My good ole Yupiteru MVT-7100. I got this guy from a fellow on Kijiji who was selling off a bunch of his scanner gear. This person was super meticulous about his stuff – he photocopied his manuals as he got them so they’d stay in perfect condition! Along with this scanner, I got a RadioShack Pro-90 trunk tracking scanner, and an old Bearcat 210xl. Although the Pro-90 is great for following ambulance, I’ve been using the Yupiteru for shortwave listening (SWL as the hip kids call it)

Most of the interesting radio activity (ie: police, ambulance, fire) has been moved over to trunked radio which means that radio conversations may be split over a couple different frequencies. Unless you’ve got a trunk tracking scanner, this means you’ll only hear part of the conversation. It is possible to program your scanner with all the frequencies used by a trunk, though. Here’s a list of frequencies used in Manitoba.

Usually, I just listen to shortwave and a couple of the local nets, though. The Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP) is interesting; it uses voice over IP (VOIP) to connect radio repeaters all over the world. I actually stumbled upon the IRLP node by accident and was shocked to hear someone from Georgia in the US coming through my radio loud and clear! I didn’t believe that my antenna could pick someone up that far away, so I looked it up online and discovered IRLP.

When you think of ham radio you usually picture old retired guys in Florida sitting in their ham shack. I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised that there’s a lot of innovative stuff going on in ham radio… these guys are huge into electronics and there’s been a real boom in the DIY scene. Also, the number of Americans with their licenses has increased by 60% since 1981.

Anyway, I guess I didn’t really have a whole lot to say about the Yupiteru, but it’s been a great introduction to SWL and amateur radio. If you’re looking for a good manual, check out the one published by Javiation. It’s much simpler and easier to read than the one that comes with the scanner. They also have a great MVT-7100 review by Howard Bornstein.