also, another variant - it shouldn't be a "portable scanner", it should be a "portable radar".
scanner should not give you ability to detect walking/invisible enemies, ie, it should just increase your radar range. like it was before.
1) The scanner isn't really portable. Once activated it stays in one spot.
2) The scanner, by definition, should give you the ability to detect more easily. If it only increased radar range, it wouldn't be a scanner.
As you said, what you are putting on the table is a radar amplifier. However I don't think it should be an item.
If you set it down it either it works for everyone on the team or everyone in range. But if it's the latter then it won't help much as you have to be X distance within the range of the item to make use of it, and for something like a radar enhancer it severely limits its potential use. It also wouldn't make much sense to have an item sitting around somewhere that just increases radar range. Interference, yes. Scanning, yes. But if a mech's radar maximum range is 150 meters then how would an increase in radar range be justified? At least with a scanner you can say that it is a high quality specialized radar that sends info to ones radar. But sending data is not the same as increasing the capabilities beyond its normal maximum.
Something like this would be better suited as a secondary ability or an internal, although at this point it would be redundant.
Why do I keep arguing semantics with Nepa?
Is it because I... love him?