bee
Member
What is your estimation, of the population in the USA, that has a scanner?
% of the population that has a scanner
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N_Jay
Guest
Between 0.1% and 1.0 %
ILMRadioMan
Member
That might even be alot....
The latest census info states 304,059,724. Assuming this number, .1% is 304,059.
Do you think there are 300,000 people using scanners? Eh, that might be reasonable.
But I cant imagine the 1%. 3,040,597.
I know you said "between" but still...wow.
I would venture to say its probably .2% - .3% of the pop.
pathalogical
Member
According to RR Forums Statistics, there are 279,834 members. Getting close to 300,000 but that includes Canada and Australia and some from other countries. I'm sure there are scanner users that just lurk here without becoming a registered member.
Considering the amount of volunteer firefighters, volunteer EMS, etc, in the U.S. I would venture to say the number exceeds 300,000. I am a volunteer fire lieutenant and I know that the majority of our members and members in surrounding communities use scanners in addition to their department pagers and radios. Now add the hobbyists to this total and again I believe the total will exceed 300,000.
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N_Jay
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You might be right, but I think you are way overestimating your confidence.
You are saying your wild guesses are accurate to 1/2 an octave.
I barely trust mine to one order of magnitude.
Damn you are good!:twisted::lol::twisted:
ILMRadioMan
Member
I have no doubt.
If you read what I said, I pointed out that the number is likely between .2% and .3%.
That would be between roughly 600,000 and 900,000.
I still think that is high, but again, I could be wrong.
ILMRadioMan
Member
And I am sure there are those of us that dont use scanners.
I said about 5% of U.S. population
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N_Jay
Guest
Maybe UpMan will chime in on the market size.
Units per year, times average life till replacement, divided by average number of units in use.
Units per year, times average life till replacement, divided by average number of units in use.
There's a lot of math involved here
When I first read the question my gut reaction was 1%. But the more I think about it, the numbers can be quite different depending on how you tally them.
I want to point out a KEY word in the original question. I know a lot of people that HAVE scanners, but do not listen to them. And if one household has 1 scanner, do we count everyone in that household?
When I first read the question my gut reaction was 1%. But the more I think about it, the numbers can be quite different depending on how you tally them.
CompuDoc
Member
Don't forget the news media. They rely on scanners for their stories such as when a police chase is going on or a major fire.
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N_Jay
Guest
Good points.
How a question is asked (and answered) can greatly skew the results.
Even worse when the question is structured to achieve a certain outcome, as in many political and media surveys.
sjlamb
Member
More food for thought:
There are approx. 600,000 licensed amatuer radio operators in the U.S., many of whome own at least one scanner. In fact, I've never met a licensed Amatuer that DID NOT own at least one scanner.
While the trend towards trunking systems has undoubtedly diminished the number of active scanner owners; I suspect the number is considerably higher than most of us would guess. Especially true if you are counting ANY type/age of scanner.... including old crystal radios. If that were the case, I would guess that the number would go into the millions.
There are approx. 600,000 licensed amatuer radio operators in the U.S., many of whome own at least one scanner. In fact, I've never met a licensed Amatuer that DID NOT own at least one scanner.
While the trend towards trunking systems has undoubtedly diminished the number of active scanner owners; I suspect the number is considerably higher than most of us would guess. Especially true if you are counting ANY type/age of scanner.... including old crystal radios. If that were the case, I would guess that the number would go into the millions.
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N_Jay
Guest
There are approx. 600,000 licensed amateur radio operators in the U.S., many of whom are not active. I have met many amateur radio operators, both active and inactive, who do not have a scanner.
The Sheriff here has over 300 COP vehicles that have a scanner by default. I wouldn't be suprised if most of the 2000 volunteers have scanners in their homes.
The comment on the amateurs is also a pretty high number, but even without trunking I know a number of hams that have conventional PS frequencies in their scanners to listen to those that aren't trunked. So their amateur radios are serving double duty in this case and isn't a scanner.
The comment on the amateurs is also a pretty high number, but even without trunking I know a number of hams that have conventional PS frequencies in their scanners to listen to those that aren't trunked. So their amateur radios are serving double duty in this case and isn't a scanner.
Our statistics show that RadioReference reaches a little greater than 500K people a month in just the United States.
Adjusting for people who are just live audio listeners (and don't own scanners), I'd estimate 1.5 to 2 million people in the US own a scanner and listen to it. That would make our hobby population probably about one half of one percent (0.005 or .005%).
That is a gut instinct response...
Adjusting for people who are just live audio listeners (and don't own scanners), I'd estimate 1.5 to 2 million people in the US own a scanner and listen to it. That would make our hobby population probably about one half of one percent (0.005 or .005%).
That is a gut instinct response...
i'd be willing to bet theres far more scanner owners that never heard of this site
or would never think oflooking online for a site such as this
so with that being said...my estimate is around 6-7 % of the population
or would never think oflooking online for a site such as this
so with that being said...my estimate is around 6-7 % of the population
One half of one percent would be 0.5% not .005%.
I'd agree on that statement, but I wonder how you get 6-7% from that logic.engine3 said:
I've been scanning over 35 years and notice that when I go into a Radio Shack anywhere in the US, I'm seeing more and more that have NO scanners on the wall. I usually ask about scanners like a newbie and am told more and more "Oh we don't stock them I have to order them". So to me all the "whacker" "drug dealer" "busybody" and need for encryption labels & stereotypes hold less credence than than they ever did. Not a scientific survey, just my observations & 2 cents.
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