What would a new scanner need to make you want one?

[wmscanfan]

There is/was some speculation on another thread that the price drop in the 996xt *may* be due to clearing the shelves for a new scanner release - who knows if that is true or not.

But my question is this: if uniden released a new scanner tomorrow, what features might it have? Besides more channels and more speed, what kind of features would a new generation of scanners have.

I just upgraded from a 25y/o RS2006 to a uniden 996XT, so from my point of view I can't see much that this thing is missing - but for those of you that are much more 'hard core' than me, are there features that the BCD996XT is missing that are likely to be included? if so what?

Or, is the successor to the 996XT likely to be a set of small improvements versus a some huge technological shift?

 

[safetyobc]

Phase II TDMA P25 I would assume would be a feature they are working on. Maybe a few bells and whistles.

What I want:

NEXEDGE
MOTOTRBO

I would guess that the successor to the 996XT would be a bigger jump than when the 996T was upgraded to the 996XT. Just because it is time for a nice refresh. Of course, I have been wrong many times before

 

[Skypilot007]

A detachable face/remote head built in that has full control of the rig like most dual bander ham rigs have. A real speaker and audio amplifier/filter built in or at least feeding the external speaker jack. And of course Phase II TDMA P25.

 

[KR4BD]

NEXEDGE !!!!

 

[ff-medic]

1) Simple with ease of use and functionability.
2) P25 capable.
3) Air band and MILAIR capable ( along with the usual VHF low & high - UHF - UHF-T ).
4) Dual Watch.
5) For handhelds - a slightly longer BNC antenna, and an internal preamp. Battery or rechargable like a handheld radio ( base mount )
6) Scan banks = 20 channels to a bank - Hyperscan....as to not mess out on those pesky cut off radio transmissions with normal scan rates.
7) Simple manual programming.
8) Not extremely costly ( Yeah right ).
9) Able to receive shortwave.
10) Backup light illuminates automatically when the scanner picks up a transmission. ( especially in dual watch or short scan list enabled )
11) Signal Stalker / Close Call type capability


FF-Medic !!!

 

[safetyobc]

Also, I guess I should throw in it could be an update to the HomePatrol that is coming and the 996XT won't be updated. I would assume that if sells of 1 outweighed the other by a substantial amount, then that is the one that would get the upgrade.

 

[scosgt]

I think the future of all scanners will be some kind of LCD display. With the technology that exists now, there is no reason, at least on a top end scanner, to have a silly dot matrix display.
There should be way more manual settings. To include a resume button, selectable channel attenuation, some kind of VFO, instant on weather etc.
Ideally you would be able to change colors and order of display, as well as what info is displayed.
In the HP1 the computer and radio have become one. So lets get full control of the display and full remote control of the scanner. These are things that should actually be simple to implement.

For example, when you are driving through New Jersey and monitoring the NJSP, there is no need to have the top two lines on the HP1 display.
All you need (of you choose) is the TGID - which is to say, BIG letters that say GSP North (Garden State Parkway) or TURNPIKE CENTRAL or whatever. Much easier to see and that is all you need.

And when at the base, you can turn all the other info back on.

 

[Ronaldski]

There have been a LOT of these wish threads for a new radio,
This one went 10 pages long if you want more ideas,
http://forums.radioreference.com/uniden-scanners/251587-what-do-you-want-next-uniden.html

 

[737mech]

Future Scanner

I would be happy with TDMA and a few other additions. Discrim tap, FM Trap circuit or adjustable notch/pass circuits, programming and control software. I'd be ok with a plain display, I'm more interested in what can be heard not displayed. I hope they leave the entire military air band in from 225-400 not cut off at 380 like the BC125AT. I also hope they just use a simple USB cord not some special plug and programming cable that costs $40. This is already true for the 125at so my hopes are up on this feature.

 

[N1XDS]

Over the air updates.

 

[searingxheretic]

And affordable price.

Sent from my cm_tenderloin

 

[awattam]

The ability to receive two frequencies at once like those all band receivers. A discriminator tap output as standard would be good too.

 

[GKolo]

Smaller Banks and a faster scan rate to start with, And a hit counter so i know what channels are active when i am not with the radio.

 

[N8IAA]

Smaller Banks and a faster scan rate to start with, And a hit counter so i know what channels are active when i am not with the radio.

Being that the top end scanners are DMA, why would you want banks again? I want one in the form of the 125, larger display screen.
Larry

 

[LowBat]

For a BC125AT:

1. How about displaying close call hits without the need to "hit any key". Also making access to the close call list a little easier would be a plus. Maybe there's a way of doing this and I just haven't figured it out yet, but I have to enter channel 500 and scroll up. Anyone found an easier way?

2. Commercial grade case like on a Kenwood portable. I'd also like to see a hand held scanner capable of more volume for use in not so quiet environments.

 

[kb8rvp]

A better receiver with better filtering... I love all the features and Phase II TDMA would be great but you also need to be able to filter out local interference so you can hear what you want. I would also like to see Uniden continue to do more with simulcast improvements.

Mike

 

[SDavis90]

A lot of good suggestions so far. In case it hasn't been mentioned, I would like to submit the ability to hold on a specific unit ID in a system, not just the Talkgroup. You could follow a particular units calls for the day.

 

[scannerman5555]

get rid of the SMA ant to a BNC ant that will be easy to get radio ant's for the scanner ..................
also a LCN finder on all freq's or a search for pl ; dpl ; lcn ; nac dig code ; mot ; edc codes and etc all auto find !

 

[SquierStrat]

The SMA connector has actually grown on me. it seems more durable, and if you wear out your bnc connection from changing antennas too often, its a simple adapter swap

if its a uniden were talking about, i would LOVE for them to improve on the ctcss/dcs decoding. Make it so you dont miss the first half second of a transmission, and also get rid of the squelch tail.

 

[scanningisfun]

The SMA connector has actually grown on me. it seems more durable, and if you wear out your bnc connection from changing antennas too often, its a simple adapter swap

if its a uniden were talking about, i would LOVE for them to improve on the ctcss/dcs decoding. Make it so you dont miss the first half second of a transmission, and also get rid of the squelch tail.

I have found that there usually isn't a squelch tail when the channel uses a DPL. When a channel uses a CTCSS/PL tone, there usually is a squelch tail even with the tone programmed. A Moto radio compared side by side will mute before the crash, however. It really would be nice to have that fixed.

Jacob