My first airband was a large plastic box affair with two dials a tuning scale and whip aerial, made in hong kong I believe, that was in 1972, I moved up to one of the sharp models a few years later, both gave you blisters if you did to much manual scanning !! I have seen people still using the sharps and I have seen them at several aviation enthusiasts fairs for sale for a few quid.
Gatwick and Manchester have good fairs.
I am amazed at how much the hobby has moved on with the coming of SBS virtual radar, scanners, digital cameras and worldwide trips to exotic places.
With this expense its no wonder the hobby is not attracting the younger end as it did and the average age of spotters is getting older every year.