I used to have a Regency handheld when I lived in Tamp Florida back in the late eighties. That thing worked great. I had it programmed for the Tampa city police department which had about 10 frequencies in the UHF 450 to 470 Mhz range. As you might imagine, as shady as a lot of folks are in that area of Florida ( no insult to Florida intended ) the frequencies were alive night and day with disgusting crimes and horrifying traffic infractions. Talk about entertaining, and I thought that old Regency did a great job of picking it all up!!
Who remembers the old Regency scanners?
- Thread starter mortoma61
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Yes, most of us in here do I bet. In 1982 I got a TOUCH M-100 or 400? mobile/home and Regency Handheld programmable in 1985? or 86. THAT handheld got CELL coverage of course. Heard many things over the years on that including some locally famous people's conversations. But for the most part? BORING .. people were boring with nothing real to say. I didn't care when the Gubment axed that frequency block. Then? in 1990 some a-hole stole that handheld scanner off the seat of my car in a gas-station when I went in to pay. I learned never leave it behind, always take-with after that one. By the time the 1990s came around that mobile TOUCH scanner was flooded with Pager signals and interference as I lived in the busy Chi-RAQ suburbs. It became obsolete when 800Mhz came in, then 800Mhz Trunking. Ended up going to RS Pro2036 with TURBO SCAN! and a Pro96 back then. Regency was great. So was scanning in the OPEN too. ;0) here's a link to an old pic of the one I had. Old thread asked the same thing*
http://www.rigpix.com/regency/regency_m100.htm
http://www.rigpix.com/regency/regency_m100.htm
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While I'm too young to remember them new, I use an HX1000 for railfanning that I got used. Away from RF dense areas and provided you can deal with the limited amount of channels the Regency HX scanners from the 1980s by Azden (HX1000, 1200, and 1500) will still outperform any portable on the rail channels.
I believe the Regency handheld from that time that could pick up cellular frequencies was the HX2000...which was actually a rebadged AOR receiver.
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@ cbehr91 - yes. I was looking for the pic of it at the link above in my post. That must have been it. Got cell coverage in really well, but then they would drop out as it passed into another cell. I think I still have the manual for the Touch M100. The handheld had that irritating battery pack with pigtail you plug into the scanner inside/back. Came with a charge base.
They stole that one, the Bastards!
They stole that one, the Bastards!
Bob1955
Member
That Regency HX-1000 was a great handheld scanner at that time.
Have a good Thursday.
And the worst piece of crap I ever owned. That thing had images everywhere and was extremely prone to overload.
My first scanner was a Regency ACT-R10H/L/U. Got it from a neighbor who bought it new and said it never worked right ... turned out that the guy who set it up for him put incorrect and broken crystals in it. It performed like a champ with the right crystals. Sold it to buy a PRO-32. There are times when I wish I had kept it.
Monitoradio / Scanner ACT-R10H/L/U Receiver-C Regency brand
Monitoradio / Scanner ACT-R10H/L/U Receiver-C Regency brand
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
I had a TS-2 and HX1000 for a time. Boy those had hot front ends! I put up a simple vertical dipole in my attic and had a 6 meter mag mount in my car, and during the last big solar cycle, I had tons of lo band DX...Mike
I still have my original HX-1500, third scanner I ever owned. Still a great radio today. I use it from time to time.
6079smithw
Member
I think my 1st Regency unit was a ACT-R10 as well, back in early 70s. Then a WHAMO-10 and a Touch K500 as I recall.
M100 handheld and a few more I can't recall that I sold/lost/gave away over the years.
This pic isn't exactly a scanner, but a Regency Weather Monitor I found in a trash bin after a yard sale.
Cleaned it up and it works like new after more than 40 years.
The alert tone on this thing will blast you out of bed when it goes off... guaranteed!
M100 handheld and a few more I can't recall that I sold/lost/gave away over the years.
This pic isn't exactly a scanner, but a Regency Weather Monitor I found in a trash bin after a yard sale.
Cleaned it up and it works like new after more than 40 years.
The alert tone on this thing will blast you out of bed when it goes off... guaranteed!
Apart from bricking not one, but two of those scanners by accidentally reversing the polarity on the plug the HX1500 was a great radio. I've never used many late model scanners, but the user programmable banks on the HX1500 was a unique and useful feature.
oracavon
Member
I have several old Regency scanners that I still use, including crystal models and early programmable models. With one exception, the crystal models have the best audio quality of any of my scanners, including recent Uniden models. Simplicity had its advantages.
Yup... had a M100 and a M400 and a Wilson/Regency keypad programmable WH2516 VHF transceiver (n the same case style as the M100. CHP had one of those scanners in each car. I also had two Regency scanners (MX5000 and MX7000) that were manufactured by AOR, in the AOR 3000 cast style, one went to 512mhz and the other I used for analog cellular monitoring.
Jen
Jen
oldradioguy2010
Member
Me too. I had the M400.
My best catch was the Challenger. Shuttle when Owen Garrett was on board.
Great radio. Sold it off.
DW
Oxnard CA.
My best catch was the Challenger. Shuttle when Owen Garrett was on board.
Great radio. Sold it off.
DW
Oxnard CA.
6079smithw
Member
I did likewise with a BC-300 mounted under the dash in a 1958 Dodge 100 P/U.
Wish I had held on to both of them...
dwh367
Member
Regency was my scanner of choice back in the day. It's been so long that I can't recall the model numbers anymore but I've had both crystal and programmable ones.
ridgescan
Member
I still have my '88 Regency Turbo-Scan 800. And yeah the cellphone days were a blast
Still runs but keypad is hinky.
Still runs but keypad is hinky.
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