First Radio You Owned That Inspired A Lifelong Interest In The Hobby?

[phask]

I think I had one of everything posted so far, or very similar. Had a couple of the old, tall, wooden SW-AM , Crosley or something.

One if the most memorable - a BC348-(M). If you know, you know. With 300+ feet of long wire.

 

[Blackswan73]

I think I had one of everything posted so far, or very similar. Had a couple of the old, tall, wooden SW-AM , Crosley or something.

One if the most memorable - a BC348-(M). If you know, you know. With 300+ feet of long wire.

A home brew crystal set my father helped me build in 1959 for a Cub Scout merit badge. It was built on a piece of plywood and used a Philmoore crystal with a cat whisker slid onto a small bell crank also from Philmoore. I wound the coil myself on an oatmeal can. I had just turned nine two months earlier. That got me interested in radio. Soon it wasn’t good enough so a year later I built a 2 transistor radio in a plastic box. I spent many a night listening to that “devil music” on WABC out of New York. Soon that wasn’t good enough……
B.S.

 

[YoShep69]

52 years ago. That big box mounted behind the passenger seat. Desk Sgt could never figure out why it took us so long to answer radio calls. IIRC, that thing would tune 30-75 mhz.

 

[spongella]

Lots of great replies, thanks.

 

[vavolff]

For me its a Radio Shack 20 channel scanner with a fake wooden top (The model escapes me right now, along with a Radio Shack portable shortwave. It was all downhill there lol

 

[hunterca]

Mine was the Uniden Bearcat BC296D with p25 digital card.

 

[zob-slantzero]

For me its a Radio Shack 20 channel scanner with a fake wooden top (The model escapes me right now, along with a Radio Shack portable shortwave. It was all downhill there lol

Would it be a PRO-2023?
Just pulled mine off of the shelf under my desk. It still has the sticker on it that says "Simulated Walnut Grain Finish".
A $3 special that I stumbled on a few years ago.

 

[Swipesy]

1954 I had a single crystal mounted on a piece of wood with an ear piece and a strand of wire to use for an antenna that connected to the window lock that was made for me by a local radio news reporter that allowed me to hear my dad going on fire calls. As I recall it was tuned to 39.xxx

 

[bkantor]

This is easy to answer for me. The Zenith my Great Uncle gave me when I was 6.

View attachment 153717

Same here - same radio given to me by my Grandfather - he was awarded the radio from the Wonder Bread company (forgot the corporate name) for being a 50 year employee. I still have it, but have not fired it up recently. I now have more radios than I care to admit to (including a few other Transoceanics I picked up over the years)

 

[WX4JCW]

Uniden Bearcat 142XL saved up for it, I worked at a store called Service Merchandise in Orlando as a teen in the late 80's

 

[GadgetGeek]

For me it started with a little 9 volt transistor radio I got back in the 70's from my mother.

 

[pb_lonny]

RadioShack / Realistic Pro-25 (newer), Handheld HF/VHF/UHF Scanner / receiver | RigReference.com

RX-range: 66-88 / 108-137 / 137-174 / 406-512 / 806-956 MHz (UK version) 29-54 / 108-137 / 137-174 / 406-512 / 806-956 MHz (US version), TX-range: -, Handheld model, Manufactured between 19xx and 19xx

rigreference.com

My first and it really got me hooked

 

[mike3997]

Sometime in our lives we acquired our first radio which was the catalyst for a lifelong interest in the hobby. Maybe it was a cheap imported two-transistor radio from the early '60s, or one of those shirt pocket crystal radios advertised in the back of a Popular Mechanics magazine. Perhaps it was a hand-me-down boat anchor from a friend or relative, or a World War 2 surplus item. It could’ve been a kit like those made by Remco toys or Radio Shack. Or possibly in the CB era of the 70's when we called each other "Good Buddy" that inspired you to purchase a CB radio which opened up a new world of transmitting. Maybe it was your first crystal controlled scanner, whatever. Would be very interesting to see how many of us remember our first inspirational radio. As for me, it was a crystal radio shaped like a rocket circa late 50's and was hearing the voice of announcer Jack Sterling on WCBS in NYC that got me hooked. Thanks for your comments.

Holy cow, exactly the same for me. That little

crystal radio shaped like a rocket grounded to an old hot water radiator. Believe I was 8 or 9. Station was WTRC. Like you the fever has never left me !!

 

[vavolff]

Would it be a PRO-2023?
Just pulled mine off of the shelf under my desk. It still has the sticker on it that says "Simulated Walnut Grain Finish".
A $3 special that I stumbled on a few years ago.

I believe you are correct! A really nice VHF/UHF beginner, I graduated to the Uniden 855LXT (?) a bit later.

 

[Mogley]

Motorola Radius GP300 and the Uniden BC-80XLT

 

[Omega-TI]

For me it was my first radio kit...

 

[lenk911]

Before we had a television in the early 1950's, we had a Montgomery Wards table top AM broadcast radio. It tuned up to 2 MHZ and above 1600 KHz I listened to police calls at night from across North America.

When I was 16, I bought a WWII army surplus tank radio, a BC-683 for about 10 bucks. With 10 pushbutton channels, it tuned 30-40 MHZ FM. Found I could tweak the oscillator and the front end to receive 35-45 MHZ and hear our sheriff and fire departments on 39 and the MN and WI highway patrols on 42 MHZ.

 

[fasteddy64]

I built this in about 1976.
I have been a radio nut ever since.

Ed
KG5UN
WSAB-921

 

[Omega-TI]

I built this in about 1976.
I have been a radio nut ever since.

Ed
KG5UN
WSAB-921

I love your post! P-Box kits were the greatest. In fact there is a guy selling "reproduction kits" based on this design on Ebay.

<< LINK HERE >>

Oh, and according to the << CPI Inflation Calculator >> his price is about the same in 1976 dollars as the $7.95 back then.

 

[Brales60]

As far as scanners go, my dad had crystal Radio Shack something to hear the police that I thought was slick forever ago. Had a small transistor as a kid and believe we built a Heath Kit radio way back. My wife has always been interested in police/fire calls, hence the new 996 and SDS200 and my join date not very long ago. She's actually the one that suggested we get a scanner, and we both enjoy them. I'll get a little more into when I retire this June when I have more time. I'm 65.