Which Baofeng or Wouxon would make the best scanner

[scanmanmi]

I am interested in maybe getting one of these ham radios to double as a scanner. It's difficult to find out certain info about them.. What is the scan rate? Squelch tails really piss me off when set to tone squelch.

 

[n5ims]

I am interested in maybe getting one of these ham radios to double as a scanner. It's difficult to find out certain info about them.. What is the scan rate? Squelch tails really piss me off when set to tone squelch.

Neither are really good scanners. It's not what they're designed to do. They scan very slowly (about 10% of the rate of scanners), which is fine for scanning the typical lightly used ham repeaters, but you'll miss lots of action scanning the typical large city conventional radio channels that are heavily used. Also, it will not do any type of trunking nor will they handle any digital signals.

If your main goal is to have a ham HT that will occasionally be used to monitor some conventional frequencies, they'll do the job OK. If your main goal is to have a scanner that will also work as a ham HT, you'll be sorely disappointed. Be aware, that this advice isn't just for the cheap Chinese HTs, but for all ham HTs that have extended range receivers.

 

[ko6jw_2]

A dedicated scanner will out perform a ham radio HT in many respects. It's easier to select banks or systems and to do basic things like locking out a channel. Scanners are also designed to receive trunked systems and digital signals. No HT can do that. On the other hand, if you want to monitor a few channels and have the benefit of a professional receiver, then an HT is fine. I use mine to monitor the local fire departments and USFS. All conventional channels. A final point to consider is that scanners, while not as sensitive as ham or commercial radio, will offer better sensitivity outside the ham bands. Example, several of my Yaesu HT's can receive the CHP at 42Mhz, but my scanner is much more sensitive. Finally I have read reviews and heard comments that the receivers in the Chinese HT's are not nearly as good as they should be in terms of intermod and overloading.

 

[krokus]

Don't forget that neither brand, nor any other ham handheld, will listen to MPSCS.

Sent via Tapatalk

 

[Comint]

. . . What is the scan rate?

I believe the scan rate is 3 channels a second.

--
Comint

 

[RobKB1FJR]

I use my Baofeng UV-5R+ in TDR mode. A is my town UHF Police, B is my Town UHF Fire. It works similar to priority mode in a scanner.

It would not make a good scanner for reasons mentioned above it is slow. If you have maybe 2 or 3 channels to monitor In a small town it would work just fine. Just be sure to use the baofeng or chirp software to prevent accidental transmit on the public safety frequencies.

 

[NWI_Scanner_Guy]

Neither are really good scanners. It's not what they're designed to do. They scan very slowly (about 10% of the rate of scanners), which is fine for scanning the typical lightly used ham repeaters, but you'll miss lots of action scanning the typical large city conventional radio channels that are heavily used. Also, it will not do any type of trunking nor will they handle any digital signals.

If your main goal is to have a ham HT that will occasionally be used to monitor some conventional frequencies, they'll do the job OK. If your main goal is to have a scanner that will also work as a ham HT, you'll be sorely disappointed. Be aware, that this advice isn't just for the cheap Chinese HTs, but for all ham HTs that have extended range receivers.

+1

Kind of like using a Chevy Spark in a NASCAR race. It will go around the race track like the professional race car will, but that's not what it's designed for.

 

[nd5y]

I have a Baofeng UV-5R and a Wouxun KG-UV2D. Both suck as conventional scanners unless you only need to monitor a few strong local frequencies that aren't plagued by other carriers or noise.

See Baofeng UV-5R - The RadioReference Wiki and Wouxun KG-UV2D - The RadioReference Wiki for scan rate and resume times that I measured.