The Uniden Debate!

Rob has posted the following comment:

"Sole 3500 importer? I wish! Any comments comparisons yet? I've kept my 330T, but then again my interests are not solely airband."

Seems like you have got yourself another 330T Rob! After having both scanners side by side for several days there is definately a marked improvement in sensitivity on the 3500XLT. I'll give you an example: I'm approx 15nm as the crow flies from East Midlands Airport, if I tuned to the ground frequency (121.9) with the 330T, I could only just pick up the ground controller with the squelch open. On the 3500XLT, the controller is loud and clear and coming through the squelch. Not only that but i am picking up some aircraft requesting pushback and start on the ramp! That's just one example, there are many others where the signal is stronger or a station previously not heard at all is now clearly audible. The example I gave has not been as good since I owned a Yupteru MVT7100 - generally considered to be extremely sensitive, so yes, a marked improvement over the 330T and worth the upgrade in my opinion.

Off topic now, I was listening to London Miliatry this afternoon on 252.875 and a an aircraft callsign: 'typhoon 1' came over the scanner, he seemed very loud and clear so I looked out my window and immediately saw his contrail at 36,000ft heading west, just north of Leicester across the normal flow of northbound commercial traffic, seems he was on his way to fly an approach at Valley then return to Coningsby at 40,000ft. Military 'crossers' are rare over Leicester but not unheard of, most traffic uses the 'Lichfield Corridor' further north over East Midland Airport. Occasionaly there are also c130's, royal flight aircraft and nimrods heading north in the normal commercial corridor northbound. Cheers for now, Mark.

Uniden BR330T

Yes, ok ok I admit it. The keen eyed Robert Davies has spotted my Uniden BR330T up for grabs on Ebay. It really is a great scanner but I'm keen to put the UBC3500XLT along side it briefly (should arrive today) to test out Rob's theory that it is slightly better on VHF/UHF air. Unlike some of you scanner boys (is Rob reading this?) I can't afford to build up a collection of radios. If I want to try a new one it generally involves flogging my existing one to offset the cost as I have a mortgage, wife, two kids, a dog and a hamster to feed ( imagine the violins in the background about now). Anyway you can await my findings on the 'BR330T vs UBC3500XLT'. Maybe it's all a load of rubbish, just maybe, Rob is the sole importer for the UBC3500XLT (the plot thickens). Who knows!

BTW - Graham Duke, are you still out there? Graham has made some great contributions to the site, unfortunately I had serious problems cutting and pasting the last info he sent me on UK airspace changes for some reason? Anyway if your there Graham, please do get in touch.

All the best for now - Mark.

Uniden BR330T vs Uniden 3500XLT (part 2!)

From Rob Davies:

Hello Mark (and everyone else!) If you own a 330T is it worth getting a 3500? From a civ air point of view, the performance variations between the two scanners are at their smallest in this part of the radio band. e.g. If a signal comes in scratchy with one flickering bar on the sig meter on the 330T, the same signal on the 3500 will be solid one bar with a possible flicker into two bars. The listening comparisons also bear this out. The further you move away from vhf air (in either direction) the performance variations can be as much as two solid bars on the sig meter in favour of the 3500 (The difference between unreadable and loud and clear in some cases..) The 3500 has three different selectable bandplans (3 being the most uk centric) It also has Close Call Do Not Disturb - no more dropouts in audio every two-ish seconds with CC DND enabled - downside = CC DND only works when you are not actively receiving a transmission - whereupon if that's an issue revert to the CC Pri mode which is the same as the 330T's sole CC mode. There are more gaps in the 3500's coverage, but I haven't found them yet from a monitoring point of view. If you *don't* already own a 330T buy a 3500 immediately, it's an ABSOLUTE bargain for the price v features - Since the 3500 arrived I haven't used my AOR AR8200MkIII (which is 2.5 times the price of the 3500) Only buy an 8200 if you need the frequency extremes that it covers - The 3500 is better for all the rest. If you *do* already own a 330T find a fellow local enthusiast to compare the 330T against their 3500... or maybe not... it may just be expensive. Just my personal findings and opinions.... Your mileage may vary.... Don't run with scissors... etc etc etc In my case having bought the 3500 I don't regret having done so :-) btw... Alternative review of the 3500 here: http://www.ukmidlandscanner.co.uk/uni3500.htm btw again as I write this the best 3500 price seems to be with Nevada on ebay @ 150ukp with *free* p&p - other vendors charge the same basic price plus 6 or 7 quid p&p. -Rob

Thanks Rob, I will certainly give the 3500 some thought. I do think considering the cost and the features available for airband listeners, it's got to be the best value for money scanner available at the moment. My 'benchmark' scanner has always been the Yupiteru MVT7100 in terms of sensitivity, and I think the Unidens are equal to it but with a lot more features.

Going off-topic now, I turned on the scanner a few nights ago and immediately intercepted a 'pan pan pan' call from an RAF C130 working London (Swanwick) military on UHF - seems he had lost one engine and required a direct routing into Lyneham. being in Leicester, I lost him as he descended towards Lyneham, anybody else catch this? Anyway, cheers for now and do please hit the comments button if you have anything to contribute. Mark.

Uniden BR330T vs UBC3500XLT

Robert Davies has posted the following comment:

'Well..... I have since bought a Uniden UBC3500XLT (rearrange the following words into a common phrase or saying "money" "than" "sense" "more"). It's even better than the BR330T, initial tests suggest from this location that it is more sensitive on vhf and uhf air than the BR330T, and I always thought *that* was pretty handy ;-) -Rob'

That's interesting Rob, you would think it would essentially have the same 'internals'. I presume your testing them both alongside each other on the same antenna setup etc.

I'd be interested to know if you think the performance increase is worth buying a UBC3500XLT even if like ourselves you already have a BR330T?