Radio Shack Pro-163 Help/Advice

[Crypto_Sailor]

Hello I'm new to the world of police scanners and recently acquired a RS Pro-163 scanner and have been trying to listen to police,fire,emt etc...I purchased ARC300 software for this scanner and a subscription to radio reference in order to download the scanner frequencies for my area (Virginia Beach, VA and a few surrounding areas. I've downloaded what I think are the correct/updated frequencies and got them loaded into the scanner with the RS USB scanner/pc interface cable Cat No.20-047.

Even with that said I can't hear anything police,fire,emt etc. I can hear NOAA weather and amateur radio off in a far distance.

Is the ARC300 software dummy proof or shall I have this scanner sent off for programming? Or bite the bullet and purchase a digital trunking scanner?

V/r
Brian

 

[jhal94]

First we need to know a few things:

What area are you scanning? (this will tell us what type of system you need to program)
What antenna are you using?
What are your surroundings? (Are you in a building, on a mountain, in an elevator, etc.....)

Also maybe you should dowload a trial of Win97 here: Software for RadioShack PRO-series (PRO-92, 93, 95, 96, 97, 99, 163, 164, 106, 197) and GRE PSR-series (PSR-500, 600, 300, 400, 310, 410) scanners it might be easier to use....

EDIT: Didn't see the area posted, Virginia Beach Police and Fire/EMS are on the Orion P25 Phase 1 system here: http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=4927 which requires a digital scanner. Virginia Beach utilities, fire/ems (also on the p25 system and may be depreciated), etc....are here http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=507. Note that the Smart net system has not re-banded and therefor should have the Motorola normal band-plan programmed, if the correct frequencies are in and you get the "T" symbol there might just not be much traffic, if you don't get the "T" symbol try putting in all the freqs and make sure they are set to MOT and the system is set to Motorola. *(optional)* Put in the talkgroups you want and close the bank with Func+Delay, this will lock in only the tg's you programmed and will lock out the un-programmed ones. If you want I can make a Win 97 file for the system.

 

[shadcall]

Your ARC 300 program is a very good one and easy to use so you don't need to try others. However with much of the area being digital you are not going to be able to listen to much. If you can return it to the seller I would do so. You will be able to monitor railroads, media, business, aircraft, marine and others. But if you want to listen to police/fire, you will need a digital scanner such as the Pro 106. You will then need the ARC 500 software in order to program your scanner.

 

[Crypto_Sailor]

Thanks for the help guys I'll contact scanner master and see if I can swap out the arc300 for the arc500 and look for a digital scanner. In the meantime I'll lurk around the forum and see what I can learn.

 

[Crypto_Sailor]

First we need to know a few things:

What area are you scanning? (this will tell us what type of system you need to program)
What antenna are you using?
What are your surroundings? (Are you in a building, on a mountain, in an elevator, etc.....)

Also maybe you should dowload a trial of Win97 here: Software for RadioShack PRO-series (PRO-92, 93, 95, 96, 97, 99, 163, 164, 106, 197) and GRE PSR-series (PSR-500, 600, 300, 400, 310, 410) scanners it might be easier to use....

EDIT: Didn't see the area posted, Virginia Beach Police and Fire/EMS are on the Orion P25 Phase 1 system here: http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=4927 which requires a digital scanner. Virginia Beach utilities, fire/ems (also on the p25 system and may be depreciated), etc....are here http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=507. Note that the Smart net system has not re-banded and therefor should have the Motorola normal band-plan programmed, if the correct frequencies are in and you get the "T" symbol there might just not be much traffic, if you don't get the "T" symbol try putting in all the freqs and make sure they are set to MOT and the system is set to Motorola. *(optional)* Put in the talkgroups you want and close the bank with Func+Delay, this will lock in only the tg's you programmed and will lock out the un-programmed ones. If you want I can make a Win 97 file for the system.

I'd appreciate that so I can at least get some use out of this scanner while I'm looking for a digital scanner.

R/
Brian