Age and years scanning poll

[llwade]

age 72 now, bought my first scanner back in 1969. was a Realistic 4 channel / xtl controlled for the car . joined FD after got back from VN and wanted to hear the calls while in the car. Pagers weren't available to us then. stuck a couple of antennas on the roof and bought a couple of tuneable receivers to play around with. Low band was used by county sheriff & State Police while city police were on the 155 thru 159 range. . Lived by the river and barge radio traffic was always heavy. stayed up many a weekend night tuning those dials. has always been a great hobby for me. Hope you too will enjoy

 

[CrabbyMilton]

Thanks.
I forgot about the whistles.

 

[oneadam12-va]

Age 53, started with a Realistic 4 channel Chrystal Scanner 1981...still have that radio...still works...monitor railroad traffic with it...

 

[trentbob]

Thanks.
I forgot about the whistles.

Before two-way radio cars we really had the original community policing. Today we have sectors but then they had a beat. 1 beat or area patrolled was up against another and they would check in on the call box as a routine or to call in an incident or arrest so as to summon a Paddy Wagon. I wasn't kidding about shooting first and asking questions later hahaha.

I'm 65 so of course I'm not stating this from my own experience LOL, but I'm a big history buff and remember being fascinated with it when I started the hobby in the sixties. We were lucky to have a set of encyclopedias I guess.

By the way the first Police radios were on the am broadcast band as we know it today and anybody could listen.

My apologies to the o p Darkness for going OT.

 

[pb_lonny]

37 and love the hobby...

 

[scannersnstuff]

I started monitoring around 1975 with a tuneable radio. I joined a rescue squad, and bought a Bearcat 4-6 handheld 6 channel scanner. I retired after 25 year's as a pst, with a police dept. At the height of my insanity, I listened to 8 scanner's, a 2-way radio and a fd pager. I now look forward to moving to Florida,and monitoring there. I will have a "mini Shack". I still admit, I am basically a Uniden fan boy. Perhaps, one of my greatest joy's of the hobby, was giving a buddy a ham radio. He got his ticket, and is now active. I will be pursuing my license, as well.

 

[radioman2001]

I had some old AM radios that actually listed the PD on the dial, some where around 2-3mhz?

Quote"
Before two-way radio cars we really had the original community policing.

My Grandfather was NYPD, and his foot post for 30 years (1920's to 1950's) was Fordham Rd and the Grand Concourse. There were very few RMP's or even cars back then so you stayed in your area. Like what has been posted before, he had his call box, whistle, night stick, lead sap, and wrist breaker handcuffs. I had a pair from him as a teenager, but don't know what happened to them. This type of handcuff as the name describes was a short piece of chain with each end having a "T" that fit into each other. Once on you could control the prisoner by just twisting the "T" to gain compliance.

If we are going to include other type of monitoring beside PS then I guess I could include SWL on my Lafayette receiver kit I got for my 9th birthday. Foolishly I tossed it right after getting married, along with a lot of other radio stuff.
I just looked at the post from 2006 about modded Pro-77 scanners. WOW thats some nice modding, basically he made it work like a Unimetrics with the 8 segement LED display. All I ever did was use the COR to light the channel lights as they were very distracting when driving, especially if you had 2 or 3 of them stacked in the car like I did.

 

[chill30240]

I'm 58 and have been listening since I was 15. A Radio Shack 4 channel crystal handheld scanner. Those were the days!

Was it this one?

 

[Bob1955]

Wow, do I remember this Radio Shack PRO-4.

 

[trentbob]

Yep it was a great radio and picked up very well. The proprietary rubber duck that plugged into the antenna Jack was a problem but I always used the black coated wire that you could plug into the antenna Jack and hang out of your pants pocket. My hometown had a VHF High repeater system and this radio really fit the bill.

 

[Bob1955]

Yep it was a great radio and picked up very well. The proprietary rubber duck that plugged into the antenna Jack was a problem but I always used the black coated wire that you could plug into the antenna Jack and hang out of your pants pocket. My hometown had a VHF High repeater system and this radio really fit the bill.

There were so many good handheld scanners: Midland(Had colored LED's), RCA, Fanon Courier, Cobra, and Bearcat. The best bases were the Electra BC-210, BC-210XL, BC-250,BC-20/20, BC-300 and soon after that around 1985 or so, Electra Corporation out of Cumberland, IN sold the Bearcat name to Uniden Corporation Of America. Some of their first models were the Bearcat BC-210XLT, The BC-800XLT(first 800 MHz base scanner), BC-890XLT, BC-895XLT(first trunking scanner), BC-898T,BC-590XLT,BC-760XLT, BC-780, BC-785D(first digital base) and beyond.

 

[radioman2001]

I had one, and it's on the bottom of Long Island Sound after a boat dock turn over with me on it. I lost all my tools and the radio. The Marina made good on the tools but refused to pay for the scanner. It did work well, I was using it to test marine VHF radios at the time.

 

[trentbob]

There were so many good handheld scanners: Midland(Had colored LED's), RCA, Fanon Courier, Cobra, and Bearcat. The best bases were the Electra BC-210, BC-210XL, BC-250,BC-20/20, BC-300 and soon after that around 1985 or so, Electra Corporation out of Cumberland, IN sold the Bearcat name to Uniden Corporation Of America. Some of their first models were the Bearcat BC-210XLT, The BC-800XLT(first 800 MHz base scanner), BC-890XLT, BC-895XLT(first trunking scanner), BC-898T,BC-590XLT,BC-760XLT, BC-780, BC-785D(first digital base) and beyond.

I had one, and it's on the bottom of Long Island Sound after a boat dock turn over with me on it. I lost all my tools and the radio. The Marina made good on the tools but refused to pay for the scanner. It did work well, I was using it to test marine VHF radios at the time.

Bob I know every one of those scanners you quoted and owned most of them. The first 10 Channel BC 210 was the 1st keyboard entry programmable and I had two of them and still have one of them. The BC 800 XLT allowed you to hear New Jersey State Police but it didn't trunk track. I had the bc250d the first digital portable where you could remove the digital chip or not buy it at all if you wanted.

Radioman, my condolences on losing the Pro 4 in the sound even though it was a long time ago. I'm sure that radio worked great on the Suffolk County VHF High repeater system. What a good system that was in the 60s. After that system it just went downhill from there hahaha.

These are very good examples of why the hobby was so much fun then.

 

[TailGator911]

Somewhere in the Long Island Sound, there is a large-mouth bass listening to vhf marine traffic...

 

[ab5r]

I must confess to being 85 and been scanning for many moons. I notice from the poll that (as of today) the majority have been middle-aged and years of scanning. With that fact in mind, I wonder how many of these "older" ops have the same problem that I have with keeping up with modern technologies and terms? I am constantly Googling or RadioReferencing terms! Especially, these SDR terms befuddle me. Thanks for the opportunity to VENT. Regards to the Group.
Jerry AB5R

 

[scannersnstuff]

There is something fishy about that.

 

[scannersnstuff]

Somewhere in the Long Island Sound, there is a large-mouth bass listening to vhf marine traffic...

There is something fishy about that.

 

[tglendye]

It's interesting the overwhelming majority of us have been into scanning for greater than 30 years. I am 46 and got my first scanner (Bearcat Electra III) when I was 12 for Christmas.

 

[TailGator911]

Congrats to you, Jerry AB5R! I think you've won the seniority door prize! Yes, the digital learning curve is a hard one to negotiate, but determination and patience proved to be (for me) the best formula. So much to digest when you grew up on analog systems and crystal scanners. I have adapted well tho, I must say, and I actually enjoy the challenges of new digital technology and overcoming that learning curve. Just another dynamic aspect of this great hobby. Nice to know both ends of the spectrum

JD
kf4anc

 

[Bob1955]

Somewhere in the Long Island Sound, there is a large-mouth bass listening to vhf marine traffic...

OMG!