High quality scanner for milair only with great sound...

[vagrant]

@BabaDude77 - Buy it, try it and report back your results. It is Amazon, so if you do not like it return it for whatever small fee. There is a member @Mike445 who recently purchased the CountyComm version, but he is not on the east coast.

* Honestly, EAM's are pretty boring, but if you're into that have fun. At least you can dial around for other things with that HF receiver and you can connect an external clip-on wire antenna. Alternatively, using a 9:1 transformer and 45' of whatever wire you can pull in much more. What I do not know is if that little receiver will be overloaded with the external antenna, so you may want to put this AM broadcast notch filter inline.

 

[BabaDude77]

@BabaDude77 - Buy it, try it and report back your results. It is Amazon, so if you do not like it return it for whatever small fee. There is a member @Mike445 who recently purchased the CountyComm version, but he is not on the east coast.

* Honestly, EAM's are pretty boring, but if you're into that have fun. At least you can dial around for other things with that HF receiver and you can connect an external clip-on wire antenna. Alternatively, using a 9:1 transformer and 45' of whatever wire you can pull in much more. What I do not know is if that little receiver will be overloaded with the external antenna, so you may want to put this AM broadcast notch filter inline.

Thanks I appreciate the advice

 

[Engine104]

Dear BabaDude, You can hear EAMs, along with some phone patches on HF, primarily on 11.175 MHz and 8992 MHz. I listen to them on my HF rig, as well as my Tecsun PL-660 portable. I don't know much about the Tecsun model you listed, but their portable SW receivers work pretty well for what they are, just keep in mind that you won't hear much on a short whip antenna. I added a random wire antenna of about 20 feet to my PL-660 and it really helped. Also, check out the Tecsun PL-990, which is their newer model. Just know that any portable will not be as good as a dedicated tabletop shortwave/HF receiver. I hope that helps.

 

[CORN]

The radio shack Pro-164 or Realistic Pro-43 are two oldies but goodies if you can find them. I think EBay has a 164 being sold. But if you want the whole package I’ve had pretty good luck with my BCD436HP in the Milair range. I would use it to record the comms while i’m away using the built in record feature.

 

[IC-R20]

The GRE PSR-310 was really popular for aviation use.

 

[BabaDude77]

The radio shack Pro-164 or Realistic Pro-43 are two oldies but goodies if you can find them. I think EBay has a 164 being sold. But if you want the whole package I’ve had pretty good luck with my BCD436HP in the Milair range. I would use it to record the comms while i’m away using the built in record feature.

I have a 164 with a diamond RH77CA antenna and have it dedicated to airband both mil and civilian. Have heard some MilAir stuff from giant killer and huntress and some A2A but never any stratcom stuff seems to come in best when the AC are right above me. I may give it a try just to see if I can pull in some long distance stuff too.

 

[GROL]

I have a 164 with a diamond RH77CA antenna and have it dedicated to airband both mil and civilian. Have heard some MilAir stuff from giant killer and huntress and some A2A but never any stratcom stuff seems to come in best when the AC are right above me. I may give it a try just to see if I can pull in some long distance stuff too.

There are a couple of PRO-164 on eBay for around $100 which is the usual going price. I have 2 and would recommend them. They work great on civilian and MilAir and have good audio. Sellers of PRO-164 often pull the Yellow battery holder and sell them separately for $20. You don't need it. It allows you to charge batteries in the scanner. The black battery holder is for alkaline batteries and does not have the charge contact, but you can of course use rechargeable batteries, they just will not charge in the scanner. It can also be programmed by PC if you buy the cable and software. Butel ARC300 works well to program it. But it is easy enough to program via keyboard. Just a pain to do a lot of channels with names.

SATCOM is usually going to require a directional circular polarized antenna pointed at one of the satellites. I have operated and maintained the AN/PSC-5 DAMA SATCOM terminal, but have never tried monitoring as a hobby. I may try it sometime. Not everything is encrypted.

I have not built one, but here are some plans. MT magazine UHF Satcom antenna project

 

[BabaDude77]

There are a couple of PRO-164 on eBay for around $100 which is the usual going price. I have 2 and would recommend them. They work great on civilian and MilAir and have good audio. Sellers of PRO-164 often pull the Yellow battery holder and sell them separately for $20. You don't need it. It allows you to charge batteries in the scanner. The black battery holder is for alkaline batteries and does not have the charge contact, but you can of course use rechargeable batteries, they just will not charge in the scanner. It can also be programmed by PC if you buy the cable and software. Butel ARC300 works well to program it. But it is easy enough to program via keyboard. Just a pain to do a lot of channels with names.

Ur correct I have a 164 and have the software and cable was infact the first scanner I ever got a very very long time ago. Works good on civ air still working on the mil air. It’s really hit or miss in my area. We have a decent amount of F15 traffic from huntress and giant killer on the EADS and training ranges off of Long Island still haven’t heard any air refueling traffic but I know there is a track that’s fairly close. Was looking into HF to hear some world wide air force comms but not sure how much of that I could pull in with the hand held shortwave.

 

[GROL]

Ur correct I have a 164 and have the software and cable was infact the first scanner I ever got a very very long time ago. Works good on civ air still working on the mil air. It’s really hit or miss in my area. We have a decent amount of F15 traffic from huntress and giant killer on the EADS and training ranges off of Long Island still haven’t heard any air refueling traffic but I know there is a track that’s fairly close. Was looking into HF to hear some world wide air force comms but not sure how much of that I could pull in with the hand held shortwave.

You are not going to find much on HF any longer. Just the EAMs on the HFGCS frequencies, but that is pretty boring. Even with a short antenna you can often receive them on 8992 and 11175 KHz USB. But catching other voice comms on HF are probably unlikely. There may still be some National Guard or State emcomm HF nets around, but I would not know what they are.

I will be near TARPON range in south Florida sometime soon and anxious to hear a lot of MilAir traffic.

If you are ever at an Air Show with the Thunderbirds, be sure to monitor them. It is very entertaining. The commands from the lead pilot are funny to listen to. 11298.3gp

 

[Skypilot007]

My old BC780XLT scanners have a pretty hot receiver in the mil-air band. Noticeably better than the newer BCD996XT and BCD996P2. The old 780 has better audio quality as well. It's a keeper and I'm happy I held on to them.

 

[KB2GOM]

At the risk of sounding like a total noob I was looking for advice or input on possibly getting this radio for HF broadcast EAMs , Milair monitoring ECT. I figured it was a decent price for someone just getting started. Since it’s handheld and I will only be using the extendable antenna how much will I actually hear in the mil HF and is it worth it? I live in the northeast about 3 miles from the coast. Thanks

https://www.amazon.com/Tecsun-Digital-PL368-Worldband-Receiver/dp/B08ZY9GTJV/ref=pd_aw_ic_dpcp_m_3_m_4?pd_rd_w=iiemB&pf_rd_p=e43036e5-627d-4464-8e7f-33b4c4cb06c8&pf_rd_r=1QD9ZAJ1QZQ8NN2EBRB9&pd_rd_r=7ffe4934-48e4-4a4a-b08f-68a55e8576d0&pd_rd_wg=lsiFo&pd_rd_i=B08ZY9GTJV

I've had good luck hearing EAMs, as well as civilian HF air comms (Gander Communications Center, etc.) using this: https://www.amazon.com/Tecsun-Porta...&qid=1647090680&sprefix=tecsu,aps,1386&sr=8-4 I have no experience with the radio you're looking at.

 

[GROL]

I've had good luck hearing EAMs, as well as civilian HF air comms (Gander Communications Center, etc.) using this: https://www.amazon.com/Tecsun-Portable-Conversion-Shortwave-Reception/dp/B00IDM4N5K/ref=sr_1_4?crid=OSWSCIJOA1Y0&keywords=tecsun+pl-880&qid=1647090680&sprefix=tecsu,aps,1386&sr=8-4 I have no experience with the radio you're looking at.

Yeah. You are not going to find much MilAir on HF, but the civilian HF comms are busy. MWARA - The RadioReference Wiki

One thing for HF newbies. We are at the beginning of Solar Cycle 25 and although sunspot activity is increasing, there are still plenty of bad propagation days on HF. Dont get too discouraged. There are more good days coming. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycle_25

 

[KB2GOM]

Yeah. You are not going to find much MilAir on HF, but the civilian HF comms are busy. MWARA - The RadioReference Wiki

One thing for HF newbies. We are at the beginning of Solar Cycle 25 and although sunspot activity is increasing, there are still plenty of bad propagation days on HF. Dont get too discouraged. There are more good days coming. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycle_25

Roger that.

 

[BabaDude77]

Yeah. You are not going to find much MilAir on HF, but the civilian HF comms are busy. MWARA - The RadioReference Wiki

One thing for HF newbies. We are at the beginning of Solar Cycle 25 and although sunspot activity is increasing, there are still plenty of bad propagation days on HF. Dont get too discouraged. There are more good days coming. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycle_25

Funny you mention that I pulled out the SDR the other day and thought I would give HF a try and couldn’t get anything at all granted it was only about 10am but thought I would at least get something. There was 1 strange religious station that was just bearly getting through that was about it.

 

[bearcatrp]

I researched for a couple of months for a good air band radio. Allot came close. But decided my Icom R30 I used for P25 most of the time just got tasked for air band, civ and mil, and bought a used 436 for my P25 listening. Had one before. Not as good as the SDS 100 but I like AA batteries which the SDS100 can't use.

 

[peteymcsweety]

how about this radio from sportys the jd-100 with 200 band just for air coms

 

[ugbandtulsa]

Here's my mid-90's model Yaesu VX-5R HT with mods and homemade 1/4 wave dipole centered on 350mhz (about 17 inches total). It's a VERY small and light setup and covers every band (except CB) and every freq up about 9 hundred something mhz, with no lock outs. They are pricey on ebay now though, about $300, but I can see why. It does it all, truly. The homemade antenna is similar to the "broadswoard" sold by the guy in the UK. You can see a review of this style antenna on YT under "Frugal Radio". It nearly doubled my Diamond and Nagoyas, but ultimately the discone I made in the attic is unbeatable for me. It will get "AR PRIME" (352.600 mhz) at nearly 200 miles.

I also bought one BC125AT for the "Close Call" feature, which is supposed to magically pick up new freqs., but I've had plenty of AWACS and E-6B's fly right overhead at FL20....with nothing.

 

[KB2GOM]

Here's my mid-90's model Yaesu VX-5R HT with mods and homemade 1/4 wave dipole centered on 350mhz (about 17 inches total). It's a VERY small and light setup and covers every band (except CB) and every freq up about 9 hundred something mhz, with no lock outs. They are pricey on ebay now though, about $300, but I can see why. It does it all, truly. The homemade antenna is similar to the "broadswoard" sold by the guy in the UK. You can see a review of this style antenna on YT under "Frugal Radio". It nearly doubled my Diamond and Nagoyas, but ultimately the discone I made in the attic is unbeatable for me. It will get "AR PRIME" (352.600 mhz) at nearly 200 miles.

I also bought one BC125AT for the "Close Call" feature, which is supposed to magically pick up new freqs., but I've had plenty of AWACS and E-6B's fly right overhead at FL20....with nothing.

View attachment 120103

Looks nice. I have the VX-6R. What's "YT"?

 

[GROL]

Close Call is not going to pick up anything that is not extremely close.

 

[bearcatrp]

Nice VX 5R. What mods? I have the VX 7R and its my backup communication for SHTF scenario. Bought the software to mod the mars/cap and free band. Have used it for scanning in the past but suffers from overload at times. Hooked it up to my discone and FM stations near by wiped it out across all frequencies. As a handheld, its a good radio.