Most scanner people are the only scanner person in their immediate family. There are some that have a family member with a passing interest or perhaps started us in the hobby but in my experience the scanner person is usually the only such one in the house.
In my family it has always been such. When I was a kid, Dad bought my first scanner for me so I could listen to him while he was working as a cop in our little town. I think that was partly to keep me from bugging him to ride with him, he didn’t need a little kid bouncing around the squad car. It worked, I had more fun listening than sitting in a car all day. Pretty soon I figured out that our town was only one of dozens sharing the radio channel. Not only were there a bunch of towns in our area on the same channel but at night there were areas all over the Midwest that I could hear, mostly at night.
My Mom and sisters were not interested in listening to the scanner. My Mom was worried for my dad’s safety and my sisters just were not interested in it at all. If they heard a siren they might ask if Dad was doing something but beyond that they had no interest. I kept the scanner in my bedroom. Dad had a couple Plectron’s in the living room, one on the fire channel and the other on the police channel but they were usually only on when I was in the room and no one else was.
When I started as a dispatcher the week after I graduated high school, I was still living at home, and I offered my folks a scanner to listen to me at work but that got old pretty quick. I think they listened for a day or two and never turned on the scanner again. I unplugged the crystals, and no one said anything for a month, so I figured they didn’t care.
I have already written about the various girlfriends over the 15 years between living with my parents and my marriage. Most had interest in the radio only because I did, and that interest was usually limited to ingratiating themselves with me. Some thought it would lead to a ring. A few showed enough interest that I would loan them a scanner to listen to me when I was working. Sometimes it was hard to get it back when we broke up, usually that was more out of spite than actual interest.
I did have one girlfriend 35 years or so ago who was a State Trooper. She complained a couple of times that I seemed to have more fun playing with her radios than I did with her. She may have been right. After all she did have a low-band Syntor in her squad car connected to a big low-band whip and it was skip season.
When I met my wife, she had absolutely no interest at all about scanners, or radio in general She still doesn’t. She lets me leave the scanners on as loud as I want, and it doesn’t bother her at all. Of course, being deaf might have something to do with this… I firmly believe she is the perfect wife; I can leave the radios on as loud as I want, as many as I want and even on overnight. She is more concerned with the dial lights so I try to remember to turn them off when I go to bed. I leave the radios on all the time so I can log activity.
For a couple years recently, we had my stepson and daughter in law living with us as they relocated out West. We loved having them here and they loved being here, but it did cramp my style a little with the radios. I had to keep the volume down or use headphones as I was sharing my office with the kid. Since he worked from home, I gave priority to him and headphones became the rule. At night I could listen to them with speakers but usually stuck with the headphones to be polite.
I was able to get the kid interested in radio a little. He got a GMRS license and installed an AT-5888 in his off-road Jeep. Most of the Jeep crowd out here in the Southwest use GMRS so it came in handy. He did buy the Ham Radio license study book but never followed up on it. Years ago, I gave him a BC780XLT that he used sporadically. He did some ride-alongs with me at work when I was still in Patrol, and he even considered a career in police work but eventually went into I.T. instead.
The daughter-in-law however has zero interest in radio at all and never could understand my addiction to it. She tolerates her husband’s minor interest in it as she enjoys Jeep adventures and the part that radio plays in it but that is pretty much it.
I have already written about other family, like the uncle who played a big part in my childhood with his scanners (See Scanner Characters: Uncle Johnnie). I have a couple well-meaning sisters, who often send me pictures of random radio antennas or ask if I heard what the sirens were all about last night. (“Sorry Sis, but I cannot hear Myrtle Beach from Phoenix”). One has had me do some advising on police or radio procedures for the novels she writes so it is pretty cool to have a credit in her books.
After my folks moved to the Phoenix area Dad asked me to get him a scanner so he could hear the local airport that he flew his Cessna 172RG out of. I sent him an old BC220 and added the local railroad channel. He eventually up locking out the aviation stuff and liked to listen to the Sante Fe road channel. I would use that same scanner when I visited so I didn’t have to bring one when I visited. I eventually swapped it out for BC145XL which he liked better. After he passed my mom had no interest in it, so I brought it home and used it in the living room for my local railroad channels. It was the only radio the wife would allow me to have outside my office.
While I am in a great place now, with an empty nest, full wallet and a wife who lets me buy and play with my toys it wasn’t always this way. When Ineed want a new radio I just wait until the wife wants a new sewing machine or something for her quilting room. With all the radios and computers, I have I am fairly certain we spent more for her stuff than mine. Since she handles the bills, only she knows for sure. I don’t ask and she doesn’t tell.
In my family it has always been such. When I was a kid, Dad bought my first scanner for me so I could listen to him while he was working as a cop in our little town. I think that was partly to keep me from bugging him to ride with him, he didn’t need a little kid bouncing around the squad car. It worked, I had more fun listening than sitting in a car all day. Pretty soon I figured out that our town was only one of dozens sharing the radio channel. Not only were there a bunch of towns in our area on the same channel but at night there were areas all over the Midwest that I could hear, mostly at night.
My Mom and sisters were not interested in listening to the scanner. My Mom was worried for my dad’s safety and my sisters just were not interested in it at all. If they heard a siren they might ask if Dad was doing something but beyond that they had no interest. I kept the scanner in my bedroom. Dad had a couple Plectron’s in the living room, one on the fire channel and the other on the police channel but they were usually only on when I was in the room and no one else was.
When I started as a dispatcher the week after I graduated high school, I was still living at home, and I offered my folks a scanner to listen to me at work but that got old pretty quick. I think they listened for a day or two and never turned on the scanner again. I unplugged the crystals, and no one said anything for a month, so I figured they didn’t care.
I have already written about the various girlfriends over the 15 years between living with my parents and my marriage. Most had interest in the radio only because I did, and that interest was usually limited to ingratiating themselves with me. Some thought it would lead to a ring. A few showed enough interest that I would loan them a scanner to listen to me when I was working. Sometimes it was hard to get it back when we broke up, usually that was more out of spite than actual interest.
I did have one girlfriend 35 years or so ago who was a State Trooper. She complained a couple of times that I seemed to have more fun playing with her radios than I did with her. She may have been right. After all she did have a low-band Syntor in her squad car connected to a big low-band whip and it was skip season.
When I met my wife, she had absolutely no interest at all about scanners, or radio in general She still doesn’t. She lets me leave the scanners on as loud as I want, and it doesn’t bother her at all. Of course, being deaf might have something to do with this… I firmly believe she is the perfect wife; I can leave the radios on as loud as I want, as many as I want and even on overnight. She is more concerned with the dial lights so I try to remember to turn them off when I go to bed. I leave the radios on all the time so I can log activity.
For a couple years recently, we had my stepson and daughter in law living with us as they relocated out West. We loved having them here and they loved being here, but it did cramp my style a little with the radios. I had to keep the volume down or use headphones as I was sharing my office with the kid. Since he worked from home, I gave priority to him and headphones became the rule. At night I could listen to them with speakers but usually stuck with the headphones to be polite.
I was able to get the kid interested in radio a little. He got a GMRS license and installed an AT-5888 in his off-road Jeep. Most of the Jeep crowd out here in the Southwest use GMRS so it came in handy. He did buy the Ham Radio license study book but never followed up on it. Years ago, I gave him a BC780XLT that he used sporadically. He did some ride-alongs with me at work when I was still in Patrol, and he even considered a career in police work but eventually went into I.T. instead.
The daughter-in-law however has zero interest in radio at all and never could understand my addiction to it. She tolerates her husband’s minor interest in it as she enjoys Jeep adventures and the part that radio plays in it but that is pretty much it.
I have already written about other family, like the uncle who played a big part in my childhood with his scanners (See Scanner Characters: Uncle Johnnie). I have a couple well-meaning sisters, who often send me pictures of random radio antennas or ask if I heard what the sirens were all about last night. (“Sorry Sis, but I cannot hear Myrtle Beach from Phoenix”). One has had me do some advising on police or radio procedures for the novels she writes so it is pretty cool to have a credit in her books.
After my folks moved to the Phoenix area Dad asked me to get him a scanner so he could hear the local airport that he flew his Cessna 172RG out of. I sent him an old BC220 and added the local railroad channel. He eventually up locking out the aviation stuff and liked to listen to the Sante Fe road channel. I would use that same scanner when I visited so I didn’t have to bring one when I visited. I eventually swapped it out for BC145XL which he liked better. After he passed my mom had no interest in it, so I brought it home and used it in the living room for my local railroad channels. It was the only radio the wife would allow me to have outside my office.
While I am in a great place now, with an empty nest, full wallet and a wife who lets me buy and play with my toys it wasn’t always this way. When I
