Nothing New?

[Mainsail]

Man, I just feel like b1tching right now. I haven’t shopped for a mobile scanner in probably ten years and looking today it appears that nothing has changed much in all that time. The last car I had the allowed for under-the-dashboard mounting was a mid 70s Ford Maverick, yet that seems to be the standard mounting option even today!

Cars are smaller, and even large vehicles have very limited room for mounting things like radios or receivers. Looking at the ‘latest’ offerings from Shadio Rack and Uniden, there’s really nothing new. Uniden has two small mobiles; the 355 and the BC8, neither one has the military air band (WHY?!?!?!), and the 355 doesn’t even have alpha characters. What is that, like 1985 technology?

They can cram all sorts of high-tech into the 396, so why can’t they make a small mobile with a readable display, with acceptable frequency coverage?

 

[geoff5093]

It was a pain for my to mount my 996XT in my '09 Subaru Impreza, I tried several locations and couldn't find one that I liked, until I decided to mount it in the dash along with an aftermarket receiver to replace the stock head unit, which works quite well and looks much better then any sort of under the dash mount could have looked.

 

[CrabbyMilton]

Probably something to do with a lack of demand. I just take my handheld and plug in a small transmitter in order to pipe the sound to the speakers and it works just fine.

 

[jmp883]

Mainsail wrote:

They can cram all sorts of high-tech into the 396, so why can’t they make a small mobile with a readable display, with acceptable frequency coverage?

You don't mention purchasing price so I assume that isn't an issue for you. I'm not a marketing analyst but it probably boils down to the tug-of-war between features vs. cost vs. market wants/needs. At a certain point the more a manufacturer adds to the radio means the more it will cost to manufacture which means the more it will cost the consumer. If that cycle gets out of control the radio will price itself right out of the market, possibly before it even goes into production. In regard to the mil-air band not being in a small radio I think it goes back to what I wrote at the beginning of my post....cost. I must admit I don't understand why the scanner manufacturers only include the mil-air band on their mid-to-upper priced scanners.

Mainsail wrote:

Cars are smaller, and even large vehicles have very limited room for mounting things like radios or receivers.

Both Uniden and GRE now make DIN-sized scanners. I know it's a big compromise for a lot of people but you could always take out your factory audio system, put in the DIN sleeve and mount your radio that way. Of course you lose AM/FM and whatever other audio options you had in your factory audio system but it is one solution. A friend of mine did that, and as far as I know, he has no regrets. If you don't want to take the DIN plunge you just need to use a little bit of ingenuity and thought. In my case I mounted a Yaesu VHF/UHF transceiver and a Uniden remote-head controlled BCT-15 between the seats of my truck using universal mounting brackets that I bought at a local electronics part store.

Have you looked at the new Uniden HomePatrol-1? It has full coverage, including trunking, P-25, and mil-air. The radio comes with a cigarette lighter plug power cord and there is also an available mobile mounting bracket for it. The display is quite easy to read as well. Admittedly it is an oddly-shaped radio for mobile mounting but it might be what you're looking for. I have one in my home shack and I absolutely love it. Since I got my HP-1 the other 5 scanners in my shack have sat silent most of the time.

 

[RadioDaze]

Cars are smaller, and even large vehicles have very limited room for mounting things like radios or receivers.

I feel the same way... have you voted in this poll?
http://forums.radioreference.com/general-scanning-forum/193551-who-wants-detachable-faceplate.html

(Not that voting will do any good... just look at our last election.)

 

[gmclam]

Man, I just feel like b1tching right now. I haven’t shopped for a mobile scanner in probably ten years and looking today it appears that nothing has changed much in all that time.

There are more digital models. There are models that use Flash cards and contain the entire RR database in them. It depends on the specific changes you are looking for.

Cars are smaller, and even large vehicles have very limited room for mounting things like radios or receivers.

I mounted mine in front of an AC duct. Works for me but it does depend on the specific vehicle you have.

and the 355 doesn’t even have alpha characters. What is that, like 1985 technology?

Much simpler to program and the user most likely wont need a computer to program it.

They can cram all sorts of high-tech into the 396, so why can’t they make a small mobile with a readable display, with acceptable frequency coverage?

Because they want you to spend the $$$ for the 396!

 

[Mainsail]

I looked around on Bander.com for the exotics, but really nothing new there except the $700 and up ICOM units with the detachable faceplate.