Hi Group, I have a question. I just purchased 2 Pro-197 Scanners for a friend and one has Firmware 2.9 and the other has 2.1 From what i am seeing is Radio shack only had 2.1 Any help? Thanks, Bill
A. If it really is a pro 197 then the 2.9 is bricked and non functioning - no 2.9 firmware ever was issued for the 197. 2.1 was last firmware for the 197. If any firmware beyond that would brick the radio and you would have to flash the older firmware to get it back.
B. If it is working and has 2.9 then it is a Pro 652 - assuming it has the radio shack label on the case. See the label on the back of the radios.
If for some reason the labels are missing or unreadable on the 2 PRO-197 scanners that you purchased, there is an easy way to differentiate a PRO-197 from a PRO-652 just by looking above the front display of the radio. A PRO-197 has RadioShack above the display with the R and S capitalized. A PRO-652 has a capital R in a circle followed by radioshack in all lower-case letters above the display.
The Pro-197 was made for RS by Grecom; the Pro-652 was made for RS by Whistler. Grecom quit the scanner business and Whistler purchased their intellectual properties and set up shop. Technically they are almost identical and will perform very similarly but they CANNOT interchange firmware or DSP versions. Doing so will result in a bricked scanner.
You can however use the same programming software, files, and programming cable if you choose to go that route.
As a followup to my post #3 above, attached are the front panel views of the PRO-197 (left picture) and the PRO-652 (right picture). As previously noted the PRO-197 has RadioShack above the display with the R and S capitalized. The PRO-652 has a capital R in a circle and radioshack above the display with radioshack in all lowercase letters.
As a followup to my post #3 above, attached are the front panel views of the PRO-197 (left picture) and the PRO-652 (right picture). As previously noted the PRO-197 has RadioShack above the display with the R and S capitalized. The PRO-652 has a capital R in a circle and radioshack above the display with radioshack in all lowercase letters.