Best Scanner For Rr?

[nattybohhoe]

ok i was going ot get the bcd396t scanner, but something keeps teling me not to get it. so whats a good scanner for RR freqs? and also antenna. thanks please respond quickly im gettin impatent lol

 

[mikepro96fan]

Go for the Pro96 please!! Very user friendly...I tried the bcd396t...not user friendly in my opinion!! I monitor 160.74000 main rr frequency in Austin...Take care!!

 

[MarkWestin]

I have the BCD396T, the BR330T, and several others. The BCD396T is an excellent scanner, and not that hard to use, once you get past the initial learning curve. For Railroad listening, however, It (and the RS Pro-96 also) is overkill. At the moment, most if not all communications are analog in the 160-161 Mhz range. I have heard about some experimental Railroad use of APCO 25 (Digital), but it isn't in wide use (yet). The Pro-96 is older technology and while it works well, I would expect that a replacement model will be introduced within the next 1-2 years. The Pro-96 can accept certain Flash upgrades , but one problem required the radio to be sent back to Fort Worth for a chip replacement. The recent Uniden radios all have Flashable Bios and most of them have had more than one upgrade since their release. All you really need in a scanner radio for Railroad use is a lower end scanner with 200 or so channels. Alpha Tagging is a definite plus (almost but not quite a "Must Have"). The BCD396T/BR330T (same case size) are much smaller than the Pro-96 and others from GRE/Radio Shack. Smaller size means less weight to carry around. The stock antennas usually deliver more than adequate reception. On 9 (Nine) of my radios, I use the 3 inch long Maldol MH-209SMA (or MH-209 (BNC)) a "Active Hunter" antenna. These work as well or better than the stock antennas on my scanners and Amateur Radios. I have nothing against Radio Shack products, and I'm Still using 4 (3 actively) RS scanners. The only one I didn't like was the PRO-95, which I sold so that I could buy a BC246T

Mark

 

[Nasby]

Take a look at the PRO-97 from Radio Shack. It is only $149.00 and has plenty of features. One of the most important things to look for in a scanner for railroad monitoring is sensitivity. Ham radios (which will scan) such as the Yaesu/Vertex VX-150 are much more sensitive than a scanner and will pick up distant radio transmissions that a scanner won't. However, they don't have the frequency coverage (such as 800 mhz, air band, etc.) that a scanner has. The VX-150 is a great deal at around $120.00. It comes with a battery pack, charger, etc.
Paul

 

[Halfpint]

Go with the PRO-97 rather than the PRO-96. Not only is it more sensitive but with 100chs per bank you aren't going to have to figure out which of the two 50ch banks you want to be listening to like you would be doing with a PRO-96. (Save the PRO-96 for DTRS scanning where *it* shines and use the PRO-97 for conventional, LTR, and EDACS listening where *it* shines.)

Having said that however... Whilst I'll admit that I do have and use a PRO-97 and PRO-2055 for RR scanning my `fave' scanner for it is still my Racing Electronics RE-2000. Yeah, I have to deal with having to load up 5 banks of 20chs each for the standard AAR channels and remember to turn them all on. But, it also means that I can put the FRED 452 / 457.9375 and other `misc' freqs into a 6th separate bank that I can turn off and on as `needed' *and* I can use a `straight' 12VDC `lighter plug' w/o any `fancy' regulator circuitry to both power it and recharge the batteries when I'm in one of my vehicles. (The RE-2000s came from Racing Electronics with software for programming and have Alpha Tags along with CTCSS & DCTCSS capabilty for those times one needs it. I will admit that the software is pretty much `stone knives and bearskins' compared to a lot of other software that's out there but it works fairly well and doesn't take up a whole heck of a lot of space on one's computer. Another nice thing about the RE-2000 is that the backlight for the display turns on with squelch breaks though you cannot disable it.) About the only thing that you might find that might make you `think twice' about getting one from RE is the price. The PRO-97 / 2055s can be gotten for as little as $149.99 + tax while the the RE-2000 goes for around the same used.

Just an `Olde Fart's' 2¢ worth. {GRIN!}

 

[rpowley]

Take a look at the PRO-97 from Radio Shack. It is only $149.00 and has plenty of features. .......Paul

I use my PRO-97 when scanning RR in the field and it does a great job. I have had success with the PRO-95 also. Really haven't tried the PRO-96 for RR.