Best Scanner For VHF

[rsalars]

New to this hobby. I live in Grant County, New Mexico, and am interested in listening to emergency services and forest service (Gila). After looking at the frequency database, it doesn't look like I will need a trunking scanner, as all I see are the mines and a utility. I'd like the best mobile scanner that

-scans fast
-is easy to read on the screen
-that lets me add the name of the agency on the screen, if possible

I also picked up this external antenna a while back-would it be ok?

Tram 1410 Broad Band Discone/Scanner Base Antenna

Amazon.com: Tram 1410 Broad Band Discone/Scanner Base Antenna: Electronics

Amazon.com: Tram 1410 Broad Band Discone/Scanner Base Antenna: Electronics

www.amazon.com

Thanks!

 

[Reconrider]

-scans fast
-is easy to read on the screen
-that lets me add the name of the agency on the screen, if possible

I’m on mobile so it’s a little bit of a pain to search places - but depending on the trunk, you won’t get a fast scanning scanner. The sds100(handheld/portable) would be the best. But it scans at a slow rate of 80 per second.
The fastest scanner I’ve seen would be the icom r30 which scans 200/second but it doesn’t do trunk systems.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Hi & welcome to the RR forums:
Are you looking for handheld or base? My suggestions:

Handheld: Uniden BC125AT (never owned one, but plenty of positive reviews here reporting great analog RX. A lot of the negative reviews on sites like Scamazon are from people who picked up the scanner before doing their research with their area being digital)

Base: Uniden BCT15X (I owned one when I lived in an entirely analog county, great RX).
Both are analog only so they can't pick up P25 (which doesn't seem to be present in your county anyway)

-scans fast

This depends on how many objects you have programmed in to a memory bank & how many banks you scan at once

The fastest scanner I’ve seen would be the icom r30 which scans 200/second but it doesn’t do trunk systems.

This is a communications receiver, an entirely different class of radio, definitely not for someone new to the hobby. No need to shell out $600 if the OP has no need to monitor digital modes, some which aren't likely to be available in their area anyway

 

[MDScanFan]

I recommend the 125AT. It is what I use at my desk to monitor VHF Low & High fire in my area. It is connected to a Tram 1410. I compared it to a number of my other radios (scanners & receivers) and the 125AT was better than nearly all of them in terms of sensitivity and audio recovery. Selectivity seems very good for a scanner. Like other scanners, strong signals nearby may cause intermod issues, such as pager systems or NOAA transmitters.

 

[FIRE321FIGHTER1985]

Hi & welcome to RR
I bought 2 Tram 1410 and I have come to the conclusion that they are junk!!! 1. Coax is not long enough. 2. Receive is not the best in my opinion. I would figure out the proper length of coax and have an antenna made with the length of coax you need. Scanner Master would be a good start.

 

[MDScanFan]

Are you confusing the Tram 1410 with another antenna? The 1410 does not come with coax so you just pick the length you need. I have used the 1410 outdoors and it works as expected for a discone.

Hi & welcome to RR
I bought 2 Tram 1410 and I have come to the conclusion that they are junk!!! 1. Coax is not long enough. 2. Receive is not the best in my opinion. I would figure out the proper length of coax and have an antenna made with the length of coax you need. Scanner Master would be a good start.

 

[rsalars]

I don't have coax for the antenna yet and kind of think it didn't come with any or if it did, I lost it somewhere along the line.

The 125at sounds pretty good if I only scan certain banks of memory.

Any type of receive amplifiers for scanner radios?

 

[MDScanFan]

Usually you would want to start with a passive setup and see how well that works before incorporating a preamp. Getting the antenna as high as possible and using good coax will help. Preamps can help or hurt a setup. Pairing one with a wideband discone is especially challenging because strong signals (FM BCB, pagers, NOAA, etc.) can saturate the preamp.

Is there a specific portion of VHF that you you want to listen to?

I don't have coax for the antenna yet and kind of think it didn't come with any or if it did, I lost it somewhere along the line.

The 125at sounds pretty good if I only scan certain banks of memory.

Any type of receive amplifiers for scanner radios?

 

[jaspence]

The SDS100 is overkill. I like my BC125AT for analog scanning. On sale at Amazon for $121, sometime sells as low as $99.00.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Any type of receive amplifiers for scanner radios?

I'd advise against a preamp for local monitoring as scanners' front ends can get easily overloaded with RF. If you can get an external antenna high above your roofline this would be suggested

 

[slayer816]

For analog conventional, BC125AT (portable) & BCT15(X) (base/mobile) do wonders.

 

[FIRE321FIGHTER1985]

Sorry, I was thinking of the Tram magnetic mobile antenna.

 

[CanesFan95]

Ham radios receive a lot better than scanners. Consider buying a single-band VHF ham rig: Mobile Transceivers - Monoband Band Agility .

 

[Ubbe]

I also picked up this external antenna a while back-would it be ok?

Forrest and EMS seems to be in a very narrow range at 154-155MHz so I would suggest, if you have the space for it, a Diamond F23 vertical that has a considerable higher gain than a discone.

My experiance are that it does a pretty good job at other frequency bands as well. When you use an antenna out of it's tuned range it will work much better having a low-noise preamplifer as a buffer between antenna and coax. But the signal has to be attenuated at the scanner to a level that do not overload the receiver.

The F23 doesn't weigh much, you can easily hold it in one hand while listening with a scanner in the other hand, and the wind resistance are low which makes it easy to install.

/Ubbe

 

[Scan125]

For analog conventional, BC125AT (portable) & BCT15(X) (base/mobile) do wonders.

The BC125AT can be turned into a PC driven Base Station with Scan125

 

[vagrant]

@rsalars I have the Uniden BC125AT and the RX works rather well, even compared to my Icom R30 which costs much more. I use mine mobile, portable and at the house. I have several as they work well. I also use the Scan125 program to control the one at the house. The BC125AT uses regular AA batteries whether alkaline or rechargeable. At home and in the car I power mine directly from the USB port. It scans as fast as most other scanners, it is easy to read and the backlight is bright. You can also use alphanumeric tags to identify the frequencies.

I also have that Tram 1410 discone, but I only use it when camping. I cannot convey the long term durability, but it is the antenna you have. Also, while you have VHF stuff there in your area, your county EMS is on UHF and there may be many other frequencies in use that are simply not reported in the RR database. The Tram multi-band discone you have will handle that. Also, if you did not know, the RR database is user supported and not an all encompassing list of frequencies in use. You could probably find and submit more frequencies for your area.

As to coax LMR-400 is a safe bet, but others use LMR-240 or even shielded RG6 TV coax, even though it is 75 Ohm. As previously mentioned, getting your antenna above your roofline and the nearby terrain is beneficial.

As to a preamp I also recommend you avoid that until you have your system up and running. You may receive everything you want very well. Still, even before purchasing a preamp, you should consider an FM broadcast filter. Radio stations use thousands of watts and they can and do cause interference. You may not "hear" the FM station audio directly when monitoring a particular frequency, but what you may hear is noise/static/hiss along with the received audio. Thus, you may perceive a signal is weak, when it is actually interference.

 

[Giddyuptd]

Sds200 as simulcast will be issue for some. If only vhf i highly suggest unication g5 vhf/700 dual band. If you know what frequencies you wanna use considering the 700 roll out. Most in state will be dual band in future purchases in the 700 areas.

 

[rsalars]

Ham radios receive a lot better than scanners. Consider buying a single-band VHF ham rig: Mobile Transceivers - Monoband Band Agility .

So I'm leaning towards a BC125AT with a Diamond F23 vertical.

But if Ham units are better receivers, could I use them in scan mode?

 

[MDScanFan]

You could use a ham transceiver as your receiver, but I still recommend starting with the 125AT. It offers an excellent balance, performance, and features. While ham transceivers can offer better sensitivity & selectivity they are usually hindered by a slower scan speed and cost more. As an example, I use a couple Kenwood TM-281As as dedicated VHF band receivers. They edge out the 125AT in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, and audio recovery but they cost more, have less frequency coverage, scan much slower, have limited channel storage, and limited alpha numerics.

I recommend starting with the excellent general purpose 125AT, see how well it works for your needs, and then go from there.

 

[krokus]

So I'm leaning towards a BC125AT with a Diamond F23 vertical.

But if Ham units are better receivers, could I use them in scan mode?

You already have the Tram discone, so give it a try. It will probably work for your situation, and is easy to replace, if it does not meet your desired performance.