I’m getting back into the scanner hobby after quite a long while. So I picked up a 160DN to start with as an upgrade to my old Radio Shack Pro 43 from the 90s which I have been using for airband listening. I'm kind of disappointed in the 160DN so far due to what appears to be a rather severe FM desensitization and interference issue.
While it is really nice to have a display where I can actually see the name of the channel I’m listening to, not to mention actually being able to see it at all at night, I’m not impressed with the performance of the 160DN‘s RF front end. I have a couple of strong FM stations nearby. The closest is 6.8 miles according to FM Fool so not exactly right next door but at -20.1 dBm here according to the chart. Two more are coming in at about -30. Connecting both radios to my rooftop antenna (which is an FM vertical so that doesn’t help) via a splitter, the Pro 43 is blowing the new 160DN away on the civil air band. The old Pro 43 with its triple-conversion front end has no issues whatsoever on this antenna.
Hopefully I’ll be fine when going out with the 160DN to watch planes closer to the airport but for here at home, I’ll need to add an FM notch filter. I didn’t buy a scanner to listen to FM broadcasts so Uniden should really have put an FM notch in there to begin with or used a better front end.
I have ordered an HPN-30118 notch filter from Scannermaster and will report back once it arrives.
