Buying used scanners, am I missing the Federal ban or something

[bailagent67]

Am I missing a massive Federal ban on the purchase of police scanners??

Reason why I'm asking is- I've been searching for about 4 days in my area on Marketplace.

2 scenarios pop.up.

1) Nobody has one was within 200 miles of me.
2) They have them priced so high, I might as well spring another $30 and get a new one. Makes no sense.

One kid had a Whistler hand held ( analog!) For $200. He took his ad down after I sent him a message correcting his price.

I'm not trying to be negative,but, come on.

Maybe it's just me

 

[doctordialtone]

Maybe it's just me

You're experiencing the basic effects of Supply Chain disruption and Supply & Demand.

Think "Toilet Paper"

If there are fewer NEW scanners available, there will also be fewer USED scanners to hand down.

 

[Hit_Factor]

There is a shortage of electronic components, add a pandemic. It becomes a sellers market.

That kid probably sold his scanner.

I've got a G5 VHF, DMR for sale. Already programmed for MPSCS.

 

[iMONITOR]

With all the craziness going on in the world today, politics, COVID, riots, extreme weather, ETC, more and more people are realizing the benefit of having a scanner and improving their awareness and safety. In other words, supply and demand.

 

[NC1]

Maybe I should get my Realistic Pro-2001 out of the closet and put it up for sale.
Possibly start the bidding at $300?

 

[marksmith]

My plumber showed up to do some work. Noted my scanners running and said he has some too.

$200 for a used trunking p25 scanner is probably not that bad of a price.

You can find tons of used scanners on ebay. I bought a couple hp2 and 325 uniden scanners at below new price during 2020. All were great buys since the last thing I needed was another scanner, so all my bids were real lowballs that came through. One even had upgrades in it. All were $200 or more though.

If you think you can get a scanner other than an old 20 Channel vhf job for cheap then you are kidding yourself.

 

[wtp]

a pro 2001 in a closet ???
mine is on the top of my desk and is on every day !
great for the forestry here and space station monitoring.
it does not decode packet, but it is nice to hear it.
also some hospital security and maintenance that gave me the idea to never take an elevator in one again !!

 

[spacellamaman]

A federal ban. so thats whats going on...

I figured there had to be some reason private sellers with used gear always want more than retail value, it really IS illegal to offer a good deal... stupid guberment....

(actually thats all bogus, a month ago i got five scanners from a gentleman on here, granted all analog, for $100 in the classifieds. coulda gotten like 12 for $200 but i really didn't want any that were less than 1000 channel capacity etc. i screwed around so long in going thru with it i was shocked no one else beat me to it.)

 

[ecps92]

Put it back into service, MilAir or Railroad/Marine
my Pro-2004/05/06 are my go to for MilAir and VHF Air [FBI/DEA A/C all the time on the Company channels]

Maybe I should get my Realistic Pro-2001 out of the closet and put it up for sale.
Possibly start the bidding at $300?

 

[NC1]

Put it back into service, MilAir or Railroad/Marine
my Pro-2004/05/06 are my go to for MilAir and VHF Air [FBI/DEA A/C all the time on the Company channels]

I took the 2001 off the desk when I was rearranging it to make space for my new Yaesu FTdx-3000, along with a laptop and SDR-RSP1A that all got interconnected. I'll probably make some space off to the side for monitoring some of the local 2m and 440 repeaters and just let it play all day. It realy shouldn't be in the closet after I restored it and changed the antenna jacks over to BNC for convenience.

 

[ofd8001]

Gasoline, lumber, food - lot of other stuff costs more.

 

[TailGator911]

I still use my 2006 for milair monitoring, mostly here @ Wright-Patterson AFB and beyond, hooked up via a Stridsberg multi-coupler to a wideband discone. Still pulling in the signal very well. It's a classic.

 

[GlobalNorth]

If you are only looking at Marketplace, you are essentially shopping where everyone knows what the prices are, new and used, and everyone is an enthusiast that values their gear the most. If you go elsewhere, yes you have to sort through the chaff of crystal scanners and broken Bearcat 300s, but with that comes someone looking for max exposure to get rid of stuff they no longer want in order to pay bills, car payments, rent, etc.

If you know you want a Bearcat Four-Six in near perfect condition and are willing to pay for it because of sentimental value, to complete a collection, or you must have something today, then the marketplace is the place to shop.

 

[a417]

If you are only looking at Marketplace, you are essentially shopping where everyone knows what the prices are, new and used, and everyone is an enthusiast that values their gear the most. If you go elsewhere, yes you have to sort through the chaff of crystal scanners and broken Bearcat 300s, but with that comes someone looking for max exposure to get rid of stuff they no longer want in order to pay bills, car payments, rent, etc.

If you know you want a Bearcat Four-Six in near perfect condition and are willing to pay for it because of sentimental value, to complete a collection, or you must have something today, then the marketplace is the place to shop.

"No LoWbAlLs, I kNoW wHaT i HaVe"

 

[zob-slantzero]

Picked up a PRO-2004 last Monday for $21.62, included tax. It is in pretty good shape other than the volume control but the rest works.

 

[n1das]

WHAT federal ban? Anybody have a link to a recent Executive Order or a bill in Congress about it coming up for a vote soon?

The "federal ban" from the early 1990s is the cell phone frequency censorship under the ILLUSION of privacy protection for uninformed analog cell phone users to help the cell phone industry perpetuate their commercially serving lies about privacy. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA '86) and the cell phone frequency censorship set dangerous and grave legal precedents that say banning radio receivers and regulating what people may listen to on the public airwaves based soley on the communication's contents is OK in a free society. Be sure to only monitor communications that are "readily accessible to the public" according to ECPA'86. I for one only monitor radio communications that are readily accessible to the public as a direct result of physical laws at work. LOL, don't listen to anything that I wouldn't listen to.

 

[dlwtrunked]

[

WHAT federal ban? Anybody have a link to a recent Executive Order or a bill in Congress about it coming up for a vote soon?
...

There is no such proposed order, bill, or law. Do not let this become a rumor. The original poster was only pondering why he could not find one to buy. The reason being simply not much demand and few marketers along with supply issues.

 

[n1das]

There is no such proposed order, bill, or law. Do not let this become a rumor. The original poster was only pondering why he could not find one to buy. The reason being simply not much demand and few marketers along with supply issues.

Agree 100% and is precisely why I asked the question to raise awareness. I know the OP was pondering why he couldn't find one to buy. There is a ton of misinformation out there. I've had plenty of people over my 44 years of scanning try to tell me scanners are "illegal" LOL.

 

[ecps92]

or Trunking will be the end to our monitoring

Agree 100% and is precisely why I asked the question to raise awareness. I know the OP was pondering why he couldn't find one to buy. There is a ton of misinformation out there. I've had plenty of people over my 44 years of scanning try to tell me scanners are "illegal" LOL.

 

[iMONITOR]

Am I missing a massive Federal ban on the purchase of police scanners??

Reason why I'm asking is- I've been searching for about 4 days in my area on Marketplace.

2 scenarios pop.up.

1) Nobody has one was within 200 miles of me.
2) They have them priced so high, I might as well spring another $30 and get a new one. Makes no sense.

One kid had a Whistler hand held ( analog!) For $200. He took his ad down after I sent him a message correcting his price.

I'm not trying to be negative,but, come on.

Maybe it's just me

No it's not just you, I feel your pain! I think I understand your first sentence. I think you're being sarcastic out of frustration and not that you really believe there is a federal ban on scanners.

I'd say about 75% of the used scanners for sale here on RR are overpriced. In fact many of them are priced substantially more than you can buy new for. I think a lot of the sellers may have overpaid when they bought them. You really need to do your home work to find a good price.