Slightly off-topic question:
What scanner would you recommend for railfanning?
One gentleman (not on this forum) suggested a 2-way radio, the Yaesu FT-250R as a first choice and a Uniden BC-125 as a second choice, but the BC-125 was not as sensitive as the FT-250R.
Your suggestions? And any recommended dealers?
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I just asked this question last week to several local railfans, and was told by many to get the Uniden BC75XLT. I bought one, it picks up local stuff, but have not tried it railfanning yet (though it seems like it should be great)
Thank you for the advice, everyone--and to Rich Melvin for the private note he sent me, too.
(Rich, your friends at Railcom said hi back to you!)
I'd recommend the BC75 if all your are going to use it for is listening to rail as most rail is done with analog signal. Analog scanners are much cheaper than the newer digital scanners ($100ish to $500ish). As you go up in analog scanner number (the 125 or 345) there are more little features that are nice if you're using this heavily (more channels, etc.) but the BC75 should work for hobby listening.
If you want to listen to more than rail (police, fire, etc.) it depends on where you live. If you send me your zip code I can recommend a scanner to listen to all traffic in your area.
Here is a list of recommended rail scanners from Zip Scanners.
I just bought the Uniden BC125AT from scannermaster.com. They have a rail fan package there which is pretty good. You can find a list of frequencies on their web site or many others on the Internet.
Thanks Pat for bringing up this subject. I was/am thinking of purchasing a scanner also. My consideration in it's use is for traveling (mostly by rail-vacations) and some local along the way scanning. I will look at all the above suggestions & I don't mind spending a few hundred dollars as long as I can get good results. Obviously earbuds would be a must for traveling.
Again, this is a good subject & thanks all for your contributions & if there are any other suggestions considering my purpose in use, I would gladly listen.
Dennis
Hey Dennis - If you only want to listen to rail then a conventional analog scanner will do such as the 75 or 125. But if you're traveling via train and want to listen to more than rail (and you're willing to spend a little more $) you can get a newer phase 2 scanner with GPS which will allow you listen to all kinds of things while you're on the train like police, fire, EMS, local biz, etc. The GPS will allow your scanner to find channels for you so you don't have to keep searching. I would recommend the BCD436HP if you're looking to go this route. The reviews are great and, like most tech, it's new so it has all the bells and whistles you could want. I have the 436 and love it. The downside being the 436 is around $500 where as the 75 and 125 are around $100.
What if you get a railroad where they only talk about the next destination to stop or talk very rarely to the dispatcher.
Andrew
Yeah - that's what I was thinking with the digital scanner so you have more to listen to besides just rail. If you're traveling on the eastern corridor like DC to NYC then there will be tons to listen to but if you're on the train through N Dakota & Montana (which I've done) there's not exactly a lot going on out there
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