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

"Ronny Julian" wrote in message ...
Floyd, You and I have one thing in common though. We both replied to the
trolling.

No, I'm not a troll. *gee*
All I'm saying is scanners don't have that much complicated electronic
components to justify the price.
Thanks to all for their inputs.

"Jim" wrote in message
om...
"Ronny Julian" wrote in message
...
Floyd, You and I have one thing in common though. We both replied to
the
trolling.

No, I'm not a troll. *gee*
All I'm saying is scanners don't have that much complicated electronic
components to justify the price.
Thanks to all for their inputs.

You're more than welcome. I didn't think you were a troll, so I replied
sincerely with my thoughts. (If one could call my posting 'a thought') In
any case, it's a specialty item so it's priced accordingly. And, if you were
like me, back in the 'bad old days'.....I bought a crystal 4 channel
'handheld' for around 100 dollars in the late 70's. I could only afford one
crystal - my local firehouse. Lot's of cash, but I had fun.

But, I loved that little unit dearly as I could hear *all* the 'news' before
it was published. Anyway, I don't regret spending that cash any more than
what I spent on my current 'communications receiver'. (Expensive) I guess
it's all about how much one enjoys the hobby.

Regards,
Mike T.

Yes, and when a nice PC originally was marketed you paid close to or
more than $2,000. The reason the price of PCs has dropped is because of
increase in demand. Scanners/receivers/ham radio equipment has niche
market meaning there is a smaller demand for the products. Therefore
equipment pricing tends to be higher. It was the same situation for
Direct TV equipment. Originally the equipment cost was close to $500.
Now it is under $100. Supply and demand drive the pricing of almost
everything.

Jim wrote:

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!!!

I purchased an original IBM XT computer with EGa monitor ,
2 360kb diskette drives and 32kb of memory for over $3000 in the early 1980's

The first IBM PS2 model 80 386 computer listed for around $8,000 in 1987.

My pro-2005 Radio Shack Scanner cost about $300 around 1989

My Uniden 796D scanner went for a bit over $500 the beginning of this year.

Get what you can afford to enjoy and don't look back.

Steve

Yea, it's funny how some things work, I know a guy who payed $3,000.00
for a 1x cd burner when they first came out.
On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 21:39:49 GMT, Steve Stone
wrote:

I purchased an original IBM XT computer with EGa monitor ,
2 360kb diskette drives and 32kb of memory for over $3000 in the early 1980's

The first IBM PS2 model 80 386 computer listed for around $8,000 in 1987.

My pro-2005 Radio Shack Scanner cost about $300 around 1989

My Uniden 796D scanner went for a bit over $500 the beginning of this year.

Get what you can afford to enjoy and don't look back.

Steve

In article ,
says...
Yea, it's funny how some things work, I know a guy who payed $3,000.00
for a 1x cd burner when they first came out.

The sad thing is that for 3 grand he probably would have been ahead to
just buy the software.
--
-----------
Dwayne
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BC895/

The up and coming BC246T (Looks VERY Promising)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Uniden_BC246T

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ScanFindlay/