Old Newbie

[KK6KLU]

About 20 years ago I bought a RS Pro-XX scanner while I was still in the Navy. Since then I have had 4 or 5 RS handhelds and base models and have used them on and off. I recently bought 2 of the Baofeng HT's and will be getting my Tech license around the 1st of March.

The other day I picked up the Uniden (my first non-RS scanner) BC346XT and even though it is an older model (2009) I am amazed at everything that it can do.

Anyway, things have changed a bit with scanning and I look forward to learning from the experts on this forum.

Thanks in advance!

-Bill

 

[bob550]

Welcome to the RR Forums! I can certainly identify with you. Until I bought a Uniden BCD996xt last November, my "newest" scanner was probably 14 years old (Pro-93). You're certainly correct in saying that "things have changed a bit". You will find a wealth of helpful information on this website, and it makes your life much easier. I also recommend you consider a paying membership. You'll be able to download all the frequencies you can eat and upload to your 346xt using one of the available software programs such as FreeScan. Good luck!

 

[KK6KLU]

I am using freescan. Wish they would have had it back in the day. I still find myself using a custom freq search over a short bandwidth and letting it run 5-10 minutes to see if there is any activity. Then I move up a few MHz and and try again. These days, though, instead of writing the freq down, looking it up in the old Radio Shack frequency guide, then programming it in, I just throw into freescan, ensure that the tones are good and download it into the scanner. Makes organization of the freqs much easier.

Anyway, thanks for the welcome and I will consider the full membership.

-Bill

 

[bob550]

Back in the "old days", I'd have a typewritten frequency list with alpha tags corresponding to whatever I had programmed into my primary scanner. Whenever the scanner stopped on an unfamiliar frequency, I'd have to consult the list to find out what I was listening to. I really don't miss those days! Anyway, I see you're a now premium subscriber. That's what I meant by "paying membership". You've made the right choice there. FreeScan is a nice program. I tried the others on a trial basis, but eventually uninstalled them and stayed with FreeScan.

 

[KK6KLU]

You HAVE been scanning for a while! I always had one of the Radio Shack books to cross ref things.

 

[bob550]

You HAVE been scanning for a while! I always had one of the Radio Shack books to cross ref things.

Those Police Call reference books had been published for many years until the author, I believe his name was Gene Hughes, retired. I actually did use those in their day. But I'd maintain my own reference listings by bank and channel of whatever I had in my scanner. I've been listening steadily over the past 30 years, and remember the excitement whenever the new version of the book was available.

 

[KK6KLU]

Those Police Call reference books had been published for many years until the author, I believe his name was Gene Hughes, retired. I actually did use those in their day. But I'd maintain my own reference listings by bank and channel of whatever I had in my scanner. I've been listening steadily over the past 30 years, and remember the excitement whenever the new version of the book was available.

YES!!! The anticipation! Stopping by RS at the beginning of the year asking when the next volume was coming out! I too, would write down what I had in my banks then organize the frequencies low to high and reload them. I don't know if it was any faster, but it was something to do and it kept my obsessive nature in check.

I started scanning in '93. I was in Norfolk, VA at Navy instructor school (USN '84-'04) and went to RS and got myself a hand held scanner prior to driving to the west coast. At first it was a practical decision to listen and determine where accidents or bad weather was occurring. After listening for a while, I was totally hooked!

Eventually, I'll have to get a digital scanner, but that's in the future.

 

[NHdave]

Those Police Call reference books had been published for many years until the author, I believe his name was Gene Hughes, retired. I actually did use those in their day. But I'd maintain my own reference listings by bank and channel of whatever I had in my scanner. I've been listening steadily over the past 30 years, and remember the excitement whenever the new version of the book was available.

Back when I got started scanning in the 80's I used to sit for hours with the latest Police Call, looking for new/interesting stuff, then either go out and buy new crystals, or eventually load up my 10 channel Realistic programmable, good stuff