Railroad Scanners

[JerryC]

I'm looking to replace a couple of old Radio Shack analog base scanners. Does anyone have any suggestions? Would like to have a unit that could also be mounted in the truck dashboard, but it's not an absolute requirement.

[Ericmopar]

It looks like Uniden for you.
I haven't had to own a scanner in years, since I got my Ham Radio license. Our little handhelds have extended receive in them, which is essentially a built in scanner.

That being said I looked around for you and Uniden is the only brand I know and trust. Baofeng is total garbage, I know this from the Ham community.
I don't know anything about Whistler scanners.

A good place to shop is Ham Radio Outlet, they have some decent models and if you talk to them, they can set you up with any additional antennas. They aren't just retail, they are all licensed by the FCC in their locations.

[ColoradoRailfan]

Id say that the radio doesnt matter alot, its the antenna thats the most important.

[Ericmopar]

Id say that the radio doesnt matter alot, its the antenna thats the most important.

The radio matters. The Baofeng radio and scanners are notorious for the knobs, receivers and other things going bad in a couple of years or less. They are also hard to program unless you use a laptop.

[ColoradoRailfan]

Id say that the radio doesnt matter alot, its the antenna thats the most important.

The radio matters. The Baofeng radio and scanners are notorious for the knobs, receivers and other things going bad in a couple of years or less. They are also hard to program unless you use a laptop.

I didnt say the radio matter at all right? I said it doesnt matter as much as a good antenna would be. Would you want a usual stock antenna that only covers a small distance or would you prefer to have an antenna that can cover over 100 plus miles.

[Ericmopar]

Id say that the radio doesnt matter alot, its the antenna thats the most important.

The radio matters. The Baofeng radio and scanners are notorious for the knobs, receivers and other things going bad in a couple of years or less. They are also hard to program unless you use a laptop.

I didnt say the radio matter at all right? I said it doesnt matter as much as a good antenna would be. Would you want a usual stock antenna that only covers a small distance or would you prefer to have an antenna that can cover over 100 plus miles.

At railroad frequencies that would be line of sight not 100 miles. But the antenna do matter.
Uniden makes some really good stuff though and that includes their antennas. At least their phones and radios I've used were very good.
The radio/receiver do matter for this reason also. If you put a really good antenna on a poor radio, a person usually ends up with a lot of cross talk and intermodulation.
A good radio or receiver has a much better filter in the receiver front end, making them less prone to, or completely intermodulation free, especially with a high gain antenna attached.

[JerryC]

I need something that is going to be pretty tough for the truck, standard abuse applies - high heat and humidity, bumps, dirty fingers - all the stuff that would apply to being installed in a dashboard.

For the home antennae, I have a TrainTenna that has worked very well. It's just a coil inside a PVC pipe, but at times it can pick up about 80 miles in any direction. The only caveat is that I have had to install it in the attic instead of outdoors. When I put it outdoors, I was picking up a lot of strange interference and it cut the range to about 20 miles. Weird.

[Ericmopar]

I need something that is going to be pretty tough for the truck, standard abuse applies - high heat and humidity, bumps, dirty fingers - all the stuff that would apply to being installed in a dashboard.

For the home antennae, I have a TrainTenna that has worked very well. It's just a coil inside a PVC pipe, but at times it can pick up about 80 miles in any direction. The only caveat is that I have had to install it in the attic instead of outdoors. When I put it outdoors, I was picking up a lot of strange interference and it cut the range to about 20 miles. Weird.

The strange interference was Intermod. When you put the antenna in the attic, it cut down it's receive capacity, so the receiver front end amp wasn't overloaded.

A quick search for best scanner found this.
http://www.amazon.com/Uniden-BCD996P2-D ... HVYZXGS0XF