My Pro-137 Review

[CStarr59]

I've had mine for several months now and it's been getting good use. I have to say it's one of RS best scanners and I should have picked up a 2nd one when they were on sale, but I missed out. I'm using ARC137 to program it and it's been great. The audio and the display are really nice on this model and I deleted all the factory race frequencies as I just use it for general scanning.

 

[trixwagen]

Overstock.com has a few Pro-137s left for $50.99... I could overlook a few shortcomings at that price.

 

[rudewing]

Hey folks, I used to have a RadioShack Pro-76 (very reliable, lasted me about two years before I lost it outside and it got rained on.. Irreparable damage sadly), and after being scanner-free for about two years, I'm looking for a new one. I found a Pro-137 on eBay for pretty cheap, it's a refurb, and I'm wondering what you guys think about refurbed scanners. Here's the link to the auction, let me know what you think!

RadioShack Pro-137 handheld 1000 ch police/race scanner - eBay (item 170442107165 end time Feb-09-10 20:17:34 PST)

 

[SCPD]

Bought it a local RS for 50 bucks last one at my RS

 

[trixwagen]

With a $10 off coupon, I picked my my Shack's last one, too. Best $40 scanner I have!

 

[aaron97]

I have had my pro-137 for a year now and i really like it, it is a good, basic scanner really enjoy using it.

 

[N1SQB]

Quick Question!

I happened across a good Pro-137 new in the box at a RS store nearby. I'm just curious about one discrepancy however. Here on the RR Wiki and a few other places on the internet it states that the scanner has 6.25 and 7.5 khz step sizes. The PDF manual shows only 6.25. Does anyone know what the real deal is before I buy this baby? It's only $50 I know but it makes a difference for my individual needs!

Manny

 

[trixwagen]

I'm fighting this war right now (remember the war?) so I don't have my Pro-137 available; though I am 99% sure it does NOT do 7.5 kHz steps. It doesn't do a lot of things, really. If 7.5 kHz steps is the deal breaker, I would look elsewhere. (PSR-310 is looking good, though it's nowhere near $50).

 

[N1SQB]

I'm fighting this war right now (remember the war?) so I don't have my Pro-137 available; though I am 99% sure it does NOT do 7.5 kHz steps. It doesn't do a lot of things, really. If 7.5 kHz steps is the deal breaker, I would look elsewhere. (PSR-310 is looking good, though it's nowhere near $50).

I already own the PSR-310 and love it very much I also own a Pro-162 which seems to spend more time in my daughters room than mine these days. LOL This is just a second "for kicks" back up scanner. I'm trying to gage what I can and can't use it for. I'm going to jump on it anyway. Reviews show it is good on civil air which I monitor a lot. I was just curious why some reviews said it does cover those steps and some say it does not. After looking at the manual online, I see it does not. Still, for $49 how picky can one be? LOL....

Manny

 

[WA1ATA]

Here on the RR Wiki and a few other places on the internet it states that the scanner has 6.25 and 7.5 khz step sizes. The PDF manual shows only 6.25. Does anyone know what the real deal is before I buy this baby?

It doesn't have 7.5kHz steps. The Wiki is incorrect on that, but is correct as to step sizes in the freq table

25.0000 - 27.9950 MHz (5khz)
28.0000 - 54.0000 MHz (5khz)
108.0000 - 136.9875 MHz (12.5khz)
137.0000 - 174.0000 MHz (5khz)
216.0000 - 224.9950 MHz (5khz)
400.0000 - 512.0000 MHz (6.25khz)
806.0000 - 823.9875 MHz (12.5khz)
846.0125 - 868.9875 MHz (12.5khz)
894.0125 - 956.0000 MHz (12.5khz)
1240.0000 - 1300.0000 MHz (12.5khz)

Pro-137 - The RadioReference Wiki

I picked one up last fall for $50, and if I could find another one at that price would buy another to leave in my car permanently.

 

[KK4DAN]

I picked up the 137 just a couple weeks ago when it was on sale at the Shack for $50. I have to say I'm pretty impressed with it. Thankfully, our local police and fire are still on VHF around here, so it works great for that. I also scan a lot of HAM repeaters and occasionally Air Traffic too with it.

Manually programming the 137 is pretty easy and I really like the alpha tagging. I've actually made use of the CAR option by making it a quick way to access a section of channels or even a certain channel. I also like the option of quickly saving a channel if you are doing a fine scan on a certain frequency range or copying a channel from one channel to another. All of these are very easy tasks that work very good.

I thought the squelch being buried two menu options in was going to be a pain, but it actually works so good, you just set it and forget it.

I also own an older Pro-94 that has basically become useless as a trunking scanner since rebanding, so its basically just your avg conventional scanner now and the 137 does much better at this.

 

[KK4DAN]

Just curious, but where would 7.5khz steps come in handy for the frequencies the 137 covers?

 

[WA1ATA]

I've actually made use of the CAR option by making it a quick way to access a section of channels or even a certain channel.

...
I thought the squelch being buried two menu options in was going to be a pain, but it actually works so good, you just set it and forget it.

I found the car numbers useful for assigning to the Marine VHF channels. So when someone says "switch to 68", I just push "68 car" and I'm there. BTW, Car# 01 is different than Car #1 or Car #001. I may assign the AAR railroad channels to Cars 06 though 097, which aren't the same as 6 through 97.


Although not mentioned in the manual, you can press the function button either before or after doing the depress on the knob. I find the most convenient way to access squelch is to first press Func, then press and turn the knob.

 

[KK4DAN]

I found the car numbers useful for assigning to the Marine VHF channels. So when someone says "switch to 68", I just push "68 car" and I'm there. BTW, Car# 01 is different than Car #1 or Car #001. I may assign the AAR railroad channels to Cars 06 though 097, which aren't the same as 6 through 97.


Although not mentioned in the manual, you can press the function button either before or after doing the depress on the knob. I find the most convenient way to access squelch is to first press Func, then press and turn the knob.

Yeah, I originally started with assigning channels like that for like FRS/GMRS and CB, but pretty soon I realized it only goes to the first one it finds if you have duplicates. I found it easier just to assign the Bank & Channel number and just remember where i have those. So like all my FRS/GMRS are in Bank 9, so FRS channel 7 would be Car 907. I can see where for VHF Marine though where the channels aren't in numerical order that could definitely benefit. I guess if you did each of those with a 0 preceding the channel number, that would work fine since in my 0 Bank, I only use 2 digit numbers. I've been meaning to add the Marine VHF channels, but haven't yet.

I also just assigned the first channel of each bank the single digit number. So bank 1, channel 0 is just 1. Or bank 5, channel 0 is just 5. That way I can quickly jump to the beginning of a bank when I have multiple ones enabled.

I didn't realize you could do the Function first before the knob depress. Thanks that should work easier!

 

[WA1ATA]

Great minds think alike.

I do use that trick for some banks. For example, I have San Jose PD channels 1 through 20 assigned to bank 6; 601 though 620. And I have the railroad AAR channels programmed into PRO137 channels 305 - 397, corresponding to 3+AAR#.

I initially thought that 1000 channels was way more than enough for conventional channels, but I've found ways to rapidly fill them up one I started entering things like low power biz freqs, wireless microphones, the 12 local control channels (malls, hospitals, etc).

===================

The user interface is reasonably nice once I got used to the volume control. Quite a few things that aren't really in the manual go ahead and work as I would hope/expect.

For example, if you pause a scan by hitting the scan/manual button, you can then enter and freq and hit Srch and you will go directly to a fine tune search, paused at the freq you entered.

=======================

A feature that is in the manual, but not obvious is that if you have several freqs programmed for one car, after you enter the car number, pushing Func then lets you scroll through the list. Once you have selected a freq in this way, it then becomes the default for that car. Any other manual selection of a frequency also sets that one as the default for that car number.

 

[KK4DAN]

.

For example, if you pause a scan by hitting the scan/manual button, you can then enter and freq and hit Srch and you will go directly to a fine tune search, paused at the freq you entered.

Yeah i like that too

A feature that is in the manual, but not obvious is that if you have several freqs programmed for one car, after you enter the car number, pushing Func then lets you scroll through the list. Once you have selected a freq in this way, it then becomes the default for that car. Any other manual selection of a frequency also sets that one as the default for that car number.

Wow, it sure does, didn't realize that one either. Thanks!

 

[W1MJP]

Headphone jack OK for mono plugs?

Anyone know if the Headphone jack on the PRO-137 will tolerate mono plugs?
Both mono and stereo jacks do work.
Butt with the mono plugs, I worry the amp driving the sleeve is getting shorted out by the mono plug!

Thanks,
Michael

 

[riccom]

The audio will be compermised you may want to get a converter plug there like 6 bucks at the shack

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