My interest in scanners started as a child on the early 1970’s when my dad was a part time police officer in the town I grew up in. He had a Plectron set up on the police channel (155.130) in use by our town and a few dozen other towns. Pretty soon however I couldn’t listen to them at night when he generally worked since they moved off to the then new Public Works channel (155.760) to avoid congestion.
Eventually Dad got me an 8-channel Regency TMR-8H VHF-high scanner. I still remember the channel layout, a couple of the channels had some area channels already since he bought it from a friend who worked for the police department in a neighboring town to ours.
Soon, Wheeling and other area towns started moving to T-Band (470.xxxx) and my old VHF scanners couldn’t hear them. I then got one of those 20 channel Regency ACT-R20’s. To fill it with crystals ($6 each) cost more than the radio so I was only able to get a few at a time. While still in high school I was hired as a POC (“Paid on Call”, basically a volunteer who got paid per call) firefighter and used my radio hobby to help maintain the Minitors in use by the FD. I also worked the Command Van on occasion, including some pretty big incidents.
Eventually I saved up enough money to put a two-way radio in my car for my firefighting duties. Several of us did this and one of our guys was a Regency two-way dealer so set us up with the RH256 16-channel programmable radios. By then I had 2 of the ACT-R20’s, one for the house and another for the car but crystals were bankrupting me so I traded one the 20-channel scanners for a new Regency M100 that shared a case design with the VHF mobile radio I already had. These fit nicely in between the seats of the car and even better when I got a Bronco!
Fast forward a couple more years and I got into GMRS so naturally I bought an RU256, basically a UHF version of the VHF radio I already had. These three radios looked great together, making a nice flat face when installed between the seats.
I had several other Regency scanners over the years, I was much more a Regency guy than a Bearcat guy for a while. Other than a BC250 and a BC20/20 I pretty much stayed in the Regency camp for a long time. I intended to replace the M100 with the brand new MX7000 in the early 1980’s. It was advertised to cover just about every frequency one could want, including the new 800 MHz. band a couple local towns were switching to then. The pre-production pictures in Popular Communications’ ads showed it in an identical case as the M100 so I figured it would fit right in.
A quick call to Communications Electronics, and my order was placed, they said I was the first order they had for this as well as the HX2000 handheld. They said the scanner should be here within 4-6 weeks and they would call when it was on the way. Well, they did and when it arrived a month or so later I found the case was much smaller than anticipated. It also have no mounting holes. I called CE and they said they were as surprised as I was, their info came from Regency and Regency provided the pictures, apparently that was a mockup or demo unit. They called me back a few days later and said that the manufacturer was actually AOR-Japan and they were able to acquire compression brackets for this. As I was the first purchaser they sent the bracket to me for free. It worked but it was not ideal. I decided to keep the MX7000 for the house and left the M100 in the car.
I also bought at the same time an HX2000, pretty close to the handheld version of the MX7000. I am not sure but I would assume it too was private labeled for Regency by AOR as well. These radios were extremely sensitive but not very selective and had the scan rate of frozen molasses. You could time the scan speed with a stopped clock. A buddy of mine bought the Regency MX5000, the same as the MX7000 but without the 800 MHz. band. It performed the same as the 7000 in speed, selectivity and sensitivity. I suspect they did the same as Bearcat did with their first 800 MHz. scanners and used a UHF to 800 converter.
The one scanner from Regency that I wish I still had was the HX1000. This handheld was one of the best performing scanners I had ever used but I sold it to buy the HX2000. I never quite got over that, it wasn’t until the BC200 that I had a handheld that good.
After the debacle with the HX2000 and MX7000 I started to lean more on Bearcat. I got the BC20/20 and discovered it fit the package shelf above the glovebox of my Bronco perfectly and it lived there for several years.
My last Regency scanner was that M100. Later I almost bought a RELM HS100 but someone else beat me to it. A friend had one and said it was extremely sensitive as well as selective. If you weren’t aware Regency sold their scanner line to Uniden who then pretty much dropped all the Regency designs and put the Regency name on some of the existing Uniden scanners. A few year later (probably after a No-Compete clause expired) the now-renamed RELM (Regency Electronics Land Mobile?) came out with a couple new scanners. RELM had retained the two-way radio business during the interim and made a line of VHF and UHF radios. These new RELM scanners were well received and worked great but they just could not compete with Uniden and Radio Shack for market share.
As a nostalgia piece around 2000 or so I bought a Regency TMR-8H at a hamfest and even scrounged up some crystals to set it up the same way my first scanner had been. Amazingly the frequencies were still in use for the most part the same way they had been some 30 years before, although some were now backup channels instead of mainline. I think I gave that away when I moved 15 years later.
Some of you might remember Wilson also had radios much like the Regency RH256 and RU256 called the “Citicom” or something similar. The local railroad junction tower (at DeVal on the C&NW) had one of these for talking to the Soo Line that crossed there. I also saw them occasionally at hamfests and even installed in a state trooper’s car during that time. I assume they were private labeled for Wilson for Wilson or perhaps Wilson was a subsidiary or related to Regency somehow. Someone here should know!
Eventually Dad got me an 8-channel Regency TMR-8H VHF-high scanner. I still remember the channel layout, a couple of the channels had some area channels already since he bought it from a friend who worked for the police department in a neighboring town to ours.
- 155.370 “City” (Later renamed to (“Point to Point”)
- 155.130 Wheeling PD “Daytime” (shared with most of the area suburbs at the time)
- 155.760 Wheeling PW, PD “Night Channel”
- 154.430 Wheeling FD (before they moved to 154.445)
- 156.210 Lake County Countywide
- 155.730 Deerfield PD (just north of us)
- 155.700 Lake County Sheriff
- 155.850 Deerfield PD Car-Car
- 154.680 The original ISPERN
- 155.655 The new Lake County Sheriff dispatch
- 154.445 Wheeling’s new Fire channel
- 155.640 Cook County Sheriff
Soon, Wheeling and other area towns started moving to T-Band (470.xxxx) and my old VHF scanners couldn’t hear them. I then got one of those 20 channel Regency ACT-R20’s. To fill it with crystals ($6 each) cost more than the radio so I was only able to get a few at a time. While still in high school I was hired as a POC (“Paid on Call”, basically a volunteer who got paid per call) firefighter and used my radio hobby to help maintain the Minitors in use by the FD. I also worked the Command Van on occasion, including some pretty big incidents.
Eventually I saved up enough money to put a two-way radio in my car for my firefighting duties. Several of us did this and one of our guys was a Regency two-way dealer so set us up with the RH256 16-channel programmable radios. By then I had 2 of the ACT-R20’s, one for the house and another for the car but crystals were bankrupting me so I traded one the 20-channel scanners for a new Regency M100 that shared a case design with the VHF mobile radio I already had. These fit nicely in between the seats of the car and even better when I got a Bronco!
Fast forward a couple more years and I got into GMRS so naturally I bought an RU256, basically a UHF version of the VHF radio I already had. These three radios looked great together, making a nice flat face when installed between the seats.
I had several other Regency scanners over the years, I was much more a Regency guy than a Bearcat guy for a while. Other than a BC250 and a BC20/20 I pretty much stayed in the Regency camp for a long time. I intended to replace the M100 with the brand new MX7000 in the early 1980’s. It was advertised to cover just about every frequency one could want, including the new 800 MHz. band a couple local towns were switching to then. The pre-production pictures in Popular Communications’ ads showed it in an identical case as the M100 so I figured it would fit right in.
A quick call to Communications Electronics, and my order was placed, they said I was the first order they had for this as well as the HX2000 handheld. They said the scanner should be here within 4-6 weeks and they would call when it was on the way. Well, they did and when it arrived a month or so later I found the case was much smaller than anticipated. It also have no mounting holes. I called CE and they said they were as surprised as I was, their info came from Regency and Regency provided the pictures, apparently that was a mockup or demo unit. They called me back a few days later and said that the manufacturer was actually AOR-Japan and they were able to acquire compression brackets for this. As I was the first purchaser they sent the bracket to me for free. It worked but it was not ideal. I decided to keep the MX7000 for the house and left the M100 in the car.
I also bought at the same time an HX2000, pretty close to the handheld version of the MX7000. I am not sure but I would assume it too was private labeled for Regency by AOR as well. These radios were extremely sensitive but not very selective and had the scan rate of frozen molasses. You could time the scan speed with a stopped clock. A buddy of mine bought the Regency MX5000, the same as the MX7000 but without the 800 MHz. band. It performed the same as the 7000 in speed, selectivity and sensitivity. I suspect they did the same as Bearcat did with their first 800 MHz. scanners and used a UHF to 800 converter.
The one scanner from Regency that I wish I still had was the HX1000. This handheld was one of the best performing scanners I had ever used but I sold it to buy the HX2000. I never quite got over that, it wasn’t until the BC200 that I had a handheld that good.
After the debacle with the HX2000 and MX7000 I started to lean more on Bearcat. I got the BC20/20 and discovered it fit the package shelf above the glovebox of my Bronco perfectly and it lived there for several years.
My last Regency scanner was that M100. Later I almost bought a RELM HS100 but someone else beat me to it. A friend had one and said it was extremely sensitive as well as selective. If you weren’t aware Regency sold their scanner line to Uniden who then pretty much dropped all the Regency designs and put the Regency name on some of the existing Uniden scanners. A few year later (probably after a No-Compete clause expired) the now-renamed RELM (Regency Electronics Land Mobile?) came out with a couple new scanners. RELM had retained the two-way radio business during the interim and made a line of VHF and UHF radios. These new RELM scanners were well received and worked great but they just could not compete with Uniden and Radio Shack for market share.
As a nostalgia piece around 2000 or so I bought a Regency TMR-8H at a hamfest and even scrounged up some crystals to set it up the same way my first scanner had been. Amazingly the frequencies were still in use for the most part the same way they had been some 30 years before, although some were now backup channels instead of mainline. I think I gave that away when I moved 15 years later.
Some of you might remember Wilson also had radios much like the Regency RH256 and RU256 called the “Citicom” or something similar. The local railroad junction tower (at DeVal on the C&NW) had one of these for talking to the Soo Line that crossed there. I also saw them occasionally at hamfests and even installed in a state trooper’s car during that time. I assume they were private labeled for Wilson for Wilson or perhaps Wilson was a subsidiary or related to Regency somehow. Someone here should know!
