Airband scanner help

[hfflunki]

Hi
I use two old Bearcat base scanners for airband.
I would really appreciate some help finding a inexpensive handhels scanner that does airband .
I have had a r6 and a bc 125at in the past .I was thinking about getting a Chinese two way for this.
I don't want something over 50 dollars I don't get out much.i also do adsb and would like to sit at the park and monitor with my phone using a rtl sdr doing adsb and a cheap scanner.thanks

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

I have had a r6 and a bc 125at in the past .I was thinking about getting a Chinese two way for this.

No...just...NO!

 

[invergordon]

If it helps I am also "into" airband and have found that the Quansheng UV-K5 is rather good. There is a caveat though: you need to also buy a programming cable and update the firmware (the firmware is free). I found this trivial by using a browser based link from egzumer, this is the Github page for information (Releases · egzumer/uv-k5-firmware-custom) and this is the browser page for the actual uploading of the firmware to your receiver (UVTools). If you have connected your radio and found the comm port in Windows then you can actually just skip to latter URL and perform the update. This should give a huge improvement to AM reception and I find the Quangsheng streets ahead of my Uniden SDS100 on VHF airband.

Price? About US$40-50

 

[N9JCQ]

The 125 will be a far superior receiver to any of Chinese hts

 

[Ubbe]

I find the Quangsheng streets ahead of my Uniden SDS100 on VHF airband.

Anything will be better than SDS100 in pure RF performance. But what scan rate will that Quangsheng do? That's usually what makes a radio less useful. Often a radio, even the cheapest ones, will have tracking filters on its front-end that makes it perform good in sensitivity without any desense.

edit: Oh, "The RX front end has no track-tuned band pass filtering at all, and so are wide band/wide open to any and all signals over a large frequency range."

/Ubbe

 

[Colin9690]

I use an Icom IC-A25 air band transceiver to listen, its reception is superior to anything I’ve ever used on air band.

I should add I’m a pilot and actually use this radio a lot, and it’s an awesome backup comm. But if I’m at home and just want to listen, I turn off the SDS and grab the Icom for air band.

 

[KD9KSO]

I had an A21 when I was flying regularly. It too was a great performer.

 

[firebird61]

Search eBay for Radio Shack Pro-51. Great handheld with air band.