Pro-97

[listentolisten]

the pro-97 went on sale today for 149.00. so, now the question? bc246 or pro 97? Is the pro-07 still up to date.? will it trunk the same as the bc246?

thanks all

 

[N4JNW]

In response to your question, yes, the Pro-97 will trunk the same as the BC246. They're both Multi System Trunking scanners.

The Pro-97 is a tried and tested scanner. I don't know much about the BC246. I do know the BC246 is rebanding compliant, while the Pro-97 is rumored not to be.

 

[goatse]

Personally, I've owned the Pro-97 for about a year, it's a great scanner. I listen to conventional, Motorola, and EDACS trunked systems here in Chicago. Do yourself a favor and invest in the programing cable and Win97 software for programing frequencies into the scanner.

 

[screenersam]

just last week I bought a used Pro-97 for $115; now they're $150. but I'm still happy with the deal, cuz it's like new (i mean literally 'like new' not 'like, new, you know dude?'), and the guy threw in the computer cable.
I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend getting the software and Pc cable. entering channels one by one by hand was bad enough with a 40-60 channel system, but forget about these new 500-1000 freq jobbies. It's great to be able to download stuff 'in bulk' and put in in the scanner without touching a button.

*I'm not from Maryland, I'm from the Eastern Shore.*

 

[LarryN]

I am very happy with my 97. Ditto on the cable. I love to have a few more.

 

[madnachos]

The Pro97 is a great scanner...hard to beat for $150.

 

[listentolisten]

Listening last night

I was listening to my neighbors Pro-99 500 channel scanner. It picked up all kinds of police and ambulance calls, so what gives? I mean if the Pro-97 is a trunking scanner why am I hearing calls on this scanner? Please forgive my questions, I guess I just don't understand it all.

thanks

fran

 

[KE5BCP]

I was listening to my neighbors Pro-99 500 channel scanner. It picked up all kinds of police and ambulance calls, so what gives? I mean if the Pro-97 is a trunking scanner why am I hearing calls on this scanner? Please forgive my questions, I guess I just don't understand it all.

thanks

fran

The Pro-99 is geared more towards "race fans", but works quite well in picking up conventional public safety frequencies, too.

 

[mjthomas59]

I would be the odd ball in the group and say go with the 246t. Had one for about a year now. The memory alone makes the Uniden my pick. Dynamically allocated channels is the hot setup. No worry about channels unused in banks or wasting space. You could put 1000 banks in the 246 and not waste 1 ounce of memory.

Only complaints with the 246 are that is only holds 2 batteries which can reduce battery life, although it makes the thing fit in a shirt pocket no problem. It also will only show the alpha numeric for a channel it stops on. Or if you program in no alpha tag it will show the frequency. It just sucks because it won't show both. Not a huge deal but still annoying.

Beyond that, the 246 supports rebanding, and honestly unless you have had the dynamic memory, you really have no clue what you are missing out on.

Look on ebay for a good deal. I only paid 175.00 for my 246t brand new in box. You can snag a pro-97 new or "likenew" for less than 100.00. Not only that, but i just saw a 246 go for 125 just the other day, i just wasn't home in time to put in a bid. Patience is the key, but i would suggest the 246t, that or saving up for the digital because you will eventually need it. A like new Pro-96 can be had for 300.00(i got 2 that way) and while i would rather have the 396, 300 bucks isn't a bad price for digital.

 

[screenersam]

I was listening to my neighbors Pro-99 500 channel scanner. It picked up all kinds of police and ambulance calls, so what gives? I mean if the Pro-97 is a trunking scanner why am I hearing calls on this scanner? Please forgive my questions, I guess I just don't understand it all.

thanks

fran

forgive me if I'm stating the obvious here...
lots of (older) systems are NOT trunked and can be monitored with the average scanner. more $ is needed to scan aircraft, trunking, military air, and finally digital trunking. depends on your area. I'm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and the towns and State Police are non-trunked but the counties are all trunked. most likely more and more systems will be going to trunk in the next few years. not unusual for some simulcasting, esp wi newer systems.
don't forget federal channels like 156.8 (maritime/Coast Guard) emergencies and 121.5 (air emergency).
most counties/cities will 'bleed' 10-15 miles outsie of their area; for instance I can get Virginia State Police tho I'm about 20 miles away from the border. your neighbor might be getting some of these, spe with a higher antenna.
(one of my friends was getting stuff I wasn't and I always suspected he had super secret frequencies he wasn't sharing.)
hope this helps answer some ?s for youse.

*"I'm not from Maryland, I'm from the Eastern Shore."*

 

[enine]

I went back and forth between the two and finally settled on the 97 partly due to the sale. The Unidens are better built but the 97 has a little better speaker. If I were to invest the $500 in a nice high end digital then I'd save up for the uniden for at $150 the 97 is ok for the price.
I liked the removable battery holder as I bought a second so I can have one in the scanner while the other set of batteries is in the charger and it makes it easy to swap.
I DL'ed the trial of Win97 and it sucked, I just wanted to put text and frequencies in and it decided to change things like how long it stays on a channel without me telling it to so I'd say its about on par with most Windows programs and not up to the higher quality I'm used to with Open Source software.

 

[SAR923]

I DL'ed the trial of Win97 and it sucked, I just wanted to put text and frequencies in and it decided to change things like how long it stays on a channel without me telling it to so I'd say its about on par with most Windows programs and not up to the higher quality I'm used to with Open Source software.

Win97 doesn't change anything regarding scan delay. It does set scan delay on by default but you should have noticed that when you were setting up your frequencies and text. It sounds like operator error rather than a problem with the program. As for Open Source programs, I've used many that were worse than the most pathetic junk ever to run under Windows so let's not confuse operating systems with programming.

 

[enine]

All I did was plug in some text, I never touched anything else since I didn't want anything else changed and it changed the scanning delay even though I didn't tell it to. Now my scanner gets stuck on a frequency and I have to hit the scan button to make it scan again, I don't know why they would set that default. The trial expired and I'm not spending that much for a program whose quality is around $5 so I'm looking for something else.
Sure you can find bad open source projects if you look but most of those projects die out and get replaced by the good ones, OTOH I haven't found a quality closed source program in many years.

 

[SAR923]

Did you happen to read http://www.starrsoft.com/software/tempkey.asp? You get a free 180 day key for Win97, which will allow you to use it...and learn it. There's nothing in Win97 that would make your scanner get "stuck" on a frequency. There are thousands of us who use Win97 and consider it well worth the price. As for anything else that works with the Pro97, good luck.

 

[enine]

Well, it scanned fine before I entered some frequency text with win97 and not when it picks up a signal it stays there until I hit scan again. So Win97 changed something because that was the last thing I did to it.

 

[madnachos]

Did you happen to read http://www.starrsoft.com/software/tempkey.asp? You get a free 180 day key for Win97, which will allow you to use it...and learn it. There's nothing in Win97 that would make your scanner get "stuck" on a frequency. There are thousands of us who use Win97 and consider it well worth the price. As for anything else that works with the Pro97, good luck.

I'll 2nd that...Win97 is solid software and does not 'suck'. It does exactly what you tell it to do. I have been using it for years and never have any issues with it.

Did you download your current Win97 data, modify it, then re-upload it...or did you just try to upload a blank template 'on top' of the current data on the Pro97? With the Pro97 it cant be selectively updated. It requires a complete data load. This is due to restrictions of the Pro97 and not the programming software.

If the Pro97 is acting strange and you cant figure out the issue I suggest you reset it and start over. Make sure to save a good copy of your data to a safe place from time to time...that way you can reset and reload in a hurry if you fsck it up again.