The scanner market
Many of those posting to this thread have made excellent points. I have just a few thoughts. I've been listening to police and fire calls for 45 years and can remember when the Los Angeles Police still used medium wave which could be heard for hundreds of miles at night. I think that scanning is an American hobby for the most part. Many other places use systems like Tetra which cannot be monitored easily or legally. On the other hand, ham radio is a world wide hobby and provides manufacturers with much greater potential. As has been pointed out, all these manufacturers make commercial, marine and aircraft radios, also with a world wide market. As an example of limited markets, consider the relative scarcity of equipment for the 222-224Mhz ham band. Why? It's only used in North America. Add to all this the fact that the more digital encrypted systems, the fewer people who will buy scanners. The government is bent on keeping it's activities out of public view while doing its best to spy on its citizens. Be scared. Uniden and others won't waste time on a market that is shrinking.
Many of those posting to this thread have made excellent points. I have just a few thoughts. I've been listening to police and fire calls for 45 years and can remember when the Los Angeles Police still used medium wave which could be heard for hundreds of miles at night. I think that scanning is an American hobby for the most part. Many other places use systems like Tetra which cannot be monitored easily or legally. On the other hand, ham radio is a world wide hobby and provides manufacturers with much greater potential. As has been pointed out, all these manufacturers make commercial, marine and aircraft radios, also with a world wide market. As an example of limited markets, consider the relative scarcity of equipment for the 222-224Mhz ham band. Why? It's only used in North America. Add to all this the fact that the more digital encrypted systems, the fewer people who will buy scanners. The government is bent on keeping it's activities out of public view while doing its best to spy on its citizens. Be scared. Uniden and others won't waste time on a market that is shrinking.
