radio scanner recommendation

[tomehaj]

Hi,

I am new to radio scanners. Could you please tell me is there on the market a radio scanner which can pick all the frequencies from 1 Hz to 40 GHz? If not, which radio scanner do you recommend, which can pick the most frequencies in the radio spectrum? It can be a desktop scanner but I would prefer a handheld radio scanner.


thanks.

Tom

 

[mmckenna]

You won't find a scanner that will cover that much spectrum.
Even a high end spectrum analyzer will start at about 100KHz, but they are one frequency at a time and will cost in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Once you get above the 1.2GHz amateur radio band, the emissions used are digital and either so wide band or so complex and encrypted that consumer grade gear isn't going to do you any good.

Probably an easier and cheaper way to do this is to focus on a HF receiver that will cover the low frequency stuff up to about 30MHz and then a consumer scanner that'll cover from 30MHz on up.

As for individual radios that will do this, I'll leave that to others that have more experience with the consumer side of things. It would help if you established a working budget for this. It is difficult to answer a question like yours without knowing how much money you are willing to spend.

 

[tomehaj]

Radio scanner recommendatiop

Hi mmckenna,

Thnx for your reply, I better start low, so I was thinking about spending 1000 $ for a start.

Tom

You won't find a scanner that will cover that much spectrum.
Even a high end spectrum analyzer will start at about 100KHz, but they are one frequency at a time and will cost in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Once you get above the 1.2GHz amateur radio band, the emissions used are digital and either so wide band or so complex and encrypted that consumer grade gear isn't going to do you any good.

Probably an easier and cheaper way to do this is to focus on a HF receiver that will cover the low frequency stuff up to about 30MHz and then a consumer scanner that'll cover from 30MHz on up.

As for individual radios that will do this, I'll leave that to others that have more experience with the consumer side of things. It would help if you established a working budget for this. It is difficult to answer a question like yours without knowing how much money you are willing to spend.

 

[hiegtx]

Hi mmckenna,

Thnx for your reply, I better start low, so I was thinking about spending 1000 $ for a start.

Tom

Welcome to RadioReference, Tom.

If you're initial budget is $1000, then you could buy one (more likely two) of the top of the line scanners available.

A better question is what type of radio traffic are you wanting to monitor? Law Enforcement? Fire? EMS? One or more of these, plus other things? Without knowing your interests, as well as you're basic location (to see what's being used in your area), it's not practical to make a solid recommendation. For your location, I would suggest that you update that information in your member profile. City (or county) and state will do. Once there's a better idea of where you are & what interests you, you'll get more useful feedback as to units to look at.

 

[AC9BX]

Welcome to RadioReference, Tom.

If you're initial budget is $1000, then you could buy one (more likely two) of the top of the line scanners available.

I have to agree with hiegtx and mmckenna.

A useful modern scanner would range from about 25Mhz to 2GHz (usually just a little above 1GHz) give or take a little on either or both ends and they most always skip things such as the broadcast TV bands. The only real issue with skipping TV is there are some devices such as wireless microphones that use that spectrum. There are some very expensive scanners and models often sold only for government use that cover more and without skipping anything. The latest models such as the TRX from Whistler will tune and decode everything that is currently available and legal in a consumer unit.

You do have to inventory what it is you want to hear. If your not really scanning but want to be able to tune to a particular frequency something like a USB dongle is a great choice. They are very inexpensive (although there are better ones for more money and some very elaborate expensive software defined radios) and can tune nearly anything.

If for example you only wanted to listen to analog VHF and UHF amateur repeaters an old 200 channel used model, available very inexpensively, will do the job very well.

On the other hand if your local police department uses encryption or some particular unsupported digital trunking system there is NO scanner that will decode it.

 

[gonefishn1]

Buy 2 Uniden BCD536HP scanners for $1000.00 on Amazon with free shipping.

 

[tomehaj]

Hi Guys,


I was thinking about scanning frequencies from 9 to 315 kHz?

What radio scanner on the market can accomplish that?


Tom

 

[N8IAA]

Hi Guys,


I was thinking about scanning frequencies from 9 to 315 kHz?

What radio scanner on the market can accomplish that?


Tom

There are no scanners that will receive those frequencies. The lowest a scanner can receive is 25 MHz.There are communication receivers that will allow you to hear that frequency spread. What is it you are planning on monitoring? Also, a location would help.
Larry

 

[mmckenna]

What you need isn't a scanner for those frequencies. You'll need a VLF receiver, maybe a good Frequency Selective Level meter, and some good antennas.

What are you looking to listen to down there? There's little in the way of voice traffic, some broadcast, the rest of it is extremely slow speed morse code.

 

[ka3jjz]

...along with a good deal of encrypted digital stuff...Mike

 

[krokus]

I was thinking about scanning frequencies from 9 to 315 kHz?

What radio scanner on the market can accomplish that?

As others have pointed out, no scanners do that. There are some radios from AOR that might do it but are more receivers that might scan.

The USN/USCG R-2368, made by Harris, covers from 14 kHz to 29.999 MHz. They have some limited scanning capability, can be controlled via a serial port, and the USCG models include a speaker in the front panel. I used and worked on these, while active duty, and they perform well.

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