N4GKS
Member
I can't get the scanner to upload the software frequencies becasue the scanner won't connect to the computer. Any suggestions?
PRO-107 won't connect to software
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ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
Are you using a USB converter? Did you load the drivers? The usual questions, hi 73 Mike
DonS
Member
Frequencies aren't "uploaded" to the PRO-107, and the PRO-107 does not "connect" to the computer (except for firmware updates).
To transfer the frequencies and other data that you've programmed in the PRO-107 PC software, you must remove the SD Card from the scanner, put it in a "card reader" attached to the computer, copy the files over via the software's menu items, then put the card back into the scanner.
To transfer the frequencies and other data that you've programmed in the PRO-107 PC software, you must remove the SD Card from the scanner, put it in a "card reader" attached to the computer, copy the files over via the software's menu items, then put the card back into the scanner.
N4GKS
Member
Then why does it come with a cable for the computer to the scanner?
TES
Member
Could it be that DonS answered your question before you asked it when he wrote "the PRO-107 does not "connect" to the computer (except for firmware updates)."
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kcoleman
Member
And.. while the computer is on, the cable will power/charge the scanner.
N4GKS
Member
Could it be that I'm used to loading frequencies into the software then load that into the scanner? Could it be that it's stupid you have software and a USB cable that isn't used for loading frequencies? Could it be that I've owned scanners for 30 years and have never read a manual to operate one but this one even an engineer couldn't figure out?
DonS
Member
None of your previous trunking scanners have dealt with the sheer volume of data used by the PRO-107.
For example, the "RRDB" files on the SD Card would take well over an hour to transfer - just for the raw data transfer (not counting any packetization, acknowledgements, processing within the scanner, or writing to the SD Card).
Transferring a moderate amount (say, 2MB) of conventional and trunked data could easily take several minutes. It takes much less time to swap the card back and forth between scanner and PC.
The cable supplied with the scanner is for firmware upgrades and power supply. It was never intended to be a means of "data transfer".
For example, the "RRDB" files on the SD Card would take well over an hour to transfer - just for the raw data transfer (not counting any packetization, acknowledgements, processing within the scanner, or writing to the SD Card).
Transferring a moderate amount (say, 2MB) of conventional and trunked data could easily take several minutes. It takes much less time to swap the card back and forth between scanner and PC.
The cable supplied with the scanner is for firmware upgrades and power supply. It was never intended to be a means of "data transfer".
Above is true written by DonS. Since the SD card contains the entire RR DB Library, that is a massive amount of data. Just to import the Project SAFE-T system for Indiana using Win500 or Win96 takes several minutes and this is just a small part of the entire DB.
IMHO, and again IMHO, Radio Shack/GRE should have made the swapping of the SD card easier than taking the back cover off and then the batteries out. Perhaps they might have put it on the side of the scanner. I dont take the batteries out of my digital camera or camcorder to get its SD card out. It is possible that most people who buy the scanner may not remove the SD card frequently, if ever. Since
personally I find programming the thing with the software much easier than using the scanner itself, I do remove and replace the SD card frequently. Intuitively you would expect that the cable would allow writing or reading from the SD card, but it does not.
Overall though the 107 is a good scanner for analog. However the 106/197 is the king, again IMHO.
IMHO, and again IMHO, Radio Shack/GRE should have made the swapping of the SD card easier than taking the back cover off and then the batteries out. Perhaps they might have put it on the side of the scanner. I dont take the batteries out of my digital camera or camcorder to get its SD card out. It is possible that most people who buy the scanner may not remove the SD card frequently, if ever. Since
personally I find programming the thing with the software much easier than using the scanner itself, I do remove and replace the SD card frequently. Intuitively you would expect that the cable would allow writing or reading from the SD card, but it does not.
Overall though the 107 is a good scanner for analog. However the 106/197 is the king, again IMHO.
DonS
Member
The placement of the SD Card on the PRO-107 was intentional. It was intended to make it more difficult to remove the card while the scanner is powered "on" - there's a bunch of cached data and, if the card is removed before that data is written, you're guaranteed of file system corruption. It's roughly equivalent to yanking AC power from your desktop computer while it's busy manipulating several files on a FAT hard drive.
I was wondering why they did that instead of having an external slot for it like the Palm TX has, and that makes perfect sense given the way that it functions with the SD card. I haven't found it that inconvienient swapping out SD cards - I do have multiple cards however and always have a backup card for my default configurations.
Dennis
DonS
Member
I also have not found it very inconvenient to remove/replace the card for data transfers, especially when I consider that this "swapping" takes, worst case, about 1 minute - while actually trying to transfer the data over the PC/IF channel would take several minutes (or far, far more).
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