BC296, Icom R-20, AR8200 MarkIII. Which one is best???

[BoatBabe4Me]

Can anyone tell me the differences between the BC296D, the Icom R-20, and the AOR AR8200 MarkIII? I'm contemplating buying one of these radios soon and can't find enough information about them to know the differences between them. OK, maybe I'm to new at this and just don't know enough about it yet. Anyway, the BC296 seems to be advertised a lot about being good at scanning police frequencies while the AR8200 is being called "state of the art" but doesn't mention anything about being able to handle trunking and the other things the BC is advertised, etc. Can anyone help me figure this out? Which one really is the best? Are each good for only a certain thing? Can an AR8200 pickup S.A.M.E. weather alerts? Cat it also pickup all the new new and approaching digital police frequencies including trunking and whatever else? Thanks for the help and I'll be checking back soon!

 

[mciupa]

Forget ICOM and AOR . In today's digital and trunking world you
definitely want a radio that will follow the action properly. What good is
listening to "broken" conversation?

Both Uniden and Radio Shack make good portables.

To be fair though, if you want full coverage( kilo Hz to Giga Hz ) and trunking doesn't interest you, than I'm sure "the bells and whistles" of the other radios make them very desirable.

 

[K2KOH]

The Icom R20 looks like a good radio...a step up from the Icom R10 receiver, which I presently own. What kind of radio you want to get depends upon what you want to listen to. I presently own the R10 for portable avaiation monitoring, an IC R7100 for aviation at home, and a BC250D portable to listen to the local police and fire.
The BC250 is only because Conn. State Police is trunked and digital; otherwise, I would have no use for the 250.

This hobby can get quite expensive!

 

[BoatBabe4Me]

Thanks Guys!

Thanks for the info. I do prefer to monitor police, public safety, and weather related channels. Good for Marine type things for me. Trunking is more inportant to so your responses helped. Thanks a lot...