 Yupiteru MVT-3300
It has been some time since I had my hands on a Yupiteru scanner, the last
one was a model I owned which you may have heard of the MVT-7100. This was
some years ago now and the popularity of this scanner has kept going right
up until the present time, bearing good testimony to the merits of this fine
receiver. Even in this modern age of computer controlling our scanners the
yupiteru 7100 which does not have this capability manages to keep on soldiering
on, many models of scanners have come and gone in the life time of this fine
receiver.
So it was with some excitement to get another scanner with this fine pedigree
and put it through it's paces. The model I am referring to is the Yupiteru-3300.
In all fairness this is a budget priced scanner with budget type features but
with a couple of extras thrown in for good measure.
Some adverts for this receiver come with the slogan "This scanner will
hear what others don't" (Or something similar), So lets find out if this
is true.
First impressions
Looking over the receiver first impression that struck me was it's size,(2.3"(W)
x 6.0"(H) x 1.3"(D)) a couple of yrs ago this would not have been
noticed but in this day of micro transceivers it does stand out ( Rather like
those old Motorola Brick phones of the late eighties/Early nineties). This
appeared to be well built, better than the 7100 which I always felt was a wimp
when it came to taking knocks. Grey in colour. At the top of the unit are two
knobs, one being an on off switch which is also used for volume control with
a squelch knob at the base, next to this is a rotary dial for manually tuning
frequencies or switching through the channels. In photographs I always thought
these looked quite business like and sturdy looking, but in fact they are quite
cheap looking and give the impression of being quite feeble. In all fairness
they should be able to cope with day to day use with no problem and be more
than adequate for their use. The main gripe I would have about the knobs are
that they are poorly marked for the settings. Back over to the top left of
the unit is the BNC connector for attaching a suitable aerial.
The LCD display is at the top portion of the unit as you look at it the top
of the front panel being of adequate size. The display being made up of frequency
in use, this takes the format of 7 digits for example 453.150 is displayed
as 453.150.0 The channel number (000-200) the scan bank numbers and the current
mode. Also if beep is enabled this is displayed (A bit pointless in my opinion).
At the base of the LCD is a 6 segment signal strength bar meter. The contrast
is about right giving the user a good view of what is being displayed from
a number of different angles. Below the LCD are the buttons for the various
programming and functions, these twenty in number, five rows of four counting
horizontally or four rows of five counting vertically. These buttons are more
than adequate in size and spaced apart well enough so should be fine for the
fat fingered type of user. Also the various button functions are easily read
in an luminous green colour.
At the bottom of the unit is the loudspeaker. Moving to the left of the unit
(as you look at it) are two keys which can be depressed one being the lamp
for lighting the display and the keypads. Below this a Monitor button for holding
on to those week signals. Over to the other side and there is a mounting point
for a hand strap, Ear jack for for private listening and a DC jack for mains
operation.
The rear is quite different to anything I have seen before, there is a pull
down stand so that the unit can be stood on a desktop (or anything else for
that matter). This I found a good idea and a facility I used extensively, in
fact you need to because trying to get the unit to stand on it's own ended
up quite a few times with the sound of a "Thud" as it toppled over.
The drawback of this feature is that it does not include a belt clip. A big
NO! NO! on a handheld scanner in my opinion.
In use
Batteries: The 3300 requires 4AA type batteries to kick it into gear, the
surprising thing I found here was that there is no in-built charging unit.
Yes I know it's a budget scanner but come on I have owned some cheapo scanners
over the years but they all had a charging circuit built in. There is a provision
for mains charging and the unit does come supplied with a mains adapter (Still
would have liked a charging circuit though). The battery life I found to be
quite good, I charged some Ni-Mh batteries (Externally) two of which I suspect
of being past their sell by date (Had them since I first got my 8200 and how
long ago did that come onto the market?) but I got a full days use and then
some. So a fresh set of batteries should be more than adequate.
To see how well I could drive the 3300 without using the manual is the best
way to find out how user friendly a scanner is in my opinion, (or is this an
excuse for being my normal impatient self?). In this case I am happy to say
that I worked out most functions for myself, managing to search out and program
active frequencies into memory, and then just a case of scanning through the
programmed channels. This was quite a surprise as the 7100 I used to own was
a lot more complicated.
VFO Mode:
VFO mode can be accessed in a number of ways that we wont go into here as
we don't want to be covering bits that are covered in the user manual. From
VFO you can adjust the step size (Sizes are:5/6.25/10/12.5/25KHz) which should
be adequate for most types of listening, OK it hasn't got them all but hey
this is a budget scanner. Also modes can be changed (AM/FM, again adequate
for most types of listening.) Of course the frequency can also be changed.
Most of these functions can be accomplished by using either pressing the appropriate
buttons or via the rotary control. Also a search is available whilst in VFO
mode.
Search.
There are two types of Search VFO Search and Band search. Whilst in VFO mode
it is a simple case of pressing search button. Initially it will search in
ascending order but a quick flick of the rotary knob and it will search in
descending order. The manual quotes 50 Channels per second when in search mode
and although I did not test this I found the search speed to be more than adequate
and comparable to other receivers. To hold on a search when an active frequency
has been found is a simple matter of pressing the search button again, pressing
again resumes the search very nice neat and simple. To enter a frequency into
memory requires a press of the Func then the MR/MW button, I worked this out
for myself so once again this shows what an easy scanner this is to drive.
Whilst searching I could not help but notice the sensitivity of this unit pulling
in some very weak signals that other scanners struggle with. The only drawback
with this is that it would lock up on frequencies with a load of mush blasting
out of the loudspeaker, more of this later.
Band Search Mode:
As previously stated the 3300 comes with two search modes VFO search and Band
search mode. With band search mode you get 10 user programmable search bands
which should cover most monitoring needs again search speeds were more than
adequate. User programmable includes step size and mode. Also there is the
capability to "lock out" unwanted frequencies so that they are bypassed
during subsequent searches. Not bad for a budget scanner. Also it has a S.P.READ
function which allows search skipped frequencies to be viewed and edited. Once
again entering a frequency into memory is a case of pressing func then /MR/MW
buttons.
Auto store
Or Auto write as Yupiteru calls it is another feature that comes with the
3300 and came as a bit of a surprise to me for a budget scanner. Basically
this means that you can put the 3300 into a search and it will automatically
store into memory any found frequencies.
Scanning:
When you have some active frequencies you can now go into scan mode, once
again very straightforward and scanning speed in my opinion is more than adequate,
the stats I have below state 16 Ch's per second, I think it is a hell lot quicker
than that. Up to 200 memories can be programmed, 10 banks of 20 Ch's about
right for a budget scanner. ( I remember being amazed at ten!) To hold on to
an active frequency in scan mode is a simple case of pressing "Scan" again
and once again to resume. Again a quick flick with the rotary dial and scanning
can go in any direction in numerical order or descending. Again channels can
be selected to be skipped so that the 3300 does not stop on them until re selected
for scanning, this is accomplished with just two key presses, Func and then
C/AC buttons. For the purpose of this review I again fitted a Watson W-889
aerial, the supplied rubber one was more than adequate for UHF but for VHF
it left a lot to be desired. VHF reception was vastly improved, in fact the
3300 is very good at pulling in weak signals that other scanners would not
have pulled in. The drawback with this is that it also pulled in loads of crud
on certain frequencies on both UHF and VHF it definitely does not like being
in an area where there are computers, moving further away from any computer
interference reduced the problem somewhat but not fully. The lock out function
was welcomed here I could imagine great problems if it did not have this facility
due to constantly locking on "Interfered frequencies".
The monitor button I found to be more than adequate for it's intended purpose
and worked through this review faultlessly. Again a big bonus for a budget
scanner.
VHF performance
As I have already stated it became apparent very early on that the 3300 was
very capable on VHF. Once I had fitted the Watson W-889 the signals came in
loud and clear and I must say that it is the best performing scanner I have
found on VHF to date!! Signals that would maybe measure one or two bars on
a signal strength meter on another scanner would give a full strength reading
on the 3300 Yes I know that these are not 100% reliable but when you hear a
nice clean signal to back it up then that will do me. I have always considered
my Yaesu FT-51R ham transceiver to be the best performer on VHF but it has
now met it's match! Just to back this up some frequencies that I would not
program into my other scanners due to weak signals causing all sorts of horrible
background noise, I programmed into the 3300 and listened with clarity. Well
done Yupiteru. The test for this was done on both Civil air band on the Coventry
control tower frequency of 119.250 Now just about every scanner I have ever
had struggles to hear the tower side of the conversation and if it manages
to break the squelch then I am more than happy, but the 3300 could quite easily
hear both sides of the radio traffic. The other areas tested were 152-168MHz
and even as low down as 70MHz both am and FM modes all areas performed exceptionally
well.
UHF Performance
Again the unit proved itself no slouch on UHF either, testing out on some
well known weak signals again the 3300 brought them in. I have found that most
scanners do a decent job of receiving on UHF but a lot lack on VHF the Yupi
3300 excelled at both. To test this I used the search feature to search an
area in the UHF band where I knew some weak signals lay and I am pleased to
say the 3300 brought them in again with a fair reading on the signal strength
bar graph. Is this really a budget scanner? £150 Is looking more and
more like a bargain to me. Again the 3300 had some toll to pay for it's sensitivity,
with two simultaneous local signals being heard at the same time on another
frequency a few KHz in between the two frequencies being used.
Priority
The priority feature I found a real pain, I followed the instructions in the
manual but it just was not having it, I don't know if this is because the unit
I had was second hand and some channels had already been assigned, but either
way I did not find this very user friendly at all and deviated from the ease
of the other functions of this radio. This was also made that more frustrating
as there are 200 chg's on the 3300 but the manual says that Ch's 200-209 are
the priority Ch's???? (There are ten priority Ch's).
Clearly something was not being understood by myself here, whether that is
a fault of mine not being able to grasp what could be a perfectly simple operation,
if this is so then the manual does not do a good job of explaining this operation
and if I an experienced scanner user has problems with it then you can guarantee
that others especially beginners will do so also.
Descrambler
Another added bonus is the addition of a descrambler for deciphering scrambled
radio transmissions of the inversion type encryption. This will not descramble
more serious professional encryption techniques. Users of inversion scrambling
include the increasing popular PMR 446 radios, some PMR users. As there are
no users (Or any that I know of) that use this type of encryption in my area
I could not try this feature out.
Audio quality
I found to be very good. Pumping up the volume to full power it remained very
good with a slight distortion in the received audio. However there was a definite
long squelch tail (You know the CCCrrkkk!!! heard after transmissions).
Lamp
This feature is accessed by clicking the Lamp button on the side of the unit
glowing in a green colour. This not only lights up the LCD display but the
keypads also. I would go as far to say that the lighting as adequate. But once
again this is a budget scanner and to light up the keypads is considered by
me as another bonus. Could I be so cheeky as to see if the 3300 had a function
to leave the light on? Surely it would not be capable of this it is a budget
scanner. Go on try it and see, and so I did, logic tells me that to perform
this function that if just clicking the lamp button lights up for 5 seconds
then if this did have infinite lamp facility I would press func button and
then lamp. To my surprise it did indeed have this capability and it had a nice
little touch to it also, you see if operating in daylight the light is hardly
visible and could be quite easily left on draining the batteries. The 3300
actually shows on the LCD "Lamp" so you know instantly that you have
left your lights on. Notice again how easy it was to perform this operation,
again showing the ease of use of this receiver.
User Manual:
To be perfectly honest I did not bother with the manual that much as I found
it such an easy scanner to use that I quite simply found I did not need it
for most cases. Apart from the priority ch saga previously mentioned, the manual
looked well laid out and looks like it is good at it's purpose giving graphical
as well as text instructions (Remember the old saying, "a picture paints
a thousand words").
Final Thoughts:
Throughout this review I have referred to this scanner as a budget scanner
but it comes with some good features the only thin really budget about it is
the price, at the time of writing they are selling for about £150.
In my opinion this is a fine scanner, some of the features for a receiver
in this price bracket amazed me. I could not help comparing it to a Realistic
Pro-26 scanner I owned a few years back which cost a hell lot more than £150
and if I had the choice between the two then I would take the Yupi with no
hesitation. The ease of use will win this scanner over for many newcomers as
well as the sensitivity (I have owned some top scanners that had all the features
you could want but were deaf! What's the point if it can't hear the signals?)
Yes it does suffer some drawbacks with being so sensitive by locking up on
some unwanted signals. Yes it does lack a built in charger unit and a belt
clip. But I suppose that yupiteru had to make some cutbacks on a unit at this
price. But what do I really think of this scanner? I Love it!!
Serial umber of unit tested: 00800304
Model MVT-3300EU
Frequency Coverage 66-88MHz
108-180MHz
320-470MHz
808-1000MHz
Modes AM, NFM
Step Sizes 5kHz, 6.25kHz, 10kHz, 12.5kHz & 25kHz.
Sensitivity AM 0.7uV
NFM 0.5uV
Channels 200
Scan Speed 16 channels per second
Power Requirements 4 x AA Batteries
External Source 12 volts DC, 200mA
Size 59(w) x 32(d) x 152(h) mm
Weight 310g
Supplied Accessories BNC Flexible Antenna
Ear Piece
Carry Strap
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