Advice on "close call" RS scanners - Pro 528?

[HotRodNeil]

I want to buy a scanner, Radio Shack or anything, best for the buck to pick up close transmissions like a frequency counter. I know that the Pro 528 does this, but is this the best for the money? Is the Pro-97 a better deal? I want as big a frequency range as possible, up to 1.3 ghz or higher. I'm open to any suggestions, including Uniden, as long as it is reasonably priced (ebay the best place?). I don't want to go with an Optoelectronics counter and recorder because of the price and the need for a separate scanner.

I already have a Pro-71, a Pro 39 and a Yaesu VR-500.

Thanks!!!

Neil

 

[letarotor]

I like the 528 for Signal Stalking. The PRO-528 (Uniden made), however, is essentially obsolete now and being replaced with the PRO-162. The 528 doesn't have alpha tags or CTCSS/DCS tone encoding but it has a button dedicated to Signal Stalking and you can set the scanner to Signal Stalker mode only. I just picked up a 162 at the Rat Shack Outlet Store in Fort Worth real cheap and the Signal Stalk button is combined with the SCAN button. The feature can't be enabled without scanning also, I don't like that. If you can pick up a 528 cheap and just want a good Signal Stalking scanner it works well for that feature. Plus, it will log the last 10 frequency hits into the buffer memory channels 1001 thur 1010. The PRO-97/164 (GRE made) series Close Call feature is different. Their feature is not really a frequency counter per se, but scans a dedicated memory of frequencies for a signal appearing on those frequencies. I have never been impressed with GRE's Close Call feature.

I've had a Scout Model 40 for over ten years. None of these scanners can beat it for picking up signals. The problem is you have to have a reaction tune scanner to go along with it if you want to listen to the frequency hits. I originally bought my Scout with a AOR AR-8000. The AR-8000 quit receiving the signals from the Scout several years ago and the screen is real dim and nearly unreadable now. The Scout is nice for things like airshows or other events where you're just trying to log new frequencies, plus it stores the frequency hits also.

Mark

 

[HotRodNeil]

Very helpful information. Thanks!!