Hi, Martin.  Yes, the BCD 396 is still out there and for sale - 
cheaper through Amazon.  Anyone have experience using this rig?  Is 
it worth buying?  How good is the reception, especially in the 
aviation air band (118-136MHz?  Thanks.--Matt, N1IBB.

At 12:16 PM 8/13/2014, Martin G. McCormick wrote:
>Matthew Chao writes:
> > Hi, Martin.  I'm looking for an accessible scanner; any current
> > ideas?  And what about using USB interfaces instead of serial ones,
> > as many systems no longer come with serial ports, and the
> > USB-TO-serial adapters can be a little sketcy.--Matt, N1IBB.
>I haven't been scanner shopping since about 2008 but I think the
>BCD396 portable scanner and BCD996 may still be available. I
>bought an 8-port usb/RS-232 converter several years ago and it
>got a glancing blow from a big lightning strike and died so I
>replaced it last year with a newer 8-port converter and both
>worked great on a Linux box.
>         As for scanners that have a USB port instead of a serial
>port, I don't have any experience with them but if they emulate
>a dedicated RS-232 converter, they should work on most systems.
>         You'll almost have to just try one and see if it works
>since there is no one single design.
>
>Martin