New Scanner Nightmare Tales

What is your worst scanner tale?

Did you drop an expensive scanner in the ocean?
Did you have fry by lightning?
Did you buy a new one just to see your municipality go encrypted the next day?
Other?

 

[pb_lonny]

Purchased the GME RX1300, two days later dropped it and broke the screen. I liked it so much, I purchased another one to replace it.

GME RX1300, Handheld VHF/UHF Scanner / receiver | RigReference.com

RX-range: 150 kHz - 1309 MHz, TX-range: -, Handheld model, Manufactured between 2010 and 201x

rigreference.com

 

[SA_tx_88116]

SDS100 got fried not too long ago thankfully it was able to be fixed quickly.

 

[buddrousa]

@SA_tx_88116
Would you care to tell us how this happened. It may help another user not have this happen.

 

[ecps92]

Let a friend (Boy Scouts) borrow my Regency HX1000

Came back to me with the entire wiring harness fried. Melted while charing
Seems the power at the camp was not grounded and they lost a lot of electronics that week

 

[kc2asb]

Some years ago, I left my Icom R-8500 connected to an outdoor antenna and went to work. During the course of the day, there was a bad thunderstorm and a nearby lightning strike. Well, that fried something, probably the PLL chip. It no longer received anything and the display would just flash. It's still sitting in a box today. It was something like a $1,500 radio when new, circa 1999.

 

[PACNWDude]

I had an old Realistic Pro-2006. A co-worker had someone ask if we had any old scanners to listen to radios.....and he called me. I told him to give this person the Radio Shack Pro-2032 off my desk.

The Realistic Pro-2006 was the one that was given to the co-worker...shipped across the country. When I got to the office and noticed the wrong one was sent out, well I found that the package had been lost in shipment.

Another time, I had an Anritsu Sitemaster test set, which I dopped......cracking the LCD screen, on December 31st. The last day of the year, got docked my entire year's bonus for that (~$4500 or so)......while a co-worker two states away dropped two HP8920 test sets over the gangway of two different ships.....guy was a wuss and used the railing to "carry" the test sets. He only received public ridicule. Sharing here, as we used the HP8920 as a sort of scanner (in the days of analog cellular).

 

[SA_tx_88116]

@SA_tx_88116
Would you care to tell us how this happened. It may help another user not have this happen.

There was a series of really strong storms that knocked out the power several times I happened to turn on the radio the day after and I couldn’t receive anything not even the weather channels I tried switching antennas but that didn’t help so I sent it to Uniden and they said the RF circuit had been fried. I’m not sure there was anything I could’ve done to prevent this.

 

[LectroJoe]

Some years ago broght a new-to-me Yaesu VR150 to an airshow. At the end of the day I set it on the trunk lid of my buddy's car while I packed my camera. Halfway home a search turned into a frantic search turned into resignation...
Eventually found a VR500 to replace it and have managed not to lose it.