What is a good HH aircraft / milair scanner?

[Nasby]

I am interested in opinions on a good handheld scanner for aircraft and milair monitoring. Sensitivity is my main concern. I don't care if it is old or new, size, trunking, digital, etc. Just looking for opinions on a good aircraft / milair unit.
Thx in advance!

 

[ka3jjz]

I'm sure others will throw out their opinions, so let me start with mine; in the 'old school' world, the RS PRO-43 is generally considered the king. The PRO-64 is another good one, as I understand it. I understand the AOR 8200 is quite good in this band as well. To me, at least, the Icom handhelds scan much too slowly to be useful.

Slightly newer, the BC250, BC296 and 396 all have good reps as milair scanners. The PRO-97 is also supposed to be very good as well. The jury is out on the new GRE scanners, and we'll have to wait to determine how well - or poorly - they perform.

Something you might want to consider is how you want to be able to use whatever it is you buy. Generally speaking, while they perform well, the RS handhelds have a serious flaw; they can't be used for logging and recording audio while scanning. It's not in their firmware. In other words, you can't set the radio up for scanning, and come back to get a log of hits with frequency, alpha tag and audio. You either have to physically be there, or use recording software on a single channel at a time (or have some sort of hard cross reference so that the audio that is recorded only on a few channels at a time).

So if you want to be able to do that kind of logging, don't look at RS handhelds.

73s Mike

 

[justinnmr]

I'm sure others will throw out their opinions, so let me start with mine; in the 'old school' world, the RS PRO-43 is generally considered the king. The PRO-64 is another good one, as I understand it. I understand the AOR 8200 is quite good in this band as well. To me, at least, the Icom handhelds scan much too slowly to be useful.

Slightly newer, the BC250, BC296 and 396 all have good reps as milair scanners. The PRO-97 is also supposed to be very good as well. The jury is out on the new GRE scanners, and we'll have to wait to determine how well - or poorly - they perform.

Something you might want to consider is how you want to be able to use whatever it is you buy. Generally speaking, while they perform well, the RS handhelds have a serious flaw; they can't be used for logging and recording audio while scanning. It's not in their firmware. In other words, you can't set the radio up for scanning, and come back to get a log of hits with frequency, alpha tag and audio. You either have to physically be there, or use recording software on a single channel at a time (or have some sort of hard cross reference so that the audio that is recorded only on a few channels at a time).

So if you want to be able to do that kind of logging, don't look at RS handhelds.

73s Mike

Depending on what type of antenna you have, the Pro-97 is an exceptional HH for airband reception.

 

[zguy1243]

Yupiteru MVT-7100 or Radio Shack Pro-43- Two of the most sensitive milair receivers that are easy to get your hands on.

 

[ka3jjz]

Whoops, my bad - I should have said the PRO-60 not 64. And I completely forgot the old venerable PRO-26.

You can check out articles, reviews and other data pertaining to these and many other handhelds in our wiki; specifically, here

While not all the reviews directly mention milair, it's always good to know how a scanner's performance is at other levels, as there might be some impact, good or bad. It's up to the reader to decide that. 73s Mike

 

[N4JNW]

I have had good experience with the Pro-97, and it's brother the Pro-2055. Both are pretty hot little recievers. I've not got much expereince with MilAir, but I did play around with the 97, searching, and stumbled upon a couple communications...

The Pro-2096 and Pro-96 digital scanners can also be expanded for MilAir with the Win96 programming software...

 

[prcguy]

PRO-43 gets my vote, got two of um here specifically for UHF mil air.
prcguy

 

[n4voxgill]

I own several scanners and the AOR8200 receiver and the 8200 is by far the best for milair, both bands. I had a Yupi at one point and it is also a good milair receiver

 

[FrankJ]

Same here on the PRO-43. I tried the PRO-97 awhile back and wasn't impressed with sensitivity on UHF or VHF Milair, even with a Diamond RH77CA. I'm sticking with the PRO-43, at least until this "old workhorse" dies!

Frank

 

[Turbo68]

I use these H/H Radios to monitor the Airbands and they all perform excellent ALINCO-DJX2000E,AOR-8200MK3,ICOM-R20,RADIO SHACK-PRO96,UNIDEN-396.

Regards Lino.

 

[N9JCQ]

Yupiteru 7100 is the best in my opinion for several reasons. great sensitivity in CIVILAIR and MILIAR bands, ability to hold 1000 frequencies, fast scanniing, and HF abilities too incase you want to hear that as well. #2 is the Pro-43, no doubt, with Icom-R2 and Uniden 396T tied for 3rd.

 

[KB4REA]

My experience with the Pro-97 was good in regards to milair but I barely could get any hits while searching. That changed big time when I replaced it with a BR330T.

I really like that you can change the search step size. So, for example, I have a custom search for milair @ 100k step which makes for a quick search of this large band. Yes, I'm missing the xxx.x25 and xxx.x50 freqs but after looking at my database the vast majority of freq's end in 100k steps anyway. But, I have other searches set up for smaller steps as well.

So I vouch for a scanner where you can change the step size for your searches as in the 330T, 396T.

 

[red616]

I guess the Pro-97 does ok re mil-air with its stock,or the like, antenna but DO NOT hook an external antenna to it & expect anything but intermod. Worst portable I've ever had for that reason.

Go with a Pro-43 & you can't go wrong.

 

[kc8gpd]

for air band you can find real good airband HT's on the second hand market real cheap these days. As you'll find out from others nothing beats a receiver or transceiver that has been made specificly for the band you want to monitor

Superior sensitivity and selectivity. scanners are good and serve their purpose, but if you like to monitor a specific band as opposed to multiple bands then a band specific commercial grade rig will run circles around a scanner and will have way better audio.

 

[red616]

for air band you can find real good airband HT's on the second hand market real cheap these days. As you'll find out from others nothing beats a receiver or transceiver that has been made specificly for the band you want to monitor

Superior sensitivity and selectivity. scanners are good and serve their purpose, but if you like to monitor a specific band as opposed to multiple bands then a band specific commercial grade rig will run circles around a scanner and will have way better audio.

Can you post a few models of airband HT's that would be good ? It would make it easier to search.

 

[kc8gpd]

Just go over to ebay and do a general search for "air band radios" and different varients around that topic.

 

[multisync]

Icom IC-A6 Com only version. Straight VHF, 118 - 137 mhz. Excellent sensitivity. Cheaper then a scanner and w a y better build quality.....just don't transmit with it.

(yes, I hold a aeronautical restricted operators license, since 1986)

 

[dctvxoxabfcqn]

Icom IC-A6 Com... Excellent sensitivity.

Better than an Icom IC-R20? or a Yaesu VX-6R or 7R?

 

[multisync]

Better than an Icom IC-R20? or a Yaesu VX-6R or 7R?

Well, I'm not sure but I was comparing it to any Uniden/RS scanner. VX-6R 7R and even the R20's audio doesn't come close to that of the IC A6, all have tiny little speakers.

 

[dctvxoxabfcqn]

Well, I'm not sure but I was comparing it to any Uniden/RS scanner. VX-6R 7R and even the R20's audio doesn't come close to that of the IC A6, all have tiny little speakers.

Well, I was just wondering. I'm planning on buying a receiver very soon and the thought of having a dedicated airband receiver is very appealing. But, I'm not sure if it's worth it. I mean, would someone using the R20 and the A6 side by side notice a difference?

I guess I'll have to buy one and see for myself.