What ever happened to Regency Scanners?

[W2NJS]

Strange that no one has mentioned the very fine line of VHF ham mobiles that Regency made, such as their HR2A and B lines. Twelve crystal-controlled channels in a small box, which meant that you had to invest in 24 crystals (!) to fill it up. The first HR2A units were made with wide IFs, so when you listened to FDNY on 154.25 you also got Jersey City loud and clear. Regency sent me a narrower Murata filter to cure the problem, but these were really tough, reliable radios.

 

[Thunderbolt]

A friend of mine recently acquired a 16 Channel Regency, crystal controlled scanner from another friend. It's from the ACT series and he is looking to sell it off. I was amazed for scanner that is this old from the mid-1970s, that it still works just fine after all these years.

73's

Ron

 

[Brian7M3]

I had the HX-1500 handheld in the late 80's. Was a great scanner. I don't even remember what happened to it.

 

[prcguy]

I believe Uniden purchased the assets or company name of Regency. I worked at a CB/scanner/car stereo shop in the mid 70s and can still remember Regency's address of 7707 Records St. Indianapolis, Indiana from shipping stuff back to them.
prcguy

 

[MikeyC]

Picked up a Regency ACT-R-106 10 channel crystal scanner in pristine condition (Even the UL sticker on the back is still fully attached) from a Goodwill yesterday for a whole $2! Brought it home, plugged it in and turned it on and received clear audio (albeit a little low from narrowbanding) within no time! It is apparently filled with at least the local SO VHF channel and some marine channels. There's 8 crystals in it, I need to pop them out and see what's there.

 

[oracavon]

I believe Uniden purchased the assets or company name of Regency. I worked at a CB/scanner/car stereo shop in the mid 70s and can still remember Regency's address of 7707 Records St. Indianapolis, Indiana from shipping stuff back to them.
prcguy

Yup, you're right. Uniden bought Regency's scanner assets. The first radio Uniden made after the buyout was made in two versions - the Regency version (Regency R1600), and the same radio with the Bearcat name (BC760XLT). The only difference was the front panel buttons - the internals were the same, and the optional boards (RF Amp board and CTCSS board) were interchangeable. After that, the Regency name disappeared from their scanner line.

I also remember the 7707 Records Street address from their ads and shipping stuff there. Funny how that address sticks in your mind. Regency also sold the Shepherd brand scanner crystals, which went bad occasionally and had to be returned for replacement.

 

[oracavon]

I had the HX-1500 handheld in the late 80's. Was a great scanner. I don't even remember what happened to it. View attachment 58822

I still have mine. It died suddenly while I was using it a couple of years ago. I'm sure it's just a simple power problem, but I'm not sure it's worth fixing. It takes like 8 AA batteries, so it was pretty heavy. But it worked great.

 

[oracavon]

Picked up a Regency ACT-R-106 10 channel crystal scanner in pristine condition (Even the UL sticker on the back is still fully attached) from a Goodwill yesterday for a whole $2! Brought it home, plugged it in and turned it on and received clear audio (albeit a little low from narrowbanding) within no time! It is apparently filled with at least the local SO VHF channel and some marine channels. There's 8 crystals in it, I need to pop them out and see what's there.

Great price. I still have a couple of those which still work, although I'm not using them now.

 

[FedFyrGuy]

Have a Regency R-1600 in my command vehicle in Afghanistan for VHF-Air monitoring. Still works like a champ!

 

[jdcaples]

Have a Regency R-1600 in my command vehicle in Afghanistan for VHF-Air monitoring. Still works like a champ!

Thank you for your service, sir!

Just curious. Is that scanner personally owned, or does the DOD own it?

-Jon

 

[FedFyrGuy]

Thank you. It is mine. Also carry an ICOM R-2 and RS PRO-18 from time to time to monitor both VHF and UHF air.

 

[krokus]

Thank you for your service, sir!

Just curious. Is that scanner personally owned, or does the DOD own it?

-Jon

I am curious about that, too.

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[sibbley]

I still have mine. It died suddenly while I was using it a couple of years ago. I'm sure it's just a simple power problem, but I'm not sure it's worth fixing. It takes like 8 AA batteries, so it was pretty heavy. But it worked great.

I still have mine too. Don't use it much anymore though. Last November I fired it up and it still worked great though.

 

[LEH]

I still have mine. It died suddenly while I was using it a couple of years ago. I'm sure it's just a simple power problem, but I'm not sure it's worth fixing. It takes like 8 AA batteries, so it was pretty heavy. But it worked great.

I still have mine and the drop in charger. Both still work though not much around here to listen to with it.

 

[W9NES]

Regency was not bought by Uniden. They were on the east side of Indianapolis for years. They moved to Fl and now and under the name of RELM. I am on the lookout for Regency equipment to add to my communications center.

 

[fxdscon]

Regency was not bought by Uniden. They were on the east side of Indianapolis for years. They moved to Fl and now and under the name of RELM. I am on the lookout for Regency equipment to add to my communications center.

The consumer products line of Regency Electronics was indeed purchased by Uniden.

.

 

[n2pqq]

Everything you could want to know ;

https://www.radiomuseum.org/dsp_hersteller_detail.cfm?company_id=3886

 

[oracavon]

Everything you could want to know ;

https://www.radiomuseum.org/dsp_hersteller_detail.cfm?company_id=3886

Not really everything. That link doesn't say anything about Uniden acquiring Regency's scanner line, which is the current point of discussion.

The September 1988 issue of Monitoring Times reported the acquisition and featured an interview between Bob Grove of MT and Paul Davis, National Sales Manager for Uniden, on page 33. It starts out: "Uniden Corporation of America, manufacturer of Bearcat scanners, recently acquired the assets of Regency Electronics’s Consumer Electronics Division. To allay the fears of many scanner owners, we are pleased to present this interview between Bob Grove for Monitoring Times and Paul Davis, National Sales Manager for Uniden." You can read the entire interview (in text format) at https://archive.org/stream/MonitoringTimesSeptember1988/09September1988_djvu.txt, in which they discuss Uniden's plans for the Regency scanner line.

Also, page 100 of the October 1999 issue of Monitoring Times contains the following "Business News" item:

"Grove Enterprises has been told by company representatives that RELM Communications has discontinued their MS200 and HS200 scanners and is getting out of the scanner business for a second time. RELM - with its roots going back to Regency Electronics - sold its scanner line to Uniden a dozen years ago, but reentered the market in 1997. RELM still manufactures two-way land mobile radios."

So Regency changed their name to RELM and sold off their consumer electronics line (including the Regency scanners) to Uniden. They later manufactured a couple of their own scanners under the RELM name, but eventually discontinued those.

 

[ElroyJetson]

I lived a block away from their Satellite Beach FL factory. I got a LOT of radio equipment out of their dumpster and that actually is what got me started in the whole world of radio.

Their radios were quite inexpensive compared to the competition but they were surprisingly reliable. The Satellite Beach Police Department had some special deal with them where SBPD field tested their new models in service for some really sweet deal that was good for both the company and the city taxpayers.

Basically the department got radios for raw cost and Regency got free field experience developing their products. Not a bad deal.

Their radios were always made with simple construction, just a step or two above something you might make in your garage if you were a serious hobbyist, but they worked and kept on working.

Regency became RELM, and for a time they survived making and selling load management products, but when they picked up the BK line that turned things around for them. The BK "brick" radios we've all seen are still made in a P25 compatible variant today, or at least they were until recently. Their KNG series portable radios have very good specifications and peformance even though their build quality isn't quite up to Motorola's level.

Recently, RELM retired the RELM name and it's now BK Technologies.

Some of the radios that the company has in its museum display were provided to them by me as I
occasionally encountered pristine examples of very rare Regency radios.

About three years ago I gifted them a pristine example of one of their enormous brick portable radios that took the 14.4 volt block battery. It came with its original leather case and was in almost perfect condition.

 

[krokus]

Their radios were always made with simple construction, just a step or two above something you might make in your garage if you were a serious hobbyist, but they worked and kept on working.

Sadly, some of their factory techs did not properly align the radios. My dad was a Regency dealer, and his pre-delivery bench checks of the radios is where I learned how to swear like a sailor, long before I became one.

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