Radio Scanners

[Toddie]

Alright so, we've recently moved countries and about 15 minutes bike ride from us there's the only airport on the island. After going down there to watch the planes fly over my head for half an hour or so i saw a guy with a scanner telling people certain details like which flight was coming in, whether that said plane had animals on board or a heavy cargo load. Now this sparked my interest and i started looking at (pocked sized) radio scanners and the different frequencies you can tune into etc.

Has anyone ever used one of these? I had a quick scout around eBay for an idea of prices around 50-70 quid, but truth be told i'm not an expert in this kind of thing.

Is there any scanner you guys have used and would recommend for starting out?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Hamradioop]

The YAESU VR-160 is a high-performance miniature communications receiver that covers frequencies from 100 kHz to 1299.995 MHz on the AM and FM (Wide and Narrow bandwidths) modes. Coverage includes the AM and FM broadcast bands, HF Shortwave Bands, VHF and UHF TV bands, the VHF AM aircraft band (including the 8.33kHz spacing), and a wide range of commercial and public safety frequencies.
The incredibly small size allows you to take it anywhere - hiking, skiing, or walking and the compact FNB-82LI Lithium-Ion Battery Pack provides more than 20 hours of receiver operation.

£188.96

Probably one of the best, if Carlsberg made scanners...................

Also check out the law if outside Uk. Not long ago a person was arrested in Greece for 'spying' with a Scanner.

[Toddie]

May sound like a silly/newbie question, but what's the range that it'd be able to pick up a signal from?

For example, would i have to be 100ft away from the runway or could i be a mile or so away?

Thanks for your help so far Ham!

P.S Thanks for the tip regarding law, completely forgot about that.

[ForgeCorvus]

I think its a case of how far can the other guy send.

If a scanner was your ears, some people talk, some shout and some use megaphones so you can hear the loudest ones from further away.

[Steveo82]

Im 10 miles away from Humberside airport and I can pick their tower up with my dads cheap scanner.

[Rearfang]

Used to use scanners a lot in the 90s was far more intreasting then as more to listen too
Still got my alinco djx2000

[Juvecu]

I'd imagine the radios at an airport would send a strong signal as it needs to get to planes that are still some way out. If there's someone on here that flies they might be able to tell how far out the norm is?

[Malthouse]

Range depends on the transmitter, the receiver and the conditions. Generally work on line of sight, so if you can see the aircraft clearly then you have a great chance of picking them up.

[hawkafr]

The best priced scanner is the uniden 3500 handheld has a wide band recive , close call enabled and frequencies can be downloaded from web

[Hamradioop]

The best priced scanner is the uniden 3500 handheld has a wide band recive , close call enabled and frequencies can be downloaded from web

Not a bad bit of kit, however the yaseu cover SW frequencies below 25Mhz which is why I recommended it. That way you can get SW news stations from around the world.