Remember these?

[6079smithw]

I was digging through a box of salvage parts today and found this at the bottom of a box:



I bought a brand-new WHAMO-10 at Zackit Electronics (long-gone) in Sacramento around 1976 or so. Don't remember the actual cost but it was steep! You removed teeth from the 'comb' to program the frequency. Must have used it for 10-15 years until it finally quit and disappeared during a move. Plenty of volume and great 30-50 mHz sensitivity. Wish I still had it, the sequential red LEDs were cool....

 

[prcguy]

I bought a Whamo-10 when they first came out and it was a very good quality receiver despite the comb things.

 

[ka3aaa]

I still have mine

 

[zero2sixty]

Could always use them in a tight spot though. Seriously unlike the Optiscan cards you really couldn't replace the broken off tines from the aluminum combs and that was an expensive proposition. Excellent radio otherwise.

 

[k9wkj]

Kookie Kookie tuna my radio!!

 

[mule1075]

I have one in my collection I use from time to time. Also have plenty of spare combs.

 

[6079smithw]

Could always use them in a tight spot though. Seriously unlike the Optiscan cards you really couldn't replace the broken off tines from the aluminum combs and that was an expensive proposition. Excellent radio otherwise.

Guess I'm SOL on all counts. My hair, like the Whamo-10 and Zackit Electronics, is long-gone...

 

[prcguy]

I suspect you could find out what frequency increment each comb finger is responsible for and wire in a row of BCD thumbwheel switches to make it a tune on the fly receiver. I remember having to look up frequencies on a chart to cut the combs, so the info is out there.

 

[typesix]

Regency did make an add on external box for the Whamo, so that you could dial in the frequency for one channel. It cost at least as much as the Whamo.

 

[trentbob]

Regency did make an add on external box for the Whamo, so that you could dial in the frequency for one channel. It cost at least as much as the Whamo.

Yes they did. I had a Wham-O but by the time the Regency add-on came out I had bought one of the first Bearcat 101's made by the Electra company in Cumberland Indiana. 16 channels that you programmed with codes on channel tabs from the manual with the cool sequential red light scanning diodes. We're pretty old here.

 

[hokiewheeler]

No but as a youngster they still had 16 channel scanners that would do all but 800 MHz. All good except my local town was on 800. My friend's dad, who got me into this, had crystal radios and a 50 channel radio shack scanner that was dedicated to cordless phones. Ahhh the old days....I like how new scanners are still "cell blocked." I lament the fact that the town I grew up in is on a digital system and full time encrypted, as are most other departments around here. It sucks you can't hear anything anymore. In my college days my room mates had family on the fire departments and what not still using those old 16 channel scanners.

 

[krokus]

Regency did make an add on external box for the Whamo, so that you could dial in the frequency for one channel. It cost at least as much as the Whamo.

My dad was a Regency dealer, so we had a Whamo 10, with the dial box. It was interesting, and the same size as the scanner.

Sent using Tapatalk

 

[garys]

SBE had the scanner with cards that had clear windows for programming. You took the paper off the windows you wanted to expose. Similar to the BC 101, but with those cards instead of the micro switches.

The early BC 101s had heat problems, but Electra finally got that fixed.

Then there were the Tennelec TS 1 and TS 2. Nice concepts, but flawed products.

That was during my retail electronics career from 1975 to about 1978. Regency had the "Touch 16" scanner, followed by the K100 and K500.

 

[trentbob]

Very interesting thread. Hearing all of these different scanner manufacturers that I haven't thought about in a long time.

That Bearcat 101 was a fantastic radio for its time and very expensive. I did not have the heat problem. It was AC only so I had a converter on the floor behind the driver seat and I could reach around and throw the toggle switch on and off.

I believe it was $400 in 1975. That was big bucks, I bought it from Lafayette Electronics. Those really were the good old days.

 

[garys]

I was young, single, and had money, so I bought what I wanted. I also got a generous employee discount. Wish I had that now!

I'll throw another old name at you. Robyn. Mostly CBS, but they had some crystal controlled scanners as well.

 

[trentbob]

Oh geez, of course I remember the Robyn brand, Circa 1970. I also remember JCPenney's and Sears had their own brand scanners even though I'm sure they were made by somebody else. I also was young unattached with a good job and my own car with plenty of money after I got out of college in 1975. Graduated high school 1971.

Names like Wham-O and Electra bring back memories. Here's one for you. I started with swl and CB around 11 or 12 years old in the mid-60s... My first police radio was a RadioShack Pro 1 slide rule dial VHF High monitor. It was built by a company for RadioShack called GRE, yes GRE, it was out of Japan of course because it was pre1968 when China was just rice patties and Nixon hadn't opened it up to International Trade yet. This is like a Time Warp. Thanks for the memories everybody. The hobby was let's say... different then.

 

[Ronaldski]