Radio Selection for a new radio user

[jase]

Hi, I have recently moved to Australia, and my step-son is training for his commercial pilots license.. he wants to be able to listen in to the air band while at home as well as pre/post flight. At max he's going to be using 5 freq's, tower, ground, approach, departure and possibly the center overhead, but not anything in the 'power user' class. I was previously ATC and as such I understand his passion for this and want to encourage it, and as he insists on him buying a VHF receiver himself, I'm trying to find one for him that fits in his limited budget.

Does anyone know of a radio RX that is in the sub 100 dollar range and has (obviously) minimal features? were it to be a manual channel change with no presets/scanning, would be fine, just needs to be portable (tram/train rides to and from the airport for him are ~2hrs with his books, thus a heavy massive radio doesn't work).

As I said, I recently moved here so I'm not even sure where to start looking in this hemisphere.. so I'm at a loss. Stumbled upon your board and thought maybe someone would have an idea to start looking. I am in Melbourne, and I understand that the board is centered on the other side of the country, and as such, many stores won't be in my immediate vicinity but I am comfy to do business by phone or email or websites, with shipping. As long as I know where to look

Oh.. and second-hand radios are fine, but those don't seem to be common. Or at least not where I've been looking.

Jason

[Bonez]

You can start with Dick Smith Electronics

http://www.dse.com.au

They carry a few scanners from basic through to advanced. I do not like your chances in getting something <$100 though unless it's 2nd hand.

[jase]

I started at the store there, but when inquiring there they told me that they do not carry any scanners any longer and referred me to two other places that then also told me that they do not carry anything that would work either. I don't see anything on EBay and I'm unfamiliar with where in the second hand market I should begin looking, any tips on that?

Thanks for the tips to Dick Smith though, when he told me no, I didn't question him as I probably should have.

Jason

[Blinky]

If you fancy a gamble try this

http://tiny.cc/syur8

I know absolutely nothing about it, I just searched. The price is right. How good or bad it is would be the gamble.

If you search eBay overseas a lot of these type of scanner show up. In the end I guess it ends up, you get what you pay for. Usually if you pay a little extra you get better quality etc. I assume there would be no problem importing but customs can be strange about some things.


as they say Caveat emptor

[yorky]

Dick Smith have pretty much left the market unfortunately.

Keep trying eBay searching radio scanner and something should come up. There is one on there at the moment but old and large.

[Bonez]

Christ Blinky that thing looks like a kids walkie-talkie from the 1980's... I'm sure Jason can do better than that

Your local DSE store might not have what you want, but if you go on to the website and choose the item you want, it will show a list of stores that the product is in stock. Failing that, you can order it from their online store.

They might well and truly be phasing them out, but they certainly aren't gone yet.

[jase]

Christ Blinky that thing looks like a kids walkie-talkie from the 1980's... I'm sure Jason can do better than that

haha!

yeah I think I'm going to take a pass at that one, but I do appreciate the alert there Blinky, I'd rather he got something quality and 4th hand, than total and complete crap that will work for an hour, 1st hand

The draw back is that being new to the country, I have less of an idea than some to be able to find the venues to find things such as radios.. not that they're obscure, but for some reason the internet seems to be soaking up some of the demand that had been there in the past, for whatever reason.

Appreciate all of the responses here, and I'll pass along the wisdom received to him and alert him to the ebay idea.

[Nafenn]

If you are in Perth - go to the pilot shop at Jandakot (Aeromotive i think its called) and speak to the guys there... i think they have some small little Air band RX only scanners. Being a pilot myself - having a scanner it a bit of a necessity... and is very useful in saving the aircrafts battery when waiting for a clearance

[robbage]

UBC73XL for $152 here -> http://www.prestigecom.net.au/index.php ... cts_id=714
They are in Malaga.
They also have a desltop unit for $124 here -> http://www.prestigecom.net.au/index.php ... ts_id=2244 but not much use if you want to carry it carry around.

[Comint]

While not quite in the price range, at $170, the Maycom AR-108 from Skylines Pilot Supplies at Moorabbin Airport, might be worthwhile considering.

In the past, Pilot Shops at General Aviation airfields, have had a selection of Receivers capable of receiving the VHF Aeronautical Band, although this does not seem to be the case in recent years.

--
Comint

[Blinky]

Christ Blinky that thing looks like a kids walkie-talkie from the 1980's... I'm sure Jason can do better than that

I never said they were good . As the brief was sub $100 that was an option (and I did say gamble) as there are not too many handheld options sub $100 at the moment on eBay. Of course the best thing would be pay higher and get something that could be used for other things too.

[Comint]

The draw back is that being new to the country, I have less of an idea than some to be able to find the venues to find things such as radios.. not that they're obscure, but for some reason the internet seems to be soaking up some of the demand that had been there in the past, for whatever reason.

There are a number of pawn shop / second-hand outlets in the Melbourne area, known as Cash Converters, who sometimes have second-hand scanners in their stores. However, be warned that you should be aware of current Retail Prices before venturing in said stores, as they have been known to mark the second-hand items at, or very near, the going Retail Price. In other words, at, or very near the Retail Price of a brand new item.

--
Comint

Edit: Fixed URL

[vk6hgr]

There are a number of pawn shop / second-hand outlets in the Melbourne area, known as Cash Converters

Try http://www.cashconverters.com.au instead

[helimedic]

Jason,

Have a look at the following;

http://www.vkclassifieds.vkham.com/cgi- ... /+Scanners

On eBay at the moment;

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/UNIDEN-UBC120XLT ... 2c5454a6f8

Helimedic

[jase]

Helimedic and others,

Thanks for the leads here, I have the scanner on watch and will keep an eye on that as time goes closer to it's end. The others I now have bookmarked, and I'll try to peek at those until I come across one.

Jason