Ok, so this is one of my other hobbies that I occasionally enjoy.
On top is an old RCA 16S400 Crystal Scanner, found it a the local indoor flea-market for $20 and it was loaded with crystals already. I gave it a good cleaning, polishing, and treatment of De-Oxit, and good to go. Most of the traffic in my area is still analog, so Crystals work just as good today as they did back then.
Underneath is an old (1987) Realistic Pro-2004 Scanner. I've had it for a long time and all i've had to do to it is replace the backlight, which was a common failure in these particular models early on in their production release. Of course this one runs pretty-well 24/7.
This is my vintage Bearcat BC300. It's an old tank and has the most sensitive receiver of any scanner i've got. Running it off a modified Radio Shack 3-amp Linear Power Supply. Found this one at an outdoor flea-market for $30, just needed a good cleaning.
Not shown are my Realistic Pro-38 and Realistic Pro-95 handhelds, gotta charge the camera batteries.
I run my rigs (whenever possible) off of DC power, since the scanners that do have an internal power supply generate heat from it, and this is just one less thing that could possibly go wrong. I run battery backup for my Ham Rigs and these, with solar panels and charge controller to keep the batteries charged and maintained. I do have a couple of Astron supplies if I do have to run the radios and the battery bank is down, but Solar with a pair of U1 SLA batteries do a pretty good job on their own. It's rare that I have to use a 110-charger on the batteries, but of course this is an option too.
Now why in the world would I mess with Crystals when i've got a few others that are programmable? Nostalgia I guess. Besides, the audio quality of these old rigs will put the newer digital models to shame! That Pro-2004 and my Bearcat BC300 will pick up stuff my newer one won't even think about - due to sensitivity levels and build quality. Like vintage stereo equipment that sounds a lot better than most of today's miniaturized crap, these are the same way.
Everybody collects something, this is one of my things...
On top is an old RCA 16S400 Crystal Scanner, found it a the local indoor flea-market for $20 and it was loaded with crystals already. I gave it a good cleaning, polishing, and treatment of De-Oxit, and good to go. Most of the traffic in my area is still analog, so Crystals work just as good today as they did back then.
Underneath is an old (1987) Realistic Pro-2004 Scanner. I've had it for a long time and all i've had to do to it is replace the backlight, which was a common failure in these particular models early on in their production release. Of course this one runs pretty-well 24/7.
This is my vintage Bearcat BC300. It's an old tank and has the most sensitive receiver of any scanner i've got. Running it off a modified Radio Shack 3-amp Linear Power Supply. Found this one at an outdoor flea-market for $30, just needed a good cleaning.
Not shown are my Realistic Pro-38 and Realistic Pro-95 handhelds, gotta charge the camera batteries.
I run my rigs (whenever possible) off of DC power, since the scanners that do have an internal power supply generate heat from it, and this is just one less thing that could possibly go wrong. I run battery backup for my Ham Rigs and these, with solar panels and charge controller to keep the batteries charged and maintained. I do have a couple of Astron supplies if I do have to run the radios and the battery bank is down, but Solar with a pair of U1 SLA batteries do a pretty good job on their own. It's rare that I have to use a 110-charger on the batteries, but of course this is an option too.
Now why in the world would I mess with Crystals when i've got a few others that are programmable? Nostalgia I guess. Besides, the audio quality of these old rigs will put the newer digital models to shame! That Pro-2004 and my Bearcat BC300 will pick up stuff my newer one won't even think about - due to sensitivity levels and build quality. Like vintage stereo equipment that sounds a lot better than most of today's miniaturized crap, these are the same way.
Everybody collects something, this is one of my things...