157 - Uniden Close Call vs Whistler Spectrum Sweeper

Scanner School - Everything you wanted to know about the Scanner Radio Hobby

Uniden Close Call vs Whistler Spectrum Sweeper

Which is better: Uniden Close Call or Whistler Spectrum Sweeper?

In this episode, Phil puts them to the test in a head-to-head comparison on speed, distance, and technology. Listen in to find out who wins!

What You Need To Know

• Close Call and Spectrum Sweeper are used to seek out nearby frequencies that are stronger than a set value over the scanner’s noise floor.
• You would use this function to listen to, for example, news helicopters flying overhead to report on traffic.
• Close Call has three modes: standard Close Call, Close Call DND, and Close Call priority.
• Spectrum Sweeper can be accessed through your settings menu, as a special feature or as automatic tuning.
• Phil took the current flagship scanner model for both companies with a fresh charge on the battery, using the stock antenna straight out of the box.
• He set the scanners to Channel 14 to simulate a worst-case scenario scanning situation on a low power FRS channel where the ERP is half a watt.
• Then, for each radio, Phil tested how long it took for each scanner to lock onto the frequency at progressively farther distances.
• There were three variables to the test: speed, distance, and technology (Analog, DMR, etc)
• We choose a winner at the end of this podcast

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session157

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