On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:38:47 +0000, buttman wrote:

This is what I want to listen to in order of importance:

UHF military aircraft (270ish range)
Civilian aircraft (108-136)
Trains
Marine
AM/FM radio (the kind that plays music that you listen in your car)
ham radio
police, ambulance, and all the other stuff

The first 4 are a must, the rest aren't really that important, but I
wouldn't mind hearing them. I'm thinking one of those "full spectrum"
units would be great. I don't know what "trunking" is, but I don't
think I need it.

It also has to have the different "modes" so I can hear the military
aircraft correctly. I heard some scanners can pickup signals in the
military air band, but lack the proper mode to decode the signal so it
can be understandable. My budget is about $300 USD.

I'm a little surprised at the lack of responses. I'll throw in my $0.02
and recommend getting a used Uniden/Bearcat BC-780XLT. The receiver is
well regarded for both military and civilian aviation reception and it
handles trunking as well so it is a scanner you can grow into for a while
(although they don't handle the new digital modes). I will say that I
need to get the manual out for programming, but once set up the scanners
are reliable and easy to operate. I have two of them connected to a
streaming server that have been up 24x7 for a couple years without any
problems. The 780XLTs can be had for ~$200 and you can use the leftovers
in your budget for a good antenna and low loss coax to feed it.

http://www.bc780xlt.com/ for more info and answers

Tom