Railroad Scanner Questions

antennas make all the difference in the radio recieving world. i aways used one tuned for the rr channels,or 160-162 band, a magnet mount to put on a roof of a car/truck . it at least tripled the range of receiving. any good radio /cb shop should have antennas. i have a bc-100 about 20 years old-still works great.

 

  sorry about your bad encounter, most of us offer to help when asked.-jim

Your BC60XLT and the factory antenna are probably fine as originally sold.

 

There is a know problem with this line of scanners that comes with age & use - the antenna connection comes loose from the PCB from ordinary use and movement of the antenna on the BNC jack. If you think the scanner may have worked better a few years ago, you are probably right.

 

Careful disassembly of the scanner to replace the rigid center conductor for the antenna with a new braided, flexible wire soldered to the BNC jack and the circuit board will restore the radio to new performance.

Good morning, thanks for the replies Jim and Rob,

I know where there is a CB shop I will drop by there next week and see what they can do with this scanner.

 

Jim the rail fan that I encountered that day was just one of the odd ones.

Maybe he was just having one of those days.

 

Thanks again for the replies !!! 

 

 

So a tuned antenna is better than a larger antenna? I have a 160-170 antenna, but was thinking about getting a 3.5' telescoping general one. Would this help or hurt me?

 

Sorry for piggybacking on your post Mark, but I figured this information might help you too.

Hey no problem, I posted this so I could get some ideas on how to make my scanner better.

Hopefully it will help some other people out there.

i cannot remember it now ,but there was a formula to determine antenna size in regards to the band/channel freq. on a hand held i think i used a telescoping antenna around 20-25".-jim

For 160-162 MHz, the wavelength is about 1.85 meters or 68.5".  Common antennas are the 1/4 wave ground plane at 17" with extra ground radials, and the very popular 5/8 wave used on many VHF mobile antennas at 42.8" for 160-162 MHz.  You can start with a mobile antenna that is built for the ham radio band at 144-148 MHz and shorten it to work best at 160-162 MHz.

These frequencies are far removed from the 27 MHz of CB radio, and anything for CB wouldn't be appropriate.

Proper mounting also makes a difference.

Good evening, since I first posted this question about scanners I have been to three different CB radio shops and at all three shops I got the same answer.

 

A scanner is much different than a radio so adding addition crystals will not increase the power of the scanner.

Adding a longer antenna will not help either.

 

All three said scanners are pretty much what you see is what you get.

 

Just thought I would forward this information on.

Since a scanner IS a radio, you can certainly see the error here.

 

Your scanner has only one or two reference crystals, it is otherwise a programmable "crystal-less" scanner. Adding crystals was never on the table, and would never increase sensitivity. Adding crystals to older crystal type scanners only provides additional frequency coverage for the crystal installed(up to the number of channels available on the scanner).

 

This is generally not true either, the rubber duck antennas supplied with scanners are always a compromise. The trick to better reception is choosing the correct antenna as Dale explains above.

 

I would say that this almost patently false. Antennas can always be upgraded, or enhanced(with a counterpoise or ground plane), or installed externally(rooftop/tower/outside vehicle), and, many scanners are readily modified in many ways to enhance their performance & features.

I replaced the original antenna on the left with the one on the right on my Uniden Bearcat SC150 scanner.  Improved reception considerably.  The replacement is a 15.5 inch dual band antenna from "ExpertPower" that was obtained through Amazon (used "points" to pay for it).  Unfortunately, the antenna is currently listed as "unavailable" on Amazon.

 

 

A tuned antenna is ALWAYS better than a "LARGE" antenna.

 

Read Dale Manquen's post above. He's got it right...as usual.

Good morning, The three shops I went to where in Ohio and here in PA.

I was somewhat surprised when all three gave the same answer, I am sure they didn't call one another.

I will take your advice and see if I can find a better antenna.

 

Thanks again!!!!!

I'm still sticking with my original advice - you have to check this first or no antenna will help:

 

 

Good morning Rob, on Monday I am going to take the scanner into the first radio shop that is close to where my office is located along with a copy of your suggestion and have the lady take a look at the antenna connection.

 

She has tuned up my CB radios in our trucks and does a great job on them.

 

I will let you know how I make out.

 

Thanks for your reply!!!

Tell her the exact frequency range of interest for train communications so that she will know how to check and optimize performance of the radio and antenna for you.  "CB" is far removed from the train frequencies.

A scanner is most definitely a radio, albeit recieve-only.  A whip tuned to 160Mhz will work much better than the stock "rubber duck" antenna.  As others point out, a CB antenna will not do you much good on RR frequencies.

 

 

I don't know if you are going to pay the radio shop to look at your radio.  But if you do and you also are considering buying a new antenna you may wish to just go to Amazon and buy a Uniden BC125AT for $96.00 and have a great scanner for railroad listening.

 

John

Hello John, I think you have a very valid point !!!!!

 

Thanks for the suggestion !!!!

i see alot of these 15.5" on scanners.i use one that size on a magnet mount on the truck.some thing about using the roof as a "ground plane" helps the receiving-jim

If you can't do the repair yourself, it probably isn't worth having it done.

 

I am currently using THIS 128 CHANNEL programmable radio for railroad listening. Covers 136-174 MHz and 400-480 MHz and is now $5 lower than the $33.00 price I paid in December. It's very sensitive at railroad frequencies, and the battery life is far better than any of my Bearcat handhelds. One warning though, it is a two-way radio, a feature that you will not be able to use under penalty of imprisonment.

I used a Yaesu VX-170 for several years but missed the ability to have Alpha and numeric display at the same time.  Also the ham radio was not as user friendly as a "real" scanner when it comes to programming, switching banks, etc.  BC125AT also has Close Call which is neat for breaking into listening when a track detector goes off.  All in all both the Yaesu and BC125AT were equally sensitive and did a good job on rejecting RF.  So I guess if price is the driving force and convenience is not a ham radio will do the job.

 

John

Good evening John, I looked at the Bearcat BC 125 AT Scanner on line and it to has the rubber style antenna.

 

Will this scanner work well with this antenna or did you change the antenna out on your scanner?

 

Also they list several scanners all with in different price ranges.

 

They really don't give much of a description why they are different prices other than how many channels they have.

I don't really see why I would need 2500 channels.

10 is plenty for what I am trying to listen to.

 

I don't think I need the two way radio version that was mentioned earlier either.

 

Any thoughts would greatly appreciated !!!!

Mark,

The scanner I use is the BC125AT.  It has 10 banks of 50 frequencies for a total of 500.  It scans from 29 MHz to 500 MHz.  It also has close call, search and weather.  The stock antenna works fine for trains and I use it most of the time.  The radio will fit in your shirt pocket.  It runs on 2 AA batteries or can be powered by USB.  Some times I use a special 160 band rubber duck on the radio and sometimes I connect it to my 5/8 wave mag mount on the roof of the car.  It does not overload the front end of the radio.

The LCD display is large for the size of the radio and has a nice clear speaker.

The only reason I use other antennas on the radio is when I am far from a track detector that I want to hear.  Otherwise the stock antenna works great.

You can easily program  the radio by hand but Uniden also provides free software to program it on a PC if you wish.

John

Thank you John for the information.

 

I will start looking for this scanner in a store.

It's amazing the scanner only uses (2) AA batteries.

 

I am not a big fan of buying things on line if I can find them at a brick and mortar store locally.

 

Thanks again for your help !!!

For the simple railroad listening you are seeking, this is probably true.

 

For scanner hobbyists into many different things, it's amazing how quickly you can eat through channels. Other features (like digital capability and what is known as trunking systems) also are big features driving price points.

 

If you start considering local services (police, fire, EMS, other public safety, etc), ham frequencies, Family Radio Service/GMRS, etc, it adds up quick.  I can easily fill a 200 channel traditional handheld scanner if I go to an air show.  I don't anymore because I use a scanner with a computer interface and have a special file I use just for such an event.  I then re-program it with my "normal" home stuff once the air show is over.

 

Sorry for the divergence from the original topic. Basically I'm just saying there are lots of levels of what people are trying to use scanners for, just like in trains there are those who buy a starter set or 2 and then there are those that have every high end steamer ever made.

 

-Dave

I have used 2 Bearcat BC560XLTs (16 channels) for 20 years, 1 in vehicle, 1 home. The one kept in vehicle has a magnetic mount antenna of about 28" height that came from Radio Shack. This outfit has survived 5 different vehicles over the years. Also have a BC60XLT handheld (30 channels) with belt clip and rubber duckie antenna. These have served well in all my railfanning from Baltimore to Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg to Roanoke, but then I still shoot slides, too.
I also monitor local fire dispatch channels.

Those are great radios, easy to use, great sound, easy to see the display, very rugged. I am using one now actually mounted under the wall cabinet in our lake house.

You're right, you probably DON'T need 2500 channels, but IF you railfan in multiple locations, it's nice to be able to program the appropriate channels for that area into a bank together and then lock them out when not using them.  In my case, I also use my scanner for auto racing events, so I have banks reserved for various Nascar and IMSA sportscar events too, which means I never have to erase anything, unless it becomes obsolete.

While we're at it, I am using a Uniden Sportcat 180 with the twistlock runner duckie antenna  for my trackside needs, which works OK, but could probably be better.  Anyone have suggestions for a better antenna?  I would hate to use anything too long, because I usually carry it on person when I'm trackside, but is there a rubber antenna that would give me improved RR frequency performance?

My old scanner did on me several years ago and I picked up a cheap Uniden  that I have used which is just OK. To do better you have to spend some $$, as usual. Best set up  I have seen was when I was on the NS mainline at South Fork, Pa. There were several other "fans" there who turned out to be cops-on retired. Interesting-no trouble with RR cops- not fair. But one was in charge of their radios and took a cop radio and put RR channel crystals or whatever in it. Just receiving-not sending. Really was awesome so it can be done.

It was probably just a programmable 2 meter Ham HT(Handi-Talkie) similar to this programmable two-way ham radio.

I have a Yaesu FT60 which I have one band with all RR frequencies.  Then other bands with the specific local roads ie UP, CRANDIC, Iowa Northern, Canadian National.  I just use an magnet mount ham antenna or an old cell phone antenna.  Both seem to work very well in my area even if not cut for the 160MHz band.