I had a ( Baofeng ) years ago. Long before computers could program for you. It was all manual. Lol. Are they still any good? The prices are pretty low.
Here in Pittsburgh,PA Almost EVERY thing is still non trunked UHF FM. The BC125AT is MORE than adequate AND since it supports AM, Aircraft & CB are in the mix. I have 3 of them programmed identically (1 stays at home, 1 in the car (legal in PA, YMMV) and 1 "knock about" that I carry (I got a shorty UHF antenna for it). I even got BC125ATs for my sister and niece. (LOL) A great little radio if your area is non trunked and analog! I have of course also scanned with my Baofeng UV-5R. If you live in an untrunked analog area AND you are really on a tight budget a UV-54 is a option, It's no where near as fast as the Bearcat or have as many channels (since it's primary use is NOT as a scanner) But It can work.
Before you buy a scanner make sure your police/fire department aren't truncated, it keeps you from picking up their frequencies on your scanners. That's why I took mine back.
My God, finally 🙌🏾 someone that explains things easily and concisely. I swear the radio RU-vid sector is full of people that seem to make life harder for no reason at all. Thanks 👍🏾 I'm subscribed.
You should totally make a video like this on handheld Digital Scanners. I'm new to scanning and starting to learn more and more. I could really use an informative video going into the details of mainline digital scanners comparing features/capabilities and prices.
Started using a scanner in my ham shack about a year ago to support my receive capabilities. It’s the original Uniden Home Patrol. Even though a lot of the public service stuff has gone digital I primarily use my analog scanner for monitoring band openings on 6m & 10m FM, the ISS repeater when it’s overhead, local analog repeater traffic, GMRS, FRS & MURS frequencies. With all of that programmed in there mine is constantly receiving something….. it practically never shuts up. (funny thing is this scanner was given to me because the original owner said there was nothing to listen to any more)
One thing I try to find in all my gear is that the batteries follow a non-proprietary form factor. I prefer rigs that take standard AA batteries that can be bought almost any place on earth. The proprietary rechargeable packs are a bummer in that if the battery dies in the field you are done. Just can't walk into a convenience store and pick up more AA cells and be on your way. I am also not thrilled with "battery alarms". Especially if they are an audible beep. I say this because if you do use rechargeables it detects the lower voltage and will sound the low battery alarm when in truth you have more hours of operation at the lower voltage levels of rechargeable batteries. Some of these scanners use proprietary batteries yet others use standard AA batteries.
Good info. It would be helpful to have a follow up video which compares receiver performance … sensitivity and selectivity, etc. I’m a ham geek and if I was shopping a scanner, I’d care less about how memories it has and more about how well it receives.
Its why I use the SDRplay RSPdx. Its one of the most sensitive and adjustable IF and high bit rate Analog to digital converter in the market. I bought direct from them or you can use one of their Us distributors. It does all Ham bands and panadapter functions. Steep learning curve for all the plugins and you learn how to virtual cable for WSJT_X and other cool decoders. The scanner function is outstanding and also has a scheduler for planned frequencies. $220 shipped DHL from the builder and engineers. All of them are licensed HAMs and there are 100s of videos. It has a low band BNC, SMA line A and B with B biased for pre amps at the antenna. Its as good or better than my Kenwood TS 590S for signal aquisition and filtering. 5 adjustable notches too. As I said they use an older model RSP1a on their Hamfest Kenwood TS 590 for panadapter to control the PC software. Its whizbang awesome for sniffing out signals with a 25-1.6 Ghz Tuned Discone antenna. Its has unity gain to 1.5db but rejects nothing on the bands because a discone and the radials are like a feedhorn that's resonant to most any EMF that hits it. Mine had a whip to xmit but it's not used now. I need to get a trans switch to ground it on RF sense because my SDRPlay will not tolerate much over 20db of signal nearby. No attenuator for me, duh,I want sensitivity but when transmitting I want the thing at ground. 73 Craig
I have both the BC 75 and the BC 125 . had them years . work very well . can charge USB . and PC program. runs all day on 2 AA NiMH battery's Japan 2100 MAH I got. the stock antenna is ok. but longer ones really help a lot ! The 42 in Abbree CB BNC one really helps on 25-50 MHz . the winter months I get WWV on 25 MHz . yes WWV is back on 25 1! . I find scanners at yard sales all the time. mostly the old ones. My Alinco DJ-X11 is full coverage RX . but over that $100 mark. That close call on BC 125/75 you can select bands on that. 73's
I have several 20+ year old scanners in near new condition in my closet. My main reason for having a scanner was to listen to various police and fire departments. I think that is why most people bought scanners. That is no longer possible where I live. Voice transmissions are encrypted, and most information is sent as data, which just sounds like an old fax machine. I live near Phoenix, AZ, and there is no need for weather channels here. The weather is always the same. It's either hot or damn hot.
You made a good choice Ape ! I have the BC125AT and love it. It’s been problem free for about 10 years ! I’m also an extra class ham. K5EGD I still love my little scanner !
I’m looking to get into scanning especially for when I’m on the go I’m still trying to really wrap my head around this but the video was extremely helpful but I was wondering what other resources I should look at to get to know the hobby
The BC75xlt seems to leave out the Rail Road bands! I just ordered the BC125AT because of the fact that you can scan service frequencies independently. I like that. I also have a sds100 and a bct15x plus about 40 ham and gmrs radios. My dream radio now is the unication G5 pager. Cost is about the same as the sds100. So it mite be a while. Thanks for a great video. I'm Roger KK7KLD and WRQZ243 in mid utah.
Another good, informative video. Thanks, Ape. I can get the BC125AT here for just under ₱13,933 including shipping. A bit spendy for a scanner, more than a Yaesu FT-70DR, but I can see how it would be useful plus would let me monitor the VHF airband which I'm interested in, not to mention keep an ear on the 2m & 70cm bands while I'm listening to HF.
@@TheSmokinApe I think it's just the mark-up charged by Chinese online stores. I did find a 125AT from another seller for ₱11,800 with free shipping but they only have an 80% "ships on time" rating vs. 100% for the first one. That's still $210 though but it's the cheapest one. It seems that most personal electronics and tech gadgets cost more in SE the Philippines: cameras, computers, etc. It is what it is.
I have a lot of scanners. I have the USDS100 just the Australian version of the SDS100 and I find that it is quite “deaf” on close call. Even a very old scanner from the 1980:90 that had close call performs better. Usually on digital modes. I was trying to interrogate a commercial DMR radio and on the USDS100 just wouldn’t work. Eventually I did a range scan and found the freq but maybe they would be a good thing for you to do a comparison or test ?
There are sub 200$ analog trunking scanners but when you start looking at digital it gets $$$. I’ll be doing more scanning stuff in the future so stay tuned 👍
I have a Uniden desk top I purchased back in 1990 that still works. It has a fantastic receive. With that being said, I hope Unidens quality is still the same. Thanks for the info Ape. :)
I think everything from dishwashers to blue jeans is made with less quality these days. Glad to hear your scanner is still holding up! Thanks for watching Adam 👍
Wish I had watched this sooner. I just purchased the SR30C by accident (hit the wrong order on Amazon) what I really wanted was the BC75XLT, however after setting up and using the SR30 today I'm quite happy with it. Easy to program, the audio is pretty good, even better with ear buds it's reminiscent of my old RadioShack Pro26 scanner. Paid $128 for the SR30C (after shipping) still a great price for someone who's paid a considerable amount of bucks on scanners. Good reviews here, have to subscribe now. WRZE723
I am interested in getting a scanner but I don’t know anything about on how to use them and the terminology used in the video about them. It would be great for a video on scanning 101
I was looking for an easy to understand and informative video and am happy I found yours. I will be a first-time scanner purchaser and will definitely look into BC125AT. I am looking for one that will include police, fire and possibly air traffic - will this one do that? Is there such a scanner? Thanks for any input for this newbie!
Thanks Maureen. So, the services where you live impact what radio you should get; your best bet is to call Zip Scanners and they can point you in the right direction.
@@TheSmokinApe Thank you! I just filled out the online form and should hear from them tomorrow. When I was young my mom had a scanner and loved to listen to the air traffic; now I’m 20 miles from a major airport so that’s why I was interested in the air capabilities. And I love true crime so of course the police scanner feature is appealing. Thanks again, and I’ll definitely be watching more of your videos. Have a great evening.
Tangential note: granularity of the frequencies able to be stored. This refers to the "steps" that a scanner recognizes. Rather than a complex explanation, I'll cite an example. For the amateur 440-450 MHz repeater band in Southern California, the coordinating agency (SCCRBA) used to specify repeaters on 25 KHz channels. That is, on 44X.025, 44X.050, 44X.075, and 44X.100, etc. or four repeaters for each 1 MHz. There came to be so many repeaters that they designated a shift FOR ALL REPEATERS to 20 KHz channels which means 44X.020, 44X.040, 44X.060, 44X.080, and 44X.100, etc. or five repeaters per 1 Mhz. The older - and even some recent scanners' firmware - allowed 12.5 Khz steps to pick up the 25 Khz repeaters but you would miss out on some of the 20 Khz channels meaning that the scanner would land 5 or 10 Khz away causing the reception to be distorted. If the channel granularity were 5 Khz, then this problem would not exist. But also note that some agencies' channels are even more granular such as GMRS at, say, 462.6875 and, while you may not be able to program that _exact_ frequency, landing on an adjacent programmable frequency would not cause the same annoying distortion. Just a thought before you buy.
@@TheSmokinApe Nice! Programming via PC is a breeze with the BC125AT_SS software from Uniden, and if you are running the BuTel software, that's the one where you can import from the RR database with a premium membership (my preferred route, lol). I love my SDS-100 as well, but the 125AT has a special place.
Ape, my last scanner was about 1974. I just recently thought about getting one and haven't done any research. The SDS 100 is about 6 times the cost of these. What does it do that these others can't., and since you have it already, is it worth it? Thanks Chuck KE0PTI
Dang at '74! It can handle trunking, and some of the digital modes. I think it's worth it but that is a relative decision. I do really enjoy listening to it...
I need some help/direction. Please & thank you. I would like to find a scanner that's digital trunking but within budget. Any help, info. and links are appreciated. Thank you.
Got to buy a new scanner because my old Bear cat XL 144 (16 ch) won't pick up anything but the weather. What is the cheapest scanner that will also pick up the 800MHZ range? .🙏
Are there even any budget trunked scanners? I have a BCD436HP. Maybe that one IS the budget one. I really want an SDS100 like you have........ and I want an SDS 200 as long as I'm dreaming. LOL
I am with you, a SDS200 would look real good on my desk. Unfortunately, there really isn't a budget scanner but you could look into SDR's and you can monitor trunking relatively inexpensively 👍
my 436 home patrol covers every thing from 25 through 1300 I got all my services I needed does that help this has been a 50 year hobby for me with my 436 hp on my hip
Good video Ape. I have not looked much yet but got scared off by the prices of the SDS100 and SDS200!💰💰😮😮 That BC125AT seems to be the go unless you sell me your SDS100 for $100👌🙏🤪
I have an old old "Realistic 400 channel Pro 2006". I also have the user's manual (instructions) I've tried some different frequencies, but I am afraid the frequencies I found are "dated/old". So far all I can get is the National Weather Service. Is this hopeless because the scanner is so old?? Or can I possibly find the current frequency numbers for my area and program them in *WITHOUT* getting some kind of "paid subscription"?? Thanks and God bless.
Hey SmokinApe, thank you for sharing this video. If I wasn't on a buget and I wanted a scanner so that I could listen to police, fire and emergencies, for trunked, digital, and non trunked frequencies, what would you suggest? I am really unsure what I need to buy for my area in order to listen. Thank You
@@TheSmokinApe Just wanted to say thank you so very much for recommending the SDS100. I received it today and had Uniden program 2 counties for me and I upgraded the antenna to the Remtronix. Thank you so very much excellent scanner.
Great review ape, thanks, but no 70 megs,? modern day scanners are nothing like the 80s gave us, ahh reminiscing, the bearcat 200xlt was best HH, and the realistic Tandy scanners, pro 2004/2006, I'm still mega pissed I lost mine due to lightning a few years back, ripped case off and nearly cried :) way too far gone to repair. Thankfully most my ham gear has wideband receive, far better than any scanner, albeit at a price range that does not cut it for scanner only users and doesnt handle trunking. my 'ol yaesu vx2 and icom 208H are my "scanners" today, pity the baofeng's dont do AM in the airband, but at 50 bux (in this country anyway) you cant complain :)
I cannot recommend enough for scanners the use of a Ham band to 1.6 Ghz DISCONE STYLE Antenna for general purposes. You can also install a cheap remote antenna switch with those small relays to LMR400 or better cable. Use cheap coax and your scanner is deaf to most long range stuff. You can use quad shield RG11 or even your common RG6u for recieving on any rig. The 75 ohm match is nothing for a reciever and the higher velocity factor really enhances signal transmission that most RG58 or RG8u looses to 66.5 velocity rates. Twin lead is good too but 300 ohms does require a 10 to 1 transformer match. I'm building a remote switch so I can add some specialty antennas for ADS-B and Satellites for my SDR scanner. 73 brothers !
anybody know what kind of hand held scanner to use or to buy i live in utica ny and my county is oneida and they said digital scanner you can hear and get all the county and they said the analog scanner you can't hear the police or they block or fade out where you can't hear anything is that true for the Analog scanner. and they was tryng to sell me a digital scanner because you can get every and they wanted $400 dollars plus they charge for programming the scanner. i told them that to much and i can't afford it.
The push here in Connecticut is to get everyone onto the state owned digital system. I'm not sure if they will be 100 percent successful. But, I do think everyone will be digital sooner than later.
the only thing locked up is in crepted channels no radio will puck that up my radio covered every thing I needed back in the begining I even had the vice channel boy was that fun to hear
Nick, it's all over the map. Some are, some aren't. Here in Montgomery Co. Alabama, fire/sherriff are not encrypted. City PD dispatches in the clear, city fire is 100% encrypted. There are tons of fire/police/ems that are still unencrypted. They may be on P25/NXDN, which requires digital "decoding", which is NOT decrypting. Huge difference.
Hey Jeff, you can but the experience isn't the same. Here is a video I did on the matter: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fDReoYnIiOs.html
@@TheSmokinApe Thanks for your response. Also, I saw your followup video. I think there are some experts who understand these things well, I'm still pretty new and am pretty ignorant in the hobby of radio.
The cheap Chinese radios are nearly deaf to any signal to low below -60db. My SDRPlay can easily handle -160db on my Sirio Discone antenna fed with TIMES MICROWAVE LMR400. RG11 works too but a 2:1 transmatch might be warranted. I don't worry about 25 ohms on recieveb only but do care about cheap cable attenuating anything DX on the MW broadcast bands.
Hey SH, what I would recommend is reaching out to these guys www.zipscanners.com/ they are super friendly and can tell you what types of services you can scan in your local area to see if that fits your interests. Also, they can tell you what scanner would perform best for you.
It sucks , where I live almost everything is p25 encryption. There are about 4 non encrypted , but still on p25 . I used to enjoy scanning . now I can't get nothing but ham convos .
There are still man things for folks to listen to. You can check Radio Reference to see what is available in your area vs listening to some dude who may or may not know what they are talking about.
Hey Atoms. Yeah, that Homepatrol ain’t cheap. I think the whole element of trunking gets confusing, especially with all the types; analog, digital, p25, phase 1, phase 2, etc…. Thanks for watching 👍
NOPE, the BEST budget Police scanner is the ICOM R6. its Continious coverage SCANNER from 100 khz - 1309.995 ZERO gaps in Coverage excipt CELLULAR band is locked. and its ALL BAND , ALL MODE , all the time. 100 Channel / second high speed Scanning. AUTOMATIC Scanning & NEW Frequcency search w/ Automatic memory write. built in Ferrite bar antenna for Superior AM.
Close call is a fun feature but it can also get mad annoying in certain areas that have high digital traffic. It could just be mine but it will lock on to the digital signal and not unlock
@@TheSmokinApe in your area you'll probably pick up a lot of business digital modes. But I did find you can port the audio into a pc and get some more decoding options
So folks in Orlando and other areas where police use encryption are completely out of luck with no possibility of monitoring what's going on? Frustrating but at least saves me the time and money of buying a worthless (to me) scanner. I don't care about the other activity...
Ecco cosa sto cercando di spiegare da tanto tempo. Non riuscivo a capire, ma poi, adesso ho e idee più chiare. Loro sono sotto, loro parlano, anche dall'interno, mentre la voce esce, e dice tutto quello che succede in casa mia, poi altri parlano anche quando in casa loro non c'è nessuno, si sentono molto chiaro. Loro hanno sempre detto, da lì che con quello prenvengono l*arrivo di certe persone. Credo che sia proprio tutto quello che voi state dicendo.., più o meno. Mi registrano da tempo, così qualche giorno fa, ho sentito la mia voce, io dall'alto, ho fatto la prova ed ero io... Loro hanno tante registrazioni, Della mia vita... Credo proprio di aver capito!!!...
You did disclaim that you own an SDS1 hundred, but you should have mentioned that for anyone who has a problem with uniden might not want to watch this video. Uniden uniden uniden...
