PRO-197 / PSR-500 - Horrific VHF-Lo Performance
I have both the PRO-197 and the PSR-500. They excel on 800 Mhz, trunked or nontrunked, EDACS, Moto, P25.
However, in my experience they are prone to significant overload on VHF-Hi. I have a PAR filter to counter some of this. I recently started scanning VHF-Lo (30-50 Mhz) regularly chasing skip.
The performance on VHF-Lo is terrible. The squelch is so damned loose that you have to turn it up halfway just to squelch out the random noise that the damned scanner picks up. I've tried multiple outside antennas, various grounding methods, etc. to try and reduce the insane amount of noise heard on VHF-Lo. I've found it impossible to scan VHF-Lo reliably without it constantly stopping on various noises that it comes upon.
If there is any sort of band opening on VHF-Lo, it's inevitable that I will start hearing all kinds of strange signals on 30 Mhz. I'll switch over to AM mode and those signals end up being HF AM stations (religious stations, etc. from various locations between DC and 30 Mhz). Everythign and anythign seems to swamp VHF-Lo, or at the very least generate signals that are nearly unsquelchable.
Forget it if you have a few 100 mbit ethernet devices around. I've had a Zoom DSL modem, a Linksys WRT54G and now a 2-Wire (from ATT) that all easily ruin VHF-Lo on this scanner. I can switch to the BCT-15 and rarely if ever have a problem with any of the aforementioned things.
Yep, the PSR-500/600 and PRO-197/106 are very sensitive. But you pay a helluva price for that sensitivity on VHF-Lo/Hi.
Sorry for the rant - but one can only take so much and then they have to vent!
I'd be interested in hearing anybody else's thoughts on these scanners when scanning VHF-Lo.
Mike
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