BCT15X

[KJ4LZM]

Want a dedicated scanner for milair and other service monitoring. Would a BCT15X work well for this?
J

 

[Will001]

As long as it’s analog, your fine.


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[iMONITOR]

Want a dedicated scanner for milair and other service monitoring. Would a BCT15X work well for this?
J

Yes it's an excellent choice for commercial & military airbands.

 

[KJ4LZM]

OK. That's what I thought.
It seems as if most service systems are analog.

 

[GROL]

The BCT15X is probably the best performing scanner I have ever owned for all aviation monitoring which is about all I ever use it for. And it sounds great!

 

[737mech]

Plus 1 BCT15X

I own 2 of these and one of the bct15 models, they are very good for Milair. If you live in a city you might try adding a good FM trap inline with the antenna. That helps. Another good feature is the 9000 channel memory. Not that I scan all that, but having scanlists to break it up into interest areas helps and having so much space is great!!

 

[KJ4LZM]

I live about 10NM from Raleigh so I might check the FM trap out. You have any recommended ones?

Also, I live about 28NM from Ft Bragg and 39NM from Seymour Johnson Air Base. They have a refueling wing and F-15 Strike Eagle wing, so they are very active. I hope to pick up some traffic from them.

 

[KO4RJX]

I live about 10NM from Raleigh so I might check the FM trap out. You have any recommended ones?

Also, I live about 28NM from Ft Bragg and 39NM from Seymour Johnson Air Base. They have a refueling wing and F-15 Strike Eagle wing, so they are very active. I hope to pick up some traffic from them.

My BCT15X works great for aircraft out of SJAFB. I live about 15 miles from the base and can hear the tower fairly well. With my outside mounted antenna I can hear nearly 150-175 miles in each direction

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[ka3jjz]

I live about 10NM from Raleigh so I might check the FM trap out. You have any recommended ones?

<snip>

Here is an example of one - I don't use it personally, but I have a few of their other filters, and they simply work. Remember you get what you pay for

VHF-FM Broadcast Filters | PAR Electronics | Filters for the commercial 2 way market, MATV, FM broadcast, laboratory, marine industry, amateur radio, scanner and short wave listening enthusiasts

Now before you go spend money, take a tour of your FM broadcast environs. You need to find out the frequencies that might cause you grief. If you have an FM stereo, take the antenna off, and start tuning. Any station that still comes in loudly is a potential candidate. If you just have a portable, make sure the antenna is fully collapsed and in its resting position. Now using the response graph, like the one in the above page, you can see whether what you are buying will actually solve your issue. Note that you could have more than one signal - write the frequencies down so you can use them to do the evaluation. If I remember right, the FCC mandates lower power broadcasters (such as those from PBS) in the first 2 Mhz of the band. Hence your likely points of interest lie between 90-108 Mhz..

Be scientific in your approach, and you don't need any fancy gear to do it...Mike

 

[wbswetnam]

A great handheld for military air is the Uniden BC125AT. It is a non-digital, non-trunking scanner so it may be of limited use for monitoring public service (police/fire/EMS) but for civilian and military aircraft, it works great, highly sensitive. Also, it has a large alphanumeric display, just like the BCT15X. For a sub $100 scanner for civil and military aircraft monitoring, it's da bomb!

 

[GROL]

I was disappointed to find out that the BC125AT does not cover 380-400MHz. I was very interested in one when they came out. 380-400MHz is not entirely dedicated to LMR much like 138-144 and 148-150.8 are not all LMR. There is still some aviation frequencies used in 380-400. It kept me from buying what seems to be an otherwise great performing scanner by all accounts.

Some Command Posts are still assigned to 381.3, 383.0 and a few others. Nellis AFB still has frequency assignments for ATC in that range. AirNav: KLSV - Nellis Air Force Base

Besides the BCT15X, I have two RS Pro-164s (same as GRE PSR-300) which are great performers on all Air bands and covers all of 225-400MHz. The Signal Stalker mode works great for capturing activity at Air Shows for unknown frequencies. It is discontinued, but still available sometimes on eBay for around $100.

 

[jaymatt1978]

I think you're going to find a lot of the 380 mil-air freqs will eventually shift lower to under 380 because more military trunking systems are coming online. So give it a little time. I am VERY happy with the performance of the 125AT in the military bands. Cape May is still on VHF so I keep the 125 on my scooter when I drive around tow. It picks u[p a lot of the military frequencies just fine

I was disappointed to find out that the BC125AT does not cover 380-400MHz. I was very interested in one when they came out. 380-400MHz is not entirely dedicated to LMR much like 138-144 and 148-150.8 are not all LMR. There is still some aviation frequencies used in 380-400. It kept me from buying what seems to be an otherwise great performing scanner by all accounts.

Some Command Posts are still assigned to 381.3, 383.0 and a few others. Nellis AFB still has frequency assignments for ATC in that range. AirNav: KLSV - Nellis Air Force Base

Besides the BCT15X, I have two RS Pro-164s (same as GRE PSR-300) which are great performers on all Air bands and covers all of 225-400MHz. The Signal Stalker mode works great for capturing activity at Air Shows for unknown frequencies. It is discontinued, but still available sometimes on eBay for around $100.

 

[questnz]

Uniden marketing people are strange bunch, US version BC125 don't scan full Mil Air to 400MHz
but UK/AUS/NZ version of same scanner but marked UBC125 or UBC126AT scan Receives 25~88, 108~174, 225~520 and 806~960MHz so is Uniden branded Albrecht AE125H Frequency ranges: 25 - 88 MHz, aircraft radio 108 - 137, 137 - 174 MHz, 225 - 400 MHz, 400 - 512 MHz, 806 - 960 MHz

Why ? Figure that one, why not uniform for the whole range.