Smallest Handheld Scanners

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chrismol1

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What are some of the smallest recievers? I want to recieve my counties Fire Dispatch on low band and my EMS dispatch on VHF along with my sherriff and state on VHF. I sorta want wideband maybe for HF but not a must. I see the Icom R5 Sport might be nice. wanting input
 

mule1075

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never dealt with an r-5 i have a yaesu vr-120 the audio is a bit low but that is to be expected with the size of the thing.but i like it.if i buy another small receiver i am looking at the yaesu vr-500 why i have not a clue but i want one.
 

af5rn

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Sounds like you live in a rural area without a whole lot to listen to, and probably no fear of a digital system coming around anytime soon. At a mere $200 bucks, an R5 probably is a good choice for you, as would be the VR500, albeit a little more expensive. Both are about as small as you can get. If you want something that is more flexible, and able to receive digital systems (if you ever do any travelling outside of Hooterville), then the Uniden BCD996T is also very small and better scanner overall. That $500 price tag is hefty, but it's the only really small true scanner on the market.

Remember, the wider you make that receiver, the worse it performs. If you're already an SWL, you won't be interested in or impressed by the R5. And if you're not already an SWL, an R5 will discourage you from ever becoming one. There is just a VERY limited usefulness for a pocket sized HF radio.
 

LEH

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If you want a really small radio, then see if you can find an Icom R1. Don't put a pack of cigarettes on it. You'll lose it.

It beats the R5 in that it has a keypad (but you'll need tiny fingers to make it work).
 

chrismol1

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I think i'm far from where Oliver and Lisa live in Hooterville. I live in Upstate New York, about 13nm North of Albany, I live in Saratoga County, EMS Dispatch in on 155.925 as well as the 9-1-1 dispatch a few mhz up. The only thing close to me being P25 is maybe the city of Albany which I believe they are on a trunked system with Capital Digisystems or whatever its called. Only 4 emergency/police agencies are trunked, mostly trunking is with more business and transportation system as they need the more frequencies and space with trunking. I only need to have a few frequencies on the VHF Low Band for my fire dispatch and the rest are all in VHF high, but I enjoy going to the air band as well as amateur. I have no need for 900mhz or a lot throughout UHF, maybe a few frequencies. I need something that can run all day and monitor, since I am board and love hearing the EMS and 9-1-1 dispatch. Just today there was a hit and run in the city of Mechanicville, and the guy trying to flee hit another car, so I was pumped. I just programmed some frequencies into my GP68 and scanned them for all of this, but my GP68 doesnt do low band which i need for fire. So I will sell that to get a nice pocket size reciever. I really need to have a fast memory scanning and be able to switch off from one signal as I hate having to listen to something I dont care about and waiting 7 sec. for the thing to start scanning again.
Thanks for the info on these scanners, I need all I can get for what I need since I dont have a lot of scanners


The icom R1 seems a little too old for me
 
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N8IAA

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Chris, your county will be going P-25 digital somewhere in the future. Look for a scanner such as the Uniden 396. It does digital and is pocket sized. It will do the Lo-band vhf and Hi-band vhf for now, and then do the P-25 when it is up and running. Having HF in a handheld is next to worthless. I have a VX-2R and an Alinco DJ-X10 wideband receiver. Neither does HF well. That is why I own a DX-398. Look for the future and get something that you can use now and down the road.
HTH,
Larry
 

xpawel15x

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Well you asked for a scanner (not a communications receiver)... the Pro-83/84 is a small scanner that goes with me.
 

chrismol1

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Thats what I need a communications receiever. I wish that I could find a pager like the Minitor that could hold 20 channels and scan then all the time with a headphone jack output. But I dont know of anything that can do that withotu being a scanner.
 

af5rn

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chrismoll said:
Thats what I need a communications receiever. I wish that I could find a pager like the Minitor that could hold 20 channels and scan then all the time with a headphone jack output. But I dont know of anything that can do that withotu being a scanner.
Funny. Ya know, I didn't realise just how good I had it with my old Rat Shack crystal controlled handheld in the early 70s. It's really a shame that, in an attempt to improve the their products, the manufacturers have so overcomplicated the hobby that it drives away potential customers in droves.

Anyhow, if you weren't looking for low band, you'd have a lot more options.
 

chrismol1

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What other optionsare you talking about? I could opt for a low band Minitor pager with my dispatch on it. instead of a reciever with low badd and vhf hi. I recently am looking into the Yaesu scanner the 500 or 120. but if theres something more i will get a minitor to cover my low band
 

af5rn

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By options I meant a better selection of very small radios to choose from. There are others than what we have covered, but they don't do low band.
 

N8IAA

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af5rn said:
Funny. Ya know, I didn't realise just how good I had it with my old Rat Shack crystal controlled handheld in the early 70s. It's really a shame that, in an attempt to improve the their products, the manufacturers have so overcomplicated the hobby that it drives away potential customers in droves.

Anyhow, if you weren't looking for low band, you'd have a lot more options.

I absolutely agree. The technology is out there to make better and higher quality radios to use for monitoring. I used my VX-2R on a trip to CA a couple of years ago to visit my son and his wife. Worked great on the CHiP's frequencies, but has low audio output. I missed out by not taking one of my scanners with me.:(
The fact that the manufacturers have missed the ball on this one big time. Ham radio is evident with no standard for digital: Icom has D-star, Alinco something else and all overpriced and hard to use software.
Simple is better!!
Chrismoll, if you want a better radio, look to the lower priced tri-band or, quadband radios. Small radios are not meant to receive the hf bands well. I have heard that the Kenwood F6 does good. But, unless you are willing to walk around with a dipole attached to the radio..........
Larry
 

N8IAA

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chrismoll said:
Thats what I need a communications receiever. I wish that I could find a pager like the Minitor that could hold 20 channels and scan then all the time with a headphone jack output. But I dont know of anything that can do that withotu being a scanner.

One thing that I forgot to mention about communications receivers, is that, they overload on signals more frequently than scanners do once you add an external antenna. Again, I would truly look into some of the newer ham ht's: VX-3R being one of them, Icom's P-7. Pocket sized and plug in your earphone. Nice thing about them, you can use a regular speaker instead of an amplified one. Otherwise, go with a BC-72, 92, or 95. Small, uses only two "AA" batteries and covers all of what you want to listen for under $120.
Larry
 
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