Drafin
Member
A friend of mine and I were having a discussion about the cost of video game systems and he had a great point that applies to the scanning hobby as well so I thought I would adapt it and share.
In North Carolina, Viper is in a lot of areas of the state (if not all) as well as other types of systems that take the latest , greatest scanners. I know that there are still services (commercial, milair, etc.) that you can still monitor with an analog scanner but to monitor public safety you pretty much need a digital scanner in most cases.
Scanners that will allow you to monitor public safety (including most of Viper) in North Carolina cost in the neighborhood of $500. That's a lot of money. But is it really? Most people will gladly pay $10 for a ticket to go to the movies. Get drinks and popcorn and bring a date/spouse and you are in the $50 dollar range for an hour and a half of entertainment. Now if you calculate that out for the cost of 10 movies (15 hours of entertainment) you can buy that spiffy new digital scanner. Now let's say you only buy the ticket to the movies for you and a date, skipping the refreshments, that's still $20 bucks. Even at that price you can buy that scanner for less than 40 hours of entertainment in a movie theater.
How many hours in a couple of weeks do you actually listen to the scanner? I know mine is ALWAYS on. I would venture a guess that I have never owned a scanner that had less that 1000 hours on it. I hate to figure up how much time my current lineup of scanners has on it.
Now I know it's all a matter of perspective. Yes, I understand that $500 is still a lot of money but really the entertainment value and staying informed can actually be justified. Well in my mind anyway.
Draf
In North Carolina, Viper is in a lot of areas of the state (if not all) as well as other types of systems that take the latest , greatest scanners. I know that there are still services (commercial, milair, etc.) that you can still monitor with an analog scanner but to monitor public safety you pretty much need a digital scanner in most cases.
Scanners that will allow you to monitor public safety (including most of Viper) in North Carolina cost in the neighborhood of $500. That's a lot of money. But is it really? Most people will gladly pay $10 for a ticket to go to the movies. Get drinks and popcorn and bring a date/spouse and you are in the $50 dollar range for an hour and a half of entertainment. Now if you calculate that out for the cost of 10 movies (15 hours of entertainment) you can buy that spiffy new digital scanner. Now let's say you only buy the ticket to the movies for you and a date, skipping the refreshments, that's still $20 bucks. Even at that price you can buy that scanner for less than 40 hours of entertainment in a movie theater.
How many hours in a couple of weeks do you actually listen to the scanner? I know mine is ALWAYS on. I would venture a guess that I have never owned a scanner that had less that 1000 hours on it. I hate to figure up how much time my current lineup of scanners has on it.
Now I know it's all a matter of perspective. Yes, I understand that $500 is still a lot of money but really the entertainment value and staying informed can actually be justified. Well in my mind anyway.
Draf