kinf of off topic, kind of not

[browning]

i'm going to radioshack to get a scanner but i don't know what to choose. I know i want a scanner capable of getting police radio, weather radio, citizen band radio, shortwave, ham radio, and basically anything exotic. however i've been told not to just get a scanner because that only picks up UHF and VHF so i should ask for a "wideband" which can also get HF. my questions:

1. is there a difference between a scanner and a "wideband"?
2. will a wideband be able to match my criteria?

 

[pappy1]

Radio Shack has a wideband scanner? Anyone? Enlighten us.

 

[n2mdk]

You are asking for a radio that will do a lot in one package and they can be found just not at RS. Now for the important questions how big is your budget and where do you live, State, County, City so we know what kind of scanner/radio you really will need.
There are wideband scanning radios http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/widerxvr.html
they might meat your criteria depending upon the type of "public service" systems used in your area.

 

[pappy1]

He said he was going to Radio Shack for his purchase. Wideband at Radio Shack?

 

[browning]

i live in northwest ohio. what part of the spectrum is police radio/emergency radio on?

 

[SkipSanders]

"Scanner" and "Short Wave Radio" are two seperate hobbies. While there are some (expensive) radios that can cover both VHF/UHF (Scanning) above 30 MHz, and 'Shortwave', from .1 MHz to 30 MHz, the radios used are normally very different, because the needs for each use are significantly different.

You can't 'scan' Shortwave, because it's noisy, and you'd just end up sitting on each frequency forever listening to static crashes between talk. Shortwave and Scanning take very different antennas, too. Even the closest you're talking about to 'scanning', CB, needs a very much larger antenna to receive well, and the CB channels are likely to be too 'noisy' to scan, as well. They certainly are when sunspots are up, and you're receiving from all over there!

Seperate receivers for HF, and Scanning, will be cheaper and work better.

I'd forget about shortwave for now, till you read up on it and learn if there's anything there you actually want to listen to.

As you were asked above, folks can't tell you what sort of scanner you need till you give them the city you're in, so they can look it up and see what systems are being used there.

You may only need a basic, simple scanner. Or you may need a 'trunking' scanner. Or (more and more likely as citys go to new equipment), you may need a 'digital trunking' scanner. If the latter, you're looking at about $500 from Radio Shack, either handheld or base/mobile version. The Ohio State Police system, for instance, is a digital trunking system.

 

[browning]

i live in toledo

this page http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/index2.html says a wideband can pick up HF, VHF and UHF.

 

[SkipSanders]

If you insist on buying a poor scanner and poor HF radio combined into one (unless you want to spend several thousand dollars), go right ahead. You won't find one at Radio Shack, however.

'Wideband' means 'can do it all, but none of it very well' in radios, until you spend a LOT of money.

My Ham HT is 'wideband'. It can receive HF thru 1200 MHz. But it's not capable of trunking, and is slow on scanning, and it's very poor on HF reception, as well.

HF is for shortwave broadcasters, or utility stations like marine radio, mostly. You sit on ONE channel, listening, for hours. No scanning. Trying to get it all in one radio is asking for poor capabilities.

CB, for instance. You can buy a scanner that covers this (the PRO-96 digital trunking scanner goes down to 25 MHz)... and the scanner will be a poor CB receiver, unless you put a real CB antenna on it (in which case, it won't receive VHF scanning stuff very well), OR, you could go to a swap meet, pick up an actual CB for probably $10, and have a radio that will actually work well on CB, while using your scanner to do what it is designed for, VHF/UHF scanning. I don't recall seeing any 'wideband' unit that does digital trunking, for instance, and you need that more than you'll ever need the ability to listen to Voice of America.

 

[n2mdk]

i live in toledo

this page http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/index2.html says a wideband can pick up HF, VHF and UHF.

OK that tells me a lot your going to need a trunking capable scanner and according to the Database http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=731 they may be moving to a Digital system. There is no single radio made that can handle trunking and give you the broadband capability.
If you want to listen to Police, Fire, etc, in the minimum you will need something like a Radio Shack Pro-528 (portable) or Pro-433 (base/mobile) these are the least expensive scanners that will get the VHF/UHF you want to hear.

 

[sjcscanner]

kinf, whats a kinf? sounds like some kind of danish..can i have one? lol

 

[n2mdk]

kinf, whats a kinf? sounds like some kind of danish..can i have one? lol

An AM radio station in Roswell, NM

 

[sjcscanner]

An AM radio station in Roswell, NM

-LOL-

 

[browning]

If you insist on buying a poor scanner and poor HF radio combined into one (unless you want to spend several thousand dollars), go right ahead. You won't find one at Radio Shack, however.

'Wideband' means 'can do it all, but none of it very well' in radios, until you spend a LOT of money.

My Ham HT is 'wideband'. It can receive HF thru 1200 MHz. But it's not capable of trunking, and is slow on scanning, and it's very poor on HF reception, as well.

HF is for shortwave broadcasters, or utility stations like marine radio, mostly. You sit on ONE channel, listening, for hours. No scanning. Trying to get it all in one radio is asking for poor capabilities.

CB, for instance. You can buy a scanner that covers this (the PRO-96 digital trunking scanner goes down to 25 MHz)... and the scanner will be a poor CB receiver, unless you put a real CB antenna on it (in which case, it won't receive VHF scanning stuff very well), OR, you could go to a swap meet, pick up an actual CB for probably $10, and have a radio that will actually work well on CB, while using your scanner to do what it is designed for, VHF/UHF scanning. I don't recall seeing any 'wideband' unit that does digital trunking, for instance, and you need that more than you'll ever need the ability to listen to Voice of America.

so you recommend seperate shortwave and scanner radios?

 

[Dubbin]

so you recommend seperate shortwave and scanner radios?

You got it.

 

[n2mdk]

Yes in most cases it's best to get different radios to do the things you want or need them to do. One radio foe general coverage ie HF/SW and one for VHF/UHF/Trunking purposes. Especially if your interested in SSB on HF/SW and Trunking on VHF-UHF-800

 

[browning]

then, on that note, can you guys recommend a good shortwave radio? i'd like to receive as much of the SW range as possible.

 

[n2mdk]

That's really a loaded question, first how much do you plan on spending and is it for portable or base use.

 

[nexus]

What you're looking for won't be sold at RADIO SHACK. But it does exist. UNIDEN makes the BR330T which is a hand held scanner with trunking and wide band receive all in one. You can read about it's specs and buy one here:
http://radioproshop.com/uniden/unidenbr330t.htm

If you want to stick with Radio Shack, you'll want at least a scanner that has trunk tracking in it, and then you'd have to buy a separate SWL receiver. Grundig or Eton make pretty good ones. Circuit City has a sell on their Eton E1 right now which normally goes for over 400 dollars, it's on sale for 200 something dollars.

i'm going to radio shack to get a scanner but i don't know what to choose. I know i want a scanner capable of getting police radio, weather radio, citizen band radio, shortwave, ham radio, and basically anything exotic. however I've been told not to just get a scanner because that only picks up UHF and VHF so i should ask for a "wide band" which can also get HF. my questions:

1. is there a difference between a scanner and a "wideband"?
2. will a wideband be able to match my criteria?

 

[browning]

That's really a loaded question, first how much do you plan on spending and is it for portable or base use.

1. desktop
2. price really isn't an object, as long as it's not like $3000

 

[browning]

What you're looking for won't be sold at RADIO SHACK. But it does exist. UNIDEN makes the BR330T which is a hand held scanner with trunking and wide band receive all in one. You can read about it's specs and buy one here:
http://radioproshop.com/uniden/unidenbr330t.htm

If you want to stick with Radio Shack, you'll want at least a scanner that has trunk tracking in it, and then you'd have to buy a separate SWL receiver. Grundig or Eton make pretty good ones. Circuit City has a sell on their Eton E1 right now which normally goes for over 400 dollars, it's on sale for 200 something dollars.

that looks good. anyone have experience with it?