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retiredmich
Guest
Was reading some info on the RS 668 scanner, what I show was that you have to use the Soft Ware to program it, edit, or add to it, Does that mean you can NOT manually program it ?
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Blackswan73
Active Member
I manually programmed mine, but it is a bit time consuming. However, I was pleased with the results, and I know it can be done, just in case.
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retiredmich
Guest
Do you know of ANY scanners that can not be manually programed ? I thought there was one that was made that way ?
Blackswan73
Active Member
I do seem to remember one years ago that was preprogrammed by service, but I can't remember what one it was. I do remember it was sold by Radio Shack, and that I saw in in one of their annual catalogs.
You can program any scanner manually, but why would you want to? It's a major hassle, at best.
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retiredmich
Guest
ratboy , for what it's worth, I have never used soft ware, don't know if I know how to use soft ware, to me soft ware is a hassle because something can go wrong with it. & manually programing a scanner is some times a challenge which I like. Happy Scanning.
JoeyC
Senior Member
If software programming scanners were such a hassle, people would be complaining about it constantly. You do realize that if in the rare instance "something goes wrong with it" it is easily found and fixed by visually inspecting the settings/options in the software in a matter of seconds, (and is often an error created by the user) where as if you make a mistake entering something by tapping out a long string of settings manually you are going to have to wade through each option one at a time and hope that you can find the problem? That is, if you can even remember where you are in the maze of menus at any given time.
Programming a complex scanner with anything more than a couple of freqs manually is like reading a map through one of those cardboard tubes the paper towels are rolled around. Once you find what you need you've lost all perspective because the rest of the information is out of your view.
DJ11DLN
Member
+1000 on this. Today's digital trunking scanners are so complex that doing it manually is just inviting errors. And with the software you can set up your program the way you want it, and then review it thoroughly before you upload it to the scanner. I almost always find something I neglected or set wrong when doing this with a new configuration and can correct it much more easily than via the scanner menu. To date I've yet to have a config not work when I uploaded it, thanks not to any expertise on my part but on being able to easily review it and find the glitches before they caused problems. If I had to find it in the scanner menu, I'd still be trying to figure out what I did wrong with the first one 3 years ago.:wink:
Between the one click back up of all your settings, so you can restore them instantly, the ease of switching out travel setups or trying something new without any risk, and of course, the speed of setting up a new radio, there are basically no hassles. What can really go wrong with it? You just download it and enter the product key (Which you save someplace safe, I use my Gmail acct for product keys), load the backup you made and in a few seconds, the scanner is back in business. Less wear on the keypad, less work for you, a lot less. It takes longer to open up the box and take the radio out after repairs then it does to restore the programming to it. Not that the Iscan/Ezscan software is great, but it does do the job. There are some features I would like to see in it that arent there, but they are all just nitpicking complaints. I don't miss the old days at all.
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