Advice needed for a scanner for Mildenhall/Lakenheath

Location : Ely Spotter Watch Member : no

I'm looking to buy a cheap scanner for listening into Mildenhall and Lakenheath.
I have looked at the one's for sale at Maplin, but I'm mighty confused.
As far as I can work out if I buy a AR-108 Airband Scanner I will get Airband and 2m amateur band scanning, 108MHz-180MHz, therefore very limited if anything.

If I get a PSR282 200 Channel Scanner Frequency Coverage 66-88MHz 108-174MHz 380-512MHz I may get more but not all military?

So I may have to get a PSR-295 1000-ChannelScanner?

I live near to Mildenhall, and want to be able to hear when aircraft are due to land or take off whem I visit the airbase.

Thanks in advance.

Location : Cunbria Spotter Watch Member : no

Careful with this one Charlie. If you read the questions asked at the bottom of the info page is says AM mode is not manually selectable. Most scanners automatically select AM for VHF/civil airband, in fact it says farther down that the mil frequencies are received in FM which is no use to you.Better to find one which has selectable modes. Read this..

Location : Ely Spotter Watch Member : no

Seems this is becoming a steep learning curve!! I wold not want to spend over this as I'm just starting and don't want to send a fortune to find out i'm not that into it!!

I will keep looking but it seems Maplin may not be the place to go!

Thanks for your help

Location : Cunbria Spotter Watch Member : no

Maybe a decent used scanner would be OK for you. I'm sure someone will be along who can recommend a good source for you & there's always Ebay.

Location : Ely Spotter Watch Member : no

I have just found this site http://www.greamerica.com/support/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=1010

It states it can do 25Mhz to 1300Mhz in FM or AM that says to me you can get the mil airband, so now I'm totally confused!! Not difficult i suppose!

Also in the manual it seems to say you can select manually between Am and FM

Or am I just completely lost lol!!!

thanks.

Location : Durham. UK Spotter Watch Member : no

The Grecom PSR-295 from Maplins will suit you fine for military frequencies. I bought one at the start of the year and I am more than pleased with it for the price. Once you get the hang of programming which appears a little daunting at first but in fact is very simple, to do, you will pick up all what you want. I am in Durham and I can pick up Newcastle and Teeside for civil, along with Leeming, Linton and Spadeadam, air to air etc, with out problem. I have put in all the known military frequencies I can find for my region and when I am out in my car I use a Mini mag antenna, also from Maplins, and my scanner is rarely quiet for more that a few seconds. As with most scanners the supplied antenna is not up to much but it does work, a better antenna will always bring in better reception. Just like a portable TV the loop antenna is useless but the one in the loft or your chimney solves reception problems.

Location : Ely Spotter Watch Member : no

Sounds great, now just got to convince the wife we need one lol!!

Thanks

Location : Cunbria Spotter Watch Member : no

Charlie, you are correct.

I'd listen to Bossmans advice who has the PSR_295, and recommends it.
Seems the Maplin information is wrong about this set, which must be doing them out of sales, it says you can NOT select modes manually & that the mil airband is in NFM.

There is also a good write up on the set HERE You can clearly see the mode button on one of the photos.

Can you get software for it to to configure with your PC Bossman?

Location : Durham. UK Spotter Watch Member : no

I'm not sure about that, however you can link two PSR-295 together and clone one from the other. So if someone has a 295 fully loaded then you could get together and clone away. I only use mine now for airshows because I treated myself to a Uniden 800-XLT a short while ago and that is my main scanner at home and mobile.

Location : Cunbria Spotter Watch Member : no

The PSR-295 seems a good radio for the money, labeling of stored frequencies etc.
Software is handy for loading a lot of stuff , but as charlie is mainly wanting to put a few local frequencies in it doesn't matter about that.

Location : Durham. UK Spotter Watch Member : no

Once you get the hang of inputting the freq's it is quite quick to programme the PSR 295. It took me a couple of hours to put in about 300 freq's into mine. So it is not a lot slower than using a PC to load a Bearcat 800-XLT, in which you have to type your list into the software and then load the scanner. Both methods involve lots of key tapping and time.

Location : chiswick. london Spotter Watch Member : no

Hi Charlie
Please pm me as I have a radio you could have for free. Its a Realistic pro.2042, base mobile scanner.
mike.p