New Scanner

[jackneal]

Hi Everyone,

Any ideas on a new scanner for scanning air traffic here in Corpus Christi.  Once I get the scanner I want to start providing a feed from Corpus Christi International.  While I am a network administrator and computer programmer, providing the feed is easy, it is not knowing much about what scanners are good or bad.

Your help is much appreciated.

[Tomato]

Hey Jack, welcome to LiveATC!  I'm not a huge expert on scanners so I'm sure somebody else will give you the details but here are my 2 cents...

Make sure you find one that can do airband... 108-136MHz is the range for airband (though I think some say 118-136?).  If you want to disconnect and take it to the airport to watch sometimes, a handheld may work better than a base station.  Most are pretty standard though, with a BNC connector, memory+scan, squelch, etc.  Don't forget - an external power source is needed if you're setting up a feed (unless you like changing batteries very often). 

Beyond the scanner, antennas are also important.  Unless the airport is your neighbour, a decent antenna is also good to pickup various controller and pilot.

[cysj_vfr]

my uniden bc72xlt would be perfect. but see its not strictly for the air-band it scans for police etc. i use it for air though and it works great. With my antenna i can get really good reception. but if you want a scanner strictly for the air-band i would check out some of maycom's models!

[jackneal]

Thanks for everyone's input.