HELP: Buy Pro-106, or Keep Pro-164???

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JulietAlphaKilo

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Hey folks, this is my first time posting a thread on this forum (after having nearly exhausted the Search Function), and I have a very important decision to make in regards to a scanner.

I asked for a Scanner for Christmas, as my Great Uncle has been deep into the field for a long time now, and in addition to such, I am ALWAYS left wondering what in the world is going in whenever the Police Helo is circling overhead, or the sirens are blazing everywhere. I live in a highly populated area, so things are definitely off and popping quite often.

Originally I asked for a Pro-106, because I felt the need for a portable scanner with trunking ability, and the ability to decode Digital Signals. Although I do not retain any great amount of experience or knowledge in this field, in terms of technicalities, I do remember my Uncle describing the loss of Public Safety Airwave traffic after his local Departments switched to Digital Comm. Systems.

So anyways, my old man bought me a Pro-164. He told me that Radio Shack was completely Out-of-Stock on the Pro-106's, and it seems as if this is the case nearly everywhere. I was definitely excited to receive this gift, but I was, and do remain concerned about what I can actually pick-up on this system.

The area I am going to be scanning most often is Fairfax County, Virginia. I checked the RR Directory, and it states that Fairfax County Public Safety Services are Trunking with the Motorola Type II SmartZone. It states that this system is both Analog, and APCO-25 Digital.

So my question really is, what are the Pros and Cons of the Pro-164, vs the Pro-106? I ask this, because I would like to know whether or not I should keep this scanner, or should I return it, and put its refunded value towards the Pro-106?

I feel like a spoiled jerk returning any gift, especially from my father, but obviously I also have to take into deep consideration the amount of use I can get out of it. Any difference in the cost between the Pro-106 and Pro-164 I can obviously make-up for with the money I received on Christmas Day, but I really want some help in determining which actions I should take. Are there any circumstances where I might be better off with keeping the Pro-164, even given the system currently used by the Public Safety Services in my locale?

Thanks for the assistance ahead of time, I appreciate it.
 

mciupa

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Welcome to RadioReference JulietAlpha Kilo :)

Looking over the DC and Fairfax County pages , I see a page full of D's in the DB listings. :eek:

You would be selling yourself short keeping the 164. :(
If you are within the thirty day return time frame, folllow your heart and return the radio for the 106, especially since you have no budgetary restrictions.
The 164 has a 1000 channel limitation, where the 106 can have 1800 objects per Vfolder of which there are 20.( and if that isn't enough, the Skywarn and temp folder can be converted for another 2 folders for over 36,000 objects in what ever configuration you choose to set up.)
 

n5usr

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I'll second doing the upgrade. You aren't exactly *returning* the gift, you're upgrading it with other gifts you received.

As was pointed out, you'll need the upgrade to get the digital traffic anyway.

But I'd say do the upgrade even without that. I have a 164 as well, and nice as it is I like the 106 a lot better. The programming setup is much nicer in my view than the traditional banks-and-channels setup, and you may not have as much trouble picking it up as some of the old-timers since you haven't had any experience with the old scanners. ;)

Not only do you have more programming space, you don't waste large chunks of that space like you do on the older units. As an example, if you have a set of five "critical" frequencies you want in a bank of their own, with the 164 the other 95 channels in that bank are unusable. There are also 20 scanlists (equivalent to banks) in the 106, the 164 only has 10 banks. And you can really mix-and-match what goes in each scanlist without wasting more space by duplicating the same frequency in multiple banks. (Each object in the 106 can belong to any or all scanlists.)
 

helijeff

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106 is definatly the one to get, unless a desktop will suit your needs then get a pro 197, same radio only desktop version. I purchased a pro-96 last week but had second thoughts and returned it. I then ordered theo 197 christmas day (got it for $279.) now its back up to $499.. Sign up for the back in stock e-mail on the RS site.
 

JulietAlphaKilo

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Alright, sounds good folks :)

Thanks for the advice and help, I definitely appreciate it.Tomorrow (Monday, December 28th, 2008) I'm heading up to my local Radio Shack, and I'm going to see how low I can get the Sales guy on a Pro-106. I just noticed how high the Price shot up ($500!!! Online), and reaching that will be difficult (Some of the Saved Money I need for another item in January), but if I can get a discount, I can cover the difference. From the vast experiences that I have read about on here, my local RS seems to be relatively helpful and open minded. Hopefully, especially since I've shopped there SO many times this year alone, they will be open towards honoring their as of now discontinued discount. The last time I checked, they had much deeper deals at the local shop for a multitude of items, as opposed to what was listed on their web-site. The Pro-164 was purchased for around $150.00 (before Christmas) I believe, but on the RS site, it was listed for $220.00 at the same time.

UPDATE: LOL, man oh man, they just lowered their prices AGAIN! Now the RS Site has the Pro-164 at $150.00 (Which it NEVER listed online at Christmas time), and the Pro-106 at $399.00. This is like watching Amazon.com with Price Fluctuation.

So I will be certain to let you guys know how everything goes tomorrow.

BTW, I look forward towards truly delving into this field of Radio Scanning, and Radio Operations in general. I will definitely keep a presence on this forum, and I hope to learn A LOT from you folks! I live near a Major Airport, and I am thus under MANY Major FLT Paths. I can also go for a week at a time, wherein the Police Helo will circle overhead nearly every night with a new occurrence each time. If I finally begin to record the transmissions from these sources, amongst others, hopefully I can then post them for your listening enjoyment.
 
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