Need help in deciding on purchase.

[John_M]

I am having trouble deciding whether to wait and get the new
Uniden BCD396T when it comes out or get a handheld reciever/scanner
like the Alinco DJ2000, AOR 8200III, or the Icom RC20. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

Already have a Pro-96. Digital capability
Also I am fairly new to the hobby.

 

[whooey]

I'm having trouble waiting for the 396t myself. It is gonna be one hell of a scanner, that would be my pick. But then again I am still a newbie. :wink:

 

[Admin0140434]

396t!!!

 

[ka3jjz]

The obvious question is what do you want to use it for? Since you already have 800 digital capability, surely that's not it. I wouldn't recommend the R20 for milair since it evidently loses significant selectivity in part of that band (per a report in MT).

73s Mike

 

[John_M]

I want to use it to expand my capabilities and to learn, also for it's MilAir.

 

[John_M]

Alinco DJ2000x Handheld. I have read alot of comments on
the ICOM RC20 and the AOR 8200 series. The little research I have done
on the Alinco DJ2000x handheld leads me to believe that it is a very nice reciever/scanner. I have not seen one post at RR that talks about the
Alinco DJ2000x. Does Alinco have a bad reputation?

P.S. Any comments related to the topic are appreciated!

 

[whitesamcat]

IMHO the biggest problem with the Alinco is the extremely slow scan speed of only 3 channels per second. This means you are probably going to miss more than you hear.
Specs here: http://www.burnabyradio.com/dhtml/scanners/DJ-X2000.html
I don't have one nor know anyone who does. It's specs look ok except for the scan and search speeds. I try to monitor MilAir where I'm at and can say that 225-400MHZ in 25kHz steps is quite a challenge for even a 100 step/sec scanner. I have 84 known freqs in one bank in my scanner and still miss some transmissions.
A lot of the really dedicated MilAir people use banks of scanners to catch as much as they can.
Your PRO-96 has pretty good sensitivity figures in the MilAir band, have you thought about using Win96 to program a bank to search the MilAir band and see what's there at your location?
I know you really want another radio (we all do!) and that's sure OK, but $500 and up is not where most of us want to make mistakes.
Good Luck
Sam

 

[John_M]

Sam, I just assumed that the MilAir sensitivity with my Pro-96
was not up to par with scanners which were designed to cover this band.
I need another scanner. My Pro-96 is pretty much tied up right now monitoring local frequencies. The Coast Guard does some air monitoring
of Lake Ontario. I am about 4 miles from the lake. I have four Coast Guard MilAir frequencies in my "Coast Guard/Border Patrol" bank and I have never heard any activity on them. Normal Coast Guard and Border Patrol I hear all the time.
Three channels per second is a very low scan speed, I was unaware about this. No, I didn't program any commen MilAir frequencies into my Pro-96. I'll try this when I get some time. Who Knows what I might find?

 

[whitesamcat]

Hi again John. Here's a chart of the PRO96 sensitivity specs: http://www.starrsoft.com/software/win96/FreqTest.asp Except for a small bump at 300MHz the're not to bad. You should be able to hear something if they are close enough. Don't know what type of antenna you are using, rubber ducks are not usually the best for MilAir. I have a Radio Shack 20-006 (about $16 I think) that works pretty good for a handheld antenna. Just about anything up in the air on the end of a cable is better though.
I also haven't had much luck programming "common" MilAir freqs in my scanner. I've done a lot of Google searches, etc. and have not found any gold mines out there yet. I finally broke down and just spent time searching from 225-400 MHz. I am lucky that I live about 5 miles from an Air Force base though, so my searching has paid off. None of the freqs I've found this way have been on any "common" list I've seen.
I started using a PRO95 (a waste of time as it turns out - deaf as a brick in the MilAir band) but I didn't know it at the time and was the only scanner I owned. Anyway here is how I made it search MilAir.
1. Pick an empty bank and program 225.025 MHZ, mode: AM, step: 25 into the first location using Win95.
2. Disconnect from the computer.
3. Select the bank I just programmed.
4. Press SCAN
5. Press MANUAL
6. Press FUNC
7. Press TUNE
8. Then press the up arrow key.
Off it went! It would then scan up to 400 MHz where it stopped when it hit the next factory programmed band. I could then start again by going to step 4 above and pressing the keys again.
I don't have a PRO96 (no digital in my area yet), but you may be able to work something similar out on your PRO96.
Since you mentioned the Coast Guard, and your close proximity to the lake up there you might want to program marine channel 16 into any MilAir band you might set up. I'm sure they have rescue helicopters and if it was a serious enough emergency they might respond. This would alert you to at least start searching for some activity.
BTW I use an AOR8600MkII and a PRO97 for MilAir now. The PRO97 is only a month old but has pretty well replaced the AOR. Scan speed is 100 ch/sec for the PRO vs. 30 ch/sec for the AOR. AOR also has always had a very touchy squelch control, seeming to need a lot of re-adjustment all the time. PRO just set about 9-10 o'clock and works fine. AOR is difficult to learn to use as it has about a bazillion settings, and text tags using the thumbwheel is a real exercise in frustration (when it gets lost in the japanese character set in there you'll really go nuts!). The PRO is much easier to understand, use, and program (but of course won't do nearly as much).
Ya pays yer money and ya makes yr choices.
Luck
Sam

 

[mandlair]

I think if you have 800 in your area i would wait for the rebanding issue to be over with mike

 

[John_M]

Sam, I am going to fill my banks using 225.025, step .025, and end with 400.000 and start searching. There is a neet little "Fill" function in Win96 that you can automatically fill your banks with frequencies

1. Set start Frequency
2. Set step
3. Set end frequency

The only problem is that it will fill only 1 Bank (50 channels)
at a time. The good news is that you will only have to fill your banks
once. Load the file into a Vscanner folder, and when you want to use it,
all you have to do is call it up. The Vscanner feature on the Pro-96 is
great. Very easy to use. (How I learned to use it is another story
but I won't get in to that.)
As I was taking a break from the computer I was thinking to myself: All I have to do is go down to Radio Shack and pick up the Pro-97. This would be a very easy task because RS is about two miles away from me. I have made my mind up and I am going to wait and get the
Uniden BCD396T. The reciever/scanner will be next after that. I will also check the Marine channel that you mentioned.

 

[John_M]

I think if you have 800 in your area i would wait for the rebanding issue to be over with mike

Mike, I already thought of that. In my area there is only 1 Motorola trunked system and that is Kodak's digital system. My Pro-96 will still be able to still follow the Motorola trunked system after the rebanding if the current proposed rebanding plan sticks. There is a website out there that tells you where and when the rebanding will start to take place. So I think (and correct me if I am wrong anybody) that the current plan is the pretty much considered to be the final one.
All public safety is conventional in my area. If and when they move to 700mhz, the BCD396T should take care of the 700Mhz systems.