The Original Radio Reference

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Buttabean

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In the process of moving due to the death of my 90yo Dad I find this lurking in a box in a storage room and then the nostalgia of when I was 19 and owned a Realistic Pro2030 scanner came to mind. It would recv analog cellphones (It was bought before the cell/cordless band blocks) and cordless phones but not trunked systems. This book was the original Radio Reference database. #PoliceCall

NOTE: I've been given a old Radio shack scanner triple trunking by my father-in-law and will upload a pic of it later.
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In the process of moving due to the death of my 90yo Dad I find this lurking in a box in a storage room and then the nostalgia of when I was 19 and owned a Realistic Pro2030 scanner came to mind. It would recv analog cellphones (It was bought before the cell/cordless band blocks) and cordless phones but not trunked systems. This book was the original Radio Reference database. #PoliceCall

NOTE: I've been given a old Radio shack scanner triple trunking by my father-in-law and will upload a pic of it later.
attachment.php

i use to help them with frequencys was nice to see my name in the back on who helped with the book
 

W8RMH

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I remember buying these at Radio Shack, to learn which crystals to buy up to programming the new programmable scanners. I learned a lot about scanning from them. Later versions included a CD ROM.

You can find them on eBay. Anyone know when they quit making them?
 
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i use to help them with frequencys was nice to see my name in the back on who helped with the book

Did the same thing with the frequencies. Remember trying to beat the deadline in time for the final publication before it was sent off to the printing press. Those were the good ole days of scanning and trying to help others get updated information.
 

UPMan

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Gene Costin (aka Gene Hughes) Police Call sold more scanners than Uniden or RadioShack. But, radio system information is too dynamic to be handled by a print publication that is published once per year. The last issues were published in 2005.


Gene passed away in 2008.
 

KD4YGG

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My first copy was the 1993 edition. I originally got into scanning with a 10-channel Radio Shack portable simply to listen in on railroad communications when out train watching/photographing.

I bought Police Call and programmed in my local fire, EMS, and Sheriff frequencies - and I soon upgraded to a 200 channel scanner. Needless to say, I’ve been hooked on the hobby ever since.
 

rk911

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before Police Call or maybe simultaneous to it there was CRB Research and their various ‘lists’. aviation, marine, railroads, eyc. I may still have a few of those hiding in a desk drawer sonewhere. I seem to recall Tom Kneitel being involved with CRB.
 

iMONITOR

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Has anyone stopped to think what would happen to our hobby, and our scanners if Radio Reference suddenly ceased to exist? Where else could we reference all the necessary data to program our scanners? All these newer scanners that access RR to download and store the complete database would not be able to obtain updates! How would we gather intelligence and information regarding changes/updates, etc.

Something we should all keep in mind when deciding to pay or not to pay for a subscription for RR's website/database. The cost of a premium membership is very reasonable, even if you don't need, or use the database. There is a wealth of information from intelligent, experienced people from all walks of life available to us all.

Thank you Lindsay for all your hard work and dedicaton!
 

jaspence

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Good point, iMONITOR. I remember a service called CRB that sold a frequency list for your area for $3 or $4. It was a single mimeograph page, and nowhere near the usefulness of the Police Call, I have a Realistic Pro-4 (148-174 MHz), my first scanner, and it still works.
 

bobmich52

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@ work on vampire *♂️ shift & got to reading this

I well remember the police call books from the early 70’s

It’s lost to moving etc, but I had a book similar to police call that was government specific, all agencies

What was the name of it??
 

ladn

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@ work on vampire *♂️ shift & got to reading this

I well remember the police call books from the early 70’s

It’s lost to moving etc, but I had a book similar to police call that was government specific, all agencies

What was the name of it??

Probably "The TOP SECRET Registry of US Government Frequencies" by Tom Knetiel (CRB Research).
 

N4GIX

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I still have a copy of Police Call 1998 Vol. 4 near my desk. Well, I am a packrat when it comes to dead-tree books... ;)
 

eyes00only

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Found a 1999 Police Call (volume 8) and I'm sure there's more stashed around somewhere.

Monitoring Times was my favorite and I had a subscription to it for years.
 

sparker1962

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When I was going through my Dad's old stuff several years ago I came across my old Realistic Patrolman Pro scanner that my Dad and I used to listen to together when I was about 14.
It still has the old crystals inside!
 

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UPMan

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Eight channels, VHF only. Went for 149.99 + crystals ($40 for 8 crystals). Made by GRE.
 

elrod

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I used to have one of these also. Back in the day I had it mounted to one of those CB slide mounts and used it in the car and at home.
Wish I still had it.

Chuck
 
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