pro-95 programing

i am having a problem programing my pro 95.
this is what im useing
radio shack usb scanner/pc interface 20-047 (nolonger have the driver diskfound drivers online)
laptop running windows xp
and running win95

when i plug the usb int to the laptop i get a flashing green light in the interface
i aso ger the green flashing light when i plug the scanner into the interface
that is as far as i can go i cant get the scanner to download infor to win95 and win95 keeps telling me timed out waiting for the header.....

thanks in advance for the help im about to receive

WIN95

The messages "waiting for scanner" and/or "timeout waiting for scanner" are generic messages. The issue just means that the PC is not communicating with the scanner.

Make sure you are using a USB cable that is compatible with the PRO-95. Make sure the scanner end is plugged into the jack on the PRO-95 marked "PC/IF". With the cable plugged into the USB jack of your computer, go to Device Manager to see what COM port has been assigned to it. In WIN95, set it to that COM port.

got it i was useing the wrong com ch......

Pro-95 Programming Issues - Follow Up

I hope I can rely on your help, since it appears we're both struggling with the same issues. I recently purchased a Pro-95 and have gone far in getting to the point where all I need is to program the device. I've heard you can use an Excel spreadsheet to enter the frequencies which would be much easier than manually entering all 1000 channels.

But thats the rub, I don't know the frequencies to enter for my geographical area, i.e. San Antonio, TX or Bear County, and I don't know where to find the .p95 formatted files that I could use to pipe into the Pro-95 via an Excel spreadsheet using the Radio Shack Programming Cable and Win95 software.

I've been able to establish communications with the Pro-95 so that all works, but now I just need some help in getting the frequencies for my area and a way to enter those frequencies in an automated manner than to manually enter them. Can you provide me with any insights as to how to do this? Thank you in advance.

PRO-95 & WIN95

jayflow said:

I hope I can rely on your help, since it appears we're both struggling with the same issues. I recently purchased a Pro-95 and have gone far in getting to the point where all I need is to program the device. I've heard you can use an Excel spreadsheet to enter the frequencies which would be much easier than manually entering all 1000 channels.

Click to expand...

What you need is WIN95. It is software specifically for programming the PRO-95. You can get it here. The software looks much like a spreadsheet. The idea of using Excel is for those who want to convert data from another scanner model.

But thats the rub, I don't know the frequencies to enter for my geographical area, i.e. San Antonio, TX or Bear County

Click to expand...

Look here

and I don't know where to find the .p95 formatted files that I could use to pipe into the Pro-95 via an Excel spreadsheet using the Radio Shack Programming Cable and Win95 software.

Click to expand...

WIN95 generates those files when you do a save.

Thank you for your quick reply and your help. Along with your answers and the additional information I've been able to gather, now I'm not sure if it's worth programming the Pro-95. The primary reason is the Pro-95 may not be compatible with many of today's modern digital transceiver systems. It's understandable since the Pro-95 is an older model.

Before I forge ahead and program the Pro-95 I'm wondering if it's worth pursuing since it may not be able to capture a majority of the frequencies/channels in use because the transmitters have been upgraded to newer digital systems. Although I'm disappointed, I'm hopeful there can still be some use for the Pro-95 since there is a forum group devoted to the Pro-95. I look forward to hearing from anyone on whether the Pro-95 is still worth programming with todays modern or upgraded systems. Thanks again in advance for your support.

If I remember right the Pro92, 93, and 95 need a mono tip on the programming cable and the USB has a stereo tip. The RS USB cable came with stereo to mono adapter tail.

Eng74 said:

If I remember right the Pro92, 93, and 95 need a mono tip on the programming cable and the USB has a stereo tip. The RS USB cable came with stereo to mono adapter tail.

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The tip is not needed. A look at Don Starr's Cable Page , referring to RS catalog #20-047, shows:

The RadioShack version (and possibly the GRE version) comes with an "adapter" - a stereo-to-mono adapter approximately 4 inches long. That adapter is not required for any GRE-made scanner, and it must not be used with the PSR-500 family scanners.

Thanks in advance for all your help. I've been able to get past the required cable, software, and where to find the frequencies for my area. The last questions, I think, that I need answered is will it be worth it to continue to program and use the Pro-95? I ask this because I've read that the newer transmitters are digital and the Pro-95 can't pick them up. I guess my question should be, is the Pro-95 obsolete in todays modern communications? A similar question is, are any of you using a Pro-95 and if so did you have to make any mods and if so what are those mods?

PRO-95

jayflow said:

The last questions, I think, that I need answered is will it be worth it to continue to program and use the Pro-95?

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It really depends on where you are and what you want to listen to. There are tons of rural places in America where the PRO-95 would be overkill. And there are many types of listening, air traffic control for example, that the PRO-95 can handle greatly. But if you want to listen to law enforcement in a major metropolitan area of Texas, then yes you likely need a more modern scanner.

I guess my question should be, is the Pro-95 obsolete in todays modern communications? A similar question is, are any of you using a Pro-95 and if so did you have to make any mods and if so what are those mods?

Click to expand...

I have lots of older scanners including the PRO-95 (see my tag line) and run many of them daily. I have one PRO-95 set up with a discriminator tap feeding Unitrunker to log activity on a new P25 system in my area. Although it's been a while, I always brought one with me to Nevada, programmed for where I would be, because Nevada has a LOT of EDACS systems, something the PRO-95 handles well at (not to be confused with the digital EDACS systems).

Obsolete is a strong word. But if your focus is listening to law enforcement, then it seems you always need the newest scanner or scanners.

jayflow said:

Thanks in advance for all your help. I've been able to get past the required cable, software, and where to find the frequencies for my area. The last questions, I think, that I need answered is will it be worth it to continue to program and use the Pro-95? I ask this because I've read that the newer transmitters are digital and the Pro-95 can't pick them up. I guess my question should be, is the Pro-95 obsolete in todays modern communications? A similar question is, are any of you using a Pro-95 and if so did you have to make any mods and if so what are those mods?

Click to expand...

According to the RR database, Bexar county is using an EDACS trunk system. Unfortunately, it is ProVoice, with most of the law enforcement in Digital mode. This means you will not be able to monitor PD and FD.
There are ways to listen, I believe, with SDR and software to decode the signal. Again, I could be wrong.
Larry

N8IAA said:

According to the RR database, Bexar county is using an EDACS trunk system. Unfortunately, it is ProVoice, with most of the law enforcement in Digital mode. This means you will not be able to monitor PD and FD.
There are ways to listen, I believe, with SDR and software to decode the signal. Again, I could be wrong.
Larry

Click to expand...

As long as it is not encrypted Pro Voice you can indeed listen to it with DSD or DSD+ and a tapped scanner.

Thank you all for your answers and questions. Frankly I haven't gone that far to decide what it is I would like to monitor although Police and Fire, and Air Traffic Control sounds interesting. I am involved with my neighborhood alliance which is not the same as an association, so security is a major issue and thus police monitoring would be great. So the answer is Police and Fire, with the Hot weather and Fires here in Texas.

Reading all your replies, Thank you for your insights but now I have other questions:

1. What does "SDR" mean?
2. You mention running some software along with SDR to decode the signal. What software are you referring to?
3. Also what do the acronyms DSD and DSD+ mean?
4. Whats needed to modify a stock Pro-95 scanner to function as a "Tapped Scanner" and what would that do?
5. Similar to other hobbies, it seems no one just has just one of something, most have several types or models of that one thing. For example I also have a Metal Detector and enjoy treasure hunting or scavenging and it seems you can't just have one model of detector but most likely a few to cover different geographical areas. So I take it eventually you end up with several types or models of scanners to cover different communication bands or channels. Well I'm just starting out and don't have the finances to start buying newer scanners so if there are any mods to enhance the Pro-95 I would surely like to know.

Thanks again. I appreciate your time and insights.

I just went through the upgrade from a Pro-95 to a Pro-668. The 668 is back in it's box to be returned and the '95 is still trunking along. For the freqs that the 95 can get, it gets them stronger and clearer then the 668 for my location. If the 95 can get the stuff you want then it is more then worth the hassle to program it. It is a very solid machine.

Based on the various replies, I think I will hold onto the Pro-95 and program it to see what it can pick up. Also based on some of the replies, I dug in and found some interesting information about SDR which is "Software Defined Radio". Researching SDR took me down a new path to an entirely new tech world of computer based radio. I believe DSD+ is a another software based program used to scan radio transmissions. DSD+ or Digital Speech Decoder Plus can apparently decode "P25", which if I'm not mistaken is one of the newer means of transmitting voice via special digital encoding methods.

As with anything, in going down the rabbit hole, I've run into much more than I can absorb in a few days, so I'm going to read up on SDR and DSD+ and how to achieve a "Tapped Scanner". Until then I'm holding off in asking anymore questions since the answers are probably out there in cyber-space. Once again Thanks to all for your help and I'll continue to watch out for anymore inputs from others in this forum.

Happy Listening!

Agreed, the Pro-95 still gets quite a few hits. I have it sitting next to the HomePatrol-2, each scanning different freqs. It is proving itself as still useful.