Today radio scanners are being widely in use across the world. You could have a portable radio scanner and pick up signals ranging from UHF to VHF range. Although, some consider them illegal due to the fact that you can listen to everything communicated over a particular frequency thereby making it mandatory for you to get permits when using radio scanners in specific locations.
If you are looking to get one of these devices for your personal or work use, here’s our top picks you should consider.
Top 10 Best Radio Scanners
1. Uniden BCD325P2 Digital Mobile Scanner
The Uniden Digital Trunk Tracker V is a mobile scanner that makes it possible to tune in to various channels across various frequencies in the world around you. It comes about 25,000 channels as well as location-based scanning which makes it a very precise instrument for absolute and exact scanning activities. It features a dynamic memory system which makes it a powerful gadget that can make your vehicle a safe place to track weather and local events in your vicinity. Not to be underrated is the infrared technology embedded in the Uniden Digital Trunk Tracker.
Its communication features include The APCO 25 Phase 1 & 2 as well as trunked systems such as Motorola, Enhanced Digital Access Communication System (EDACS) and Logic Trunk Radio. The wide range of continuous band coverage of about 25MHz to 1.3GHz, only that Cellular and Ultra High Frequency used in TVs are excluded. It is a very useful device for people that move round in their vehicles a lot.
2. Uniden BCD536HP HomePatrol Digitla Scanner
The BCD536HP is another result of the brilliant Uniden brand which makes them one of the powerhouses in the innovation of radio scanners. The Home Patrol Programming found in this lovely device makes the Uniden BCD536HP Digital Mobile Scanner the easiest and user-friendly mobile scanner to program. It comes with a Wi-Fi feature which makes it possible and very convenient for you to activate and make use of the Uniden Siren application on your mobile smartphones and tablets anywhere around your home, office or vehicle to connect and have access to your digital mobile scanner. This feature makes it easy to control your scanner at any point in time. It comes with the “Specific Area Message Encoding” whereby during an NOAA Weather or Emergency Alert, a code for your specific location will alert you to severe conditions in your immediate area.
3. Uniden BCT15X BearTracker Scanner
The Uniden Bear Tracker comes with 9000 channels. The Bear Tracker comes equipped with Uniden exclusive features like Advanced Dynamic Memory System, a GPS system, a close call Radio Frequency Capture Technology. Also, it is completely featured with Trunk Tracker II technology which helps keep up with the events, status, and action on Motorola, Enhanced Digital Access Communication System (EDACS) and Logic Trunk Radio systems. It also comes with the “Specific Area Message Encoding” whereby during an NOAA Weather or Emergency Alert, a code for your specific location will alert you to severe conditions in your immediate area.
4. Eilimy G318+ Anti-Spy RF Signal Detector
The Eilimy Anti-Spy GPS Radar Radio Scanner is a powerful and advanced spy bug detector used in different applications across different occupations such as a listening device used by the law enforcement, a car tracker used in transport companies to keep track of vehicles, wireless camera, smartphone, and laptops spy software and so on. It is a wonderful device to use when you have doubts about a magic trick performed and want to see the tricks behind them. It helps a lot in apprehending con-artists and other people that make use of twenty-first-century technology. A cool device to have in possession. This detector meets the needs of military and police surveillance.
5. Whistler WS1040 Handheld Digital Scanner Radio
The WS1040 is a beautiful product from the Whistler brand. It is a handheld digital radio scanner that can store up to 1,800 different frequencies. It also comes with a feature that lets you search for nearby frequencies, automatically detect these frequencies and select the transmission found. Also, it enables you to listen to weather reports and events before they are broadcast on TV or radio. The WS1040 makes use of Object Oriented programming that makes it user-friendly and very understandable by consumers of this product. It also features a very interesting mode called the virtual scanner mode that stores about twenty-one different scanner configurations and has a storage capacity of about 38,000 scannable objects or even more. This digital radio scanner just like some of its other models performs the function of spectrum sweeping and has a special sky warn button.
6. Whistler TRX-2 Desktop Digtial Scanner
The TRX-2 is another product from the brand Whistler that has a multi-system adaptive digital trunking scanner for monitoring unencrypted channels or systems such as the traditional Digital Mobile Radio (DMR), two way talking systems like the NXDN and so many more. The Motorola P25 Phase I is used in combination with the multi-system adaptive digital trunking scanners as well as DMR and so much more. It also makes use of a Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA) method for shared medium networks. The TRX-2 caters for the consumers to group their stored objects and given enough space to use up to 200 Scan Lists. In addition to that, it introduces a distinct Skywarn scan list which allows for increased number of groupings for objects selected. Objects selected and grouped can be mapped to as many Scanlists of their choice thereby making sure consumers enjoy complete flexibility for grouping objects and selecting groups in any combination for scanning.
7. BTECH GMRS-V1 Two-Way Radio Scanner
The GMRS-V1 is a two-way radio that uses user-friendly commands and straightforward instructions. The GMRS-V1 is installed with a General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) repeater channels that are already programmed on it and also a two-way system. You can easily change the settings of the GMRS-V1 to send or transmit a privacy tone directly from the main menu of the radio. It also comes with a feature that allows you to request for a privacy tone for incoming transmissions. There is also a mode that allows you to mix and match different tones which can be used for repeater usage. The GMRS-V1 is so efficient that it saves any form of modification to a signal channel at any point in time even during reboot. It can also remember any channel change you make and use in any mode.
8. Uniden BC355N Mobile Scanner
One interesting feature of this device is the frequency coverage which includes different frequencies with interesting events where you can listen to the ambulance, police, fire, amateur radio, public utilities and weather. It also lets you lock out frequencies that have continuous or uninteresting communications so that searching is faster. Quite cool. As the name implies, you are allowed to store 300 channels.
9. Uniden BCD436HP HomePatrol Digital Handheld Scanner
The Uniden BCD436HP HomePatrol is a complete package when it comes to digital scanning. It is an optimized handheld digital scanner that can be used in homes and offices. It is equipped with Enhanced Dynamic Memory that enables narrowband reception. It also allows location-based scanning. Also comes with Preemptive trunking priority gives higher priorities to emergency communications and multi-site system support. It features a specific area message encoding weather alert with the United States and Canada radio database and also a fire tone-out alert. It supports close call Radio Frequency capture, GPS Connectivity, Radio System Analysis and Discover Modes. It is quite easy and convenient to program. Although, the price is on the high side, but it is worth it.
10. Whistler TRX-2 Desktop Digital Scanner
The Whistler TRX-2 is a desktop and mobile multi-system adaptive digital tracking trunking scanner that makes use of the Motorola P25 Phase 1 & 2. It also uses X2-TDMA which performs the function of dividing signals into different time slots thereby enabling several users to share the same frequency channel. From the production line, all frequencies in the United States of America and Canada are already stored in the device inside an SD card that makes it easy and convenient for consumers to make use of. The Whistler TRX-2 allows recording and saving by the scannable object. The saved files are converted into a Windows-compatible file. It comes with a time and date function that enables you to add specific time and date details to the various recorded files. It also has the ability to power on the mobile digital scanner at a specific time.