Old School Uniden Scanner Still In Regular Use?

[hill]

Yes , a lot of older scanners used the RCA jacks and not BNC like today. The Radio Shack mag mount scanner antenna about 35 years ago came wth a plug for RCA jack and you had to purchase a adapter if your scanner had a BNC. Still have the antenna, but small BNC to RCA adapter is long lost.

 

[weathermedic]

I keep 2 Uniden MR-8100's (I purchased them from ebay) that I use on a daily basis dedicated to monitor NYPD SOD and HWY frequencies. I keep a 780 in the basement to listen to when I'm down there. I also use a 9000xlt as a "backup" radio for conventional frequencies if I need to monitor something specific during a major incident.

 

[trp2525]

Yes , a lot of older scanners used the RCA jacks and not BNC like today. The Radio Shack mag mount scanner antenna about 35 years ago came wth a plug for RCA jack and you had to purchase a adapter if your scanner had a BNC. Still have the antenna, but small BNC to RCA adapter is long lost.

Actually the older scanners from the 1970's and 1980's used a "Motorola" connector for the antenna connection. This was the same antenna connector that was used on automobile radios/stereos from that same era.

You can purchase a Motorola female to BNC male adapter (which I believe is the adapter you referenced in your post above) as well as a BNC female to Motorola male adapter depending on your needs. Below are pictures of Radio Shack #2780117 on the left (Motorola female to BNC male) and Radio Shack #2780160 on the right (BNC female to Motorola male). FYI both of these adapters are currently available on the RadioShack.com website.

 

[hill]

Yes, it was BNC male and Motorola female.

 

[slayer816]

BCT15 (before the X) still in use with no issue whatsoever. It's dedicated to airband which it does better than any radio I've ever owned. I believe I purchased it when it was released and have only turned it off twice on purpose (a few power outages here and there notwithstanding).

 

[sparky5556]

Still got this guy...

 

[WB9YBM]

Still got this guy...

...and how's it working?

 

[sparky5556]

Very well!

 

[bobmich52]

Bought my 396 T back in 2004 I think & it still kicks AZZ

I still have both the 785 & 996 I haven’t taken out of the graveyard in years, this thread just motivate my 2 pull them out & see what they can do

 

[ridgescan]

Thanks everyone

 

[Go-West]

Thanks everyone

I bought two of those in 2005 and still work fine.

 

[DJ11DLN]

Bought a pair of BC560xlt's when a local shop had them on sale in 1989. Kept one and gave the other to mom for her birthday to supplement her old BC3. Mine finally quit but I still have mom's (SK in 2012) and it does great for analog stuff on VHF-Hi and UHF. Usually have it on daily, running on a wall wart. I also have a Pro-2023 from about '95 which was my first scanner that I could search with, I fire it up occasionally. I had installed a jack for 12VDC so I could use it in a vehicle when trying to track down a few things back in the day, which was fortunate because the power supply in this desktop model eventually died. Now it runs fine on a wall wart.

 

[Audiodave1]

Still using my 780 for Aero, 785 for UHF Public safety of a distant county, 245XLT for Marine. 760 for very local UHF PD's (on 24/7)

They just keep working.

 

[danesgs]

I have the 895XLT for Air MILCOM and regular aviation (2 of the same radios) the other one is strictly ham bands 10 FM thru 1.2. Also for weird out of normal band searching use a 3000XLT and a 2500 XLT that covers the odd stuff and FM broadcast. Old scanners can be used for more than just paperweights.

 

[Paco-Jerte]

785D works great for me as well. Mainly used at work tapped to my PC with DSD+ FL.
No P25 card.

Like how these older Uniden scanners pickup more distant signals then current models. Well made back then

 

[mrkelso]

2 Pro 2006's and a Pro 2042 Both Pro's have a few mods from The Late Bill Cheeks Books and the Pro 2042 is still a virgin after all these years. They are used everyday.

 

[Deeptow]

I still use the BC950XLT for local fire and police in my cellar shop. Luckily, in my town, the local FD still uses VHF low for pagers, and 800 mhz. non-trunked for police. The 950 works ok with one of the small mag mount scanner antennas on top of a metal shelf, so it's below ground level. I got this at a hamfest years ago, it shows no signs of stopping, but is not quite as sensitive on receive as my regular RS Trunktracker. One of these days, it will give it up. I recently sold my old PRO-2005 that I bought in 1988. Except for the display, it still worked ok.

 

[danesgs]

Never ditch a scanner. You never know what you might hear or decode. Listening to P25 1 and 2,local PD and fire, can be done with a RTL-SDR dongle and software without buying a 400.00 radio. You just have to work out the mindset of "Oh well, my scanner cannot pick up anything so toss a 500 channel receiver in the bin.

I can listen to digital P25 using a 20.00 dongle and software all day if not encrypted.

I had 2 PRO-2006's great radio!

 

[N8LHG]

I still use a pro 2004 to monitor air traffic. I also have an old bearcat 200, but it sits on a shelf collecting dust.

 

[mmckenna]

Our dispatch center manager brought me an old Radio Shack Pro-70 that she'd used to listen in on our channels for years. The keypad had failed and she couldn't get it to work. Took it apart, cleaned the keypad contacts and it works as good as new.
Totally forgot she had that thing. Blast from the past, but still working.