I bought my husband a Radio Shack Pro 96 several years ago....It was awesome, we would get everything in our area. Over time we have been hearing less and less. Radio Shack programmed it for me initially! Wondering if I need to reprogram it or if things have changed so much over the past couple years that our scanner is outdated and will not receive local transmission!! I tried looking, but all these numbers make my head hurt, lol! Any ideas/help??
Do I need to reprogram or get a new scanner??
- Thread starter madhousej
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ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
Mad, first off, welcome
Please be more specific about where you are (county/state is fine), and what you are trying to hear. The 96 will still hear most anything you would need (except military air in certain bands), but proper programming and the right antenna are keys.
The strong likelihood is that things have changed in your area - a process called rebanding could have simply shifted things downward is but one example. It's certainly possible that other things have caused some changes, but we need more information.
It's quite possible that someone in your neck of the woods can supply you with a file from one of two applications popular for that radio (Win96 or ARC96), but without more specifics we're shooting in the dark.
Mike
Please be more specific about where you are (county/state is fine), and what you are trying to hear. The 96 will still hear most anything you would need (except military air in certain bands), but proper programming and the right antenna are keys.
The strong likelihood is that things have changed in your area - a process called rebanding could have simply shifted things downward is but one example. It's certainly possible that other things have caused some changes, but we need more information.
It's quite possible that someone in your neck of the woods can supply you with a file from one of two applications popular for that radio (Win96 or ARC96), but without more specifics we're shooting in the dark.
Mike
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
Well let's start off by eliminating the obvious. If you punch in your local Weather Service freq, can you hear it? If so, it's not a radio issue - most likely it's a programming issue. If you can't at least hear that, it's time to send it to the repair center.
I would never trust a RS employee to do proper programming - their freq lists are quite often way out of date. You should *always* take a look at our DB first - and here's what we have for both counties (anything that's blue is a link) -
Livingston County, Michigan (MI) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
Washtenaw County, Michigan (MI) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
Now I am unsure what your topology is like, but just on a duckie, you could have some issues with hearing Washtenaw county, but since you had it before, I kinda doubt that this is purely an antenna issue.
The trunk systems in your area are listed at the bottom of each page. Note that anything that says MOTOTRBO is not decodable by any scanner out of the box (at least, for now...).
I try to encourage folks to learn to do their own programming. It can get expensive to keep going back to someone once something changes (or your choice of what you're listening to does). You can start here..
Programming Shortcut Pro-96 - The RadioReference Wiki
Not sure about the terminology? Not a problem - we've got 2 items in our wiki to help. The 2nd one requires Adobe Acrobat, Chrome or a reader like Foxit...
Category:RR Glossary - The RadioReference Wiki
http://wiki.radioreference.com/images/c/c7/Trunking_description.pdf
Since most folks will try to offer you a file, you will need 2 things - a USB cable and software. We have information on all of these below...
Connecting scanners via USB - The RadioReference Wiki
ARC96 - The RadioReference Wiki
(check out the links in the Purchasing section)
PRO-96 Software - Win96 - Data Management Software for the RadioShack PRO-96 and PRO-2096 Digital Trunking Scanners
Finally the good folks in the Michigan forum should be able to give you more specific pointers. Often it's the local folks that can help the most...
Michigan Radio Discussion Forum - The RadioReference.com Forums
HTH...Mike
I would never trust a RS employee to do proper programming - their freq lists are quite often way out of date. You should *always* take a look at our DB first - and here's what we have for both counties (anything that's blue is a link) -
Livingston County, Michigan (MI) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
Washtenaw County, Michigan (MI) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
Now I am unsure what your topology is like, but just on a duckie, you could have some issues with hearing Washtenaw county, but since you had it before, I kinda doubt that this is purely an antenna issue.
The trunk systems in your area are listed at the bottom of each page. Note that anything that says MOTOTRBO is not decodable by any scanner out of the box (at least, for now...).
I try to encourage folks to learn to do their own programming. It can get expensive to keep going back to someone once something changes (or your choice of what you're listening to does). You can start here..
Programming Shortcut Pro-96 - The RadioReference Wiki
Not sure about the terminology? Not a problem - we've got 2 items in our wiki to help. The 2nd one requires Adobe Acrobat, Chrome or a reader like Foxit...
Category:RR Glossary - The RadioReference Wiki
http://wiki.radioreference.com/images/c/c7/Trunking_description.pdf
Since most folks will try to offer you a file, you will need 2 things - a USB cable and software. We have information on all of these below...
Connecting scanners via USB - The RadioReference Wiki
ARC96 - The RadioReference Wiki
(check out the links in the Purchasing section)
PRO-96 Software - Win96 - Data Management Software for the RadioShack PRO-96 and PRO-2096 Digital Trunking Scanners
Finally the good folks in the Michigan forum should be able to give you more specific pointers. Often it's the local folks that can help the most...
Michigan Radio Discussion Forum - The RadioReference.com Forums
HTH...Mike
N8IAA
Member
The links Mike gave you will give you more knowledge of your 96. But, make sure that you go to the Radio Shack website and download any firmware upgrades for your scanner. Update your radio and it should work great for you. So far, the two counties you have listed are on the MI state system and are in the 800MHz range for control channels. Should they ever change to 700MHz CC's, you'll need to upgrade your scanner.
HTH,
Larry
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
However there are extensive conventional freqs for both counties - since I'm not in Michigan, I don't know whether every user has transitioned to the Michigan state system - and many municipalities are doing just that, nationwide. Michigan scannists are a better choice for questions like these - and hopefully someone will update the database, something most RS employees generally do not do.
Mike
Mike
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Thanks guys! I completely forgot about my post here until the last couple of days, when I've really wanted to listen to the scanner! I have a lot of reading to do....it all sounds rather confusing to me 
hopefully I'll figure it out! I'm sure I will be back with more questions!
hopefully I'll figure it out! I'm sure I will be back with more questions!I am terrible at this! I have read the info you guys have so nicely given me and then I sit down with the scanner and am completely lost! I have no clue what I am doing!! I think I will listen on the computer while I try to find someone I can pay to program this thing for me
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