*New to Scanners* NEED HELP!!!! PRO-164

[Aubrey0913]

I just bought a used RadioShack Pro164 off of ebay, got a decent deal and listing said it worked like new. I work for a towing company here in Iowa and we have our local P.D., our counties Sheriffs Dept, and also Iowa State Patrol all on contract for accident and impound tows so having a scanner in my truck is almost vital, this was when I am on my way to a scene I have a idea of what I will be dealing with once I arrive. Anyways, back to topic, I bought the PRO-164 due to the ability to clone off another 164 so the programing on this thing would be a breeze as we have 8 other 164's we use in the office, shop, and numerous other trucks. I have done the factory reset (power on then quickly press 0, 1, ent.)and have cloned this scanner off of every one we have and still have no luck. It will accept all the frequencies and store them but when it comes to scanning I don't pick up anything. Here and there I will receive the FM frequencies that Iowa Highway Patrol uses but that's it. Every scanner that I have cloned from has the [T] for Trunking flashing on the top of the display during scanning, mine doesn't do this at all. I have even went as far as going to RadioShack and purchasing the usb cable and software($35) and using my 2 free software downloads to see if that would fix my problem and still no luck. If anyone has any idea of what may be going on, maybe a setting needs changed, or anything I would greatly appreciate it!


Thanks in advance!

Brandon

P.S. I am new to the scanner world and this is my first scanner so the simpler the talk the better for me. I have even gone as far as using this link (Easier to Read Pro-164/163 PSR300/C/400/C Scanner Manual) I found in numerous forums to see if I could easier understand what to do and I am still stumped!

 

[troymail]

Are the company radios using the stock antenna that is similar to the antenna on your radio? Are any of the company radios connected to an external antenna?

First thing I'd recommend is see if your radio is receiving anything consistently.

The easiest thing to do is to see if the radio receives weather broadcasts. This at least helps confirm the radio doesn't have some type of problem (bad antenna, connections, or worse).

See: Easier to Read Pro-164/163 PSR300/C/400/C Scanner Manual

Does it receive any weather broadcasts? Do the others at your company receive weather broadcasts (as a comparison)?

Depending upon the result here, the next step I'd do is reset the radio again and manually program something else (perhaps a conventional frequency/non-trunked system) that one of the other company radios are receiving fairly often.

 

[Aubrey0913]

It does receive weather broadcasts. All of to the radio at work use the stock antenna. I even bought the upgraded 800mhz antenna from radio shack and nothing changed. Gonna have to try programming something that's not trunked to see if it's receiving that like the iowa highway patrol fm frequency I would receive here and there. If all that works what's my next step? Again thanks for any and all help/advice! Much appreciated.

 

[N8IAA]

I'm going to ask a couple of silly questions- when programming the scanner, did you use the PC/IF jack on the side of the radio, or, the earphone jack?
Have you seen any flashing numbers on the screen? Or, just some dots? Have you pressed MAN and gone through the banks to see if anything has been programmed into the scanner?
Could you be more specific than Quad cities, IA?
It would make it easier to help.
Larry

 

[Aubrey0913]

Did not have the extra cord attached to the USB cable and I plugged it into the side port on the scanner (not the head phone port). Davenport IA / scott county IA. Bank 0 and bank 5 flash as it's scanning as them are the 2 banks I have frequencies programmed into (same as our office scanner and it works flawlessly). No question is a silly question, any question could possibly lead to a fix for me so I'm open to any and all questions/idea's. Lol

 

[Aubrey0913]

But now that you ask, when I hit MAN and flip through my saved channel/banks I see were it says RAYCOM...... but no frequency is saved with them. Could t
his be my issue?

 

[N8IAA]

But now that you ask, when I hit MAN and flip through my saved channel/banks I see were it says RAYCOM...... but no frequency is saved with them. Could t
his be my issue?

That could be the problem. What software did you use? Why not try Win97 at:
www.starrsoft.com
I believe it is free for thirty days. Get a short term premium membership here on RR and import the frequencies to the software and upload to the scanner.
Should work for you then.
Larry