Why are scanners so expensive?
 

Granted only few % of population want to listen to scanner.
Still, $$$$ (average $500) for a electronic device is a bit too much.
Don't you think?

I can buy a nice PC for $500!!!

"Jim" wrote in message
om...
Granted only few % of population want to listen to scanner.
Still, $$$$ (average $500) for a electronic device is a bit too much.
Don't you think?

I can buy a nice PC for $500!!!

Actually, my experience is that most scanners are bargains! I just got two
Radioshack Pro 95 scanners for $199 each... That's 2000 channels
altogether...:-) Trunking included...

For $500 I can get a Pro 96, which is a digital scanner, but I don't need
that much capability around here (yet).

"Jim" wrote in message
om...
Granted only few % of population want to listen to scanner.
Still, $$$$ (average $500) for a electronic device is a bit too much.
Don't you think?

I can buy a nice PC for $500!!!

Yes but remember when that PC was $1500 and how many they had to sell before
that price came down? I believe the scanner and Ham radio markets are very
close in that there will never be as big of a market to make a Pro-96 or an
Elecraft K2 much cheaper than they are. This is easy to figure out in the
Ham community. Look at the FCC stats on licensed hams, there are simply not
enough buyers out there to make a large market.

If this stuff was like HDTV's it would catch on over a few years and
everyone could buy 3 cheap later.

"Jim" wrote in message
om...
Granted only few % of population want to listen to scanner.
Still, $$$$ (average $500) for a electronic device is a bit too much.
Don't you think?

I can buy a nice PC for $500!!!

Yeah, I guess a computer is a reasonable comparison - in terms of
flexibility.

However, computer costs are not 'fixed' (ISP's, software, upgrades, etc) A
scanner is a self-contained radio that can listen to almost everything one
would need to hear. Operating costs are cheap and usually the *good* radios
retain some value over the years. So, IMO, a scanner is probably the
cheapest form of radio listening one can purchase. Even shortwaves have
limitations and they get pricy too.

Last, it's a niche market. Why does an Aston Martin cost 10x the price of a
Corvette? Both are great products....one has features the other does not.
(If only the Nameplate)

Scanners, while not 'cheap', are affordable - and that's okay by me.
Mike T.

New digital tech demands $$, specialized digital tech demands more $$$$$$.
If no one bought the Pro96 for $500, then it would be $400, $300,
$200.............................................. ............


"Jim" wrote in message
om...
Granted only few % of population want to listen to scanner.
Still, $$$$ (average $500) for a electronic device is a bit too much.
Don't you think?

I can buy a nice PC for $500!!!

Scanners are expensive because people like to feel they are part of an
exclusive hobby, and because the ordinary Joe Blow has too much completely
disposable income.

The science is not new or expensive. Eveybody has it figured out.
They stamp these radios out like happy meal toys.

Consider those Family Radios.

Each month the manufacturers come out with new radios that have new
features.

They've been capable of incorporating all these features from the very
first radio. Family radios and scanner radios aint rocket brain science to
these manufacturers.
They string us along because that's what the market will bear.

The market bears it because Joe Blow has 500 bucks he isn't bright enough to
hold on to.


"Jim" wrote in message
om...
Granted only few % of population want to listen to scanner.
Still, $$$$ (average $500) for a electronic device is a bit too much.
Don't you think?

I can buy a nice PC for $500!!!

On Tue, 1 Jun 2004 22:47:47 -0400, "Mike T." wrote:

Yeah, I guess a computer is a reasonable comparison - in terms of
flexibility.

If you prefer to read the news off your screen instead of listening to
it as it is happening on your scanner, yeah.

However, computer costs are not 'fixed' (ISP's, software, upgrades, etc) A
scanner is a self-contained radio that can listen to almost everything one
would need to hear. Operating costs are cheap and usually the *good* radios
retain some value over the years. So, IMO, a scanner is probably the
cheapest form of radio listening one can purchase. Even shortwaves have
limitations and they get pricy too.

The basic $9.00 Japanese clock radio that pulls in the local AM
stations would be the cheapest form of radio listening one can
purchase. Which, again, is fine if you want to listen to the news
hours after it happens.

73 DE John, KC2HMZ
Tonawanda, New York

"Steve and Betty Jones" wrote in
:

Scanners are expensive because people like to feel they are part
of an exclusive hobby, and because the ordinary Joe Blow has too
much completely disposable income.



Trolling news groups, looking to inflame. A fine waste of bandwidth.
Just think, if you dumped dumbcast, it would save 50 beans a month
(plus others wouldn't be subjected to your dribble). After a year
you'd have enough to buy a decent scanner.

Hmmmm, let me think about this. Given the choice between trolling
news groups and listening to scanners. I know what my choice was and
I'm pretty sure I've got yours figured out too.

--
You are a fluke of the Universe
You have no right to be here
And whether you can hear it or not,
the Universe is laughing behind your back

Floyd, You and I have one thing in common though. We both replied to the
trolling.


"Lord Floyd" wrote in message
...
"Steve and Betty Jones" wrote in
:

Scanners are expensive because people like to feel they are part
of an exclusive hobby, and because the ordinary Joe Blow has too
much completely disposable income.



Trolling news groups, looking to inflame. A fine waste of bandwidth.
Just think, if you dumped dumbcast, it would save 50 beans a month
(plus others wouldn't be subjected to your dribble). After a year
you'd have enough to buy a decent scanner.

Hmmmm, let me think about this. Given the choice between trolling
news groups and listening to scanners. I know what my choice was and
I'm pretty sure I've got yours figured out too.

--
You are a fluke of the Universe
You have no right to be here
And whether you can hear it or not,
the Universe is laughing behind your back