Do you think you've already purchased... YOUR LAST SCANNER?

[W8WCA]

Well in the last 3 months I bought a New Icom R6 and a used (but great condition) Icom R30

I guess I am hooked - not it does take more work now days to find active stuff of interest (Heck even local Ham repeaters are mighty quiet)

 

[eaf1956]

Depends...

Last Scanner YES, might need Depends some day....

 

[bearcatrp]

Am hoping Icom would build a dedicated HF handheld like the R15 with that nice screen. Would buy that in a heart beat. Bet some of you that say no more scanners/receivers would jump on that.

 

[soberbyker]

So @soberbyker unfortunately your Pro-197 won't handle Delco's new system. In the event of a Phase-II capable system with FDMA (mode "D" in the RRDB) talkgroups like Philly's is then you may have a chance but only if you were within range of one tower and no others

Ok, we shall see I guess. I am just a few blocks from a tower in Twin Oaks,

 

[KD9KSO]

I don't think I've bought my last, but it might be awhile until I see something I really want.

I don't live in an area where there is any trunking other than the local electric co-op and I'm not really interested in listening to that. There is no digital around here either.

The new IC R15 looked interesting but the frequency coverage is limited. The BC125AT fills the role that the R15 would be used for, and my IC R20, AR8200, and Kenwood TH-D74 takes up the slack.

Until this area converts to trunked and digital systems, those three provide plenty of coverage for the area in which I live.

 

[ctiller]

probably not, but it is annoying what's going on. I mainly listen to public service and ATC. As you said, encryption is robbing us of most of that and ATC is going digital for a lot as well. CPDLC is taking over a lot of the enroute communication. For right now it's just testing mostly and mostly frequency changes, but I have gotten more clearances lately using CPDLC. It will obviously take longer for smaller aircraft to get this technology, but maybe in 10-15 years it could be mostly digital for everything.

 

[spongella]

I'm 72 and odds are my current scanner was my last. Blame it on genes and high cholesterol hihi.

 

[oregontreehugger]

Honest answer? Most likely "yes," at least for a standalone scanner.

Longer answer -- comms. have changed drastically & gotten only more and more complicated over the years, with so much being taken over by digital modes, encryption, and cell phones/computers/messaging. Gone are the days of hobbyists just firing up the scanner and listening to whatever they want. Going forward it's probably going to be SDRs and dedicated receivers for specific, targeted things to monitor. (Though that new Icom R15 is tempting...)

But will I be giving up scanning the airwaves? No way!

 

[StoliRaz]

Am I done scanning? Even though the writing is on the wall, I'll never quit. However I'm likely done buying analog only scanners. I have (2) 15X, (2) 346XT, (2) PSR-400, a PRO-433 and a banged up 246T so I think I'm good. I'm itching for a 996P2 next. Might sell the 400s and 433 to make room and help pay for part of it. If things do go E around me I'll always have airband. The 15x and 346xt are excellent receivers for that. Still tons of analog around me thankfully

 

[bearcatrp]

Just a note folks about the big E. When something big happens and police ask for help from outside agencies, sometimes they use analog patches. Not everyone is up to date with the new expensive radios. Probably change once everyone has those new radios. When george floyd riots was going on in twin cities, since Minneapolis has been encrypted before that, they used unencrypted frequencies to talk to outside agencies helping them. Heck, there system can go down out of the blue and have to switch to analog. You never know when it happens so I keep scanning P25. Unless my P25 radios die, I won't be getting anything new for now. Am pretty set with what I have.

 

[jmp883]

It's been a while since I bought a scanner, new or used. The last new one was a BCT-15 and the last used ones were a pair of BC-780's. Sadly I have none of them now. The only scanner left in my shack is an HP-1. I live in northern NJ, just outside of NYC. Even with encryption taking over many services I still feel there will always be plenty of interesting things to listen to. I have not bought my last scanner yet.

 

[Blackswan73]

My latest scanner is my Bluetail Nano. Just before purchasing that, I dropped $700 on a new SDS200. After I got the Bluetail, I sold the 3 month old SDS, and bought my Drake. I am happy with the Bluetail and have no plans to purchase another scanner, or any other radio. I do have my eye on another guitar though. 😄

B.S.

 

[buddrousa]

Not trying to derail this thread but has the Bluetail Receivers been upgraded to work with DMR and NXDN?
Thanks Buddro

 

[Blackswan73]

Not trying to derail this thread but has the Bluetail Receivers been upgraded to work with DMR and NXDN?
Thanks Buddro

The Nano receives DMR, but not NXDN, but for less than $300, for a stand alone scanner that works well with simulcast, it can’t be beat.

B.S.

 

[Solidjake]

Probably not for me but it will be a while before I get another scanner. Using my Unication for NJSP on the NJICS and it works great for me. I will probably get a newer Uniden model down the line for aviation/ham radio/etc.

 

[Akuriko]

did I buy my last scanner, The simple answer, hell no, I plan to buy them to add to the shack till they turn off all the channels or make the scanner completely a paper weight.

 

[Unitrunker2]

My last two scanner purchases were the HP-1E and the PSR-800 - more than dozen years ago. Everything is SDR here.

 

[kmartin]

It depends, if for some reason in the future a law is passed banning the use of encryption on police dispatch channels,fat chance, then YES I would probably by another in the future, however, because of the cost of scanners now a days I can't see me purchasing one plus the fact that E = a problem that probably won't go away and will probably be added to all law enforcement channels eventually. 😢

 

[ind224]

Yes. No. Maybe. I was thinking getting scammed trying to buy a scanner might be more fun than actually buying a scanner. Wouldn't have to worry about encryption, simulcast issues or some Karen pointing and saying "That's illegal."

 

[TAC4]

As long as Rail and Marine stay analog in my area (industrial city) I will buy vintage direct entry scanners till the cows come home.
I restore them and they are cheap af.

I see my local scanner community has given up on scanners as a hobby due to EMS encryption but some listeners still hang on to
the hobby by a thread by logging just the asset number or unit
number of the EMS vehicle, that is sad (desperation) lol