General Advice and Information

[bwoosley85]

I am new to this and decided to invest in an air band scanner. One thing is that I'm not sure on what kind to buy. I want to spend no more than $200 if possible. I live about 15 miles from a Class D airport and would like to listen to them but would really enjoy listening to ARTCC.  Is listening to ARTCC's possible with a home setup? If so, what kind of setup would you reccomend and how much $ am I looking at. Thanks for the help.

[bwoosley85]

Correction to the above:

I live about 5 miles from the airport. Don't know why I wrote 15 the first time. Thanks.

[MathFox]

What you can receive is dependent on the terrain, but if you have "line of sight" to the airport, you should be able to receive planes and ATC with every airband capable scanner. Receiving the planes flying overhead shouldn't be a problem either, but the Center's transmitters may be located out of reach (behind the curvature of Earth).

[bwoosley85]

Thanks MathFox! Can anyone recommend a Make or Model that would be good to use?

[T210 Driver]

If you listen to my ZBW MPV, BTV and CYUL feeds, you will notice that cheap  Bearcat BC350s work very well. 

Often times, you'll see these on Ebay if you want to avoid retail prices ( $129 )

Paul

[KSYR-pjr]

Agreed.  The Uniden BC350c is an excellent and cost-effective scanner for air-band scanning.   I picked up one to be a second scanner for my airport and I am happy with its performance to cost ratio.  It has all the features needed to be an effective scanner for a feed site.

Dave, who owns and runs this site, has an affiliate program with ScannerMaster.  I just checked their price and they are competitive at USD $99.95.  Here is the main page link to the  ScannerMaster site.  Once there, do a search for the 350c.

[bwoosley85]

Hey, thanks for the help guys I really appreciate it.  I'll definitely take a look at the BC350. Do you think I will be able to receive transmissions from the airport okay with that one? I live about 5 miles away from the airport but I'm pretty sure the line of sight is not completely free of terrain.

[T210 Driver]

Scannerworld.com  out of Albany has new BC350s for $97.    FYI

[KSYR-pjr]

Do you think I will be able to receive transmissions from the airport okay with that one? I live about 5 miles away from the airport but I'm pretty sure the line of sight is not completely free of terrain.

I am about 9 or 10 miles away and definitely not 100% line of site (a small ridge between my home and the airport).  The BC350, even without an outdoor antenna, was able to pull in my airport's tower and approach frequencies, along with most airborne aircraft.  

However, to further improve your chances and the overall quality of your feed I strongly recommend an outdoor antenna, if you have that option.

[bwoosley85]

Sweet! That's what I like to hear. Looks like I'll shoot for the BC350c. Like I said I'm new to this kind of stuff so I appreciate all the help fellas.

[bwoosley85]

I believe the BC350 will do the job but if anyone else has recommendations on any other make or model, let it rip. Thanks!

[dave]

The BC-350A and BC-350C provide the best value by far.  If you don't need other features (trunking, etc.) then this is your best bet for mobile or base use.