Radio Scanner

[tommo]

I am looking to update my handheld scanner which is now about 10 years old ( Realistic pro 26 ). I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on a good replacement.
I mainly use it to monitor aircraft as you can no longer listen to the police or mobiles as they have gone digital.

[Ralph]

If it's just airband you want, then that's cheap enough, have a look here.

If you want to keep with a scanner, then your options are around the same size as your budget. The Icom IC-R5 looks like a good little unit and is around �160. I'd quite like an Icom IC-R20 'cos it has a huge frequency range and dual tuners, but it's around �290. The Yupiteru MVT-7100 is a popular unit because it has loads of features for around �200 new. Because of it's popularity, there's loads of them on eBay. My friend has one and we compared it to my Alinco DJ-X2000 and I didn't think it was sensitive enough as the Yupi was missing signals the X2000 was picking up. In fairness, the X2000 is a much more expensive unit.

If you can, also consider computer controlled scanners. You can't really use these on the go, but you can use them to track aircraft all over the place with ACARS or pick up weather satellite pictures in real time. The Icom IC-PCR1000 is excellent.

[tommo]

Thank you for the info. I will look at the links you have sent.