So I guess just like us humans when we get old, scanner memories get dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Very informative post on computer/scanner memory issues.
Steve AA6IO
I guess I've never looked at it that way before but I think that pretty much sums it up! Great and funny reply you came up with!
It's funny but I don't see much in the way of ram or memory failures in the models like say the Uniden 780 XLT. Those seem to still be going strong for most owners but there is a possible display issue with that model where the displays go bad and can no longer be seen. Someone came up with a manual contrast adjust pot mod that allowed those with failing displays to adjust the contrast and get some more life out of them.
Mine was washing out so I tried the mod, it helped but I could never bring back the original contrast that model had when I bought it new.
Mine also has not become any worse. It's like it lost some contrast and then stopped at that point. In the least, that radio could still be used remotely via software as long as you remember the keystrokes needed to enable remote mode.
So I guess you could add cataracts or failing eyesight to your "like us humans" analogy!! That would seem to fit will for the 780!
I was also into collecting very old models where some needed crystals and some even made before they had the crystal models. And of course, the first programmable models like the BC101 and several other makes.
The crystal scanners all still work fine as do the ones made before that used tuners but the early programmable models I acquired, mostly had bad ram or memory chips in them. I don't think I ever found an exact match for the old BC-101's but I did find chips that worked in RadioShacks PRO-2001's. The two Pro-2001's are still running to this day using the new chips I installed.
The old BC-101's used a form of binary for programming where you converted a frequency into 1's and 0's and entered the frequency into each memory position by pressing the 1 and 0 key on the front in the correct order. There were no 2-9 keys.
The Pro2001's actual took direct frequency entry as listed in a book like police call. The old Bearcat 220, 250's and the others from that era also had direct frequency entry. I think the 210's had issues with a chip that was custom as did some of the 220 and 250 models. I still have original 220 thru 350 models (including all in between) all bought by me when they were released that all still work just fine to this day.
I do not know if they don't fail because I run most of them on 12 VDC so they run cooler or not but they keep on going. I think some of those models also use 9 volt batteries for memory backup so that could be a reason their memory has never failed being of a different type. Don't really know but I do know all the Electra made scanners from the 220 era do all use custom chips that can no longer be found. One or two of the models had a particular custom chip that failed often. It was found that it ran hot so guys back in the day would add heat sinks to those chips. I did it on mine. I know the chips now run near room temp but I never found out if heat was the killer of those chips or not.
But figuring that heat is the number one killer of many electronics components, adding the heat sinks could not hurt.
Electra could have just received a bad batch of the custom chips. If yours failed, Electra was the only source for new ones and yes, they would sell you anything back in those days including the chip that would be considered the processor or main logic chip. Once their stock dried up though, those old models were used for spare parts to repair others that were still working or ended up in landfills. I don't think it was ever revealed who made the custom chips for them but they were pretty well documented in the service manuals they sold back then as to the working logic behind each chip in the radio. Someone today could take that info and revive some of those old Electra's if they really wanted to put the effort into it. Many of the chips were simply custom divider chips that could be emulated today by what is currently available.
Then Uniden bought Electra and all kinds of things changed!
I also owned several Regency models but only maybe three programmable models. I sold all of them long before they ever failed if they ever did. I do still own several old Regency crystal models though and they also still work fine to this day.
Not sure how much longer I'll keep the old crystal or programmable analog models running though. My area is still full of tons of analog stuff. I mean tons of it so old analog scanners are still very fun around here for the most part. I even have some 1,000+ crystals for both 10.7 and 10.8 MHz IF models. But... our county is now licensed for a new multi site simulcast P25 system. Systems actually. It could still be a year though before that comes online at all. Once it does, I think most of the small muni's still running their old single channel analog repeaters will join into this new county system as long as the county gives them some incentive to make the switch. Then I also imagine some will stay put where they are now and stay on analog.
So it's been a fun nearly 50 years of monitoring especially when I can say I'm still using some of the same radios I'd purchased new way back in the mid to late 60's and early 70's!
Don't take me wrong, I do love many of today's modern digital models and could not live without them. I own pretty much every digital model ever sold and some, I have several of. The only ones I don't own are the two new Uniden's only because I'm still waiting on local and distant user reports. They appear to be internet database driven like the Home Patrol more than anything and I'm not a big fan of radios that need the internet for their main database. So until I learn more about these new models and if applications like Freescan and ProScan can fully program and operate them like a 996 can be, I'll be on hold before making a purchase.
If the new county system ever goes online, (It's still being built) and it turns out being P25 phase II, then I may buy one regardless just for that reason as I only own one PSR-800 which does Phase II systems.
Anyway, I really do hope the OP's problem is just temperature related and not failing memory.
In this case, it may not be a bad idea to just leave the radio powered on providing your car or truck will still start the next day with the current being used by the scanner! I know cold weather can place a toll on everything from the scanner not working to the vehicle not starting the next morning. But leaving the scanner on will generate some heat from the scanners internal chips and voltage regulators and that small amount of heat may be all that is needed to correct this problem if taking the scanner indoors each night is not an option.
I have computers outdoors at work that we leave out even in -10 F temps. We leave them and the monitors powered on as they are custom installs and very hard to remove. They are in a locked cabinet and the heat from the computers alone keeps the temp inside the cabinet near 45 F which is well within the computers operating environment specs.
Only once after many years doing this did I have a problem. We had a ice storm caused power outage. So those computers shut down and the temps inside the box dropped to near zero for two nights. When power was restored, one came back up but the other did not. The drive would not spin up. We would have pulled them in had we remembered them but we forgot as we were more concerned with the building and water pipes.
When I looked at the network log, I slapped myself when I saw that the only machine not running was one of the two outdoor point of sale machines. I had a guy go out and disconnect it and bring it in. We let it warm up and any condensation dry out and then tried powering it up. It powered up just fine! Needless to say, that one stayed indoors the remainder of the winter as it was simply too hard to remove or reinstall.
Oh, it also had a bios error on the screen when we found it that one of the cooling fans was not running. Those fans were simply too tight from the oil or grease on their bearings to let the small motor winding overcome it and spin them up to speed. I was actually surprised to see the other machines fans all running just fine but I do wonder how long it took them to come up to speed. Then I was surprised condensation had not formed inside the working machines hard drive as it heated up and ruined it but it also still runs fine to this day. Perhaps the airflow from the drives platters spinning at speed kept them dried out.
This was several years ago now that that happened but we did forget an LCD TV that is mounted out in the open under a covered but open large outdoor patio this year. This winter has brought us low temps that I've not seen here in many many years so I do wonder if the LCD TV will fire up! I dare not try and turn it on now though as something could heat rapidly and condense into moisture which could fry something.
That is possible what the OP said about picturing ice crystals inside his radio! If something like say a voltage regulator heats up quickly, it could form condensation and short something as it warms up.
The power on from the freezing temp stage is when condensation is going to form as components heat above freezing if anything inside did frost over.
It does make you wonder how many commercial radio failures occur during power up in work vehicles that may have been left outdoors in sub-zero temps for days. A commercial quality radio may have better specs than a scanner but condensation will still form unless the radios used up north have heaters in them!
I'd think you would see a heck of a lot of dead batteries if that were the case. It's nothing to see -40F temps in many of the northern states and that must be below the spec for almost any radio made today.
I guess public safety and EMA type agencies all have heated garages for their vehicles in those cold climate states. Or they just keep them running all the time.
