the lone ranger

Status
Not open for further replies.

ridgescan

Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2008
Messages
4,778
Location
San Francisco, Ca.
How many of you my distinguished radiophiles find yourself the ONLY person in your entire family AND circle of friends who be interested in scanners and/or radio comm in general. If so, WHY do you think this is? Myself-throughout my 47 yrs I have been 'the lone ranger' in this hobby amongst all family, extended family , friends, and even people I know at work...ALL of them, they just could give a crap about anything remotely connected with this radiocomm thing I love so much. WTF?!! I so enjoyed the "your first sting thread" because I needed to hear other folk echo this apparently rare affinity for our hobby. The "what was your first scanner" thread holds priceless posts of beautiful radio history as well as "anyone listen to distant AM..." At least here I don't feel so alone..I'd love to hear your thoughts on this:)73s
 

sjcscanner

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jun 23, 2007
Messages
511
Some of my family and friends find scanning some what annoying. Most people I know don't give a crap about radio comm. I used to think I was the only one interested in it, until I recently found out that my great grandfather was a ham radio operator.
 

RedPenguin

Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2007
Messages
1,081
HaHa

I always feel this way.

My mother is kinda into radio scanning though and bought a 45-channel Realistik about 12-15 years ago and it still works to this day.

She just has other people (me mainly) program it for her but she isn't really into having lists of who's police car is who's and what fire station(s) got called.

I'm just thrilled to see that my "anyone listen to distant AM stations" thread actually has helped some people.

I started that thread to basically do the same thing the OP said in this thread, find out if anyone else did what I did.

Everyone almost (not on the Internet, people in every-day life) never knew you could listen to stations from "far away" on the AM band at night. Many didn't even seem to care, but that was the people who could care less about even local AM/FM or any radio in general. Actually some were just people who could care less about really anything at all.

I have a friend who really makes me feel like a criminal the way he talks, because he makes scanner enthusiasts out to be noisy people who just listen to stuff that is none of their business. He got me feeling so, that one time, I actually said I felt weird listening, but now I just say screw it, it's our air waves and it's "public safety" not private safety. My local police actually supports a guy who puts them on the Internet to listen to and links to it on their site.

All I can say is, don't ever feel bad about scanning. In my true and honest opinion, there is nothing wrong with scanning and/or being the only real technical person in your family and/or immediate area.

To tell you the truth, I'm really the only technical anything in my family. Don't get me wrong, much of my family does important jobs and go to school, but I'm truly the only one who cares about computers, Linux/UNIX, radio scanners, shortwave radios, and many other things that are under the category of "technical" or "electronics". Actually, I'm also really the only one in my family that truly respects Fire, EMS, and Law Enforcement. Not saying I'm related to a bunch of criminals or something, but they just don't believe in Public Safety like I do. I guess I'm just first for many things in my family, LoL.

Also, I'm way too damn much of a scanner geek, I mean, someone tells me that a drug bust or high-speed chase happened around me, I say, "I wonder if someone recorded it and put it up on the web" or I wonder if they (the police/law enforcement) were able to communicate and if all went well.

Anyway before this reply takes 25 pages, I'm going to end it here.
 
Last edited:

Lt51506

Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Messages
125
Location
Boise, Id
There's been a radio or scanner, and sometimes both in my house as far back as I can remember. My father was a firefighter and over the years, I can remember an old Motorola base rig with the great big tubes, Plectron's, several Regency scanners and the like. I can remember as a young kid, sitting at my dad's desk listening to every dispatch, brush fire and following where every crew, airtanker and especially "dad" went. We had a wall map that both my mother and I would stick push-pins in to mark where everyone was.
The radio's never bothered mom, I think she really enjoyed listening to the action back then. After dad retired, I think she lost interest in it all and the day dad passed away, the scanners were boxed up and put in storage.
I spent 27 years in the fire service before I retired and have followed the tradition of having several radio's running at the same time. My first wife loved them, my second wife destroyed them, and my current wife is fascinated with them. She had a scanner in the house when she was a child, so I think it brings back some fond memories for her.
I never felt isolated or "alone" in the hobby. I had a few friends who monitored as well and the "non-listeners" would always ask questions...of which I was always happy to answer. I think the only people that ever gave me a cold shoulder were the CB'ers. Maybe it was all the ham gear in the car, or I had freq's programmed they wish they had.
Either way, I've met some of the best people through monitoring and have enjoyed educating about it, and making a few "converts" along the way!

LT
 
Last edited:

eraweeb

Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2005
Messages
118
Location
Las Vegas, NV
My Dad was a "Pirate" Ham & CBer and an avid SWL. Sometimes he would lock himself inside the basement and all that us kids would hear were strange noises coming from down there all night. Once when I was very young I asked my Mother what he was doing and all she would say was that he was "sick!"
In the 1950's while other Dads were showing their young sons how to hit a baseball, my Dad showed me how to convert the AM radio in the car so that you could slide up above the broadcast band and listen to police calls.

He would never let me touch his coveted radios unless he was present, but when the day came when I asked for my own rig he knew that I had inherited that same sickness that he possessed. He came home from work one night and dumped a huge box of parts and wire and tools on the kitchen table.

"What's that?" I asked. "That's your very own shortwave radio." he said. "All you have to do is put it together!"

I sure miss him. I'll never forget him because I'm pushing 60 now and I never did get over the "sickness!"
 

scannerbum

Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
170
Location
Central IL.
Scanning...

I had a friend in jr high, Who's Grandpa had an old scanner on all the time. From that point on I had to go buy one, I was hooked!

I dont know what I would do now days if I heard a siren now and didnt know what it was responding to. I am for the most part the Loan Ranger of my family. My Mom has some interest in hearing whats going on in Her small town when I come to vist, but my Dad cuts it short because He cant stand the " noise .'

I did convert My Grandparent's, who now have the 2055 I bought them for Christmas, running every time I show up. Now Grandpa will call sometimes and ask if I heard that!

For the majority of people I know, They find it annoying. That is until they hear something going on and expect a full report from Me or "HEY TURN THAT THING ON!"
 

chrismol1

P25 TruCking!
Joined
Mar 15, 2008
Messages
1,148
scannerbum said:
For the majority of people I know, They find it annoying. That is until they hear something going on and expect a full report from Me or "HEY TURN THAT THING ON!"

Thats exactly what my folks do to me, most everyone else have the TV, Internet, cell phone, not a lot know about BBC. No one knows that everything radio is how the whole world communicates behind that plastic cover of whatever device you have.
A fire truck goes by or we hear sirens in the distance and then all the sudden I get hollared at to find out what it is even though I get hollared at to turn it off moments before. Even though I have a cell phone and hooked to the computer, I still know that everything going on is flying by my head. People dont care about all of it because its nursed to them and they dont have to know or arent interested on how it works.
 

DickH

Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2004
Messages
4,067
ridgescan said:
How many of you my distinguished radiophiles find yourself the ONLY person in your entire family AND circle of friends who be interested in scanners and/or radio comm in general. If so, WHY do you think this is? ...

That's easy. People are becoming more self-centered and simply don't care about what is going on around them. That explains how you can get a building fire becoming fully involved on a busy street during the daytime before someone finally calls it in.
 

RedPenguin

Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2007
Messages
1,081
Amen

DickH said:
That's easy. People are becoming more self-centered and simply don't care about what is going on around them. That explains how you can get a building fire becoming fully involved on a busy street during the daytime before someone finally calls it in.

All I can really say to this is:

Amen.

LoL.

Anyway, I swear people are getting stranger every day. I have a friend who tells me, listening to the scanner is none of his business and nobody's business, yet he always seems so concerned about what's in his neighborhood and he's always noising in to other people's business. LoL.

Though in another reply to the original post, I think I am just an insane nutball, or something. LoL.

I say that above because, most people I know feel that going to New York City would be way too dangerous and there is no need to go there. I hear of the "crime" even though it's supposed to be one of the safest if not the safest big cities, and I love to go there.

Many ask me, why would I go into the subways at night, while I think to myself, that's one of the best times to go on the subway. I can't help it, I love fast trains. LoL.

Also, I just feel that the NYPD is unbelievable, I mean it's so huge and basically has everything, it's like an amry really in my mind.

The reason I bring up NYC and being a nut is simple, you put me in NYC and give me a scanner (with frequencies of course), I'm one happy guy, and sometimes I swear you get so wrapped up, you feel like one of the dispatchers or officers, LoL.

Does anyone else do this? Do you sometimes get so wrapped up into your scanner, where you feel for a while, that you are in one of the cars chasing the criminal, or one of the officers chasing on foot? Hint: If you say when they catch the guy/gal, "We got em boys/gals!" I think you might suffer from this "disease".
 

raisindot

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2008
Messages
247
ridgescan said:
How many of you my distinguished radiophiles find yourself the ONLY person in your entire family AND circle of friends who be interested in scanners and/or radio comm in general. If so, WHY do you think this is? Myself-throughout my 47 yrs I have been 'the lone ranger' in this hobby amongst all family, extended family , friends, and even people I know at work...ALL of them, they just could give a crap about anything remotely connected with this radiocomm thing I love so much. WTF?!! I so enjoyed the "your first sting thread" because I needed to hear other folk echo this apparently rare affinity for our hobby. The "what was your first scanner" thread holds priceless posts of beautiful radio history as well as "anyone listen to distant AM..." At least here I don't feel so alone..I'd love to hear your thoughts on this:)73s

Y'know, I was going to start a threat like this, but I was afraid it'd be considered a troll.

I do think that nearly all SW/Ham/Scanner hobbyists are "lone rangers" in this record, and I don't think it's anything new, since the whole thing probably started back in the 20's when awkward boys spent hours by themselves fiddling with crystal radios trying to pick up distant AM signals.

Personally, scanner hobbyists are probably the "loneliest," since, while it is possible to turn the unitiated on to the novelty of hearing a radio broadcast from another country, it's very difficult to get similar people interested in listening to people saying, "Ocean Frank," and "Got it," "Deliver that pizza to 123 Main Street" and "Returning to base" all day along, unless you're lucky enough to tune into a car chase or an arrest.

I myself don't tell anyone about my interest, as I know they would think me to be incredibly strange. Let's face it, most non-mainstream radio listening tends to be anti-social, with us sitting alone by our scanners/radios/whatever, twiddling knobs, etc.

I think perhaps isolationist nature of the hobby is what makes so many (but not all, of course) radio hobbyists rather conservative in their political outlook. Or, perhaps, the converse is true: more people with these outlooks tend to be drawn to this hobby than tree-hugging liberals like me...

Suzie
 

RedPenguin

Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2007
Messages
1,081
Yep

raisindot said:
Y'know, I was going to start a threat like this, but I was afraid it'd be considered a troll.

I do think that nearly all SW/Ham/Scanner hobbyists are "lone rangers" in this record, and I don't think it's anything new, since the whole thing probably started back in the 20's when awkward boys spent hours by themselves fiddling with crystal radios trying to pick up distant AM signals.

Personally, scanner hobbyists are probably the "loneliest," since, while it is possible to turn the unitiated on to the novelty of hearing a radio broadcast from another country, it's very difficult to get similar people interested in listening to people saying, "Ocean Frank," and "Got it," "Deliver that pizza to 123 Main Street" and "Returning to base" all day along, unless you're lucky enough to tune into a car chase or an arrest.

I myself don't tell anyone about my interest, as I know they would think me to be incredibly strange. Let's face it, most non-mainstream radio listening tends to be anti-social, with us sitting alone by our scanners/radios/whatever, twiddling knobs, etc.

I think perhaps isolationist nature of the hobby is what makes so many (but not all, of course) radio hobbyists rather conservative in their political outlook. Or, perhaps, the converse is true: more people with these outlooks tend to be drawn to this hobby than tree-hugging liberals like me...

Suzie

That's exactly true. Scanning, SW, AM/FM all seem to be "loner-hobbies" . Also, people do look at you weird in these hobbies.

I know also do not tell anyone about my hobbies except on RR of course since many are scanner/radio hobbyists.

If I tell someone I listen to radio/police scanners, I'm a nosey troublemaker who just gets entertainment out of others nightmares. If I tell people I listen to AM/FM radio or DX, I need to get with the times and get a CD player or iPod(or alternatives). If I tell people I listen to Shortwave, many just are like "WTF is that?" and just seem bored if I try to explain it to them.

Don't get me wrong, I do like iPods and Nokia Internet Tablets and other cool devices of the "now-time" but I also love tried and tested technologies like radio. I even believe that DOS is still useful for different things.

Though, don't always think everyone is against you in these hobbies, because I've run in to people already that find my hobby(ies) unbelievably cool and want to learn how they can get in to the hobby(ies). I've had one time an army guy come up to me when I had my scanner and say, I should join the army. Though they seem to say that to everyone but I just found it interesting how I was the only person he came up to while outside my school. LoL.

I just don't think I will talk about my hobbies unless someone asks. If you talk to others without them asking, many just laugh and think you are incredibly strange. LoL.

EDIT: If you also want to seem weird to people, just pick a hobby like mine and be a 19 year old in to classic TV like I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners. Most people my age that I know are watching shows with tons of sex (not porn but some of today's TV is sure close to it LoL) or shows like Jason. LoL.
 
Last edited:

scannerbum

Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
170
Location
Central IL.
Lol!

"I myself don't tell anyone about my interest, as I know they would think me to be incredibly strange. Let's face it, most non-mainstream radio listening tends to be anti-social, with us sitting alone by our scanners/radios/whatever, twiddling knobs, etc."

So true raisindot!!
 

RedPenguin

Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2007
Messages
1,081
I think I know

ridgescan said:
What's trolling and I hope I'm not guilty of it:confused:

Well as far as I know, it's someone or I guess sometimes more than one, who posts just to get people "stirred" up. Often it seems that they ask very stupid or controversial questions.

An example could be someone posting "How do I program a transceiver so that I can talk to my local police?" - knowing that this is illegal and will just waste people's time and energy just to say that it's illegal and just plain stupid.

Get the idea?

I don't think this message is a troll or anything, so don't get worried, ridgescan. Also if anyone else would have, I don't think anyone would have answered you or would have called you a troll probably.
 
Last edited:

jleverin

Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2007
Messages
141
I know how some of you guys feel, I am currently hiding my handhelds in a closet downstairs and don't listen to them when the husband is around. We once lived next to an older lady who was the resident snoop and knew everyone's business in the neighborhood. Of course if you went into her living room, there was a scanner right next to her chair. Husband and her absolutely despised each other, he used to make fun of "E" the busybody and her scanner". However I grew up with scanner radios, when I was about 11 I had a great aunt give me one for Christmas when she upgraded to a bigger scanner(that was when you had to have a certain chrystal for certain channels). I used to love listening to that thing! I only recently rediscovered scanning and bought myself a handheld, I am officially hooked on the thing. I plan on becoming a ham soon and upgrading the scanner too. I am just afraid husband is one of those that thinks we shouldn't be using scanners as it is "snooping". So, for now, I'm still "in the closet" as far as my hobby goes. !You are right about people seem to be more self centered these days, and oblivious to their surroundings.
 

ridgescan

Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2008
Messages
4,778
Location
San Francisco, Ca.
Thanks Red-I gitcha. So alot of you seem to be almost embarrassed by this hobby? A lot of what's been said so far never crossed my mind. As I said in the "your first sting" thread, radiocomm has been a part of my life since childhood. I never thought of it as antisocial, being nosey, or weird. I am blessed with a gorgeous Wife who just reassured me she appreciates the radio hobby and it's a part of who I am...but she's not into it. My Son gave me a funny look when he saw my recent scanner setup in the truck and said "what-you gonna start chasing down the calls now?" Kinda made me feel like George McFly. Just as he said that though (I was driving him to dentist) a call popped in that 4 juvi's had shoplifted a crapload of stuff from a hardware store just 3 blocks up the road we were on HAH!! "oh do ya think we'll see 'em?" "LOOK there's one guy running like hell Rick!" Yup Rick kinda saw the appeal in this scanner thing that day as we continued to hear the cops rounding up all 4 guys as we drove on! But he's not into it. To me radiocomm ENHANCES my life; instead of playing music, sometimes I'll run the scanner. Instead of watching TV, there'll be the BBC or Radio Netherlands or VOA piping into the livingroom (if I have alone time) and the people who love me are used to the extra antennas. I like to think of us Scannists as higher-thinking folk who enjoy being privvy to inside stuff that frankly never occured to most people! And don't forget the undying curiosity about the equipment itself...ESPECIALLY the antennas:D:D
 

mciupa

Database Admin
Moderator
Joined
Nov 5, 2002
Messages
8,301
John Q. Public deems scannists to be eavesdroppers and socially challenged. :(

Don't waste your time preaching how great this hobby is to others , just enjoy it yourself. :)
 

rafale01010

Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2007
Messages
75
Location
Perry
I myself am the 1 in a 100 that're interested in scannnning. One buddy of mine from also has one and i think thats the only one that does. None of my family are really intersted in it either, my dad kinda likes it but aint gonna waste money on a scanner.
 

CStarr59

Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2008
Messages
340
Location
Schuylkill County PA.
Im the only one in my family and friends that used a scanner. So I bought my son in law one and programmed it for him, and he has started listening. He seems to like it and uses it more every day. between my base and handheld they run 24/7 and I think it's a great hobby. Even my wife has started listening and shows interest, I'm impressed to say the least. Scanners make excellent gifts and they spread the hobby and knowledge of what's going on around you! Give it a try.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top