Is The Pro-197 Worth Buying

[Ejohnson67]

I reserved a Pro-197 at Radio Shack today. Is it worth getting? I've read a few posts about some problems. The salesman at RS offered to program it with all the area frequencies for free. It's on sale for 299.99. Or should I order a different brand?

 

[gewecke]

I reserved a Pro-197 at Radio Shack today. Is it worth getting? I've read a few posts about some problems. The salesman at RS offered to program it with all the area frequencies for free. It's on sale for 299.99. Or should I order a different brand?

Excellent choice, but do not let r/s program it. Instead learn to do it yourself!


73,
n9zas

 

[swells1969]

Great choice,one of the best. Get the cable to program it yourself

 

[wise871]

They may offer a discount on the new USB cable. If not see if they have the older one in stock. It's only half the price.

Old Cable 20-047 $14
New Cable 20-546 $34

Something else to look at is your planning on hooking it up too an external antenna. You may have issues with front end overload on the VHF bands. A simple RS FM trap/filter will fix you right up.

 

[04Z1V6]

One of the best. Most problems you hear of are users getting upset about the programming of the unit. their is a learning curve so take your time.

 

[Ejohnson67]

I'll see if they have the USB cable. If I get an upgrade to my membership, can I reprogram it here?

 

[markbart]

Great radio have programed a few for other people just waiting for my rich uncle to get out of the poorhouse to get my own.LOL


Mark

 

[Bubba1661]

Pro-197

I just bought my 2nd one, A real good radio. I use Win500 also.

 

[zzdiesel]

I have one, and love it. Have patience with learning how to program it. I've had mine since Christmas of '09 and I still won't try to program it without the Win500 software.

 

[K2KOH]

Go to www.couponcabin.com and get an extra twenty bucks off the scanner...$279 for a mobile digital scanner is DAMNED goof! Don't pass it up! Oh, after you get the radio and the cable, become a premium member here, and go to www.starrsoft.com and get WIN500. You'll love it.

 

[homeinva]

great radio i got 4 of them and true do not let rs program there or programs out there that you can program the scanners find the one you like and purchase the program

 

[jomak]

It's DEFINITELY worth every penny! Save your sanity and invest in the programming cable...don't even bother trying to program by hand. Considering the information you'd have to enter even on smaller systems, it just ain't worth it!

Joe

 

[Michael-SATX]

I take issue with puting down someone at RS programming your new scanner WITHOUT even seeing
for yourself what they have to offer. Myself, I take some serious pride in what I send out of my store.
I do it for the hobby and wanting my customers to get the most benefit and enjoyment of out their scanner.
A newbie customer might just learn alot from looking over the load / layout and either leave it alone,
make some changes / additions that they see fit or save the load to a V-folder or PC file for future reference
and start over. I say it's nice to have options. My own learning curve shot way up seeing how a pro does it !
I say get that invaluable programming cable, WIN500 software and get to see everything laid out on screen.

OK Ejohnson67, I'm curious to know who at which store offered to program your new Pro-197 scanner ?
I know there just have to be more than a few of us that have taken the initiative to learn this product line

 

[vinzep491]

I know the manager at the hartville sc store clones his display model when purchased. Said a local LEO cloned his for the store to listen to during the day. The mgr perrsonally does not know much about the hobby but alteast you get to leave preprogrammed. Like the guy said above, it gives you options to either start from scratch or save it to a vfolder if wanted.

 

[gewecke]

I take issue with puting down someone at RS programming your new scanner WITHOUT even seeing
for yourself what they have to offer. Myself, I take some serious pride in what I send out of my store.
I do it for the hobby and wanting my customers to get the most benefit and enjoyment of out their scanner.
A newbie customer might just learn alot from looking over the load / layout and either leave it alone,
make some changes / additions that they see fit or save the load to a V-folder or PC file for future reference
and start over. I say it's nice to have options. My own learning curve shot way up seeing how a pro does it !
I say get that invaluable programming cable, WIN500 software and get to see everything laid out on screen.

OK Ejohnson67, I'm curious to know who at which store offered to program your new Pro-197 scanner ?
I know there just have to be more than a few of us that have taken the initiative to learn this product line

It should be known the shack is known for hiring people that know little if anything about radio comms. Your store might be the exception.

73,
n9zas

 

[Bill1957]

Pro 197

Great scanner! Learn how to program it yourself. It took me about 20 mins to figure it out.

 

[mobile_1]

Yes !

I reserved a Pro-197 at Radio Shack today. Is it worth getting? I've read a few posts about some problems. The salesman at RS offered to program it with all the area frequencies for free. It's on sale for 299.99. Or should I order a different brand?

That is such a great price for so much scanner that I asked my brother to purchase a refurbished PRO-197 first thing on Monday morning at a store in Las Vegas. He will then send it by USPS to me. I wish that we still had RS stores in Canada. I also wish that I could afford to spend 2 weeks in Vegas like my brother is doing.

 

[jimsmowin]

my hat is off to any radio shack that takes interest in programming right. i have done quite a few for local people in my area. we have at least 4 shacks to choose from, and none can do a decent job at programming. they dump the whole system into one scan list. then you can't track any thing or listen very well. i will say at least you do not leave with an empty scanner. suggest you let them program, buy win 500 and cable, then download from scanner to win 500, that will give you something to look at in the program and some idea of how it works. then after a while you will be good at it, hope this helps.

 

[Ejohnson67]

Well, I got my scanner. RS programmed it using this website, what a coincidence!! I did also get the programming cable and trial software, which is only good for one week. Is the Win500 a better setup? So far, the scanner works flawlessly.

 

[Ejohnson67]

Thanks for the help.