Alright, I see that a lot of you say that using a scanner is your main tool to know when a train is coming. Since I have no clue as to who makes the best scanner for railfanning, I will ask you. What is your personal choice? I am interested in buying one. Can’t be too pricey though, say $300 retail the limit (Seeing as I’ll find one on eBay for cheaper[:D]).
Thanks in advance.
Just go down to your local RadioShack and look there. Get one with at least 100 channel memory, so you can store all 97 AAR channels. And buy a good antenna that is tune for the RR band, because the stock ‘rubber ducky’ antennas aren’t the best.
Well nobody is replying so I’ll throw in my 2 cents.
I usually by the cheapest model I can find with the features I need. The reason for this is I am brutal on equiptment and usualy only get a year or two out of one before it takes a fatal plunge. It’s less of a loss with the cheap ones. I recomend getting one that has 100+ channel capacity. That way you can program in all the AAR assigned railroad frequencys and not have to worry about what channels are used where after that. I also like the search feature. That allows you to search through the bands for other communications. I also recomend getting a magnetic rooftop antennae tuned for railroad frequencys as the stock rubber duckies don’t do nearly as good.
This topic has been discussed in lenght time and time again. You might want to do a search and read the old threads.
I use a radio shack scanner.
Since I also move around, I carry several Altamont Press railfan timetables with me so when I’m at a different line I can program in that road channel.
As chad mentioned there have been some threads about this subject that went into great detail about scanners. Some railfans are also Hams and have a great deal of information on this subject.
For me, I wanted an inexpensive scanner that I didn’t need to worry about. I bought a Radio Shack model on sale for 79.99. It had 200 channels, in 10 banks. I was than able to program the 100 ARR channels into the scanner and also program my 20 most used channels of the 100 channels into the 1st bank. Because I bought a cheaper model I was able to purchase a better rubber duckie antenna, a mag mount car atenna and a base antenna.
Jim
I am just a couple days away from getting a Radio Shack PRO 95!! My grandma said she was going to buy me one for my birthday on sunday.
I myself started out with an entry-level Radio Shack. A right tight little unit, but almost perversely difficult to cruise through the RR bands (150-181 Megahertz, approx.).
I went to a website — scanners-r-us dot com, paid about $35 more for a Bearcat BC9 2XLT and am quite content with it.
IMHO scanners are like digital cameras–they are set up for what the majority wants. What the majority wants are to follow police and fire, NOAA radio, and maybe Nascar pit crews. Nothing wrong with that, but much as it takes a more sophisticated camera to “undo” default settings regarding focus and aperture, etc., the scanner I bought is a bit easier to custom tailor. You can put me down as someone who is usually reluctant about new technology but usually does all right with it, in time.
I’m still talking about under $130. I wonder what some of our RR employees and retirees think about Motorolas for this guy, as he seems to want a used version of something in like the three-hundred-dollar range?
If RR stuff is all you want, a lot of people like the Yeasu VX-150 ham radio. It will scan and receive RR. If you want to hear more then that, then go with a scanner. I prefer Uniden stuff myself. If I wanted a simple handheld, I would go with the 92XLT.
Dave
-DPD Productions - Featuring the NEW TrainTenna LP Gain RR Scanner Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/
Don’t cheap out on the antenna either.
Adrianspeeder
I don’t really know about scanners but i will say that a good antenna (preferably a magnetic roof top) is very helpful!
For $300 you can buy two scanners and a decent mobile antenna.
Consider, too, where you will be using the scanner. If you have active lines near your home that you like to fan, work on a base set-up. You can put up a decent base antenna and use your pocket scanner at home, then take it along (with all your favorite local channels) when you fan. Two antennas and a scanner will still probably be under $300.
Of course, the usual caveats about putting up antennas on your house and mobile scanner laws.