the perfect scanner?

[scruggsy]

am I looking for the perfect scanner?
the more I read, the confuseder I get! Just when I think I got my mind made up about a scanner to buy, I find a thread with a negative opinion and I talk myself out of it! I even went so far as to purchase a PRO-18, only to turn around and return it after reading that PRS-800 is the same radio with more features for just a few more dollars. having said that, I was looking at the BCD396xt when I read that it may not be as good as it's predecessor the BCD396t (something about it's inability to decrypt encoding), Now i'm thinking of looking into the HP-1, but i,ll need to get the extreme upgrade! where does it all end?
I guess I need to quit looking for the perfect scanner.

if you had a $400.00 to $500.00 budget, what scanner would you buy?

 

[rdale]

They all do the same thing. The difference comes in the feature set. Buy the scanner that 1) receives your area and 2) has the bells and whistles that you like.

There are thousands of these threads. They accomplish nothing. Do what works best for you. I need FTO, so I use a FTO scanner. If you don't need FTO, you can get a non-FTO scanner.

 

[scruggsy]

true! I guess I should narrow down the features that I like and just get what works for me! thanks for the advice!

 

[Dude111]

I would say THE PERFECT SCANNER would be one that goes from .1Mhz to 10,000Mhz (@ least) in all modes possible WITH NO GAPS.....

 

[scruggsy]

love your avatar! made me smile! and you are right about the perfect scanner! HE! HE!

 

[GrumpyGuard]

The perfect scanner is the one sitting on the desk that picks up the frequencies that you want to listen to. Just remember that each one of us has an opinion and what one likes the other may not. This is just like the folks that are die hard Ford, Chevy or Dodge fans, they will bad talk the other brand. Shop around and get the radio You like.

 

[NYRHKY94]

If I had a $400 - $500 budget.....I would buy the Pro-197 at RS for $299 LOL

 

[W2PMX]

If I had a $400 - $500 budget - which I do - and I was looking to buy a portable scanner today - which I am - I'd wait.

Here's my reasoning (and it probably only partially applies to you):

I want full software control and an open protocol. That seems to leave GRE (and Radio Shack) out. Uniden publishes the protocol and it's easy to implement. (I did a rough remote control from my computer in about 20 minutes - including the display.)

I want a sensitive receiver, with plenty of RF gain control (read: attenuator) up front. That leaves Uniden out at the moment.

I want good (clean, not loud) audio. That also seems to leave Uniden out at the moment.

I'd really like an SD card for the programming. (Also leaves Uniden out for the moment.) And I'd like the USB jack to be USB, not RS-232, and be used for charging, if not also external power (also leaving Uniden out).

So I'll wait. I'll never see the ideal scanner (because even if I design it my self, I don't have the manufacturing facility to turn it from paper into silicon), but I'm willing to wait at least 6 months to see if anyone comes out with what I want.

(GRE, publish full protocols - programming and remote control - for the 800, and I'll buy one as soon as I find the cheapest legitimate source on the web - like before the minute hand gets to 12.)

 

[scruggsy]

If I had a $400 - $500 budget - which I do - and I was looking to buy a portable scanner today - which I am - I'd wait.

Here's my reasoning (and it probably only partially applies to you):

I want full software control and an open protocol. That seems to leave GRE (and Radio Shack) out. Uniden publishes the protocol and it's easy to implement. (I did a rough remote control from my computer in about 20 minutes - including the display.)

I want a sensitive receiver, with plenty of RF gain control (read: attenuator) up front. That leaves Uniden out at the moment.

I want good (clean, not loud) audio. That also seems to leave Uniden out at the moment.

I'd really like an SD card for the programming. (Also leaves Uniden out for the moment.) And I'd like the USB jack to be USB, not RS-232, and be used for charging, if not also external power (also leaving Uniden out).

So I'll wait. I'll never see the ideal scanner (because even if I design it my self, I don't have the manufacturing facility to turn it from paper into silicon), but I'm willing to wait at least 6 months to see if anyone comes out with what I want.

(GRE, publish full protocols - programming and remote control - for the 800, and I'll buy one as soon as I find the cheapest legitimate source on the web - like before the minute hand gets to 12.)

or we could just do what some other people do, I have seen some folks on here with about every scanner under the sun, now that i don't understand? i can only believe that they are looking for the perfect scanner also, and when they buy one they realize there is "the next best thing" and get that one too! HMMMM!