New to scanning

[dalebirch]

Hey everyone, This may sound like a silly question but I am fairly new to scanning. I have a Radio Shack Pro-96 handheld that I bought several years ago to get used to the 10-codes for local PD I had to learn as an Explorer. I haven't used it in years but got it back out recently. I work in private security and I use it to know whats going on around us with the local PD, fire, EMS, and other securit agencies in the area. My problem is that I can't always tell from looking at the frequency what agency it is. Does the 96 or any other basic handheld have the capabilities to assign a name or nickname to a channel so I can tell at a glance where its coming from? Like I said, I'm fairly new to this game so I don't have any kind of programming software or anything like that.

Any help with this will be appreciated!

 

[n2mdk]

Yes they are called Alpha Tags and it allows you to do exactly what your talking about. A program like Win96 makes it easier because you can use the computer to type in the names or even download the info from this sites database, with a premium subscription.
It can be done from the Pro-96's keyboard as well.
See page 45 in the pdf manual to see how to do it http://rsk.imageg.net/graphics/uc/rsk/Support/ProductManuals/2000526_PM_EN.pdf for channels, it can also be done for TGIDs on trunked systems

 

[dalebirch]

I'm a genius...I have the Pro-89!!! It threw me off when you mentioned the 'text' button b/c mine doesn't have one. Too good to be true! Sorry bout that

 

[Raven95150]

I'm not familiar with the PRO-89, but just by doing a google search, it doesn't look like it has alpha-tagging capability. It appears it was meant to be a racing scanner and has a way to assign a car number to each frequency. You might be able to program these numbers so that each number corresponds with police, fire, etc. Otherwise, just keep a list with you of what agencies use what frequencies. After a while you will get to know them. Before my county went digital, I had all their frequencies memorized.

 

[hcpholder]

I just wish the Pro96 had the same amount of characters for text as the Pro97 does. It is a lot better if you have more text space!

 

[SCPD]

I agree with characters. Had to completely redo my tags & rearrange the channels also.. only had 500 instead of the 1000 like the 97