Pro-94 General questions

[tc3sean]

Hi everyone, pardon my noobness. I recently purchased a Pro-94 from someone on craigslist for 20 dollars. It turns on and automatically I hear it cycling between a couple stations and im getting chatter, I think local PD. But the issue im having is that I didn't notice a hairline crack in the LCD screen.and Im not able to see some field's of the LCD screen so I cannot program it at this time. So what im getting to is that If i replace the screen is this a decent radio to use? I am researching this forum and trying to absorb as much info as I can. Thank you for any helpful responses.


-Sean

CLIFF's
Purchased pro-94 for 20$
Needs new screen
Is it worth replacing to use this scanner

 

[DaveIN]

Hi tc3sean and welcome to Radioreference!

The Pro-94 is a great analog only trunk scanner. Providing you have an EDACS trunked system or a Motorola system that does not require rebanding it would be worth repair, but your not likely to find the LCD display replacement from RadioShack as this model has been discontinued for some time now.
Information about that model and eBay links to more of the same model can be found here:
Pro-94 - The RadioReference Wiki

You may also want to look at the information on these pages:
Scanning 101 - The RadioReference Wiki
Trunking Basics - The RadioReference Wiki

 

[tc3sean]

Thank you for the response DaveIN. This is what I want to monitor San Bernardino, County of (Public Safety) 06/07 Trunking System, Valley Areas, California - Scanner Frequencies and from my understanding my scanner should work correctly with the present system. I called radioshack and they have the screen for 8 bucks before tax and shipping so pretty soon im looking into replacing it. Also is upgrading the stock antenna provide a night and day difference? I have the stock rubber duckie.

 

[Eng74]

Get the Radio Shack 800mhz antenna. It is a great upgade for the radio.

 

[KR4BD]

In its day (late 1990's), the Pro-94 was a GREAT SCANNER for analog trunking. It was among the first portables that would track EDACS systems. I still own two of them and they both work great! I agree, if you are listening to 800 MHZ trunked systems, the 800 MHZ rubber duckie antenna from Radio Shack is a GREAT "performance enhancer" on that band!

 

[tc3sean]

Thanks guys for your input. I'm going to head down to radioshack today and order the new screen, maybe a usb programmer and also check out the 800mhz radioshack antenna. Ill post up some pictures of the repair process, I'm excited!

 

[N1BHH]

Thanks guys for your input. I'm going to head down to radioshack today and order the new screen, maybe a usb programmer and also check out the 800mhz radioshack antenna. Ill post up some pictures of the repair process, I'm excited!

You better ask for the manager, and then again, he may not have a clue. That radio is pretty old and there may not be any displays in stock, they would send it out for repair but I would look into a new scanner pretty soon.

 

[tc3sean]

I purchased the programming cable(it was on sale for 19.99) and ordered the replacement LCD screen. I found the part number for the screen from the user manual that I got off the radioshack website. The screen was 8 bucks, and with shipping n tax to my house it was like 12 bucks. Later tonight im going to try to program it.

 

[tc3sean]

I got the cables drivers installed and I downloaded a frequency table from nat-org for my location then loaded it into scancat-lite. Quick question do I need to change any of the setting that I have selected in red?

And after I loaded all the frequencies they're not in the tables on the Pro-94. Is this the limitation on the demo? OR am I doing something wrong. Thanks

 

[tc3sean]

Damn....the demo of scancat lite doesn't let you send data to the scanner! I really don't want to buy a 30 dollar program. I don't remember the last time I purchased any software that that matter.
Is there programming software similar to scancat but free? But here is one of the main boards with the screen desoldered, im just waiting for my new screen in the mail from radioshack
so I can throw a new one in.