Hello,
I've always been into air band listening (not much interested in other bands) and I've always tried to obtain related equipment, since I was a child.
My very first air band radio was an "International 877T" - you can see it here even though the model name is different on that site.
With that radio, and its telescopic antenna, I was able to receive perfectly clearly all the transmissions from my local international airport (LIRF, Rome Fiumicino) - I could hear the planes AND the ground transmissions - Approach, departure, VOLMET, radar, and so on.The reception was good even if I don't have a line-of-sight view of the airport. I'm about 30 miles away from the airport (line of sight distance).
I had fun with that radio even if it was a nightmare to tune, but then I misplaced it, and so I bought a Uniden UBC30XLT, but I didn't love it especially for the lack of alpha tags, and no direct frequency entry. So I bought a Uniden UBC3500XLT, which later was run over by a car, and then a UBC125XLT. And a Radio Shack Pro-82 just because it was cheap at a flea market. I use them with the Watson W-901 antenna, and with the Watson Super-gainer (both bought from a respectable UK seller, so should be genuine) and with a magnetic-mount Air-band-specific antenna whose brand I forgot. The latter is the best performer of all.
Well, with all these scanners, I've never been able to receive any ground station at all. On any frequency. Occasionally something from a smaller airport that's closer to me, but never LIRF, which I used to hear well with that ancient analog radio. I honestly assumed they had reduced their transmit power, maybe because the receivers onboard airplanes had gotten better in these 20 years.
Fast forward to a couple of days ago, and during a house move, I found my old analog radio. I put fresh batteries in, and after applying some contact cleaner spray on the switches and pots, I was able to get it running... and imagine my surprise when after fiddling with the tuning pot, I heard loud and clear all the ground transmissions from LIRF.
So it appears that a very old, analog-only, battered radio receiver with its flimsy fixed telescopic antenna receives much better than my new, much more expensive, scanners connected to an outside antenna that is supposedly meant for air band. And now I'm puzzled and would like some advice.
I honestly need to hear the ground part of the conversation. Air band is rather boring without it. So what should I do? Is it conceivable that my scanners are so deaf compared to the old radio? Should I buy a much better antenna, and if so, which one? I have some space under my (concrete and tiles) roof where I could install an antenna as long as it's shorter than 2m more or less. That would be about 20 ft above ground. Or I could put it on the roof but I would be a bit worried about lightning.
I don't need stellar performance, I just need to hear what I could hear 20 years ago.
I'm prepared to buy a new scanner, possibly handheld but also a desk unit would do. I really don't need a transceiver but I could go that way if needed. Or maybe just a new antenna could do? But this would still not explain why my older radio would get those signals with an indoors stick antenna.
I've heard about the Yupiteru MVT-7100 scanner, supposedly very seneitive, but I would really like to have alpha tags.
Ah, scanning is pretty important too, so I'd rather avoid "pure receivers" that don't scan.
My total budget (radio + antenna if needed) could be about 400 euro or slightly more, but I would be much more happy if I could spend 250 or so.
The "bigger" Unidens both also have a Squelch issue, in that level 1 always stays open, and level 2 is too strong - i.e. it blocks some perfectly usable signals. But that's not the point of this post.
Well... that's about it. Thank you for reading this, and for any advice...
Cristian
EDIT: I thought I might add that with my newer scanners, the farthest I ever heard an intelligible transmission from an airplane, was about 130 miles away. With the older analog radio, I heard - faintly but clearly - an aircraft that was almost 200 miles away.
I've always been into air band listening (not much interested in other bands) and I've always tried to obtain related equipment, since I was a child.
My very first air band radio was an "International 877T" - you can see it here even though the model name is different on that site.
With that radio, and its telescopic antenna, I was able to receive perfectly clearly all the transmissions from my local international airport (LIRF, Rome Fiumicino) - I could hear the planes AND the ground transmissions - Approach, departure, VOLMET, radar, and so on.The reception was good even if I don't have a line-of-sight view of the airport. I'm about 30 miles away from the airport (line of sight distance).
I had fun with that radio even if it was a nightmare to tune, but then I misplaced it, and so I bought a Uniden UBC30XLT, but I didn't love it especially for the lack of alpha tags, and no direct frequency entry. So I bought a Uniden UBC3500XLT, which later was run over by a car, and then a UBC125XLT. And a Radio Shack Pro-82 just because it was cheap at a flea market. I use them with the Watson W-901 antenna, and with the Watson Super-gainer (both bought from a respectable UK seller, so should be genuine) and with a magnetic-mount Air-band-specific antenna whose brand I forgot. The latter is the best performer of all.
Well, with all these scanners, I've never been able to receive any ground station at all. On any frequency. Occasionally something from a smaller airport that's closer to me, but never LIRF, which I used to hear well with that ancient analog radio. I honestly assumed they had reduced their transmit power, maybe because the receivers onboard airplanes had gotten better in these 20 years.
Fast forward to a couple of days ago, and during a house move, I found my old analog radio. I put fresh batteries in, and after applying some contact cleaner spray on the switches and pots, I was able to get it running... and imagine my surprise when after fiddling with the tuning pot, I heard loud and clear all the ground transmissions from LIRF.
So it appears that a very old, analog-only, battered radio receiver with its flimsy fixed telescopic antenna receives much better than my new, much more expensive, scanners connected to an outside antenna that is supposedly meant for air band. And now I'm puzzled and would like some advice.
I honestly need to hear the ground part of the conversation. Air band is rather boring without it. So what should I do? Is it conceivable that my scanners are so deaf compared to the old radio? Should I buy a much better antenna, and if so, which one? I have some space under my (concrete and tiles) roof where I could install an antenna as long as it's shorter than 2m more or less. That would be about 20 ft above ground. Or I could put it on the roof but I would be a bit worried about lightning.
I don't need stellar performance, I just need to hear what I could hear 20 years ago.
I'm prepared to buy a new scanner, possibly handheld but also a desk unit would do. I really don't need a transceiver but I could go that way if needed. Or maybe just a new antenna could do? But this would still not explain why my older radio would get those signals with an indoors stick antenna.
I've heard about the Yupiteru MVT-7100 scanner, supposedly very seneitive, but I would really like to have alpha tags.
Ah, scanning is pretty important too, so I'd rather avoid "pure receivers" that don't scan.
My total budget (radio + antenna if needed) could be about 400 euro or slightly more, but I would be much more happy if I could spend 250 or so.
The "bigger" Unidens both also have a Squelch issue, in that level 1 always stays open, and level 2 is too strong - i.e. it blocks some perfectly usable signals. But that's not the point of this post.
Well... that's about it. Thank you for reading this, and for any advice...
Cristian
EDIT: I thought I might add that with my newer scanners, the farthest I ever heard an intelligible transmission from an airplane, was about 130 miles away. With the older analog radio, I heard - faintly but clearly - an aircraft that was almost 200 miles away.
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