Best scanner for aircraft only

[Ubbe]

Ubbe, What FM trap filter do you recommend, also, do they come with BNC connectors at both ends.

You can take a look in the thread that compares different filters.

FM bandstop filter comparison

I rolled some numbers on the RTL-SDR FM bandstop filter and the HPN-30118 AM/FM filter using a VNA. The results are interesting compared to the ZBSF-95+, especially when you hit VHF Air voice at 118 - 137 MHz. The ZBSF-95+ numbers come from their spec PDF as I do not own that yet. There are...

forums.radioreference.com

/Ubbe

 

[Saint]

This is the trap I use and it works with my Uniden 436 scanner,

Amazon.com

 

[HappilyRetired]

I don't know; I don't use it for civilian VHF airband.

I can say this: older receivers do way better overall. I also recently picked up an IC-R2 and a VR-120 (both in excellent condition and cheap) and they are hotter on mil air than the BCT15X. Way better at pulling in distant signals. I'd take those 2 any day over, say, a BC125 which I don't own but have used extensively for mil air.

But my question is which is the best scanner for the VHF airband as well as the VHF high band where civilian and federal fire departments are at. I initially read good reports on the BCT15x that now seem to be challenged by those that actually have it. That's what I need to read. Discussion of the Mil Air band isn't on my list. I feel as if I am back to square one. Now the 996T is being suggested. I already have a 996P2 but it's dedicated to trunk tracking for the most part.

To the others, how is the 996T for the VHF airband as well as VHF high band for civilian and Federal firefighting? Where I am located we have fires every year that burned very quickly towards homes. My goal is to be able to listen to the fire Helitack which seems challenging to begin with because they drop into canyons and they're so close I don't hear them. I've heard it referred to as a donut hole. Simultaneous to Helitack are Cal Fire and the Cleveland and San Bernardino National (Idyllwild) Forest.

I appreciate ALL of the advice I have received. I'm new at this and I'm learning.

 

[stantorres]

If you want a setup that will give you great performance on Airband, design a setup FOR Airband. I learned that lesson the hard way. For me, I get fantastic performance on V/U airbands with a Uniden BC780XLT, LMR400 cable with quality connectors, 3 sections of mast with wall mounts from channelmaster.com and the Air Omni antenna from dpdproductions.com

 

[Ubbe]

For best RF performance a BC780 have tracking filters in the front end that follows the frequency, like most professional 2-way radios do. It's a much too expensive solution to be used in modern scanners but the Icom R1500/2500 also use tracking filters. Both are analog only receivers that where costly at the time they where in production. The BC780 lacks any audio AGC function but receiving AM the RF AGC takes care of that but not as much as needed. It drops its audio level when the signal have some noise, but might be a preferred function by some. I've modified my 780 to give more gain at the lower AM signals that produces a higher audio level with more noise but that's probably up to personal taste what you prefer.

The BCT15x, 996 and 536 are probably very similar in reception, probably more or less identical in its RF design. It could be component tolerances that makes them different if comparing them with the same antenna. At the factory they load a machine with a roll of 1000 capacitors and that batch could all have a 5% lower value and the next roll, that could even be from another brand that are cheaper, could have a 10% higher value. I know that they even can put in two capacitor rolls in the wrong slot, that they did with the Icom R2500 where two capacitors have changed places on the circuit board and produce jitter noise from the PLL in the receiver so its always a background hiss even at full signal strength.

/Ubbe

 

[HappilyRetired]

If you want a setup that will give you great performance on Airband, design a setup FOR Airband. I learned that lesson the hard way. For me, I get fantastic performance on V/U airbands with a Uniden BC780XLT, LMR400 cable with quality connectors, 3 sections of mast with wall mounts from channelmaster.com and the Air Omni antenna from dpdproductions.com

Thank you for your advice. That's exactly what I'm doing. A friend of mine is a ham radio operator and he's been guiding me the best he can. But you guys are the experts. I have a discone antenna that I'm currently listening to the VHF airband with, NOT the milair as some have assumed, and I'm using a 780 XLT. I am specifically interested in Fire Department helitack helicopters. I know that they are between 119 - 121 mhz. I know I'm not going to get perfection but the problem I have is that they tend to dip down into canyons while I'm at the top of the mountain. They are in what I have been told is the donut hole. My antenna can't see down where they're at. I'm told to get a low gain antenna rather than a high gain antenna that aims at the horizon. Is that kind of accurate?

If the AGC as it is called (?) is causing the Audio Level to drop, then that's why I'm looking for a better scanner. I'm thinking a newer scanner keeps the Audio Level somewhat consistent. I also have a West Mountain radio CLRspeech DSP that helps get rid of a lot of the static or hiss. But it doesn't bring the audio level up as the AGC as I think does. I think the CLRspeech DSP coupled with the BCT15x might be a good choice along with an actual VHF airband antenna. I have been told to get a Unity gain or a 3db gain airband antenna which I haven't seen advertised anywhere. I have seen a Unity gain only. I don't have the BCT15X yet. I believe I'll end up with four radios and Scanner Master has a desk mount thingy that I can put for scanners in and kind of keep my desk clean.

My wife is not too happy with how my one antenna has grown into quite a few. Lol. Once I pass my amateur radio test the antenna farm is going to get larger. I promised to make it up to her by buying her a new car.

One thing in my favor is that I live at the top of a hill at about 2,200 ft. I pick up CHP extremely well using a Child's ½ wave coaxial antenna that I got off of ebay. Low Band VHF Base antenna, 30-88 mhz, omni-directional, 1/2 wave, so239 | eBay. It's a pretty decent antenna and I can pull in San Diego (Border,) Los Angeles (Southern,) and San Bernardino (Inland) CHP areas. I can also even pick up Victorville on the other side of the mountain but they're not a repeater. I don't get to hear the mobiles for them. One thing I found is that CHP officers quite often go "direct" or "talk around" as I've been told it's called. The 12 ft tall Child's antenna picks them up extremely well even though they're in San Diego when I'm in Riverside county. The same with the Los Angeles or the southern area for CHP. I am listening to CHP on a 780XLT.

Now then, the problem. I also need to listen to CDF dispatch which is at 151 MHz, their tacticals at 169 MHz, the Cleveland National Forest at 172 MHz. They also have tacticals up at 173 MHz but they are low power HTs. The best I could do on that was I bought a Tram VHF Hi antenna and cut it for 160 MHz. It's a compromise. I can hear most of what I'm interested in listening to. I listen to them using a 796D that I got cheap on ebay. I found their LEO Channel and it's a mix between analog and digital.

I also have a UHF yagi pointed at San Bernardino County so I can listen to Search and Rescue. I have them on the 996P2. I frequently go hiking in that area and have it programmed into my handheld scanner as well.

Could I have done better? I can't keep adding antennas to the roof.

 

[Ubbe]

A problem with the BC780's AM mode are that it uses its 25KHz filter and not the 12,5KHz one. That will add noise to the signal. Unidens SDS100/200 have a software defined filter that they have programmed to be more narrow than 12,5KHz and then have been perfectly aligned to VHF AIR AM mode, I believe that would be 9KHz, and sounds fantastic. But those scanners have other RF issues that can be a problem and they don't have audio AGC.

I would expect your 996P2 to behave the same as a BCT15x so you can try that scanner at VHF AIR and see what you get. A BCT15x doesn't cost much so it's anyhow a good buy for analog use.

Your discone antenna are a low gain antenna comparable to a 1/4 wave vertical antenna but those are more narrow in frequency range so it seems that the discone are a good choice for you. The higher the gain the more the vertical beam are narrowed down to the horizon. If a aircraft are down in a hole then its transmit signal has to bounce on something to reach you. In most cases it will hit trees and other objects at the ridge above the hole and then spread from there so it will possible to receive the signal. So any gain antenna needs to be directed at the ridge and if the height of that ridge are more or less at the horizon then a high gain antenna can be used. If that ridge are much lower, or higher, then a more moderate gain antenna are needed that can pick up that signal, or a high gain antenna needs to have some tilt to align it to that particular ridge, if it's only one in question.

Diamond, and other antenna companies, have diagrams of the radiation pattern of some of their antennas. I have hills all around me and a high gain antenna like Diamond F23 still gives a higher signal from a VHF air tower than a 1/4 wave antenna cut for that band, but the angle to my ridges are not that steep and I need to receive VHF marin from other directions so have to keep the antenna perfectly vertical.
If you see an improvement with the Tram antenna then it's probably a 5/8 wave type or similar that have some 3dB gain.

Most aircrafts that takes off from UK or western sweden and are destined to the eastern europe and further to china and japan travels in a air corridor right above my head at 30,000ft and I can receive them with any antenna as long as they are above the ridges of my hills, so there shouldn't be any disadvantage using a gain antenna for general monitoring of VHF air.

/Ubbe