Scanning is dead, nothing to listen to, the end is nigh.....

[Allan666]

My first scanner was in 1980 area. It was an Bearcat that a mate got for me from the USA. It worked well, Next was a Jill SX2000 ( or very sim name ) Then around the late 80s I bought a Tandy Pro2004 that was fantastic I liked it that much I bought a Second one lol.I still have them but as I moved out into the country and things started going digital It was getting more difficult to hear anything of interest to me. I can hear Aircraft etc. I have been thinking of buying one of those £500 quid wystlers but I very concerned that I may not be able to tune and store stations due to it being very complicated. I still have my aerials mounted on 20 foot masts one each end of my roof. I also have Ham licence which I have held for over 40 years ,Last year I bought a TYT hand held and hot spot but i am having great problems trying to use it through my hot spot.

[beltane]

All ham radio is dead or dying. I am fairly new to it all and only used analogue HT because I didn't feel like being a nerd and spending zillions of pounds on fancy equipment just to tether myself to a darkened room in a house with an obnoxious antenna outside. I literally only wanted to use it for out and about like camping etc. What a bloody mistake. Complete waste of time and effort. Most of the time there's absolutely not a peep anywhere, and even if you do make a contact they sneer at you down the radio for not being as nerdy as they are so it's not even worth trying. And as far as the repeaters go, all you ever hear is the same half dozen miserable old gits crowing about their damn vaccinations (idiots) and belittling anybody with a call sign dating post 1978. I'm so glad I never fell for the DMR expense. The analogue doorstops I already own are enough wasted money.

[LondonCbRadio]

All ham radio is dead or dying. I am fairly new to it all and only used analogue HT because I didn't feel like being a nerd and spending zillions of pounds on fancy equipment just to tether myself to a darkened room in a house with an obnoxious antenna outside. I literally only wanted to use it for out and about like camping etc. What a bloody mistake. Complete waste of time and effort. Most of the time there's absolutely not a peep anywhere, and even if you do make a contact they sneer at you down the radio for not being as nerdy as they are so it's not even worth trying. And as far as the repeaters go, all you ever hear is the same half dozen miserable old gits crowing about their damn vaccinations (idiots) and belittling anybody with a call sign dating post 1978. I'm so glad I never fell for the DMR expense. The analogue doorstops I already own are enough wasted money.

Keep hold you your gear trust me you will need it with what is coming very soon.

[yagiman]

What is coming very soon

[scanhermit]

If you still have the HT, Beltane, and it does UHF, program the PMR446 channels into it. It's quite a lively scene and I've found the people on it generally nice and not snotty. I've had plenty of friendly advice on how to improve my range.

I use a half watt handheld with a 771-type antenna for the same reason - to get out and about - and I've had very decent contacts from 10 miles up to 65 miles.

[Andy]

My first scanner was in 1980 area. It was an Bearcat that a mate got for me from the USA. It worked well, Next was a Jill SX2000 ( or very sim name ) Then around the late 80s I bought a Tandy Pro2004 that was fantastic I liked it that much I bought a Second one lol.I still have them but as I moved out into the country and things started going digital It was getting more difficult to hear anything of interest to me. I can hear Aircraft etc. I have been thinking of buying one of those £500 quid wystlers but I very concerned that I may not be able to tune and store stations due to it being very complicated. I still have my aerials mounted on 20 foot masts one each end of my roof. I also have Ham licence which I have held for over 40 years ,Last year I bought a TYT hand held and hot spot but i am having great problems trying to use it through my hot spot.

That sounds familiar... I started in about 1980 with the JIL SX200. Great fun despite its shortcomings. Then onward and upward to an Icom R-7000, a beautiful receiver that did me for years until things started going digital. Got a Whistler TRX-2 which turned out to be a bad move. It took me days of cursing to tune it around the bands and receive one DMR signal. apparently it doesn't have memories it uses something called objects or summat and I found it unusable. Luckily I was able to return it and I changed it for an AOR AR-DV1, which is great. Proper VFO and memory banks. Decodes all digital modes plus analogue. Not cheap but it's my hobby.