New Baltimore County P-25 System

[n3vbj]

Pro 106 VR adjustment

This is unnecessary! Baltimore county's New System is vulnerable to multi-path signals. Its DIGITAL which is a data stream of 9600 Baud data. If you use a Super-duper antenna and can't understand why your digital audio is garbled you get the signal from Multiple paths and when your scanners DSP try to decode a broken data stream it sounds like its underwater. Ever since the test of the system in February I have used 1 inch stubby antennas and have had no problems with garbled signals. Unhook the super 800Mhz whips and discone outdoor high gain antennas and use a stubby antenna like they sell on E-bay and other sites and your headache will be solved!!!!! Once you get the Stubby rubber duck and compare it to your High Gain Super duper scanner antenna the difference with the Stubby is night and day. Stubby full strength signal and perfect audio..........High gain antenna...... Fluctuation in signal strength and garbled audio it's not hard to figure it out.

All of the users on Radio Reference Forum's will tell me I'm crazy and have no idea what i'm talking about but it's simple.... 1 inch stubby duck I have no dropout or garbled decoding. Next time you see a Baltimore County Police officer or Fire Department employee look at the Walkie-Talkie's they have. The Police officer's have a 1 inch stubby antenna mounted on top of the Speaker/Mic on his chest. The fire fighters Motorola units all have stubby's. Duh put one on your digital scanner and you can hear with no problem!!!
This will also work for Home Patrol and Uniden/Bearcat and most Digital scanners.. You may require and adapter or order the Stubby with right connection for your scanner IE BNC or SMA

 

[pratzert]

So far no one has found the 'vr adjustment' for the 106 - however there has been a CPU upgrade

http://forums.radioreference.com/radio-shack-scanners/230650-pro-106-197-cpu-2-0-released.html

Don't fall into the trap of reading only new messages - read the stickies in the forums and older posts too. You'll learn more that way...HTH...Mike

Thanks Mike.

I did the CPU upgrade.... and noticed no performance change.

Regard, Tim

 

[pratzert]

This is unnecessary! Baltimore county's New System is vulnerable to multi-path signals. Its DIGITAL which is a data stream of 9600 Baud data. If you use a Super-duper antenna and can't understand why your digital audio is garbled you get the signal from Multiple paths and when your scanners DSP try to decode a broken data stream it sounds like its underwater. Ever since the test of the system in February I have used 1 inch stubby antennas and have had no problems with garbled signals. Unhook the super 800Mhz whips and discone outdoor high gain antennas and use a stubby antenna like they sell on E-bay and other sites and your headache will be solved!!!!! Once you get the Stubby rubber duck and compare it to your High Gain Super duper scanner antenna the difference with the Stubby is night and day. Stubby full strength signal and perfect audio..........High gain antenna...... Fluctuation in signal strength and garbled audio it's not hard to figure it out.

All of the users on Radio Reference Forum's will tell me I'm crazy and have no idea what i'm talking about but it's simple.... 1 inch stubby duck I have no dropout or garbled decoding. Next time you see a Baltimore County Police officer or Fire Department employee look at the Walkie-Talkie's they have. The Police officer's have a 1 inch stubby antenna mounted on top of the Speaker/Mic on his chest. The fire fighters Motorola units all have stubby's. Duh put one on your digital scanner and you can hear with no problem!!!
This will also work for Home Patrol and Uniden/Bearcat and most Digital scanners.. You may require and adapter or order the Stubby with right connection for your scanner IE BNC or SMA

n3vbj,

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I tried completely removing my antenna and lost all reception, but I thought it was worth a try.

I actually have a stubby "somewhere" from an old scanner from way....way... back when.

I'm not sure what box it may be hiding in down in my basement... but I'll look around.

Otherwise, I'll start looking on ebay for a stubby with a BNC connector for my 106.

Regards...

 

[n3vbj]

Stubby antenna

This is where I got mine.

eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

These really work!!!!

 

[pratzert]

This is where I got mine.

eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

These really work!!!!

Thanks a bunch for the link.... they are pretty cheap so I just ordered a couple.

It would take me a long time to search for the stubby I have (If I even still have it.) It's cheaper to buy a couple at that price.

 

[Bingers4all]

So is there a way I can find out what firmware version is installed on my scanner? And I looked through 14 pages in this thread and haven't seen any posts about a update for the 106!

 

[ka3jjz]

Because you shouldn't be looking here for 106 update news - go to the Radio Shack forum for that. That's the place you'll find such news, and make sure you don't just read the new posts...and you can check our wiki to find out how to determine your firmware version - although this article doesn't have the CPU 2.0 fixes, it DOES tell you how to check your firmware...

PRO-106 and 197 CPU/DSP Upgrades - the RR Wiki

Mike

 

[Bingers4all]

I'm new to this! so what about finding what version Is already downloaded on this thing? I don't yet have the cable yet so I'm hoping there are some buttons I can press. Anyone w/ the pro-106 know how to do this?

 

[doctordave]

Mark, Glad the yagi worked well for you! I have to note that I actually got the idea from some folks on another RR forum who'd faced similar battles and tried everything without success...and then found that a yagi was the magic bullet. Looks like you have a Wilson yagi? I got a great deal on them years ago via ebay.....bought a few at $22 each....I've seen them as low as around $35 recently. They certainly work quite well.

Jodi, Keep us posted on how you are making out and we'll sure try to help you get things working.

N3VBJ, Glad the stubby worked for you. Still a rather location-dependent issue.....trying a stubby antenna was one of my first efforts - but did not prove helpful at my particular home location. I'm just fortunate enough to be on high ground & nearly dead-center between 2 towers. Nice to hear that you've found a cheap, easy solution. Have you had the opportunity to drive around the County much and test mobile reception with the stubby?

 

[ka3jjz]

Bingers4all,

Anything in blue is a link of some kind

Read the link I gave you. Then go to the RS forum (the link for that is also provided), and ask your questions about upgrades there.

Mike

 

[n3vbj]

106 Firmware

I'm new to this! so what about finding what version Is already downloaded on this thing? I don't yet have the cable yet so I'm hoping there are some buttons I can press. Anyone w/ the pro-106 know how to do this?

Press and hold the "PROG" Key while you turn the scanner on and release and a few tones later it should
display firmware and software labels

if it's upto date it should say

upBootVert: RF1.2
up App Vert: RV2.0
CPU SW Upgrage
Waiting fo PC/IF

turn off scanner and it will go back to normal.

 

[Bingers4all]

Press and hold the "PROG" Key while you turn the scanner on and release and a few tones later it should
display firmware and software labels

if it's upto date it should say

upBootVert: RF1.2
up App Vert: RV2.0
CPU SW Upgrage
Waiting fo PC/IF

turn off scanner and it will go back to normal.

Yeah I found it before, when you turn it on just press the 3 key and it pops up. I am not up too date cause mine says;
uP App Ver: RF 1.7
DSP AppVer: RF 1.3
DSP CocVer: RF 1.0
So I will have to buy a cable to update and hope it doesn't mess up what is already programmed and hope it does help the reception!

 

[n3vbj]

Firmware update

you can get the cable at Radio shack for $35.00 GRE is the same price. Be sure to get your firmware update from the RS web page. go to http://www.Radioshack,com in the search box type PRO-106 and scroll down to product support and get the latest file date Jan 12, 2012 and save it to your computer.


go to this link and Download PSR500DL PSR500DL - Backup and Restore utility for the PSR-500/600 and Pro-106/197
this is a freebie. set the com port of your cable and proceed

use this program to download and save your current programming and save this file where you can see it to upload back.

do the firmware upgrade and follow the directions in the program... this will wipe your scanner clean.
do the test and it will tell you the current revision and. turn off the scanner and hold PROG and turn it back on to do the upgrade. it takes a few minuets.

your scanner is now current and ready for programming.

after the firmware is done use the PSR500DL to upload that file back to your scanner

keep this file and program handy if you dump the memory of your scanner this will put it back to the way it was for Free.

the PSR500/600 and Pro 106/197 are the same scanners programming is the same but the firmware is different

 

[n3vbj]

If your not sure how to do this I can do this for you. I have the software and cable. email me with your phone number and I will contact you. n3vbj1@gmail.com my fee is $20.00 for upgrade and reprogramming

 

[maus92]

Thanks a bunch for the link.... they are pretty cheap so I just ordered a couple.

It would take me a long time to search for the stubby I have (If I even still have it.) It's cheaper to buy a couple at that price.

Please tell us how this works out for you...

 

[pratzert]

Please tell us how this works out for you...

Will do...

 

[Jodi0522]

Hi Dave, Yesterday, Mom and I drove out to Cockeysville with the scanners. We had them on from Harford Road, across the Beltway to Dulaney Valley Road, and out York Road. Mine did not pick up anything - and, again, I had upgraded the firmware and updated the database. Mom has done neither of those to her scanner and she picked up MD Transportation Police a couple of times, but only for a few seconds each time. That was about it. I have read through the last couple of days' posts discussing the stubby antennas. So I have just ordered two on Ebay. We will give these a try. If they don't work, we will go the Yagi route. Thanks again for your interest.

 

[Bingers4all]

I have also ordered a stubby and has been told it will drastically improve reception! Thanks for the call and upcoming help,n3vbj

 

[pratzert]

Stubby Antenna Results

Well.... I recvd my stubby.

I tried it in the Dundalk area and in Kingsville and found no real big change in reception.

In fact.... it was perhaps, slightly worse reception, with the same garble and drop outs.

I would switch back and forth between the stubby and the 800Mhz and I think I pulled in more signals/conversations with the 800 Mhz.

Maybe the stubby helps more if you are very close to the transmitting tower with a real strong signal.

Oh well... it was worth a try.

They are pretty cheap and it may be worth your time to try the stubby in your area.

 

[maus92]

Thanks for the info. Sorry that it doesn't seem to work that well for you.