Pro-668: Need some help with my PRO-668

[crawly1025]

I just bought my PRO-668 and I can't get it to receive anything. Out of the box I did a zip code search which I figured would work decently well since this is a pretty small town but I wasn't getting anything. I installed the software, did all the available updates which went fine, still nothing. I backed up the software on the scanner and made some changes in regards to creating my own playlist by importing the channels with the software. Still nothing.
I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here. This area is NEVER that quiet. It's been on for hours and is scrolling but no reception. Any ideas on what I can try? This isn't my first scanner by any means but it's my first digital and I'm thinking I'm doing something stupid on my end. It's like its scanning empty playlists if that makes sense.
PLEASE HELP! This is driving me crazy.

 

[TES]

Volume setting?

 

[crawly1025]

the volume is set to 30. It never stops "scanning". Im doing some research in the forums to try and resolve this as well

 

[scannerjunkie]

Hmm let me see if i can help. i too have the pro668 and love it. did you see if it picks up weather transmissions. if so then it may not be a defective unit. when you entered zip code did you select the agencies that you want to listen too? law enforcement fire schools ect. check squelch too. if you saved all the contents from the sd card to your computer try to load them to another sd card and try that. then try a reset back to factory settings and try again if all else fails. hope this helps you. god bless.

 

[crawly1025]

Hmm let me see if i can help. i too have the pro668 and love it. did you see if it picks up weather transmissions. if so then it may not be a defective unit. when you entered zip code did you select the agencies that you want to listen too? law enforcement fire schools ect. check squelch too. if you saved all the contents from the sd card to your computer try to load them to another sd card and try that. then try a reset back to factory settings and try again if all else fails. hope this helps you. god bless.

Sounds like a plan. I find it hard to believe that its a defective unit...but stranger things have happened. I read some posts in regards to the scanner and software. So I did a county search, uploaded the channels on the scanner then hooked it up to the software to make changes to the areas i didnt want then uploaded that info back to the scanner. We'll see if that works. Haven't tried the weather yet. Will give that a go too.

 

[southpaw57]

Make sure Your squelch is set correctly. I took My 668 back to RS thinking it was defective and while messing with it along with the Salesperson at the store, We adjusted the squelch to the proper position, and the scanner started picking up everything I had programmed into it. Still working well. Good Luck

 

[kb8rvp]

Pro-668: Need some help with my PRO-668

Things to try:
Download the software and install it off of the memory card on your computer so you can download the newest data from Radio Reference into the scanner and try the zip code programming again.

Try the scanner in a different location. Drive a couple of miles from your home to see if you pick up anything. I have been programming scanner for a few years and have been in some areas where scanner won't pick up anything because of overload from a near by cell phone tower. I tried to help one couple get a scanner working and nothing. I went outside the complex they live in and walked around and they had a cell tower almost in the back yard. We drove to a near by McDonalds and it worked just fine. We tried 5 different scanners and nothing. The cell tower is on 800MHz and so is the system we were trying to pick up and the system tower was about 15 miles away. The cell tower was just to close and to strong of a signal.

Try to see of you can pick up weather by pressing the weather button that's next to the ATT and below the SEL button. If that works you can try turning on the ATT to reduce the near field signal to see if you can pick anything up.

Try a better antenna as the one that comes with most scanner don't work all that well. All the scanner I own I use the Radio Shack 800MHz antenna and leave the stock antenna in the box and that goes for Radio Shack, GRE, Uniden. You will get twice the signal you get on the stock antenna.

And like the one post said set the Squelch knob on the top of the scanner, it has a sweet spot. If you look at the white graph above the dial you will see an open space in the middle of the white graph and that is the sweet spot.

Make sure you have turned on all of the systems that the zip code programming loaded into the scanner. Put a check mark in all systems because the default setting doesn't. For example on my scanner if I use the zip code programming EMS talk is not checked and Emergency Ops is not checked. The zip code programming items start just past playlist 150. Put a check on all of them and then select play to see of it picks up anything.

Good luck!