I picked up a new scanner this past week. My old one is 25 years old. It was a Realistic from Radio shack. Only could had 100 channels. This new one is a Uniden ear cat. 500 channels, alpha numeric tagging. It’s also faster at scanning. Easier to program too with the PC software. I’m impressed. I already have 150 channels programmed. 97 all tagged with the AAR channels. 50 with the UPRR and set up for my local use. Now what to do with the last 350 channels?
I have a BC75XLT and am very happy with it. Yours is obviously newer and greater capacity of channels, etc.
This was only $10 more than the 300 channel model. Also what gave it the final cut was the alpha tagging so I can name the channels.
How happy are you with how it works while out and about? Are you seeing good results with the reception?
I have a ~ 20 year old Uniden 100 Channel programmable portable that's been everywhere, has been dropped dozens of times and still works fine. Its sensitivity is modest, but okay in most circumstances. I also have a long telescoping antenna bought 30 years ago that was once the rage in fan magazines and if I'm going to sit somewhere for a while, I'll put it on and the gain in reception is huge. I once met a fan with a Baofeng portable scanner. It had excellent reception, but was difficult to program. I'll bet that you'll enjoy your scanner a bunch! I'd miss out on many photo shots without mine. Alphanumeric tagging sounds like a neat feature.
An update after listening to it for a while. The range is pretty wide. I’m picking up areas that are 30 miles or so away.
Scanner reception is sometimes fickle. When I lived in the flatlands of IL, I could pick up radio chatter from 30 miles away, but in hilly country my range falls off drastically. Of course, crewman portables have a short range, locomotives have greater range and Dispatchers are super strong.
It'll add a new dimension to your photography. You'll quickly learn the radio lingo in your home area, but I've noticed that when I travel I'm not quite as hip to what's happening with new train numbers, control points and even accents playing a role. You'll also want to enter EOT frequencies. 452.9375 and 457.9375 are common, but NS uses 161.115. These are great for knowing when trains are near. By the way, I've dropped my scanner so often and have even lost (and found) it several times, that I removed and spray painted the belt clip red and yellow. I baby my camera gear, but my scanner leads a hard life.
I agree with all that. The very first Uniden scanner I had lasted a good 20 years before giving up the ghost. Loved that one. The replacement Uniden I bought (don't remember the model #) hasn't seem much use as the reception was fairly poor even with replacing the antenna with a much better quality one. It's bad enough that I will now use my Uniden 16 channel base station scanner in the truck on the rare occasion I am going out to mainly railfan. Definitely need to get something easier to carry around before vacation time rolls around this year. That's why i'm pleased to hear positive results on this model Uniden.
I sometimes "tune in" some of the Internet railfan scanners in my train room just for the fun of it. There are quite a few. I wish someone would set one up locally, as our house is below a ridgeline and I can hardly receive anything.
This was my first scanner, made by Regency, a Christmas gift from around 1975. Pro-Custom Hobbies sold a ton of these and all were electronically aligned by Pro-Custom to be most sensitive to the portion of the band devoted to railroads. It had 10 Channels, used crystals and with an attic antenna in a house on the flatlands of northern IL, I could pull in everything from miles around -- C&NW, SOO, EJ&E, MILW and even the IC sometimes. It was a GREAT scanner and those red lights looked cool too!
From what I read, the railroads will be slow to adopt to digital radio technology such as that used by law enforcement because of the expense and minimal return on investment. An article I read said to not worry with obsolescence and to buy a scanner and enjoy it with the knowledge that you'll be able to use it for a long time to come.
Having copies of the timetable will help with some of that. In just a couple days with the help of a timetable, a few other knowledgeable people I pretty much picked up the knowledge needed for listening in to the NS at Altoona PA. Never been there but I understand the layout now.
I gave my old scanner to my son and then found out there is a problem with the battery slide. No power to the unit. He is supposed to graduate from high school in 4 months (hopefully). I might get him one of these as a gift.
It was probably 25 years ago that my wife and I railfanned Altoona. You have some great territory to 'fan. One of the Operators at ALTO Tower spoke with no pauses between words. I distinctly recall hearing him reply "ConrailAltoWho'sCallin"?
I have been watching virtual rail fan live cam of horseshoe curve. That’s why I started listening to the Altoona east dispatch so I could get a handle on things between the chat and trains I was kinda lost.