Which is the better scanner

werinshades

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jaspence

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My best VHF experiences were from radios not made by a company known for scanners such as Uniden or GRE/Whistler. I have the top models of the two well known companies, but my IC-R6 is my go to for air shows and other analog listening.
 

werinshades

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I was making sure
So you have both scanners, based on your observations one outperforms the other, and you decide to start a thread out of boredom to confirm what you're observing personally? Did I misinterpret any part of your original thread?

Every scanner I ever owned (from crystal days and to modern time), they all have pluses and minuses. As radio systems have evolved, so has scanners. If your VHF is better on one over the other, than use the better one, simple enough. Sit back, enjoy your scanners, be happy what you have, and for the love of God man, push the laptop away every time you think of a new question to ask. :LOL:
 

Bonkk083

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I saw this in the manual for as sensitivity the 996 is on the left and the 536 on the right, I'm asking to see if I'm not missing anything that I could be getting
 

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Whiskey3JMC

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Why not focus more on antenna & its placement than RSSI if you suspect you're "missing anything you could be getting"? If you feel your VHF rx is lacking then consider an external antenna tuned for VHF. And again adding to the statement I gave you in your thread here: your radio environment & external factors influencing your reception (or potential rx) are unique only to you so experimentation is key. You're falling straight into a rabbit hole with these selectivity charts
 
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nd5y

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Signal strength and dB measurements on two different receivers are meaningless unless you know for a fact they were both calibrated properly, you know what each "bar" or meter marking represents, and you are looking at the same signal source at the same time.
 

iMONITOR

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There are other things beside sensitivity. Overly sensitive scanners often don't work well at all. Another important consideration is dynamic range!
 

donc13

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You seem to be asking a lot of questions about the best scanner in various threads you have started here. In another thread you stated that you already owned the 2 scanners you were talking about.

So, how about we cut to the chase.... What do you really want to know? You are talking about scanners you already own.
 

KevinC

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You seem to be asking a lot of questions about the best scanner in various threads you have started here. In another thread you stated that you already owned the 2 scanners you were talking about.

So, how about we cut to the chase.... What do you really want to know? You are talking about scanners you already own.
Actually that was this thread. I was curious so I asked.
 

werinshades

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You seem to be asking a lot of questions about the best scanner in various threads you have started here. In another thread you stated that you already owned the 2 scanners you were talking about.

So, how about we cut to the chase.... What do you really want to know? You are talking about scanners you already own.
He wants some reassurance that he's not getting screwed is my interpretation, which none of us know his listening desires or environment. As I said in my response, prior to Radio Reference I wonder how he got through life making his own decisions. Different threads/posts, always the same content.
 

Bonkk083

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By the manual in the technical specs the 536 is 0.2 microvolts and the 996 0.3 microvolts I don't know nothing about tech specs, what are the pros and cons of a more sensitive scanner
 

Scan125

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When writing Scan125 for the Uniden 125/126 scanners this is what I discovered.

1) RSSI appears to only be reliable when squelch is open and scanner indicates a signal present
2) The raw RSSI data value is from 0 to 1023 (8 bit value)
3) The RSSI value is arbitrary in that it is not calibrated so different 125 scanners will have different values under the same input signal. One my scanner even if the input signal is zero then at 25MHz I get a value of 128. This value changes with frequency
4) The scanner internally converts the RSSI value to a Signal Strength bar icon reading/display
5) No idea what algorithm they use for 4) so Scan125 has its own "base level" adjustment

Summary: In Uniden scanners (125/126) then RSSI is just a relative value with no specific calibration level that I'm aware of or can see/conclude
 
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