Saturday Evening Post

A few weeks ago I picked up an old scanner, the Bearcat 4 Electra receiver.

This was manufactured in 1978, Cumberland, Indiana. First impressions was the overall weight tipping the scales at about 5 pounds with its solid case. The front panel has two knobs for volume and squelch control. A toggle type switch for scan or manual control of the individual channels. 8 LEDs with small slide switches controls which frequencies to monitor. Also a nice large oval speaker provides plenty of audio.

The view under the hood.

Taking a look inside shows a assortment of old caps, resistors, & transistors from 30 plus years ago. It already had 8 crystals loaded into the sockets for local police and fire frequencies. The antenna screws into the top and might not be making the ideal connection. With the unit turned the scanner stops at certain frequencies but audio is low. There is a plug on the back for an external antenna, I might try and maybe I can get better reception and also if it was moved out of the basement. It might be worth it to use an air spray cleaner where the antenna screws in to get a better contact and clean it up a bit. The electrolytic capacitors could sure use fresh replacements. Scanners with the moving LED's are very cool. This scanner was picked up at a great price, FREE!

I found a wonderful search engine that does not track your searches and create a file / sell your life history like a few we know...

www.duckduckgo.com

I started using it this week. No reason every search has to be logged.
Does someone have to know where I am eating or my buying patterns.

Besides the turner for sale I have a few antenna books to be listed tomorrow, if anyone has interest.
Just doing some early spring cleanup.

Enjoy your Saturday night!

Saturday Evening Post

I have always been a big fan of scanner listening since my first handheld with four plug in crystals back in high school.

This required going to Radio Shack with your list of local frequencies and the counter person would pull them out from behind the counter. Can you image the blank stare you would get now if you asked for a certain crystal? I ended up selling it but now wish I didn't, moved up to a Fox desktop model programmable which was decent but not great. I finally graduated to a Uniden BC 200XLT that I still have, just in need of another battery.

If you want to get into the action and do not have a scanner just click on the following link for online listening across the United States.

http://www.radioreference.com/

This site includes police, fire, airports, repeaters, etc. So far I have been listening to the police in Newark, NJ, Essex County, not a nice area to say this least, just heard a call for gun shots.

A good bet would also be New York City considering the amount of nonsense going on. Yesterday at the Empire State Building was a good example of another person snapping, seems like this is happening more. Maybe you have some favorites you would like to share? Scanner listening is like watching the FOX TV show cops but you hear the action live from the safety of your own home.

On a sad note Neil Armstrong passed away today at 82 years old. The first man on the moon.

A true hero!