Born in 1989, as I grew up, my dad was a Deputy for the Yakima County Sheriff's office starting in 1987 and up until his death in 2004. He hated anything work related once he came home but my grandparents had scanners to listen to him while he was at work. Everytime I'd go to grandma and grandpa's house I'd sit and listen to the scanner. I eventually got Grandma's old portable scanner. I forget the model but it had the aluminum case with the aluminum buttons. In 1997 I got my own Pro-79. I had to charge the batteries every night while I listened to it some more. I took that thing everywhere!
In 2000 as I had worn the numbers off of my 79, I got a Pro-95 for christmas. I remember being so excited because it had alpha tagging and I could program it on my computer. In 2005 my uncle (K5IN) gave me a BC895XLT which I had going in my room 24/7. I also joined the FD in 2005 and when the county went narrowband in 2008, I upgraded to a 2055. Since then I've been going up from there.
My current set-up is 2 2055's and a Kenwood TK-7180 & TK-8180 at my desk for listening. 1 2055 for Fire and the other for PD. 7180 for pulling in VHF and 8180 for pulling in UHF that my scanner can't pick up.
1 2055 mounted to my headboard (yes, screwed to the shelf) for monitoring County Main at night so I know when my pager is rudely going to wake me up and all fire during the day.
1 2055, 1 Uniden CB and a switch box in my truck for mobile operations.
And of course my portable collection: Kenwood TK-2180, TK-2170, TK-3170, Moneyrolla CP150, and a PRO-97 for scanning on the go and finding new things. 2180 & 2170 for the FD, 3170 for monitoring UHF on the go and CP150 for work.
I'll be starting Perry Technical Institute here in Yakima in January 2010 in the ITCS program. It's Information Technology and Communications Systems. Covers wireless internet, cellular telephone, general IT, fire alarm systems, multi-line telephone systems and of course 2-way radio and how it works. I'm very excited to finally go to school and learn something that I'm actually interested in. My goal is to eventually own my own business probably specializing in 2-way communications and compete with Day Wireless here in Yakima becaue their own techs say it can be easily done. Sounds somewhat far fetched when you stand back but over the past few months I've learned that owning your own business is the way to go!
So anyways, hopefully I'll come off my high on goofballs and go to sleep soon. I'm glad there are other guys out there that are interested in this hobby that my EX-girlfriend called a waste of time and money.
