Regency Scanner Remote Control

Back in high school I wanted to use my public service scanner in my car but there was no way that big unit would fit any where near the dash. So I built a remote control to mount under the dash and then put the scanner in the back.

The scanner has sixteen channels with the first eight being VHF and the second eight being UHF 4xx Mhz.

The remote showed the channel on a two-digit LED display and added the feature of making channel 1 a priority channel.

The four toggle switches on the remote were for power, scan/step, descramble (using my scrambler decoder). and priority enable.

Scanner internals with two added plug-in wire-wrapped boards for the remote

This was a relatively easy scanner to hack since it was completely discreet and used standard TTL for scanning.

Scanner rear view showing the added 24-pin centronics connector and rotary switch

I wanted to show a functioning scanner in the first photo but it smelled very old so I decided not to turn it on as I didn't want to risk a fire.

The connectors on the cable that ran between the radio and the remote were completely corroded and unusable. The wire-wrap wires on the add-in boards I put inside the radio have turned black.

It has not been turned on in at least 40 years and was stored in a hot and humid attic for the first 20 years.