Pro 164 Newb here need some help.

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scanthewaves

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Jul 18, 2003
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Hi I'm a long time scanner enthusiast, I started out with a crystal set and worked my way up. My most recent scanner before the 164 was a Pro 92( which if anyone is interested I'm selling for P&R it's on fleaby now but I won't post the link since I don't think that's appropriate, just PM me if you want to know more) and I used to think that was complicated till I was able to program it by computer. I'm pretty much lost with the Pro 164 Ok enough yammering here goes. I recently bought this 164 on fleabay, got it for like 65 bucks, free shipping.
Firmware says Boot Ver F1.01
Appl Ver: 1:07. I can't figure out if this the latest? Anytime I search I keep coming up with the last release for the GRE 300 and from I read they aren't interchangeable.

Does this have rebanding capability without software or is it like I read all multi tables need to be done by software, Boy am I confused!

So far it appears to work well, receives weather Marine Aircraft, some UHF pretty clear, not sure if it will trunk since I tried to program the local trunk fleets manually since I don't have a cable, I was disappointed to find out that the old cable I used with a USB adapter I had wouldn't work since it's a mono plug and now I need to buy the USB cable, I'm not even sure which cable to buy and where I could get the best price, no luck online so far. As for software I used to use Don's Win 92 and now I see that Win 97 is like $25 I don't mind purchasing it, it's just that if I can't get this unit to trunk what's the point? Also no AC adapter, I used to use a universal AC adapter with the Pro 92 but I don't think that will work with the 164 it has to be a min. of 40 0mili amps and most universals are like 350. I have read that people have used sony cordless adapters, but I don't have one and one gun on youtube said he users his Sony PSP car adapter with a AC adapter, go figure, A new adapter is like almost 20 bucks, what if I have a 9 volt 500 amp but the polarity is wrong can I just cut the wire and switch the polarity? If anyone has any tips I would appreciate it.

I forgot to mention I"m in Sarasota FL which complicates things more since most of the public safety system here is Digital and as you know the 164 don't do digital. Although I did hear a Fire tone out on one of the frequencies so there is some analog in the system, according to Radio Reference. the system is both Digital and Analog, so can a not Digital scanner still receive analog voice on a digital system? The only other trunking system I know about is F.P.L. and that's narrow band, can this unit trunk narrow band? I searched on here and found that question has been posted on the Pro 164 Yahoo board by Matt, but there was no answer. I would have bought a digital scanner but it just wasn't in the budget and I wanted to get back in the hobby since the Pro 92 lost it's umph. I read here on R.R that some people have taken their scanners to Radio Shack and they will program it for you for free, I"m wondering do they do it manually, hook it up to their computer, do a clone anyone know? Sorry if it's a lot of questions but inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks for any help
Ken
 

ST-Bob

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Worcester, MA, USA
You can certainly switch the polarity of your 500 mA 9-volt adapter and it'll work fine.

The 20-546 cable is available from most Radio Shack stores and comes with trial versions of ARC programming software. The cable lists for $34.95

Setting up trunked radio systems through the keypad is a royal PITA but it can be done. Mark's Scanners has easier to read manuals for most scanners, but the Pro-163/164 is listed as "coming soon". The closest one he does have a manual for is the Pro-97 but it's close enough to allow you to program the Pro-164 in my opinion.

The trunking system should be able to be tracked but any talkgroups which are digital will not be decoded. You may only hear noise if anything on these. If you program the bank as closed-mode (a minus sign in that bank) it will only receive those TGIDs which you program in. This allows up to 150 TGIDs per bank and you can put in just the analog ones if you desire.
 

wolfpac2499

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Aug 5, 2010
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Location
East Portland
So I gave up trying to program my PRO-164 by hand... I use Win97 and it is unbelievably easier. The biggest thing when I programmed a recently rebranded motorola system in Win97 was by a click of a button I was able to setup the multi tables correctly. From what I have read you can program the tables by hand on the scanner but its so much easier via software.

In my opinion the programming cable and programming software is a must with this scanner... You will enjoy it more.
 
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