+%. Both Uniden and GRE also make scanners for Radio Shack. Most recently I have a Radio Shack Pro 96 (GRE made) and a GRE PSR500. These scanners are from 2 years old to 4 years old. Run constantly and never had a glitch with them. I have 8 other scanners going back 10 - 15 years and they still work.

[FLRAILMAN]

Hi & welcome to the site, I own all 3 types of the aforementioned scanners & they pretty much have identical specs since they all seem to be manufactured by one company, we all have our preferences on which is best, check out the reviews in the WIKI section on particular brands & models, I see you live in Hancock County, if you would like to test drive some of the particular scanners you may finally decide on, why dont you ride on down to Universal Electronics on 6830 Americana Pkwy. in Reynoldsburg which is in Franklin County. The sales staff is extremely freindly & accommodating & will gladly help with any needs you may have as to your particular application for your radio. Again, welcome & take care.

FLRAILMAN

Universal Radio
6830 American Pkwy.
Reynoldsburg Ohio 43068
614-866-4267
Universal Radio shortwave, amateur, scanner and CB radio since 1942
dx@universal-radio.com

[kc2rgw]

Trouble these days is with quality control in China. It's very haphazard and effects all manufacturers.

I have Uniden/Bearcat and RS scanners that are 20yrs old and still humming...you really don't know how well they will hold up...until they do.

So far so good with my 396XT, time will tell.

Tips in general. I've almost always used an adapter of some sort on the antenna connectors to save the built-in connector from wear due to removing antennas regularly. Currently I'm using the included sma to BNC adapter on the 396 and just use BNC antennas. Keeps the constant wear off the internally fixed sma connector. I've done this a lot over the years and have not had a stock antenna jack failure...which are reasonably common.

Also the audio jacks, be careful to strain relief connections so your cables aren't ever pulling on the jacks. Common sense, but keep your power cords and other cables clear...the easiest way to break a scanner is to fling it across a room or out onto the pavement because someone's foot or pet got into the cables while it was plugged in.

One last one, turn the radio off while plugging and unplugging audio connections. The newer stuff is a lot less protected when crossing the contacts in audio jacks and it's not all that uncommon to pop the audio circuit if you plug and unplug while a radio is hot...this is true with new ham gear too unfortunately.