Model with best CloseCall?

Circa · Jun 17, 2016

I started out with all Uniden scanners and as I progressed, I moved into RadioShack scanners and sold off my Uniden collection.
Now I miss the Uniden close call feature and want it back in a handheld.

I'm looking into buying a bcd396t, bcd396xt, or br330t for Close Call. (willing to buy via PM)

I don't need the scanner to be digital or anything, just be good at CloseCall.

Are there any Uniden scanners that have better close call? Or ones that are worse?

Thank you.

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W8RMH · Jun 17, 2016

I have owned/own the three you have listed and they all performed equally on Close Call. It basically comes down to antenna, the better the antenna they better you will receive.

The best choice would be the BR330T as it has a wider frequency range over the others, 100 kHz - 1.3 GHz (cellular blocked in US).

UPMan · Jun 18, 2016

All three should exhibit similar if not identical Close Call performance.

Circa · Jun 18, 2016

Thank you both of you.

W8RMH said:
The best choice would be the BR330T as it has a wider frequency range over the others, 100 kHz - 1.3 GHz (cellular blocked in US).

The br330t is what I think I'm going to go with. Too bad it's so difficult to come by.

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wtp · Jun 18, 2016

try here

Uniden Bearcat BR330T Police Scanner Radio | Scanner Master

Circa · Jun 18, 2016

wtp said:
Uniden Bearcat BR330T Police Scanner Radio | Scanner Master

Thank you for the link.
I found that one earlier but I don't miss close call enough to spend $300 on it.
One will pop up somewhere, eventually.

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scannersnstuff · Jun 18, 2016

someone has a pretty recent listing of one for around $150.00 <?> in the classified forum's here. caveat - i do not endorse the seller. never dealt with them. provided info. as a courtesy only.

K2RNI · Jun 20, 2016

wtp said:
Uniden Bearcat BR330T Police Scanner Radio | Scanner Master

Wow didn't know they still had new stock of those. Figured they were all long gone, been searching all over. Might just get that instead of the 346xt

scannersnstuff · Jun 20, 2016

take my advice, get the bc346xt instead. the 330 did have great coverage though. it's just long in the tooth. i didn't particularly like the reception on the 330. i am sorry that i sold it however. i have/had 4 346xt/c's, great scanner.

MarkWestin · Jun 20, 2016

I have to concur with pdfdems286 and recommend the bc346xt over the br330t. I have owned both of these models since I bought them new. The bc346xt has better sensitivity than the br330t. Odd marketing decisions tried to make the br330t a "race scanner" (complete with Nascar Logo), but I have never heard of anyone using a br330t for that purpose. Also, the br330t has good HF band coverage but lacks the ability to receive SSB transmissions. It is also limited to about 1250 channels (depending on alpha tags). The bc346xt has many more channels available which makes it much more useful than the br330t. I think that Uniden was trying hard for the br330t not to compete with other existing wide band receivers such as the Icom IC-R20 or the AOR AR 8200.

Mark

scannersnstuff · Jun 21, 2016

Mark, the only place i think the bc346xt/c fell a little short was uhf mil-air . however, it was most likely a marketing decision, to get folk's to buy the bcd396xt instead <if you really wanted/needed mil-air> . if i had the resource's i'd probably get another one. mine is currently slaved to being a fire pager.

anyway, with that being said, if i really need to nail down a frequency, i'll use a gre with spectrumsweeper. absolutely crush's uniden's closecall. i would chose my bc346xt as my go to,take with me scanner,however.

sibbley · Jun 22, 2016

pdfdems286 said:
Mark, the only place i think the bc346xt/c fell a little short was uhf mil-air . however, it was most likely a marketing decision, to get folk's to buy the bcd396xt instead <if you really wanted/needed mil-air> . if i had the resource's i'd probably get another one. mine is currently slaved to being a fire pager.

anyway, with that being said, if i really need to nail down a frequency, i'll use a gre with spectrumsweeper. absolutely crush's uniden's closecall. i would chose my bc346xt as my go to,take with me scanner,however.

I have agree. IMHO, spectrum sweeper works better. I love using spectrum sweeper on my PSR-800 set to record. It grabs everything close to me, records audio, and logs frequency + PL/DPL tones.

scannersnstuff · Jun 22, 2016

exactly. i basically live within the approach/departure path for ewr/jfk and lga. my psr-500 with portable antenna sit's in my kitchen,routinely picking off hit's from plane's. i do not believe i have ever received a closecall hit on an aircraft fq. yes,i know the entire thing about noise floor,etc.

scannersnstuff · Jun 22, 2016

pdfdems286 said:
exactly. i basically live within the approach/departure path for ewr/jfk and lga. my psr-500 with portable antenna sit's in my kitchen,routinely picking off hit's from plane's. i do not believe i have ever received a closecall hit on an aircraft fq. yes,i know the entire thing about noise floor,etc.

cleaned up a bit - my psr-500 routine spectrumsweeper hit's from airplanes. none with closecall.

DaveIN · Jul 1, 2016

I've always had great luck with the BC246T first gen Close Call.

marksmith · Jul 12, 2016

DaveIN said:
I've always had great luck with the BC246T first gen Close Call.

Me too.

Still use that radio for close call purposes only, letting g it log away on finds. Great radio, analog trunking only, but generally use for cost call or specific analog trunking.

Doubt of you could find one though. Over 10 years old.

Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

Comp-100 · Jul 13, 2016

If one just wanted close call seems like the BC125AT would fit the bill, they were recently $90 on Amazon. It only has basic VHF and UHF coverage, but I'm not sure you need more for basic CC usage if you're not looking for digital. Some stuff in the 900Mhz licence free zone might be interesting to know about, but most of that would be spread spectrum anyway. Is there something i'm missing?

Circa · Jul 13, 2016

It seems there are atleast a few of us interested in how each scanner performs in terms of Close Call. But, few of us have had the opportunity to compare two different scanners. I thought a list would be useful for future thread finds.

Do you want to make a list ranking models?

Vote in the thread and we'll add them up and rank them that way?

Kind of a Close Call Performance Quick Reference(CCPQR) thread.

I'm just thinking out loud right now.

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Voyager · Jul 13, 2016

I've never found any significant differences between the respective models. Any ranking would only be a popularity contest.

SOFA_KING · Jul 24, 2016

My experience is that GRE and Whistler will pickup a bit more than Uniden on Close Call. The Uniden takes a stronger signal to get locked on. This can be good or bad depending on how much you want to hear. I favor GRE Whistler, but do also use my 436 on Close Call.

Phil

Model with best CloseCall?

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