Well, friend, I started my radio DXing hobby when I was about 14 or 15 years old, in the late 60s, about 50 years ago. Almost everything was different from today. My local police were dispatched on 45 Mhz simplex, one nearby county was still using 27 MHz simplex. Encryption was unheard of, but, believe me, the local authorities tried all kind of ways to keep the public from listening in. Some departments used voice inversion scrambling. Others, such as one nearby city, heavily used signal codes for just about every action or piece of information dispatched. Luckily, I knew a police officer in that city, and he passed me a copy of the codes. The Vermont State Police put a high pitched tone on top of all their transmissions to discourage monitoring. Then, I think it was Regency scanners came out with a way to block the tones. My first "scanner" wasn't really a scanner( unheard of at the time), but was a crystal controlled monitor. I remember my mother took me to Radio Shack to buy me some crystals as a birthday present. For every frequency that you wanted to listen to, you had to buy a crystal. When the modern frequency synthesized scanner came out, it was like manna from heaven. And , believe me, the crystals weren't cheap. And often, they were duds, slightly off frequency. At that time, I remember that the police channels in the suburban area where I lived as a youth were pretty boring, as crime was quite low, and people weren't brainwashed to the "see something, say something" mentality. Today, crime has increased in the suburbs, and people call the cops for every stupid little thing, which actually makes scanning more interesting. Back then, it was the big cities that were actually more violent than today, especially right after the end of the Vietnam war. I remember I used to hitch a ride with friends when they went down to Philly or Baltimore or New York, just to listen to the nighttime wars on the police radio in the ghettos between the police and the thugs...non stop shootings, assaults,and murders.... Police radio back then was a hundred times more entertaining than the TV....and I just want to comment for those who speak about encryption and having nothing to listen to on the scanner. Philly, New York, Baltimore, Houston, Chicago, Pittsburgh and many many other high crime cities, still, in 2020, have unencrypted dispatching. Furthermore, with the trunked radio systems of today, there is at least 100% more to listen to than back then, as you can now hear all sides of the communication. When I started listening, most systems were still simplex, with very few repeaters. I remember going outside and climbing up a hill just to hear both sides of the conversation. Many, if not most, Fire Departments in suburban and rural areas were still simplex well into the 90s, and even some up to just 10 years ago were simplex. It is our tax dollars that buy these radio systems and encrypt them. Although I have no problem with tactical and surveillance channels being encrypted, it is simply not right to encrypt the main dispatch channels, and even worse, the fire and public works channels as they do in parts of Florida. We pay the salaries of these public servants and have every right to know what they are doing with our money, just as we have a very important right to know what is going on in our neighborhood and city. If we remain silent, as now, not only will everything be encrypted, but serious abuse of our money, and our human rights will inevitably occur. Meanwhile, enjoy the hobby while it lasts.
