Do You Miss The Old Days ?

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dksac2

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The new digital, trunked systems, software programable radios and scanners are pretty neat, but I have a hard time keeping up sometimes and the cost has been a strain on me.

I miss the old days when you could scan most all transmissions, it was easier and to me more fun. No matter where you went, you could find the local transmissions and there was more to listen to.

One decent scanner, a good fixed home antenna and moble antenna and you were all set.

Nothing stays the same, I was born 25 years too late.

The days of the old tube type transmitters and receivers, much equipment made by the ham, those days are gone and I can't afford a good shack anymore.

I miss the old days.

My Best, John
 

K9WG

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No, I would not go back to crystal controlled equipment. While the old receivers have a certain charm synthesized is the only way to go. Also wouldn't think of going back to my old "peak and dip" HF rig.
 

Jim41

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I miss the good old days before full time encryption of all police transmissions.

Jim41
 

reedeb

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I've already figured that when everyone goes digital i will just shut it down and use it as a museum piece. I'll just keep my ham and get a CB and forget the scanner.. If ham all goes digital [I'm sure many will as they ALWAYS gotta go with the new techology] I'll be dumpin that as well.
 

haleve

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Damn Right I Do

All this newfangled "wave of the future" crap has made me shed VHF/UHF/800 MHz scanning altogether, I now do CB, SWL'ng & AM/FM dx'ng, later.
 

ind224

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I want my cake and to eat it too. I want to go back to vhf simplex AND have 1970 noise levels. Lose all the RF noise new fangled everything puts out.Telemetry, desktops, plasmas, modems, wi fi, cell,home automation, cars, blah blah blah.
I'm using three digital and two analog scanners at home to keep up.
Regarding encryption, I hate it as much anyone else but I'm surprised we are not locked down tighter than a drum since Patriot Act hysteria and they are not using cell type "unmonitorable" systems.
I do see it in the bleak future though. They spend more money than they have already....what is to stop them the next time someone suggests a boys band in River City? Buy used radios. That way a Pro106 is almost a 2 for 1. :cool:I know, I ruined the economy.:roll:
 

N9NRA

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I kinda miss the old days of scanning, i remember the first one i had, a crystal-controlled Uniden Bearcat 10 channel unit, best one i ever had (one of the best ones anyway :)), while i like the new equipment i now have for ham, scanning, and yes, the now-and-then CB listening, i do from time to time pine for the good ol` days of scanning and listening when everything was more-or-less out there to hear and ya didn`t have to worry about stuff like encryption. However, that said, also wouldn`t want to go back to those days, while using one of those "rock-bound" scanners was easy for listening, if ya wanted to put different freqs into it it could get expensive, i know as i did that when i took my unit to SW WI for my last year of highschool at Janesville WSVH (Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped), i don`t recall just what the price was now, but i do remember that it was a big number...and one BIG DRAIN on the wallet. N9NRA
 

Zaratsu

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I'm glad I didn't have to deal with the ear of crystal controlled radios, but the new era of digital trunking is a little much even for a techie type person like myself. It sucks the fun out of it sometimes.

IMO the sweet spot was the days between the advent of programmable scanners and trunking.

That said, the equipment of today is VERY sensitive and very customizable. I like it a lot when I don't have to program it or deal with encryption.
 

kb2vxa

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To me the good old days were between single conversion and crystals and cheap, crappy Part 15 devices and (ugh) encryption. One exception, computers have become MUCH quieter than the IBM System III I once knew that generated so much hash, mash and trash I couldn't get radio or TV reception anywhere on the property. Oh well, at least there were cassettes.

So, you don't like "peak and dip" ham transmitters? 12V is for wimps, REAL rigs can kill you.
 

CrabbyMilton

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I live in Milwaukee WI. and our police and fire departments are on OPEN SKY so I certianly miss that. I hate seeing a fire truck rour by and not knowing what's going on. However, all of the Milwaukee and Waukesha County departments are scannable so all is certainly not lost and there's no shortage of transmissions. Plus, there are countless things to hear outside of pubic safety. Just use your head and step back to a time when you just put in search and see what's there.
 

RobKB1FJR

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Out in MA things are pretty much analog still. Only 2 Police Departments Mansfield and Haverhill use ENC on the primary dispatcher frequency.

I miss the days before in car computer and proliferation of cell phones between 1995-1999 more chat on the radio less IMs on the MDTs.

As long as I can listen to my local fire department, the police are a bonus.
 
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stmills

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Things I don't miss- high powered pager transmitters in vhf and uhf blowing out the front end of most scanners and some radios in the downtown urban centers. Being in an area that has almost all PS on a digital 800 system, I miss the fun of hearing the skip of a distant vhf system bouncing in.
The gains I see in monitoring the digital 800 is that radio traffic that was onscene and would have been simplex is now repeated so firegrounds are much more monitorable, and the ability to run a data stream decoder on pc of the system brings a new game to monitoring.
 

Jimru

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My first experience monitoring was with a handheld Realistic Patrolman Mini. It covered the VHF high band and broadcast AM. I was a teenager in NYC's Upper West Side and during those days, in the late Sixties and early Seventies, all of the NYPD and FDNY was receivable on that radio and that neighborhood had PLENTY of action!

I have not had the same thrill since those days, really, even with all of the radios since then. I also at that time had been given as a gift, a Hallicrafters S-120 SW receiver and between those two radios, I was a kid in radio heaven!

Do I miss those days? Radio-wise, yes!

Regards,
Jim in NYC
 
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