Scanner Audio Quality

[N2WH]

I currently use a BC 950xlt to receive my local NOAA transmission and feed it to RR and the audio is fantastic. IF this scanner were to crap out, what would be another analog minimalist scanner that I could replace it with? The 950 doesn't sound thin or filtered and has a pretty good audio range! I believe I'm using the record out on the scanner (it's at a remote site that I don't get to much).

-Bill

 

[tvengr]

A BCT15X is also analog only and is great for NOAA weather, VHF and UHF aircraft, railroads and VHF marine band.

 

[ScannerSK]

I always enjoyed the sensitivey and sound of the PRO-136 on VHF. An old PRO-2026 scanner would sound great as well and has great sensitivity.

 

[mmckenna]

I currently use a BC 950xlt to receive my local NOAA transmission and feed it to RR and the audio is fantastic. IF this scanner were to crap out, what would be another analog minimalist scanner that I could replace it with? The 950 doesn't sound thin or filtered and has a pretty good audio range! I believe I'm using the record out on the scanner (it's at a remote site that I don't get to much).

-Bill

Old LMR radios work well.
Many years back I used an old 2 channel Motorola Maxtrac. The 16 pin version is what you want. At one point, you could find these for $20 or so if you looked around. Excellent receivers.
Programming cable is the challenge, and having an old enough PC to run the software.

If you search on e-Bay, sometimes you'll find people selling old radio that will offer programming. Might be cheaper than a new scanner, and make more sense if you only need a single channel.

 

[K7MH]

You could probably find another used BC 950 XLT on Ebay. If you want something different and newer then the BCT15X is a good choice. I used one here for several years until everything I wanted to listen to went digital voice.

 

[Omega-TI]

There is another alternative as well. I have an old TH-22AT monitoring one police frequency 24/7 and to be quite frank with you, the speaker output never impressed me. But after plugging it into a Sangean DAR-101 digital recorder it sounds GREAT... plus I have the added benefit of being able to record everything to an SD card. Of course you can still record whether the volume is turned up or not. It's currently way cheaper than I bought mine for.

 

[majoco]

My BCT8's, two of them, I modified by adding a phono socket on the rear panel and fed audio to it from the top of the volume control via a large-ish capacitor - value not physical size. Fed the audio to a Behringer mixer and then to a 15watt stereo amplifier and small 3-way speakers - works a treat. Easy enough to do if you're handy with a small soldering iron.
Three pix attached, one of the connection at the volume control, the next of the capacitor at the back of the socket and the last the external view of the socket.