Scanner Sales in Virginia

[brownlab]

I did an unscientific survey of digital scanner sales this Xmas at Radio Shacks in Virginia and they were selling very well especially at some of the stores that also carried the Uniden HP 1. One owner told me that he could not keep them in stock. So it stands to reason that there are a lot of new scanner owners. Maybe one reason is that the Virginia State Police is almost completely digital now and folks like to be able to monitor the VSP. Anyhow I was kind of surprised because I did not think it was a popular hobby. Maybe it is growing!

 

[DaveIN]

Did you see the HP-1 in the stores? Were all of the P25 scanners selling, or just specific models?

 

[brownlab]

Visited a store in Warrenton VA on around DEC 1. He had on display a PRO 197, a 106 and an HP 1. At that time I did not know that some RS were selling the HP 1. The week before Xmas he was sold out of digital units and told me that most of what he had on order was presold. Stopped by on Xmas eve and the same store has one PRO 106 and two 197s. No HP 1s. A couple of other stores also told me that digital sales were good but did not discuss the inventory. A store in Berryville VA had one PRO 18 but that was Dec 3 and I have not been back over there. When I am in a RS, I usually ask how scanner sales are going. No particular reason, just curious.

 

[KG4EMJ]

I went to 5 different RS stores today, in 3 different cities.

None of them stocked the Uniden HP1 (or I would have bought one probably).

1 of them had a PRO-18 on display and it was the only unit they had.

1 of them had a PRO-106 and it was the only one they had.

Otherwise, there were NO digital scanners to be found and a couple of the stores even told me that they never stock the digital ones. I was kind of surprised because most systems in Kentucky are now at least partially digital. If you don't have a digital scanner then you are missing most of the action. I wonder why they even sell analog ones anymore.

 

[brownlab]

Well it is good to know that I was not the only person not finding digital scanners at RS and like KY, VA has become pretty much a digital state in the major metro areas (and some not so major) plus the state police is pretty much all digital now (and many people want the monitor the state police). That said, there are a number of counties in VA still on VHF high and low. Perhaps the economy may prevent some of these places from upgrading. It is not cheap.