Rorer
Member
Hello all and greetings from a new user in Colorado. Several months ago I purchased a new PRO-96. I have always owned a scanner and my last one was a Uniden Bearcat that I had for years but was becoming increasingly useless for my needs because it did not trunk (that was not a problem when I first got it). So I finally updated to the PRO-96. I am not a professional hardcore scanner user. I only have one scanner and I use it to listen to the basic police, fire, medic, etc. stuff that is going on around me. I find it interesting. I will often have the scanner on while I am doing something else.
I could not connect my trusty old Bearcat to a computer. It took a long time to program it by pushing the little buttons, and I could not name the channels. That meant that often I was not sure exactly what I was listening to. Now with the PRO-96 I can do all of this and more quickly with my computer. I just have to decide what software to use. Following are the three programs that I am looking at. I have one of them but have not used it and I have two demos. I installed all of them and started poking around. My problem is that I am not sure what the main function or purpose of each piece of software is or if they all do the same things or even what I want them to do. So if you knowledgeable people can help me sort it out I would be grateful. And please remember that I am an "amateur" right now. I enjoy casual listening and would enjoy it even more if I could easily edit my scanner. So if you could keep the replies to the level of the more basic functions of the software then that would be good. Certainly I would like to explore them and use advanced functions. but that's not the main concern right now.
1 - Win96 - I downloaded the trial to test out. I know that it was created right along with the PRO-96 and is specialized for it. I would imagine that it would be the perfect solution for editing the channels. However I do not know what other functions it has. I think that a couple of them are that I can listen to the scanner with the PC and record what I hear.
2 - ScanStar Spectrum Commander 8 - I got this from somebody who wasn't using it. It is the most up to date version of version 8, it's around 8.82 or something, although there is a version 9 out now. I am unclear of what the functions of this software are. If I can use it to edit my PRO-96 like I can with Win96, well then I already have it here. I went to the company's website but I am still unclear of what the functions of the program are.
3 - ScanCat Gold - I downloaded this as a trial. I like the interface. Again, I am unsure of its functions. But it seemed to me that I could do my scanning through the interface on the computer when using this program. I like that idea, if I am correct in thinking that. I can scan and edit and tune all in real time while using the large keyboard and interface of a computer, and I can surf the web and scan all on the same thing. But like I said, I am not sure if this is what it does, or if the other programs do this as well.
OK those are the three. Feel free to suggest others too, if there is something else. It seems to me that Win96 is the one that is most closely made for this scanner. Please remember my basic needs of editing the channels but also note that I was intrigued by the possibility of scanning through the computer if that is possible; and also that I am not aware of other functions of these programs so if there is a major feature that I am unaware of, let me know. I have been scanning for years without a computer, and I don't have huge needs for it but I think that it could enhance my experience and that's why I am interested. I just keep hitting a brick wall when I try to figure out what each of these programs does and the websites are not very helpful. Finally - I am running Windows XP Pro with all updates on a computer that is more than powerful enough to do anything so I am not limited there. The scanner has been updated to the latest firmware. I have the USB/serial converter cable and have established communication between the scanner and the PC and loaded the banks into Win96, so connectivity is not an issue. And all of these programs are relatively inexpensive, so don't worry about price unless it starts getting past $200 or so. I thank you for reading all of that. Hopefully you can answer it more easily than I can ask it!
I could not connect my trusty old Bearcat to a computer. It took a long time to program it by pushing the little buttons, and I could not name the channels. That meant that often I was not sure exactly what I was listening to. Now with the PRO-96 I can do all of this and more quickly with my computer. I just have to decide what software to use. Following are the three programs that I am looking at. I have one of them but have not used it and I have two demos. I installed all of them and started poking around. My problem is that I am not sure what the main function or purpose of each piece of software is or if they all do the same things or even what I want them to do. So if you knowledgeable people can help me sort it out I would be grateful. And please remember that I am an "amateur" right now. I enjoy casual listening and would enjoy it even more if I could easily edit my scanner. So if you could keep the replies to the level of the more basic functions of the software then that would be good. Certainly I would like to explore them and use advanced functions. but that's not the main concern right now.
1 - Win96 - I downloaded the trial to test out. I know that it was created right along with the PRO-96 and is specialized for it. I would imagine that it would be the perfect solution for editing the channels. However I do not know what other functions it has. I think that a couple of them are that I can listen to the scanner with the PC and record what I hear.
2 - ScanStar Spectrum Commander 8 - I got this from somebody who wasn't using it. It is the most up to date version of version 8, it's around 8.82 or something, although there is a version 9 out now. I am unclear of what the functions of this software are. If I can use it to edit my PRO-96 like I can with Win96, well then I already have it here. I went to the company's website but I am still unclear of what the functions of the program are.
3 - ScanCat Gold - I downloaded this as a trial. I like the interface. Again, I am unsure of its functions. But it seemed to me that I could do my scanning through the interface on the computer when using this program. I like that idea, if I am correct in thinking that. I can scan and edit and tune all in real time while using the large keyboard and interface of a computer, and I can surf the web and scan all on the same thing. But like I said, I am not sure if this is what it does, or if the other programs do this as well.
OK those are the three. Feel free to suggest others too, if there is something else. It seems to me that Win96 is the one that is most closely made for this scanner. Please remember my basic needs of editing the channels but also note that I was intrigued by the possibility of scanning through the computer if that is possible; and also that I am not aware of other functions of these programs so if there is a major feature that I am unaware of, let me know. I have been scanning for years without a computer, and I don't have huge needs for it but I think that it could enhance my experience and that's why I am interested. I just keep hitting a brick wall when I try to figure out what each of these programs does and the websites are not very helpful. Finally - I am running Windows XP Pro with all updates on a computer that is more than powerful enough to do anything so I am not limited there. The scanner has been updated to the latest firmware. I have the USB/serial converter cable and have established communication between the scanner and the PC and loaded the banks into Win96, so connectivity is not an issue. And all of these programs are relatively inexpensive, so don't worry about price unless it starts getting past $200 or so. I thank you for reading all of that. Hopefully you can answer it more easily than I can ask it!
