[Scan-DC] New topic! First Scanner

[George via Scan-DC]

At age 12, my first radio was a VHF hi band Lafayette handheld receiver which had a dial to tune in the frequency you wanted.  Got it for Christmas, I think Santa Claus got it from a Lafayette store on Connecticut Ave and Porter St., in DC.  It had a metal telescopic antenna; the squelch was always open.  Monitored Alexandria, VA FD 154.43 and PD 155.?  

I would keep it tuned to the PD freq but the FD would bleed over if APD was not talking.  A quick move of the dial would bring in the FD transmission loud and clear.  Remember listening to the May Day Protests in Washington DC on this radio.   

A year or so later I got a Sonar FM VHF three crystal handheld receiver. Metal telescopic antenna but closed squelch.  I would set the tune dial to VHF and select one or the three channels at a time.  Got this radio at a Electronic store across from Dixie Pig BBQ on Powhatan Street in Alexandria.  

Alexandria PD moved to 460.375, within a year or so I got my first "Scanner" a Regency Monitoradio/Executive Scanner 8 Channels UHF/VHFhi.  Then a Radio Shack 4 channel portable VHF scanner rubber plug in antenna; my first portable scanner, AFD was still on 154.43.  Medics were on 460.525.  

Then a Fannon/Courier 4 channel UHF portable scanner.  This Fannon/Courier scanner offered an accessory which you could mount in your vehicle and the radio could be dropped into the device ran off of the vehicle's power, charged your radio, a plug for an external antenna and had a amplified speaker.  I don't have the radio but I still have this accessory.  I modified it for future radios.  

I then got a Tennelec Memoryscan-MS 2 Scanner, my first programmable scanner.  First direct entry scanner BC100 16 channel portable.  From there too many to name.  I wish I had saved all of them but would sell one to upgrade to a better model.  My current radio is the BCD369XT.

I would upgrade to the BCD436HP but the public safety folks in my area of Florida are moving to a new system, within a couple of years, with encryption.  You know for officer safety, yea right.  I would respect them if they would just tell us the truth....they don't want anyone, especially the press, to know what is happening in the community.  It is a control issue not an officer safety issue.

George

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Danes <danesgs1 at gmail.com>
To: Scan-DC <Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Mon, Nov 17, 2014 7:14 pm
Subject: [Scan-DC] New topic! First Scanner


Would like to know what radios the members started using in the "dim time"
before SDR and all the stuff we have today. Mine was a RS Patrolman 60. I
was never very much into crystal control radios. Also had a very weird VHF
radio , not sure who made it. Was the size of a mobile CB with a tiny
half-moon tuning dial, squelch and volume, built like a brick. Of course my
dream scanner was back then the Bearcat/Electra 300 with service search. In
those days (1984?) it was considered the top of the line for those wanting
a primo scanner, I later bought 2 off of Ebay and no longer own them but it
was still a "fun" radio to mess with. I have since owned RS PRO-2006's,
Pro-2020, BC-210, Pro-83, Pro-94/97, AOR early model digital's and a few
others. My later pride and joy were the PRO-2006's with the 800 mod, IF tap
and even replacing the back-light was a cool project and needed most of the
time.

KJ4DGE

-- 
"I seek not to know all the answers, but to understand the questions"
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