Wow this thread took me down a path of memory lane.
My first scanner? Back in the 1970s, my mom gifted me my first scanner. I was probably 10 years old living on Long Island, NY. She would notice that I would stare out the window of our apartment any time I heard the fire siren on top of the firehouse roof about two miles away and would wonder what was happening out there for the latest fire call. It was exciting. (Flash forward to this day - I am in my 50s and a volunteer FF/EMT).
She bought me a hand held scanner receiver radio back when I was about 10 years old. I am pretty sure it was VHF low band but it might have been VHF hi also. But here is the kicker: It was "tune-able". It had 4 channels with a red LED for each channel, and each channel had a knob on the front to tune in the frequency. It would then 'scan' channels 1 - 4.
Now, mind you, I had no idea what frequency I was searching for, but I was tuning the dials back and forth every time I heard that roof top siren. I will never forget the day I heard a dispatcher say "Chief, the fire is at ________ road". That was the very first broadcast I ever heard - verbatim. For days and weeks and months to come I would run to that radio to turn it on every time I heard that siren, and I always heard the address being broadcast. It was never broadcast before the siren, but the chief was always told the location of the call a minute or two after the siren.
This started my hobby. I just spent 30 minutes on the Internet searching for a picture of that radio with no luck. I see it in my memories clear as day and I would recognize it if I saw it again. No crystals. But tune-able. color black. Handheld with telescoping antenna. 1970s. Owned that until my first Radio Shack 4 channel crystal radio. But my true first scanner was this tune-able radio.
Thanks for all the pics in this thread. I owned many of these through the last 45 years. I just purchased a Unication G5 10 days ago and love it. Man how times have changed with this tiny radio decoding P25 trunked broadcasts and talk groups.
Reminds me of my own journey into scanning, in my case it was aircraft. My uncle took me to an airshow when I was about 4 [I remember the Blue Angels were flying Phantoms at the time] and I was blown away. I lived in Detroit, probably about 30 miles from Metro airport, but my location was on the landing flightpath so there were aircraft flying by all the time.
Soon as I heard one I'd drop whatever I was doing and run outside, or run to the window in winter, to try to ID them. I'd start with type, back then that was easy as there were not all that many jet liners. DC-9, DC-10, 707, 727, 747,L10-11 was really about it. Then the airliner, once again not all that many - United, American, TWA, Eastern, Pan Am, BOAC. I remember once I ran to the window and tripped, busting my lip on the window sill. My mom was freaking out over the blood and was trying to comfort me but I wasn't worried about that, I said wait I have to see the airplane.
I am shocked I wasn't a pilot, I even used to jump off my porch flapping my arms trying to fly. I'd study birds trying to figure out how they did it, I was convinced I'd take to the air if only I could discover the proper method.
But anyhow, that led me to my first scanner sometime in the mid 80's I'd say, I was at an air force base watching planes and a guy had a scanner and I said holy moly, got to have one of those, went to a radio shack and got a Pro 34. Oh I guess I detailed that part in the OP, but it took a little while to drum up an interest in any comms besides aviation.
Now, although I have an airport in range, civilian aviation bores me so I listen mostly to emergency services.
