Official PRO-83 Discussion Thread

[INDY72]

Standard Operating Procedures LOL.. it means all RS Scanner Instruction Manuals are to say the least,... a PITA! No offense.

 

[K5MAR]

SOP stands for Standard Operating Procedure. In other words, most all manuals are poorly written, and the 83's manual is no exception.

No problems, he's just laughing sarcastically!

Mark S.

 

[INDY72]

At least this manual has two advantages.. its a LOT smaller than most of the overloaded underexplained ones.. and is not as bad as most.. but they really need a team of two to write them.. one tech expert, and a layman to put it in understandable terms.. like we say in journalism KISS Keep It Simple Stupid. WEG

 

[INDY72]

Oh another plus on the 83.. its small size makes it easier on the belt,.. and the mini lapel speaker works great on this thing..... It looks and feels a lot like the small M HT's out now,... even had one of our Volees ask me if it was a new HT, and how come he still had a HT1250... LOL when he saw it was a scanner, he was off to RS in a flash.. hope he got there fast as I bought the next to last one in stock.

 

[okla-lawman]

Well I sprang for one this morning...uuuh told wife it was Christmas present for me and what a great deal it was. How kind and considerate
I was not making HER get up at 04:30 to go down to buy it. Of course now she says I cant play with it till Christmas. The antenna looks like it could be a major drawback to reception. That Austin condor in my desk drawere ought to do the trick.

 

[STiMULi]

I would bet depending on where you live the reciever would be easily overloaded with a better antenna.

I get overloaded bigtime on TV but I live near the towers that support a very large geographical area.

 

[Scannerboy1968]

Question on the PRO-83

Well I decided to purchase 2 of these as did many people on black friday. Quick question, are the preprogrammed frequencies listed anywhere and will this scanner clone? So far I am undecided on its performance. I guess I am spoiled with my new 96 but this little scanner interests me. I was scanning local systems and the 83 did not seem to be picking up squat. I removed the stubby antenna and hooked up my external and receive sensitivity seemed to improve drastically. Testing still in progress..... :roll:
Andy

 

[okla-lawman]

I would bet depending on where you live the reciever would be easily overloaded with a better antenna.

I get overloaded bigtime on TV but I live near the towers that support a very large geographical area.

Good piont about Tv. I had not even thought about that or radio. I guess some cautions would have to be exercised. A friend of mune has an old
optoelectronics (sp?) device and it is great. You hear everything (yes included cell) that is around you.

 

[DaveIN]

Got mine at 6 a.m. also, all programmed now, but can't find any Skywarn freqs listed anywhere. Totally lame service search for POL/FIRE: doesn't have my city, county, or state police in their band, I scrolled through it and skips 156.15, 155.55, and 154.92. But I programmed the search bands manually to do the same things.

Check the Radio Reference database for your statewide/Local frequencies and just replace what is in the PRO-83 memory.

You can use you local amateur radio repeater frequency if you don't have an official Skywarn frequency. That is usually where the ham's meet when spotter activation is needed. Search in the 146-148 MHz range if you do not know the frequency. Most likely hams will chat on it at some point during the day.

 

[shew]

just bought my 83 on black friday for the mentioned $59 so far i like it as it is small and all the keys light up when the light is pressed

 

[CAPTLPOL1]

I purchased one early Friday morning. I am just goint to add it to the collection and not whine about selling it back. Who can just listen to one scanner anyway? You miss out on so much if you do that. I just bought one for the Signal Stalker feature anyway. I noticed it mentioned that the radio should have the first 150 frequencies pre-programmed. Funny thing is that mine had no pre-programmed frequencies all the channels are blanked out. What is the deal with that?

 

[grem467]

i wish mine had been blanked.. the duplicate freq checker gets old fast


hold down 3 and E and turn on the scanner, after several seconds the scanner restores the freqs and -Load- appears

 

[K5MAR]

You can do that too, but getting the four buttons pressed is a bit tricky, took me several tries. Now, if somebody will find the key combination that turns off the keypad beeps!

Mark S.

 

[UPMan]

I believe the only way to turn off keypad beeps is to twist the VOL knob fully counterclockwise.

 

[hobokendave]

I was out of town on Thanksgiving, so I had no idea this scanner was on sale.

I want to get this scanner for my Brother for Xmas. He's a newbie to scanner hobby so I think this would be a great starter radio for him to get into the hobby.

Has anybody heard if RS plans to have another sale on this scanner before XMAS? From what I read, 60 bucks for this scanner is a great price. I would rather pay $60 than $120. (who wouldn't?)

 

[UPMan]

I'm pretty certain that this was a "Hot Friday" special only. Don't look for this price to be repeated before next year's day-after Thanksgiving (if then).

Actually, at $119, it is a good deal when you look at how it feature compares to the other conventional scanners out there. Of course, at $60 it was a fantastic deal...but that is what the Hot Friday sales are all about.

===========
Marge: Why am I the only one wearing a skimpy swimsuit.
Homer: That's what makes a great voyage a Fantastic Voyage!

 

[hobokendave]

Thanks UPMan. I kind of figured.

I think I'm still gonna get it for him, But I was just hopin'...


PS. LOL at your sig.

 

[johnvassel]

I'm pretty certain that this was a "Hot Friday" special only. Don't look for this price to be repeated before next year's day-after Thanksgiving (if then).

Actually, at $119, it is a good deal when you look at how it feature compares to the other conventional scanners out there. Of course, at $60 it was a fantastic deal...but that is what the Hot Friday sales are all about.

I'll admit to not having been in the handheld scanner market for a half dozen years or so, but I dont feel in any way that this radio is worth it's full price. It's small, but not small enough. It has nice features, but is missing sooo much. No alpha tags, poor thought out programming, etc.
And it's construction 'feel' is terrible. I cannot imagine buying it's bigger brother (trunking, etc, ) knowing it would feel like this radio. Heck, just make it take 8AA batts, and at least it'd feel heavy enough to be real.
I DO like it's signal stalker mode. Drove the highways today with external antenna, was amazed at what it managed to pick up. Will be nice to have around for this reason. Otherwise, I'll stick to my commericial or amateur gear for actual listening.

 

[indepmo]

I was at Radio Shack yesterday.
For a few more dollars, the PRO-95 is on sale through X-Mas for 149.99

 

[eyes00only]

This is the first scanner I've ever had that I can put in CB channel 9! How are ya all doing on battery time? I just replaced my first set of good alkalines after approx. 9 hours of average use. I'm charging up some 2000mAh Ni-MH batteries for tomorrow.

Jerry