- Joined
- Jul 17, 2018
- Messages
- 1
looking to upgrade my baofeng to a kenwood or icom or mortaola anyone know a good website to get one really hard to find one.
Purchase a radio for railfanning
- Thread starter airport4444
- Start date
There are a lot of Motorola like the CDM series radios that offer alpha numeric text on the display. I highly recommend that any radio you purchase has such a display. Kenwoods offer one advantage in that they support NXDN in some models just be sure that the option is enabled.
Also for anyone thinking of buying a commercial radio for railfanning. I highly suggest you get the programming software(CPS) and the programming cable as well. Many sellers are not going to spend a few hours making a custom rail codeplug and scan list for you. Therefore be prepared to be making your own. Another thing to be aware of is the possible need to have an activation license for the software - Im looking at you Kenwood.
Before you purchase you may want to [post in the forums for anyone using that particular radio or manufacturer to get their input on it. I have a Motorola APX and a kenwood NDXN mobile set up as a base that I use for rail fanning.
Also for anyone thinking of buying a commercial radio for railfanning. I highly suggest you get the programming software(CPS) and the programming cable as well. Many sellers are not going to spend a few hours making a custom rail codeplug and scan list for you. Therefore be prepared to be making your own. Another thing to be aware of is the possible need to have an activation license for the software - Im looking at you Kenwood.
Before you purchase you may want to [post in the forums for anyone using that particular radio or manufacturer to get their input on it. I have a Motorola APX and a kenwood NDXN mobile set up as a base that I use for rail fanning.
Uniden bc125. Nothing better than.
I have Two 125's and they are very easy to program and use.
While I don't have that exact unit, I tend to agree, a scanner would work much better for him than any commercial radio you need to have a computer to program with no possibility of programming on the fly if you discovered a new frequency on while out and about. I wish him luck on his decision however. To each their own.
Check Ebay for ICOM or KENWOOD, since Class 1 Railroads will be eventually switching to IDAS/NXDN. There are a few Class 2 Railroads that use DMR, but IDAS and NXDN will be the standard for Class 1 Railroads. Motorola, as far as I'm a where, does not have an equivalent digital format to work with IDAS/NXDN. Maybe I haven't been doing much re-search with Radio Communications for the Railroad Industry, I do know RITRON is Clean Cab Radio is Replacing the old Motorola Spectra / Trainman in the locomotive cabs.
Last edited:
AnneKomarovsk
Newbie
Bendix King (BK Radio) make for very good railroad scanners. I do recall a certain Icom radio that could pull in some very weak signals.
These are larger brick size radios. Ebay is your friend.
These are larger brick size radios. Ebay is your friend.
One strong recommendation: if you go down this path, set any frequencies you're not authorized to transmit on to receive only. That way you can avoid accidental transmitting, or worse, some snoop (or thief) getting hold of your radio and wreaking havoc.
For scanners, no. If you want to expand to include receivers, the Icom R15 will run circles around a BC125, and is currently what I recommend to many train buffs asking me what to buy (if you can afford it). If money is tight, an Icom V86 is also an excellent choice, but you won't be able to hear UHF transmissions (HOTD/EOTDs, DPs, etc.).
Commercial radios can be an excellent option too, but as others have said, you need to have the proper software to program them and know what you're doing with them. Scanners and receivers are more beginner-friendly.
As far as NXDN/IDAS, it has been over a decade since the NXDN standard for railroads was announced and we're still really not any closer to mainline operations going digital - save for a few commuter rail operations and FEC's tried (and failed) experiment. Aside from car inspectors in yards and railroad police, there's not much activity on it at this point, and 99.9% of railfans really don't have any need or desire to listen to those anyhow. Even the railroads are replacing their first generation NXDN models with second generation models, with the first generation radios most likely having never transmitted or received anything digital at all.
jbhunt04
Member
The downside to the BC125 is the battery life isn’t that good.
Never had a problem with mine, as long as I use decent batteries. Cheap batteries won't last long in anything.
As far as a reasonably priced scanner, the BC125 is tops. Even though I've got several commercial radios, I still have a BC125 and use it often. If you want to future-proof your radio at a reasonable price, the BC160 would be a good choice; it's basically the BC125 with NXDN and DMR digital capability added.
jbhunt04
Member
I’ve used decent batteries in mine, and I think it should last longer than they do. That’s without using the backlight on the screen. But other than that it’s a good scanner. However, I mostly use a BC15 base, because I live right next to the tracks. Haven’t tried the new one that’s NXDN capable.
I use an Aerotron Locomotive radio for home monitoring and a Motorola 16 channel HT 1000 for portable monitoring. They both have dynamite receivers.
I don't generally post here about this, but I will jump on this one. Here goes:
The Uniden BC-125AT is an OK analog scanner. Its battery life, especially with rechargeable batteries is mediocre, at best. The radio is not physically tough. I really recommend getting a leather case for it.
The Uniden BCD-160DN is Uniden's answer to having a scanner with NXDN digital capability. Unfortunately, its analog reception is pretty poor, much worse than the BC-125AT. Its battery life is awful. It has the same relatively fragile case as the BC-125AT.
The Uniden SDS-100 has even worse reception on analog than the above two radios. It costs more than some "entry level" NXDN digital commercial portable radios.
For analog portable radios, there are a lot of used commercial radios out there that are decent. Same with some new and/or used amateur models. A "sleeper" analog portable radio out there that is an amazingly good-performing radio at its price point when programmed correctly is the Quansheng UV-K5(8), priced currently at about $30.
As far as NXDN, there are really only two brands of commercial portable radios out there Kenwood and Icom. (Icom calls NXDN "IDAS".) The "flagships" of those radios, now discontinued, are the Icom 3161/3261 IDAS radios and the Kenwood NX-200/210. Note that those are all single-band (VHF) radios. The NX-210 is still in production, at least as far as I know. The 3161 and NX-200 are still my two "go-to" portable radios for railfanning, if I don't need to monitor the UHF train telemetry channels. If I need a dual-band portable, these days I usually carry the Quansheng UV-K5(8).
The Uniden BC-125AT is an OK analog scanner. Its battery life, especially with rechargeable batteries is mediocre, at best. The radio is not physically tough. I really recommend getting a leather case for it.
The Uniden BCD-160DN is Uniden's answer to having a scanner with NXDN digital capability. Unfortunately, its analog reception is pretty poor, much worse than the BC-125AT. Its battery life is awful. It has the same relatively fragile case as the BC-125AT.
The Uniden SDS-100 has even worse reception on analog than the above two radios. It costs more than some "entry level" NXDN digital commercial portable radios.
For analog portable radios, there are a lot of used commercial radios out there that are decent. Same with some new and/or used amateur models. A "sleeper" analog portable radio out there that is an amazingly good-performing radio at its price point when programmed correctly is the Quansheng UV-K5(8), priced currently at about $30.
As far as NXDN, there are really only two brands of commercial portable radios out there Kenwood and Icom. (Icom calls NXDN "IDAS".) The "flagships" of those radios, now discontinued, are the Icom 3161/3261 IDAS radios and the Kenwood NX-200/210. Note that those are all single-band (VHF) radios. The NX-210 is still in production, at least as far as I know. The 3161 and NX-200 are still my two "go-to" portable radios for railfanning, if I don't need to monitor the UHF train telemetry channels. If I need a dual-band portable, these days I usually carry the Quansheng UV-K5(8).
Neither of my 2 SDS200's hear much of anything on railband or VHF in general. Sitting next to them with a stock duck or one of the bigger duck antennas, any scanner I own blows it out of the water. Even the really dinky Welz air only (until modded for VHF high) is better than any SDS radio I've seen.
A friend has had two SDS100's and neither one was even acceptable on VHF or Air. In my many years of railband listening, the stars have been:
Regency HX1000/1200/1500 Same radio, more channels! Made by Azden. If dropped, it's going to break.
Yaesu VX-170, the radio I use most of the time, LOUD, tough and if you use one of the larger packs or the AA battery pack and don't transmit, battery life is phenominal. The current model is the FT-270R, which seems to receive the same as the 170.
Icom IC2000/2100/2300 All very good mobile rigs. Slow scan, but fast enough you'll miss little unless you just put the whole railband into memory.
Alinco: DJ-196T? I think that was the model, it looks right. I only had it about 3 months, I was sitting in my car my dog headbutted it out of my hand, and it hit the pavement and never worked right again. Sold it off. Kept the dog. If I held the headbutts against him, he would have been gone in 1985 or so. He broke my nose about 12 times over the years. Yet, he's the one I would bring back, if I could.
Uniden: The BC-125AT is the best Uniden railscanner I've used. Battery life is...not great. The 200/205 XLT had me hating and refusing to buy radios that didn't take AA batteries for many years, as the Uniden packs failed often and weren't cheap.
RS: Quite a few, some made by GRE, some by Uniden. The cheap ones without 800 seemed to be the best ones.
A friend has had two SDS100's and neither one was even acceptable on VHF or Air. In my many years of railband listening, the stars have been:
Regency HX1000/1200/1500 Same radio, more channels! Made by Azden. If dropped, it's going to break.
Yaesu VX-170, the radio I use most of the time, LOUD, tough and if you use one of the larger packs or the AA battery pack and don't transmit, battery life is phenominal. The current model is the FT-270R, which seems to receive the same as the 170.
Icom IC2000/2100/2300 All very good mobile rigs. Slow scan, but fast enough you'll miss little unless you just put the whole railband into memory.
Alinco: DJ-196T? I think that was the model, it looks right. I only had it about 3 months, I was sitting in my car my dog headbutted it out of my hand, and it hit the pavement and never worked right again. Sold it off. Kept the dog. If I held the headbutts against him, he would have been gone in 1985 or so. He broke my nose about 12 times over the years. Yet, he's the one I would bring back, if I could.
Uniden: The BC-125AT is the best Uniden railscanner I've used. Battery life is...not great. The 200/205 XLT had me hating and refusing to buy radios that didn't take AA batteries for many years, as the Uniden packs failed often and weren't cheap.
RS: Quite a few, some made by GRE, some by Uniden. The cheap ones without 800 seemed to be the best ones.
I don't understand why so many people complain about the battery life with the 125. I get 5-6 hours out of some 2 year old Amazon basics Ni-MH AAs. If you really need more life than an extra set will give you, just use a power pack and cable and you can go all day and night.
For what it does at the price, the BC125AT is hard to beat for a scanner. It's not going to hear the distant trains or crews on HTs as well as any kind of receiver/transceiver, but it'll catch things that non-scanners are too slow to catch.
Get hits on the scanner, tune in on the transceiver. Dual watch/dual VFO rigs are great when they call out a duplex channel.
For what it does at the price, the BC125AT is hard to beat for a scanner. It's not going to hear the distant trains or crews on HTs as well as any kind of receiver/transceiver, but it'll catch things that non-scanners are too slow to catch.
Get hits on the scanner, tune in on the transceiver. Dual watch/dual VFO rigs are great when they call out a duplex channel.
rf_patriot200
Active Member
I own the SDS100, BCD160DN, and the BC125AT. I also own of have owned (incomplete list):
Bendix King GPH portable
Icom IC02-AT
Alinco DJ-180T
Kenwood TK-290
Vertex VX-150
Vertex VX-170
Icom IC-F3161DT
Kenwood NX-200
Wouxun KG-UV6X
Wouxun UV9PX
BFTech BF-F8HP Pro
Tidradio TD-H8
Tidradio TD-H3
Quansheng UV-K5(8)
Anytone UV-878uvii Plus
That's just a partial list of the portable radios. I've owned a number of both amateur and commercial mobile radios, too. I currently hold both Amateur and GMRS licenses and held a business band commercial radio license for around two decades. For several years, I also managed a commercial two-way radio system with around 100 portable and mobile radios, two repeaters, and 6 base stations, with coverage over around 1,600 square miles. I think that I'm qualified to comment on two-way radios.
