Wouxun 2/70/(7 band /+air)

I am fond of this make above some of the other imported makes & models,
And at the moment its on offer,
It has just about everything you would need from a small handy and includes air band.

https://www.hamradio.co.uk/amateur-radio-handheld-radio-wouxun-handheld-radio/wouxun/wouxun-kg-uv9k-u-v-dual-multi-band-transmission-7-band-reception-pd-6089.php

happy hunting.

i've got this ht. i love it. i can sit near stansted airport, not far from where i live and hear atc and a couple of small airfields in the area

My favourite Wouxun, which I happily bought as a Pro Pack edition so I had spare batteries etc for extended use such as air band monitoring when I could venture to airports etc - *thinks* if only we could nuke covid from orbit, maybe I'll actually get to some airports.

Paired up with the 878UV covering Coastguard/Marine VHF, PMR/DMR/dPMR, it's one half of a very useful set of radios - same sort of scanning (between the UG and 878 in parallel) capability and coverage of analogue and digital voice on a legit scanner would be scandalous expensive unless you were a hard core dyed in wool 'Radio User' reader type.

Now whilst it's not the most sensitivity Chinese set I've used, but selectivity wise it's above average of Chinese handsets, it's very wide coverage and being able to force AM operations bar where it's hardware locked to a mode (like Aviation VHF is AM mode only which is mostly all you need), means along with very narrow stepping as well, if you can hear it, you can hit it carrier centre without any real issue.  Whilst it's no FT-818, if a full multimode set version ever appeared as a variant or a future model expanded to full 49-520Mhz inc 4m multimode+digital, I'd be seriously after it to supersede  the K, but until then, it's got a home here and probably will eventually join my collection of stuff I'm sentimental about.  It don't need to get a lot of use to justify having at the asking price.

Worth noting, since no retailer lists the fact but it's part of the spec, it's wideband (7 band) Rx on one Rx only.  So to scan, say, a wide or the whole of it's 7 band coverage you need to apply the scan limits etc desired to the WB capable Rx (can't recall offhand if A or B is the WB Rx side or not, not having it to hand at the moment as I'm waiting for the sealant to set).

So as long as you remember that you can dial in any frequency in the expanded section on one Rx only, the other being limited to the radio's usual narrower wide Rx/Tx range pairing you're good to go.

Scan side - unlike many most sets, where it you scan on one Rx, changes to frequency etc on the other doesn't stop the scanning.  You have manually stop it or wait for a scan pause condition to occur or tap the PTT or open monitor on the Rx that's scanning.

But you can set both on scan ranges simultaneously and monitor both.  Again it's uncommon, but you can also scan channels/memories or VFO scan on either or both, and each Rx can be in either selection mode.

Pretty much, those two features where desired, would normally need two separate radios to achieve that flexibility of scanning without one Rx mode being constrained by the other.

In a way, it's up there for usefulness on VHF/UHF as a WB'ed Rx scanner and Tx/Rx in a similar way to how the Si4xxx radios are handy HF tools and cute little Rx's.

The K is not a full blown scanner as such, so don't expect super scan rates etc - but you will find where it lacks the crudeness inherent to scanner Rx design (super wide band where selectivity is a price you forgoe for the super wide band Rx and scan rate) where it's more a fast ( by scan rates on Tx Rx equipment typically) scan Tx/Rx where it's scan mode is more flexible by TxRx standards.

I could easily do a back to back with some seriously usually unobtainable kit which are pretty much the dogs dangly bits of the gen cov scanner world, but I'm skipping it because whilst it would make a good shot at excellence, it is what it is and a lot better than you'd expect at the price, so I'm letting it exist on it's merits rather than expect it live up to 5-6 £ figure radio standards.