Scanner Tales: More weird scanners

[kc2asb]

This is a poor drawing, but it has the general layout of the mystery scanner, the brand was across the top, just above the display. I don't remember if the channel number part was a seperate display or just part of the main one. I would guess the main freq display digits were about 1 inch high. Those big digits cranking away was what got me hooked into buying it.

Under the freq was a bunch of icons to show functions turned on and off. It was painted gray and seemed very solidly made, but it was a huge hassle to program due to GRE and Uniden having all the patents. Not a rocket scanning speed either, maybe 40 Ch/Sec.

This is one mystery receiver and one that I would love to see! Not even a vague remembrance of the brand name? Difficulty in programming brings to mind Yupiteru or AOR but none of their base scanners of that era fit.

I looked through a number of brands on RigReference but none of the scanners/receivers were a match. It might be worth a look at the list of manufacturers - maybe something will jog your memory. The link below is to the complete list of manufacturers.

Manufacturers | RigReference.com

Ham Radio Equipment manufacturers, an overview

rigreference.com

 

[Omega-TI]

I cannot remember the make or model of scanner, but I think it was around 1998 to about 2002 that there was a scanner with a built in monitor that allowed one to pick up "wireless cameras" and other video signals. My memory seems to remember it left the market fairly quickly, as opposed to other models, due to the shift towards encryption or digital modes that rendered it fairly useless. Does anyone remember which handheld radio this was?

 

[kc2asb]

I cannot remember the make or model of scanner, but I think it was around 1998 to about 2002 that there was a scanner with a built in monitor that allowed one to pick up "wireless cameras" and other video signals. My memory seems to remember it left the market fairly quickly, as opposed to other models, due to the shift towards encryption or digital modes that rendered it fairly useless. Does anyone remember which handheld radio this was?

The Icom R3 had a built-in color screen and could receive TV broadcasts, but for some reason I think there was another handheld that was known for its ability to intercept wireless cameras and had a larger screen than the R3

RigPix Database - Icom - IC-R3

 

[KE4ZNR]

I cannot remember the make or model of scanner, but I think it was around 1998 to about 2002 that there was a scanner with a built in monitor that allowed one to pick up "wireless cameras" and other video signals. My memory seems to remember it left the market fairly quickly, as opposed to other models, due to the shift towards encryption or digital modes that rendered it fairly useless. Does anyone remember which handheld radio this was?

It was definitely the Icom R3. The ads for it showed it supposedly picking up wireless cams and such. Battery life was terrible and the small lcd display did not make it user friendly. Rumors were it that the display caused RFI back into the receiver itself. Interesting idea in theory I just think it was poorly conceived.

 

[ratboy]

This is one mystery receiver and one that I would love to see! Not even a vague remembrance of the brand name? Difficulty in programming brings to mind Yupiteru or AOR but none of their base scanners of that era fit.

I looked through a number of brands on RigReference but none of the scanners/receivers were a match. It might be worth a look at the list of manufacturers - maybe something will jog your memory. The link below is to the complete list of manufacturers.

Manufacturers | RigReference.com

Ham Radio Equipment manufacturers, an overview

rigreference.com

I've looked and looked on Rigpix, and rigreference, lots of Ebay listings, and never saw it. I just can't recall the brand. I saw it online a long long time ago, on a Japanese language webpage. Other than that page, I never saw it until it popped up at the hamfest in, I think, Livonia, MI, but that may be wrong. The slanted huge digits were unique to it, I've never seen a scanner that had them before or since. The case was really solid sheet steel, with wrinkle light grey paint. I want to find it just for curiousity's sake. They couldn't have made many of them. The manual was in decent English, not the weird translated Japanese a lot of rigs used to have. It would have been a nightmare to use if it had been. It had that timeout thing where if you didn't press a key in so many seconds, it would go back to what it was before you pressed any key. That was the hardest part to get past. The keys being mostly the same and the labels being "weak" was more fun.

I never had an R3, but yeah, like the Mahalit radios, the display noise was the problem from some of the things I read about it, you had to run an external antenna at some freuquencies to really have a pleasurable listening experience. I have one of the newer Mahalits and on even a mag mount whip stuck to my car, it's pretty great. On a whip stuck to it, SW is pretty grim unless you shut the display off. I think they maybe need to use a different type of display on a future one, it's almost there.

 

[ratboy]

When you had as many scanners as I had, some that weren't around for long just blend into the "soup" of memories. That website had some great pics of it, front and rear, screen sized about 3X as big as the thing was. I was really loaded with them at one point. Yupi's, RS, Uniden, Icom, AOR, Welz, Standard, Regency, and more, along with a bunch of HTs from Alinco, Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu, Azden, and Standard, and a few more, used as scanners. Way more handhelds than base/mobiles, but still a lot. I had over 30 handhelds at one point! Wow, some were bad.
One of the worst, I just saw one at a garage sale a while back, deaf as a rock, and the crunchiest squelch I've ever heard, the notorius Regency HX-2000.....

 

[kc2asb]

I've looked and looked on Rigpix, and rigreference, lots of Ebay listings, and never saw it. I just can't recall the brand. I saw it online a long long time ago, on a Japanese language webpage. Other than that page, I never saw it until it popped up at the hamfest in, I think, Livonia, MI, but that may be wrong. The slanted huge digits were unique to it, I've never seen a scanner that had them before or since. The case was really solid sheet steel, with wrinkle light grey paint. I want to find it just for curiousity's sake. They couldn't have made many of them. The manual was in decent English, not the weird translated Japanese a lot of rigs used to have. It would have been a nightmare to use if it had been. It had that timeout thing where if you didn't press a key in so many seconds, it would go back to what it was before you pressed any key. That was the hardest part to get past. The keys being mostly the same and the labels being "weak" was more fun.

I tried on Ebay also. It's an odd duck and the construction quality sounds better than the average hobbyist radio, almost commercial grade. Maybe one day it will pop up when you are not looking for it.

 

[bw415]

I had one of the Regency Whamo 10 scanners that was programmed by breaking teeth off of aluminum combs. This gave me a chance to explore all kinds of channels for the first time without buying crystals. I remember having many many of those combs because once breaking off teeth for one frequency you almost never could use it again for another one.

 

[ratboy]

I tried on Ebay also. It's an odd duck and the construction quality sounds better than the average hobbyist radio, almost commercial grade. Maybe one day it will pop up when you are not looking for it.

That's happened so many times with other stuff. My one tape deck blew a motor and I tried and tried to find one, and finally gave up and scrapped it. About a year later, there were about a dozen brand new old stock motors on ebay. Too late. I bought another deck, in mint condition for hardly anything and it ended up cheaper than the motor alone would have been.

 

[Bearded_Schnauzer]

Seems the Uniden MR8100 would fall into the weird scanner family, with its unconventional keypad. I remember these being advertised in Pop Comm back in the late 80's and early 90's. I believe it was referred to it as a "professional scanner". Did anyone here own one back in the day?

RigPix Database - Bearcat/Uniden - MR-8100

I b having 2

 

[kc2asb]

I b having 2

Nice! The MR-8100 is a great scanner by most accounts. Keep them going!

 

[hill]

The PRO2026 was basically a neutered BC760XLT, same case style and shared innards. Instead of the easy programming of the BC760 and it’s kin one had to use the silly Program button on the 2026 in order to program it. They also had to add a couple additional buttons to the 2026 to handle the RadioShack programming methods, this made the action buttons under the display smaller and more difficult to operate.

Perhaps it was my aversion to the operation of the 2026 that clouded my opinion but I could have sworn it was far less sensitive and selective than the 760. I had both and always thought the 760 performed much better.

I had a early PRO-2026 scanner purchased when they first come out. The early ones wouldn't keep the memories when the power was removed. Think the update version on this scanner fixed this major issue on it.

Never owned a BC760XLT back in day, but now have one picked up a local hamfest recently that is great for my use for monitoring the local VHF marine band.

 

[tvengr]

Never owned a BC760XLT back in day, but now have one picked up a local hamfest recently that is great for my use for monitoring the local VHF marine band.

Uniden bought the scanner division from Regency. I have a Regency R 1600 which is identical to the BC 760 except for the size of the 4 buttons under the display. My Regency scanner has a Uniden label on the back.