lazyfortress
Member
I can't remember the last time I posted on here. I just recently got back into scanning (ACARS and satellites), and I realized that my PRO-649 is awful at producing useful NOAA weather satellite APT images.
The software I'm using, WXtoIMG, even said that my scanner has a "narrow IF bandwidth." ACARSd (ACARS Decoder) won't even recognize the ACARS beeps coming from the PRO-649, and I have the audio jack from the scanner plugged into the microphone port of my computer (I even tested if the sounds work on the computer).
I've been looking for a decent scanner (non-handheld, base-type) that can give me usable NOAA satellite images, and be able to go into the 1 GHz range. I also want that scanner to be able to produce good results overall when getting signals from very old satellites like Transit 5B-5 (caught that one yesterday using my PRO-649 and custom yagi) and OSCAR 7 (didn't get to listen to it for very long).
The big question(s):
Would the Uniden Bearcat BCT15X give me better APT images and better quality in sound? I read somewhere that decent APT images require an IF bandwidth of 50 KHz. I couldn't find any IF information on the BCT15X.
Would the BCT15X be a significant upgrade over my PRO-649?
Edit: If the BCT15X has too low of a bandwidth, what can I do to increase the IF filter's bandwidth to 50KHz?
The software I'm using, WXtoIMG, even said that my scanner has a "narrow IF bandwidth." ACARSd (ACARS Decoder) won't even recognize the ACARS beeps coming from the PRO-649, and I have the audio jack from the scanner plugged into the microphone port of my computer (I even tested if the sounds work on the computer).
I've been looking for a decent scanner (non-handheld, base-type) that can give me usable NOAA satellite images, and be able to go into the 1 GHz range. I also want that scanner to be able to produce good results overall when getting signals from very old satellites like Transit 5B-5 (caught that one yesterday using my PRO-649 and custom yagi) and OSCAR 7 (didn't get to listen to it for very long).
The big question(s):
Would the Uniden Bearcat BCT15X give me better APT images and better quality in sound? I read somewhere that decent APT images require an IF bandwidth of 50 KHz. I couldn't find any IF information on the BCT15X.
Would the BCT15X be a significant upgrade over my PRO-649?
Edit: If the BCT15X has too low of a bandwidth, what can I do to increase the IF filter's bandwidth to 50KHz?
