SCANNERS HEAR IT FIRST 
 
	Over the last 27 years that I have scanned the emergency services
there have been some very interesting changes in both frequencies and the
scanners we used to monitor the action.  When I first tuned in the
Montreal Fire Department it was on an old Longines Symphonette multi-band
radio which included the police band.  At the time 169.050 was the main
dispatch and 148.655 was the chief to chief fireground channel (which was
often in English). The odd English word was spoken on the 169.050
frequency but it was remained primarily Francophone.  Come to think of it,
the trucks were lettered "Fire Department-Montreal-Service D'Incendie” but
that came to pass on in later years. 

	When the dispatch frequency moved to 412.7625 and 412.4875 became
the auxiliary fireground and 412.2625 became the truck to truck
frequencies there was a flurry of activity among the scanning community
which was like a large family as we all met at fire scenes in great
numbers and not getting in their way, the fire department recognized us on
scene as the apparatus itself. 

	The change from VHF to UHF caused a big rush for a few local and
just over the border scanner dealers with a lot of $$$ made in the
process.  The most popular model was the Bearcat 6 channel portable which
usually got its owner strange looks because of its strange "rat-tail" 
antenna instead of a more conventional thick VHF rubber ducky type of
antenna. which what most of us are used to.  Pretty soon everybody had one
and most of us carried two scanners as other services remained on VHF.  In
those days, crystals had to be ordered and only a few places carried a
large stock of crystals.  The two best places were the Radio Shack store
in the Alexis Nihon Plaza and Bobcat's in Plattsburg N.Y.  I would laugh
when we ordered 169.050 crystals from Bobcat he would ask what railway is
that? Railroad frequencies are around 160 to 161 Mhz and most fire
departments at the time were in the 153 to 154 Mhz range or 33 to 39 Mhz
range.  The first time someone wanted to order a crystal for 412.7625 Mhz,
Bobcat said "What in the hell's up there?". 

	The first base/mobile programmable scanner was the "Whamo-10" by
Regency.  You entered frequencies via breaking off teeth of a 3.5 inch
metal comb.  Each frequency had its own tooth pattern and you could hear
us walking around with what sounded like a pocket full of change or keys
but in actual fact we were walking around with spare combs for the
Whamo-10 because it had only 10 channels and we listened to more than
that.  Bearcat, Regency and Radio Shack later came out with digital
display units, with the Bearcat 210 being the most popular.  It was just a
matter of entering the frequency directly and you were all set.  This
ended the era of red LED's chasing across the front of the radio in the
dark and were replaced by blue zeros going across the tiny screen. 

	For anyone that has been to my house, they have seen my old LED
chasing lighted crystal rig which I keep on 156.150 (Verdun Fire
department).  They ask why scan all 10 channels and lock it on the one
channel but to see the lights roll across brings back memories and adds
nostalgia to my listening post (Older Hams like to see tubes glow, older
scanner buffs are dazzled by the LED's).  My younger cat "Kiddo" sits and
watches the LED's and his head and eyes move in unison with them. 

	The scanner world went into orbit with the introduction of the
Bearcat 100 which was the first portable programmable scanner radio that
eventually in the local scanning circles everyone purchased sooner or
later and believe me, I was in the sooner category.  Then by the early to
mid eighties there were several different portable programmable models to
choose from, I had owned just about every type of scanner made and who
traded for bigger and better models. 

	For those of you who are just getting into scanning and have
purchased your first scanner, congratulations you have a lot of bells and
whittles to play with and are getting a lot of thrills but you missed out
on fun experimenting with all of the new units as they evolved and became
what you have today.  I still prefer some of the older models to the new
stuff and don't regret any of trials and tribulations as it came about. 

	As we scan today the the emergency services are changing with
voice encoding, trunking systems and digital paging/communications are
putting pressure on monitoring what we want hear.  Some services (MUC
Police, Montreal Fire Department to name a few) have computer terminals in
their vehicles, but there is still plenty of those still using voice
traffic left.

	I am glad I got into scanning when I did and to be able to try out
all the new ideas that pioneered what the new people in the hobby today
are enjoying.  Just a quick note, scanning was a part of my life but I
also got my family interested somewhat as I worked in the Emergency
services for most of those years and I would have my scanner on the
frequency that I used in the field so if all hell broke loose, my family
could hear that I was OK.

	I know that my parents would never admit that they ever listened
to it, but they were always telling me to turn it down or off but I know
for a fact that my Mom was seen turning an ear on an occasion or two when
I was involved in a big incident around town.  "One Clear Voice" is always
something to hear when you know its OK and safe.  Enjoy the hobby, I'm
sure this run down memory lane gets the visions going of days gone by.
 
        73 de Fred "VE2 LS and a Q"