how come the 96 doesnt do fm radio band

[david1975au]

dear forum, my location is australia my friend from lake macquarie has a 96 and he cant even access 88mhz to 108 mhz fmw on it can anyone tell me why ,regards david nsw australia

 

[Dubbin]

dear forum, my location is australia my friend from lake macquarie has a 96 and he cant even access 88mhz to 108 mhz fmw on it can anyone tell me why ,regards david nsw australia

Why would you even want that band in a scanner radio?

 

[Voyager]

dear forum, my location is australia my friend from lake macquarie has a 96 and he cant even access 88mhz to 108 mhz fmw on it can anyone tell me why ,regards david nsw australia

Technically, because it's a scanner and not a communications receiver. What's the difference? A Communications Receiver is designed to receive as much spectrum as possible (essentially 150 kHz to several GHz - minus Cellular). A scanner is designed mainly to scan the Land Mobile bands, such as 25-54 MHz, 108-174 MHz, 406-512 MHz, and 806-956 MHz (minus Cellular, of course). Examples of CRs are the AOR units (3000, 8200, etc). Examples of scanners are the Uniden and GRE units. Yes, I know some scanners are starting to support FM broadcast. It's a new trend, not a general one.

They probably decided that the user base would be listening to digital transmissions, and not the FM broadcast band. They further likely decided that the cost was going to be high enough and the unit large enough to not bother adding the wide FM receiver to the package.

While WFM (FM Broadcast) coverage is a nice perk, it's not the reason I would buy (or not buy) a scanner.

Joe M.

 

[poltergeisty]

How dumb for radio shack not to have that small portion of frequencys. Most radio's do. My bc296d covers it. I find it convenient because while I'm on a bike ride If I get tired of listing to the digital system I switch the card off and listen to the radio.

Austria's radio is the same as the states? 88-108 MHz.

 

[JoeyC]

How dumb for radio shack not to have that small portion of frequencys. Most radio's do. My bc296d covers it. I find it convenient because while I'm on a bike ride If I get tired of listing to the digital system I switch the card off and listen to the radio.

Austria's radio is the same as the states? 88-108 MHz.

Wow, a $500 FM radio with a 36mm speaker!

 

[Voyager]

How dumb for radio shack not to have that small portion of frequencys. Most radio's do. My bc296d covers it. I find it convenient because while I'm on a bike ride If I get tired of listing to the digital system I switch the card off and listen to the radio.

Austria's radio is the same as the states? 88-108 MHz.

I wasn't aware that the BC296D was 'most radios'.

In reality, most scanners DO NOT cover the FM broadcast band.

Yes, 88-108 MHz in the states, too.

Joe M.

 

[loumaag]

I wasn't aware that the BC296D was 'most radios'.

:lol: Well said!

In reality, most scanners DO NOT cover the FM broadcast band.

Excellent point and I say, "Good"! I don't want my expensive scanner's sensitivity and selectivy degraded by having it capable of monitoring a 200 KHz wide signal especially when I can get a $10 radio from the closest Walgreens to listen to the FM Broadcast band. :wink:

 

[pro92b]

I don't want my expensive scanner's sensitivity and selectivy degraded by having it capable of monitoring a 200 KHz wide signal

There is no degradation. A completely separate IF chip and filter are used for WFM. This separate circuitry is omitted on all but top of the line scanners for cost reasons.

-pro92b

 

[david1975au]

fm radio in the 96 doesnt do it

hey how come the 250d the 780 and 296 etc do it i have a 250d that works great on fm, cheers david1975au 8) :?

 

[N_Jay]

Re: fm radio in the 96 doesnt do it

hey how come the 250d the 780 and 296 etc do it i have a 250d that works great on fm, cheers david1975au 8) :?

The simple reason the 96 does not do FM broadcast is because at the end of the product planning meeting (or subsequent discussions) it was decided not to!

 

[INDY72]

WEG.. now thats a good answer... also very likely true.....

And I add my lil comment:

If you want am/fm then clip the walkman on the opposite side from the scanner....

 

[poltergeisty]

All for crap sake. I know most radios get this small 20 MHz. portion. It's not a priority but hell for 500.00 it should cover all the way to 2.4 GHz. Every radio I ever owned had full coverage that would include 88-108MHz.

BIG DAM DEAL Merry Christmas or should I say happy holidays or maybe its happy winter? :shock:

 

[Voyager]

All for crap sake. I know most radios get this small 20 MHz. portion. It's not a priority but hell for 500.00 it should cover all the way to 2.4 GHz. Every radio I ever owned had full coverage that would include 88-108MHz.

You must not have owned many scanners, then. As was mentioned, Uniden only recently (a few years ago) started to include WFM (which I agree - does NOT degrade the performance of the scanner). Before those, Unidens did not cover FM Broadcast. GRE has never covered it AFAIK, and those to cover about 99.5% of the scanners out there.

AOR has covered it for some time, but those are communications receivers, not scanners. (see distinction above)

While I agree in part with your semtiments of the scanner should cover everything for $500, remember that a very signiificant part of that $500 was to cover DIGITAL communications - something else no scanner ever did before a few years ago.

Personal preference, I would like to see a continuous coverage all mode scanner. Unfortunately, nobody has made one YET. It would cover 150 kHz - 2 or 3 GHz continuous (minus only Cellular) and cover all modes: AM, WAM, NFM, SAM, WFM, FM, NFM, SNFM, P-25, trunking in all the varieties presently covered (Motorola, all EDACS, all LTR), support CTCSS/CDCSS with instant search, have a Close Call type function, and be about the size of the BC246T. Oh, and let's not forget a scan rate in the area of 200 CPS.

Of all that, I serioously doubt FM will ever be supported since it's pretty rare anymore and it would require yet another chip, but the military and some ham systems do still use it.

Joe M.

 

[grem467]

and remember just because a radio can TUNE a frequency, doesnt mean its not near deaf at that frequency.

 

[unitcharlie]

i don't really want to listen to anything in the fm band unless they are dispatching for fire or police or medevac.... in the car i have the fm on just loud enough to hear the traffic info i need.... otherwse it is mere background noise to the 96 and 92....