Xray
Member
- Joined
- May 24, 2005
- Messages
- 620
No doubt this has been asked before, but lets hear about your first scanner and memories/impressions associated with it, I'm sure most of us remember that.
Mine was the radio shack Pro 34, must have been the mid 1980's. I bought it on impulse while I was at a military airbase with alot of activity, some guy a ways away from me had a scanner and I knew I had to have one. Way before GPS or cell phones obviously, I managed to find a radio shack about a half hours drive away and bought the 34 on the spot, no questions asked.
Went back to the airfield, popped in the batteries, turned it on and just waited for the cool stream of radio comms ,,, And they didn't come. Checked to make sure the antenna was seated, I grew ever more frustrated especially when I heard that guy his comms were coming in loud and clear - My luck, I got a defective unit ! So I went tearing back to the radio shack went storming in I said hey, this thing don't work I want another one that works.
Guy said it doesn't work, whats wrong with it ? I said well, it doesn't receive anything. I went to the air base and it was silent while this other guys scanner was booming out.
They guy said hmm ok, are you sure you programmed the right frequencies into it ? I said huh, frequencies, what frequencies ? Up until then I had just assumed you turn it on and it receives whatever is floating through the air, so I just got my first scanner lesson, needless to say I felt like quite a dufuss. So I said well no, I didn't program any, I guess thats the problem, he said yep, thats it. So I asked how would I find out what frequencies they use, and I bought my first police call right then and there, which had freqs for that airbase.
So I went back and this time I had to read the manual to learn how to program freqs, unlike todays scanners that thing was simple to program and I punched in everything listed and low and behold, I heard my very first military comm on a radio I owned. Needless to say, I was over the moon and completely elevated, I was actually feeling giddy. My swooning joy however was knocked down a notch when that guy was still receiving things I wasn't, I figured dang, this book must not have all the frequencies [which was true, I don't think they covered UHF for air bases at that point].
So finally I walked over to talk to the guy, up until then I was determined to do it all myself without risking looking stupid. So I said hey, I just got this scanner and I noticed you are picking up alot more than me [he was picking up comms that I wasn't as I spoke] ,,, He said yeah, sounds that way, is your scanner milcom capable ? I said huh, whats milcom ? So much for my plan not to look stupid, so the guy explained it to me and said my scanner simply was not able to pick up the mil UHF stuff, which is what military aviation uses the most.
I was crushed, though still mildly happy I was receiving some comms, I felt like they were just one big tease, especially when you consider how cool "mil-com frequencies" even sounds just saying it, much less having a radio capable of receiving it. So next day I went on a quest looking for a handheld unit that could receive military uhf ,,, Not even sure how we did those things like that before the internet, I must have made some phone calls or something.
Well back then, there was one handheld unit, and one handheld unit only, that could pick up military uhf, must have been what that guy had, forgot to even ask him because I assumed radio shack would have one. But no, they didn't, it was the AOR 1000 that I needed, and as you might imagine, thats was my 2nd scanner even though I went into sticker shock when I saw the price, was over $1,000, I think it was more towards $1,500 - I ended up ordering one from Grove I think, maybe Universal [still around today]
So that was it, I was covered on milair so together with the police call book I started punching in public safety freqs in the 34 and 1000, and I quickly got hooked on that, had a Pro 2006 and a discone on my roof within a few months and here I am today with the SDS100. So primitive is the 34 compared to that but the lineage cannot be denied and they still have the same function and purpose. Things were obviously alot more open and interesting back then, so much more to hear, but I still think its kinda mystical how waves carrying sound and voices travel through the air, and all you need is a receiver [and frequencies !] to capture them.
Mine was the radio shack Pro 34, must have been the mid 1980's. I bought it on impulse while I was at a military airbase with alot of activity, some guy a ways away from me had a scanner and I knew I had to have one. Way before GPS or cell phones obviously, I managed to find a radio shack about a half hours drive away and bought the 34 on the spot, no questions asked.
Went back to the airfield, popped in the batteries, turned it on and just waited for the cool stream of radio comms ,,, And they didn't come. Checked to make sure the antenna was seated, I grew ever more frustrated especially when I heard that guy his comms were coming in loud and clear - My luck, I got a defective unit ! So I went tearing back to the radio shack went storming in I said hey, this thing don't work I want another one that works.
Guy said it doesn't work, whats wrong with it ? I said well, it doesn't receive anything. I went to the air base and it was silent while this other guys scanner was booming out.
They guy said hmm ok, are you sure you programmed the right frequencies into it ? I said huh, frequencies, what frequencies ? Up until then I had just assumed you turn it on and it receives whatever is floating through the air, so I just got my first scanner lesson, needless to say I felt like quite a dufuss. So I said well no, I didn't program any, I guess thats the problem, he said yep, thats it. So I asked how would I find out what frequencies they use, and I bought my first police call right then and there, which had freqs for that airbase.
So I went back and this time I had to read the manual to learn how to program freqs, unlike todays scanners that thing was simple to program and I punched in everything listed and low and behold, I heard my very first military comm on a radio I owned. Needless to say, I was over the moon and completely elevated, I was actually feeling giddy. My swooning joy however was knocked down a notch when that guy was still receiving things I wasn't, I figured dang, this book must not have all the frequencies [which was true, I don't think they covered UHF for air bases at that point].
So finally I walked over to talk to the guy, up until then I was determined to do it all myself without risking looking stupid. So I said hey, I just got this scanner and I noticed you are picking up alot more than me [he was picking up comms that I wasn't as I spoke] ,,, He said yeah, sounds that way, is your scanner milcom capable ? I said huh, whats milcom ? So much for my plan not to look stupid, so the guy explained it to me and said my scanner simply was not able to pick up the mil UHF stuff, which is what military aviation uses the most.
I was crushed, though still mildly happy I was receiving some comms, I felt like they were just one big tease, especially when you consider how cool "mil-com frequencies" even sounds just saying it, much less having a radio capable of receiving it. So next day I went on a quest looking for a handheld unit that could receive military uhf ,,, Not even sure how we did those things like that before the internet, I must have made some phone calls or something.
Well back then, there was one handheld unit, and one handheld unit only, that could pick up military uhf, must have been what that guy had, forgot to even ask him because I assumed radio shack would have one. But no, they didn't, it was the AOR 1000 that I needed, and as you might imagine, thats was my 2nd scanner even though I went into sticker shock when I saw the price, was over $1,000, I think it was more towards $1,500 - I ended up ordering one from Grove I think, maybe Universal [still around today]
So that was it, I was covered on milair so together with the police call book I started punching in public safety freqs in the 34 and 1000, and I quickly got hooked on that, had a Pro 2006 and a discone on my roof within a few months and here I am today with the SDS100. So primitive is the 34 compared to that but the lineage cannot be denied and they still have the same function and purpose. Things were obviously alot more open and interesting back then, so much more to hear, but I still think its kinda mystical how waves carrying sound and voices travel through the air, and all you need is a receiver [and frequencies !] to capture them.
