Ideal Radio for Aircraft scanning

[JLM7424]

Hello I,m wondering what radio scanner you guys suggest for aircraft monitoring I like Civil and Military

I have a 396xt thinking something might be better i wanted a Yupiteru VT-225 rather hard to find
is a Air / nav transceiver Ht best for Civil ?


Thanks in Advance Matt.

 

[SkiBob]

I am 18 miles from the busiest airport in the world. I can tell you, that the 396xt is far more sensitive then my other 2 scanners. It is amazing how different they are. I use my 95xlt for general aviation and just basic air traffic. If I want to hear ground and airline ops then I use the 396xt. Simply put, I can't hear ground ops 18 miles out on my others scanners. On the same antenna, squelch or not.

I have a dipole on top of the chimney with LMR-400 line. I can pick up just as much with my telescoping antenna on the back deck. I am at the same altitude as the airport.

 

[nanZor]

is a Air / nav transceiver Ht best for Civil ?

For general purpose scanning, generally no. While most have tighter airband-only rf passbands, and loud audio, sensitivity is not better than say a 396xt. It is only designed for short-range contacts to say the FBO or tower while actually at or near the airport.

Scanning is typically a cumbersome process to program, and much slower than your Uniden, which has far more useful features.

One small improvement you can make is to use the commercial airband ducks that are used like the Icom FA-BO2AR (bnc) or Vertex-Standard ATV-10/q3000194 (sma). The semi-rigid ATV-10 fits nicely on the 396. However, this is only a minor improvement in weak-signal reception, and being tuned to airband specifically, gets you away from other vhf-hi signal territory. In other words, is won't perform miracles, but is noticeable over the standard Uniden oem duck and may provide some protection from vhf-hi overload by being specifically tuned.

 

[N9JCQ]

On top of What SkiBob said, the 396X or XT can hold far more frequencies than that particular yupi (only 200 mem channels as I recall) and mots importantly you can use a PC to load data far easier than programming the Yupi by hand, the 396XT has Alpha tags and is a more versatile radio. . I have the 396T as well as a Yupi 7100. The 7100 is a bit more sensitive with 10000 memories but is a pain to recall what a particular frequency is allocated to. I have no such issues with the 396T with how I have teh Alpha Tags set up.

 

[b7spectra]

If you can find one, try a Pro-43! One of the best I ever used!

 

[KE5TLF]

While I'm sure there are some that are slightly better, the XT series and a BC-15X hooked to a Diamond discone work more than adequately for me. Until I lock them out they both also get Close Call hits out the wazoo for all the nearby freqs I already have programmed. (squelch usually in the 10-12 range)
Used to work along the MS sound shoreline and carried a 396XT with me using the RS 800 MHz duck and could easily hear much MILAIR from the nearby Gulf warning areas and VR's too.

 

[mm]

Garmin GTN-750 for me but we can't all have everything can we.

The moving map GPS display is the ultimate addition also.

 

[chief21]

If you're on a budget, see if you can find a Uniden BC-780XLT. They're not made any longer, but these older scanners always get good marks for air band monitoring.

Good luck,

John

 

[Mojaveflyer]

Monitoring Aircraft

If you're on a budget, see if you can find a Uniden BC-780XLT. They're not made any longer, but these older scanners always get good marks for air band monitoring.

Good luck,

John

I'll second the comments about the Uniden 780XLT. They're great for both civilian and military...

 

[majoco]

Depends on how many frequencies and what areas you want/need to scan.

I have three airports and a high level control that I listen to - a total of 28 channels airband - If I used only one radio I would get hung up on the local airport grass mower requesting clearance into the infield while missing the military calling the fire crew. You need more than one radio. I use cheap UBCT8's, four of them. One group of frequencies each.

 

[737mech]

Airband help

Don't forget alot of people here including myself found better results on airband by using an FM Trap inline with your antenna. The radioshack one does ok but for the best results call Dale at Par Electronics. Sometimes it's not the scanner that's bad on airband it's the noise and rf intermod that's causing the problem. The FM traps usually fix all that. Of course better antennas and coax always help too.