[Scan-DC] [OT] Old Scanner Day at Yard Sale and Thrift Store

[Blair Thompson]

I went by a yard sale today in Alexandria. There was a Radio Shack scanner there, a PRO-30, sitting next to a 1986 edition of Police Call. The scanner had a date code of 9A5, meaning it was built in September 1985. The wall wart was there, and it looked clean. The guy wanted $10 for it. His mom (I guess) added that her husband had been a DC police officer, and he used to listen to the DC police on it. 

Well, maybe you could back in 1986, but I don't think you can now. A PRO-30 has a whopping 16 channels. It can't go past 512 MHz, and it requires three watch cells to maintain memory. I figure that every scanner is a weather radio. Even if I chose not to install the memory cells, the radio could find a weather station. The cells alone would be a few dollars apiece, and they would require regular replacement. $10 is about ten times what I had in mind to pay for it, and we were unable to come to terms, even after he cut the price in half. I left empty-handed.

At a thrift store later that afternoon, I saw that someone had turned in a Bearcat 100. This Bearcat 100 was not the 100-channel radio, but, like the PRO-30, a 16-channel radio. Also, like the PRO-30, it was the size of a brick. It had not been priced yet, and I didn't ask. Sitting next to it in a box was a Radio Shack general coverage radio. "It's a DX-394," I was sure. Nope. It was a DX-100, a considerably less interesting radio. I plugged it in and searched the bands. Nothing. It couldn't even get WMAL. I left it and the Uniden at the store.

I went 0-for-3 today. I don't think I made a mistake.

Here's the DX-100:
http://radiopics.com/RS-Realistic/DX-100.htm

Here's the Bearcat 100:
http://radiopics.com/Bearcat/Bearcat_100.htm

Here's the PRO-30
http://radiopics.com/RS-Realistic/PRO-30.htm

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