You've got a PRO-97, that will do quite nicely for milair - now we need to get your feet wet a little bit.
Go back to the forum index and read the sticky titled 'First Time Listeners' - pay particular attention to the last 2 messages in that thread. Record the wiki URL in that last message - it's an important one.
OK, now we're ready to start.
Before we go any further, we need to know in what environment the 97 will be used; is it mobile, base, as a portable, ect. The next thing you will need is an antenna - and it pays to be somewhat careful with the choice. The PRO-97 doesn't have quite as good a front end as the older PRO-43 - if you put too big or too much of an antenna on it, all you're likely to get is pagers, intermod and other junk you don't want to hear.
There are several other things to read and get...the first, and perhaps most important, is Win97, plus a programming cable (either the RS serial or USB, and there are others, too)
You can find information on the cables, plus a link to Win97 right here...
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Pro-97
(Win97's link is right in the 'General Specifications' section )
Keep the PRO-97 and .p97 Yahoo group URLs handy - you'll need them in a moment.
OK now if you've got that all squared away, we now need frequencies...
The RRDB only lists 1 or 2 UHF milair freqs for Detroit Metro airport (stick with the approach and departures - I think you're way too far away to hear the tower...), but it's a start...
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&aid=1556
I'm kinda willing to bet that there's lots more that's not listed. We'll talk about more sources of info in a moment.
Remember that wiki page I asked you to recall from the First Time Listeners thread? Good, because we're going back to it...
There are precisely 3 areas of interest...
- Looks like Michigan is covered by the Minneapolis ARTCC center (click on the ARTCC link, and scroll down)
- There's an article (wikispeak for a page) called ' Michigan Milair Reference'
- The 'Milcom' mailing list (hosted on QTH.net) is a good place to see if there's others in your neck of the woods to share frequencies, quite apart from the Michigan forum here on RR (in fact, I see a recent thread on Selfridge AFB there...)
OK. lots of frequencies - how about pre built .p97 (that's the file extension Win97 uses) files? It's possible you might find some on the following...
- the Michigan forum here on RR
- Milcom
- The PRO-97 Yahoo group
- The .p97 Yahoo group
- The Scan Michigan Yahoo group (boy, that's a busy place...)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scan_michigan/
There. That oughta keep you out of trouble for awhile. Oh yes, before I forget - we have a very nice Scanner Antennas wiki right here...when folks start recommending antennas, check here to see if the URL has been posted...
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Scanner_Antennas
73s and good hunting...Mike