When I was a boy...

[VK3RX]

My first scanner in the 1970s was a SBE Opti-scan, which used plastic cards that had small removable adhesive squares covering clear holes in the plastic, so it worked similar to the punch card type. The manual had a lookup table that indicated what "holes" to uncover for a specific frequency.

Opti-Scan SBE-12SM

Since then many scanners, and right now my collection includes a couple of near mint Realistic's, and a JIL SX-400 with an up-converter.

 

[bberns22]

Thats a work of art. I remember those scanners. Didn't Regency have a similar looking one with black front?

Not quite done with the Regency - should be ready to go this weekend..

 

[bberns22]

Not a scanner, but the Realistic Patrolman CB60 was my first introduction to the fun of listening to the police & fire department when I was a kid. I should get one off of ebay just for the memories it brought me back in the late 70's until it broke sometime in the late 90's.

As a kid I always wanted one of those too....

 

[mikewazowski]

Not a scanner, but the Realistic Patrolman CB60 was my first introduction to the fun of listening to the police & fire department when I was a kid. I should get one off of ebay just for the memories it brought me back in the late 70's until it broke sometime in the late 90's.

Same story here. Started with a Patrolman Mini and the aviation version of it. Moved up to the CB60 next before purchasing a Bearcat 160.

After that it was a 210 than a 220RC (which is in the background of my Thinscan picture.

 

[doctordialtone]

My first crystal-based scanner was the TMR 8 H/L.

PD/Fire were both on 156 MHz

State PD was on low band.

Look at that speaker!



Before that, I used tune able portables to follow the action!

 

[wbswetnam]

I started scanning in 1980 when I was 16 years old. My grandfather (a former deputy sheriff) had bought a Bearcat 210 so he gave me his old crystal-controlled Bearcat III while we were visiting them for Christmas in Arkansas. We lived in Nebraska at the time so somehow I scraped together $40 for the eight crystals to monitor some local fire, sheriff and Nebraska State Patrol. Unfortunately the Bearcat III could only do VHF low and high; no UHF on that model. My local police used UHF for fire and police. I remember how bummed I was about that, and how much I wanted a Bearcat 210, too. But, I didn't have $300 for one so I had to make do with what I had.

These days, I still can't listen to my local police because they're fully encrypted! Sigh...

 

[KB8RQH]

Love looking @ all those old scanners!! My Uncle had a Sears 5 band scanner push card....(196??) I think??
I was glued to it when we went to his house!! Love those old scanners!!!!
Nothing in our area now to pick up, but might look for some to restore.....
I'm retired, just looking to kill some time.