I am struggling with which of my scanners I should keep and which I should sell.
At the moment I have three handhelds which I would like to cut back to only one as I find it hard keeping them all programmed the same and I want to get a base unit sometime in the future. If none of them suit me I may sell them all and look for something else instead.
Here are my thoughts on each one, I have been thinking about it for a couple of weeks and have been using them all quite a bit to get a good picture of which suits me best.
- Icom R20:
Largest physical size, hardest to carry and can't just be slipped in to a pocket.
Has the widest frequency / mode coverage.
Has CTCSS / DCS decode and search but only on a single frequency at a time.
Audio recorder works well.
Decent scan speed
Has bank linking for scanning
Search speed good
No bank linking for searching
Audio is a bit quite, mainly when used in the car mobile.
Has some frequencies with bad birdies
Has Alpha tags
Back light for LCD and Keypad
- GME RX1300
Smallest physical size, easily fit in a pocket
Audio is good except at very high volumes
Scan speed is the slowest but still fast enough for my use
Search speed is average
Does not have bank link for scanning but I can work around that
Back light of both LCD and Keypad
Can program CTCSS /DCS tones but not search for them.
Best RF performance over the widest range of frequencies
Covers AM / FM broadcast frequencies
No birdies found on any important frequencies
- Uniden UBC93XLT
Middle sized, larger then the RX1300 but smaller then the R20, still easy to carry in a pocket.
Poor audio at high volume levels
Has close call feature
Back light on LCD only (This is a major problem for me)
Fastest Scan / Search speed
Worst RF performance of the three
Has some birdies
Steps and mode set in firmware, can't be changed.
Looking at all of the above which would be the one to keep base don the fact I do most of my scanning in the car and at home so size is very important and of a night time and in bed where I need a back light for the LCD and key pad.
Paul
At the moment I have three handhelds which I would like to cut back to only one as I find it hard keeping them all programmed the same and I want to get a base unit sometime in the future. If none of them suit me I may sell them all and look for something else instead.
Here are my thoughts on each one, I have been thinking about it for a couple of weeks and have been using them all quite a bit to get a good picture of which suits me best.
- Icom R20:
Largest physical size, hardest to carry and can't just be slipped in to a pocket.
Has the widest frequency / mode coverage.
Has CTCSS / DCS decode and search but only on a single frequency at a time.
Audio recorder works well.
Decent scan speed
Has bank linking for scanning
Search speed good
No bank linking for searching
Audio is a bit quite, mainly when used in the car mobile.
Has some frequencies with bad birdies
Has Alpha tags
Back light for LCD and Keypad
- GME RX1300
Smallest physical size, easily fit in a pocket
Audio is good except at very high volumes
Scan speed is the slowest but still fast enough for my use
Search speed is average
Does not have bank link for scanning but I can work around that
Back light of both LCD and Keypad
Can program CTCSS /DCS tones but not search for them.
Best RF performance over the widest range of frequencies
Covers AM / FM broadcast frequencies
No birdies found on any important frequencies
- Uniden UBC93XLT
Middle sized, larger then the RX1300 but smaller then the R20, still easy to carry in a pocket.
Poor audio at high volume levels
Has close call feature
Back light on LCD only (This is a major problem for me)
Fastest Scan / Search speed
Worst RF performance of the three
Has some birdies
Steps and mode set in firmware, can't be changed.
Looking at all of the above which would be the one to keep base don the fact I do most of my scanning in the car and at home so size is very important and of a night time and in bed where I need a back light for the LCD and key pad.
Paul
