The Original Radio Reference

[rk911]

bought my first scanner in the mid-70’s from the California Bachelor CB Shop. i think he was on the SW side of the city somewhere. the radio was a Robyn VHF 8-channel with colored caps...red for fire, blue for law and yellow for others. i recall purchasing two crystals...155.19 (south suburban law) and point-point, 155.37.

 

[GrumpyGuard]

I bought my first scanner in 1978 or 79. It was a Radio Shack handheld scanner with either 4 or 8 frequencies. Radio Shack had a printed list of all the local frequencies, and you chose which crystals to install. I remember buying my first programmable scanner in either 1981 or 1982. I used Police Call to find the frequencies I wanted. I used the scanner to monitor our local fire department when I worked EMS. We were able to shave several minutes off our response times.

 

[eyes00only]

I said id share a pic of the scanner i was given by my father in law and its a Radio Shack Pro2052

Still use this sometimes.
Wish I could afford a new scanner.

 

[slicerwizard]

Wish I could afford a new scanner.

Everyone can afford a couple of SDR dongles and keep up with the newer digital voice modes.

 

[eyes00only]

Everyone can afford a couple of SDR dongles and keep up with the newer digital voice modes.

Never used a Dongle yet. Had a coworker try one but he had reception and other problems. With all the damn encryption on the fire frequencies I've pretty much given up. For now at least I can still monitor Denver.

 

[krokus]

I used to buy the Police Call for my home area, and wherever I was stationed (when on the mainland US, since there was not a Hawaii edition).


Sent using Tapatalk

 

[jaymatt1978]

Anyone have an old Police Call Vol. 2 I just need a scan of one page, two tops for historical referenmce

 

[15plus1]

quote"
There was also a regional call directory for the NY,NJ,CT area that was put out by an Assistant Queens DA. Warren put out a lot of effort each year into it to make sure it was the most up to date it could be. I also contributed to it and had to make sure I got my listings in before September for the following years issue.

I have at least 2 of those guides. They included Input freqs and PL tones... Quite a bit of info back then !!! I
Didn't know the author (Mr. Silverman) was an ADA...

 

[mattw19781]

police call

i just loved police call i used it all the time with my first scanner a handheld from radio shack which i sadly do not remember the model number when i was growing up in the florida keys in the 1990s i must have been 14 or 15 years old
gene sure put out a great book with a ton of info in it

 

[relay99]

Early CD's

When Police Call stopped publication and computers were rising leaps and bounds to become the future electronic filing cabinets, the "new" format that was able to store a lot of data at the time and available were these CD's. Both these CD's use the Windows 3.1 software along with the first versions of Acrobat to view them.
Mr. Scanner CD `s I believe were purchased mail order at the time from one of the supermaket news stand radio or communications magazines and was offered by the Bearcat Radio Club which also provided Tech support for a long distance phone call which was not toll free. Alot of info other than frequencies are included like trunk tracker fleet numbers and the use of Sherrifs and Police signals and codes nationwide.
Oh well just a little nostalgia to share to this thread...
Later
Gary

 

[UPMan]

RadioShack also carried them for a year or three.

 

[eyes00only]

Kewl, I never saw the CD's.

 

[Sporrt]

Have the 1992 edition in the closet. The opening pages are an excellent primer to the characteristics of different frequencies etc.

Started with a Pro-41 10 channel.

You work with what you have. I had most frequencies memorized (still do), input was quick.

 

[relay99]

Call Books to manually program

Early Uniden BC 200 & 235 xlt's that were programmed manually useing Police Call books and with many keystrokes and hours to program both! Both still work good (shown on one) and are used to pick up alot of regular analog traffic still around my area. Note the one that has keypad printing on the buttons how worn off they are compared to the older scanner next to it. Thankfull for todays radios with computer assistance. I found my first scanner Regency leather case but scanner is AWOL! Maybe in pieces parts? HAHAHA

 

[iMONITOR]

I used to buy Spectrum FCC Database on either CD, or DVD, can't remember. It was frequency lists from the FCC for different areas with a simple database management program to create list you could view or print out. It was expensive, are $75. Any recall these?

Just did a search, not sure but this could be it, or related to what I used to get.

Spectrum Utilization Study Software (SUSS)
https://www.fcc.gov/spectrum-utilization-study-software-suss

 

[N9JIG]

I used to get the various Percon products. They had a limited-field nationwide scanner database and a pro product that included the entire FCC record. I think the full-fields product came in regions based on PoliceCall volumes but I am not positive.

Being a die-hard Mac guy I used to export the database from the front end product on a Windows machine and take the resultant file and import it into FoxPro or FileMaker. I would combine this with my own database and use it as a resource. The latest I have was from 2007.

I suppose one could download the entire FCC database and import it into whatever product they use, which is probably what Percon did.

 

[iMONITOR]

I used to get the various Percon products. They had a limited-field nationwide scanner database and a pro product that included the entire FCC record. I think the full-fields product came in regions based on PoliceCall volumes but I am not positive.

Being a die-hard Mac guy I used to export the database from the front end product on a Windows machine and take the resultant file and import it into FoxPro or FileMaker. I would combine this with my own database and use it as a resource. The latest I have was from 2007.

I suppose one could download the entire FCC database and import it into whatever product they use, which is probably what Percon did.

That was it Rich! PERCON, couldn't remember the name. Yes, I used to get the regional issue for my area. I also used FoxPro, as well as dBASE to manipulate the data. I wish they were still available, but for my needs today, RR's database serves me well. Looks like they're still around!

PerCon Corporation Products

 

[iceman382]

Seeing that brought back some fond memories. Simpler times,for sure.

 

[665_NJ]

Police Call, Meomories and Nostalgia

Well back in the day I started getting Police Call in the very late 70's and early 80's. Had to get two volumes, one for NJ and one for NY. I worked with a George Switlick as a major consultant. George was Gene's DB managers here in NJ who compiled all the frequency data with his early computers before the info was edited and finally published. I supplied George with data covering NJ and the NY Metro Area for a good 7-10 years. My only compensation back then, I would get my 2 volumes of Police Call free and about 2 weeks before the hit the retail market (Radio Shack).

It was sad to see the demise of Police Call but Radio Reference came progressively filled the void.

A final point here and waxing nostalgic, before Police Call my primary sources for frequency information were CRB Research out of Rockland Co, NY. (Famous Yellow, Orange and Pink Data Sheets), Commercial Printout of All FCC Land Mobile Licenses (Printout from wide carriage dot matrix printer, about 300 to 700 Sheets and 3lbs approx) and finally Micro Fiche (Special Photo Slides of FCC Data with my own portable Micro Fiche reader!) Boy am I dating myself here:roll:.

Well, things sometimes never change just the technology and equipment.
Look, I am still doing what I started with when working with Gorge S and now its with Lindsay and Tom here as a DB admin for NJ.

 

[rk911]

wow...i forgot that i also had a microfiche reader and a set of FCC data slides. don’t recall where i picked them up.