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There's Something Wrong With the Idea Of RadioReference.com

09/10/2023

I don't have an organized rant around this yet, let alone a credibly developed essay. But I'm going to drop the egg anyway to put the seed for conversation out there.

Something about RadioReference.com is bad.

Not the enterprise itelf, not the value. It is perhaps the most well run and organized digital vendor I have ever seen in fact. I wish more sites we deal with that have nothing to do with police scanning were like it in its efficiency and community engagement.

Like most any eye finding their way to these words, I love RadioReference.com!

And yet. And maybe it's because I've got my eye on this view that the original web with a million different versions of the same thing by regular people fell apart, but shouldn't have, somehow I find it a problem that in 2023 it has evolved that there is now only one place online now that centrally (red flag!) acts as a repository for all things scanning.

It's really even worse than that. When I bought my SDS200 for example, the only practical way to use it was to interface it with a web service run by ... who? RadioReference.com. I buy a commercial police scanner that the primary river of information and programming support for is some random (and again, a superior random!) entrepreneur's website, that mysteriously seems to have developed relationships with everyone in the room to make that possible. It just doesn't feel right.

Auto Dealer: Okay, here are the keys to your new car. Now, there's a guy who runs a shop in Widgetville that will service it, provide you all the programming for its features, provide you the user manuals, as he does for all the other cars sold by everyone else. Trust us, he's a great guy! Enjoy your new car!

Hm.

All right, haters gonna hate. Throw the 'matoes at me. (Hopefully this is the one time I can appreciate my totally ignored blog).

I'll concede I have not scratched the surface in all the directions that might mean this is just a silly perspective and not to be concerned, but hey, I'm allowed to post an impression and let the market correct me in doing so.

By BuffScan for BuffScan.