Electra Bearcat III & Lolipop Mike, 1969?

[Ensnared]

Tonight, I was watching a movie named Jayne Mansfield's Car with Robert Duvall, Billy Bob Thorton, & John Hurt. This movie was set in 1969 Alabama. In one scene, I saw Mr. Duvall sitting at a desk with a Bearcat III along with what appears to be an Astatic Lollipop microphone. I'm not really interested when this microphone was first made since I bet it's likely been around for years; however, the Bearcat III is another matter.

When I looked it up, I found an owner's manual for the Bearcat III. On the front, it said 1976. I started questioning this because this was the year I bought my first Bearcat IV, the one with the silver trim, not black.

So, am I incorrect in assuming this radio was not on the American market in 1969?

 

[castlecain]

You're right about the Bearcat. Poor research by the movie director and crew. For a more definitive
idea about Regency and Bearcat scanner availability, look at Lafayette Electronics catalogs from
1970 to 1978 or so. First, there was the square enclosure Bearcat 1, then after that a modification to
add lock-out switches to that model, below the lamps After that, the more stylish Bearcat III which could be configured as either low/high, low/uhf, or high/uhf by using any two of the three available modules. After
that came the Bearcat IV which was a four band scanner. (not really, because they called the uhf segment
two bands). As an electronics distributor manager, I remember ordering
500 Bearcat IV scanners on one purchase order, splitting half off to another distributor before the invoice
was due to be paid, and selling the other 250 myself. The Electra rep was something to behold...colorful,
good at what he did, wore leisure suits and drove a gaudy Cadillac. Everyone wanted that product.
The IV was quite advanced, looked nice, worked
great as a home scanner, although we found the Regency Monitoradio TMR 8 channel series to outperform
them as a mobile scanner....lots less ignition noise, as a consequence, the TMR8 Lo/High scanner was the model to have as a mobile unit in rural NC during those days.

 

[Ensnared]

Very Loud

You're right about the Bearcat. Poor research by the movie director and crew. For a more definitive
idea about Regency and Bearcat scanner availability, look at Lafayette Electronics catalogs from
1970 to 1978 or so. First, there was the square enclosure Bearcat 1, then after that a modification to
add lock-out switches to that model, below the lamps After that, the more stylish Bearcat III which could be configured as either low/high, low/uhf, or high/uhf by using any two of the three available modules. After
that came the Bearcat IV which was a four band scanner. (not really, because they called the uhf segment
two bands). As an electronics distributor manager, I remember ordering
500 Bearcat IV scanners on one purchase order, splitting half off to another distributor before the invoice
was due to be paid, and selling the other 250 myself. The Electra rep was something to behold...colorful,
good at what he did, wore leisure suits and drove a gaudy Cadillac. Everyone wanted that product.
The IV was quite advanced, looked nice, worked
great as a home scanner, although we found the Regency Monitoradio TMR 8 channel series to outperform
them as a mobile scanner....lots less ignition noise, as a consequence, the TMR8 Lo/High scanner was the model to have as a mobile unit in rural NC during those days.

Thanks for the great response. Yes, I recall messing with those dip sticks, I think they were called, inside the body. I would have the local Bearcat distributor order me crystals. My what a long way things have come since 1976.

What I remember most is the incredible tone and volume of my Bearcat IV. It was indeed a workhorse. Later, I bought a Bearcat 100 I think it was 16 channel programmable, hand held & a Bearcat 250 which could have been used to warm my feet. It ran very hot. Eventually, it gave up the ghost. What a great company.

Polyester Leisure suits were an abomination. LOL.