How to download frequencies from website

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sonnyman

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I recently upgraded to a Radio Shack PRO 164, purchased the cable and software ($35), acquired from RadioReference a license to allow downloading from their website to my scanner. The problem I have is determing how to actually achieve this goal nor can I find it in your forums.

Why isn't there a simple procedure shown on the website on how to download frequencies?

It seems to me that this procedure is far too comlicated than it needs to be.

There are too many technical terms I do not understand and I have no intentions to become a Ham radio operator.

Please just give us a simple step one, two, three method.

Thanks!
 

captclint

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I recently upgraded to a Radio Shack PRO 164, purchased the cable and software ($35), acquired from RadioReference a license to allow downloading from their website to my scanner. The problem I have is determing how to actually achieve this goal nor can I find it in your forums.
Welcome to RR. Basically, the method is contained in the software menus, so we would need to know what you have. Fundamentally, there will be a place to connect to RR, where you log in using your normal log in. From there, there are drop down menus for you Country, State, and County. You usually have to select whether you want conventional freq's or trunking. Pick Conventional to start with, as you can always go back and get the trunking. You will note there are several trunking system at the bottom of the page, so you will need to decide which ones of those you wish.

Before you download anything, it would be wise to study this page. http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=2064 There are tons of things to which you COULD listen, so you need to make some decisions about what you do and don't want so you can select them for downloading.
 
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ka3jjz

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What software did you purchase (hopefully not Scancat Lite Plus - it does not work with the web service)?

What don't you understand? For some models that use other memory technology such as DMA or Object Oriented, the download process changes somewhat to accomodate it. You have a standard scanner there, so there should be few problems.

Hopefully you also got the RS USB cable - sad to say, most new PCs these days don't have serial ports.

What system are you trying to program (hopefully not MARCS, which is digital, and the 164 won't handle that)? Go up to the blue toolbar under the site logo and use the Database links to get the URL of the entry you wish to use.

Please be more specific about what you find confusing. Every hobby, no matter whether it's stamp collecting to scanners, has it's own flavors of terminology, and sometimes it takes some learning to understand it all. Take your time - there's lots of folks here that can help

73 Mike
 

DELCOLHFC

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Software?

You didn't mention what software you are using and after reading your post I am willing to guess you do not yet have programming software for you radio.....? Give this page a read and surf around the WIKI some for other informative Pro-164 articles. All of the mentioned software packages come with a 30 day full funtion trial period. I personally have Pro-97's/2055's the 164's older siblings and I really like the WIN97 program from 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) scanners.
I'm sure you will have more questions, ask away!
Tom



I type a lot slower than Clint and Mike :)
 

sonnyman

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What software did you purchase (hopefully not Scancat Lite Plus - it does not work with the web service)?

What don't you understand? For some models that use other memory technology such as DMA or Object Oriented, the download process changes somewhat to accomodate it. You have a standard scanner there, so there should be few problems.

Hopefully you also got the RS USB cable - sad to say, most new PCs these days don't have serial ports.

What system are you trying to program (hopefully not MARCS, which is digital, and the 164 won't handle that)? Go up to the blue toolbar under the site logo and use the Database links to get the URL of the entry you wish to use.

Please be more specific about what you find confusing. Every hobby, no matter whether it's stamp collecting to scanners, has it's own flavors of terminology, and sometimes it takes some learning to understand it all. Take your time - there's lots of folks here that can help

73 Mike
Yup, I was sold the Scancat-Lite Plus by the Manager Lady at Radio Shack, in fact, she loaded it for me via cable and I can hear local police hear trunking channels. I then purchased software and cable to add additional freqs. Interesting, she told me not to install the sofware that came with the cable but to acquire a driver from the RR site. After searching all over RR and Wiki I located ARC300 but it doesn't seem compatible with Scancat-Lite Plus. Should I reset my scanner and start over with the ARC300 software?

This was the other surprise, I found out that the PRO 164 does NOT tune to digital , so I can't get MARCS, which is digital, and the 164 won't handle that.

This is my 3rd scanner and I been able to progran conventional channels manually, it's the trunking and terms like rebanding that I don't understand. and the other tons of things I'd like to load via computer.
__________________
 

captclint

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Yup, I was sold the Scancat-Lite Plus by the Manager Lady at Radio Shack,Should I reset my scanner and start over with the ARC300 software?
Another reason I hate Rat Shack. That software is junk. Get AR300, and cown load the data in your scanner into ARC300.. Then you are set to make whatever changes you need, and you get automatic download with RR. Again, if you down load the scanner to ARC300, you will not lose anything nor have to start over again. I happen to like Butel products. You can download a trial copy to check it out, including some trial downloads from this site. Go to Internet menu, click on RR import, login, select country, state, & county and then chose what trunking systems you want, You may have to chose from multiple sites the one(s) closest to you, and select ALL Talk Groups. Then click import and it should download to ARC300. My trial copy ran out, so I don't know the exact decisions for uploading to the scanner(see scanner icons at top), but just be sure to check the box that says overwrite systems with the same name.
This was the other surprise, I found out that the PRO 164 does NOT tune to digital , so I can't get MARCS, which is digital, and the 164 won't handle that.
OK, Rat Shack claimed to know your area and they loaded it for you. Did you pick out the scanner without any advice, or did they fail to point out that you would need digital and sell you a scanner that they knew would not get the digital stuff? If you want digital, take it back and demand a full refund. I would then think about another brand, but if they will only give you a credit, then RS does have decent digital.
 
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ka3jjz

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The article below lists 4 RS scanners that can handle MARCS;

State of Ohio MARCS - Multi-Agency Radio Communications - The RadioReference Wiki

I would think that the Pro-96 and 2096 might be easier for someone just getting started than the Pro-106 or 197. Both the 96 and 2096 use conventional memory schemes, while the other 2 radios are Object Oriented, which some find frustrating. However, a better source of information would be the good folks on the Ohio forum. This is one time when local folks are a much better source of a valid recommendation.

By the way, keep the USB cable. You'll still need it, assuming you stick with the RS brand. And under no circumstances allow the Shack people to do the programming. There are a lot of Ohio folks that can help with that.

73 Mike
 
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sonnyman

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RS and ScanLite software

What's wrong with Scancat Lite programming from Radio Shack?...They're loading my PRO 106 as we speak.

I found the ScanLite tutorials on YouTube VERY helpful, in fact the best advice I have found in the last two weeks of research.

I'm glad you are there. I will no doubt have questions when I get the PRO 164 home.

Thanks
 

ka3jjz

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Several things are wrong with Scancrap. Do yourself a favor and do a search on the subject - I won't go into all the details here. Heck, it doesn't even interface with the web service. I would not trust a RS employee to do any programming for any scanner - there are several threads on that, too.

Hopefully they know what they're doing with an OO scanner - but if they screw up, don't say you weren't warned, hi. 73 and GL Mike
 

winddancer11

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winddancer11
pro 164

Welcome to RR. Basically, the method is contained in the software menus, so we would need to know what you have. Fundamentally, there will be a place to connect to RR, where you log in using your normal log in. From there, there are drop down menus for you Country, State, and County. You usually have to select whether you want conventional freq's or trunking. Pick Conventional to start with, as you can always go back and get the trunking. You will note there are several trunking system at the bottom of the page, so you will need to decide which ones of those you wish.

Before you download anything, it would be wise to study this page. Franklin County, Ohio (OH) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference There are tons of things to which you COULD listen, so you need to make some decisions about what you do and don't want so you can select them for downloading.

I have the pro164 and had trouble with win97 setup so i switched to the arc300 software and it works like a charm, dont forget to download the right driver for the software
 

frubster

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Mar 17, 2010
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sterling ma
hi all i am new and having a big problem

ok i downloaded the win 97 and i got all the frequencies and now i go to download it to the scanner and for some reson it is not letting me i keep geting an error so what do i do please help me i am running windows 7 can you help me please and thank you
 
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