Pro-106 purchase-programming concern

[nitroharley]

I have been a scanner enthusiast for better than 15 years. I currently have a pro-95 that I love. Listen to it constantly. I see the new radio shack pro 106 is on sale for 299.99 for one more day.

I am very tempted to go get one however I am concerned about programming it. What would I need to know or purchase (software?) to be able to get this radio up and running? I have never used programming software, not for lack of computer knowledge, just never had the need to purchase.

Does anyone know if I will I be able to pick up additional action in my area with this radio? I live in Washtenaw County, Michigan. Currently receive Saline, Ann Arbor, Wash Co. Sheriff, Pittsfield and Milan.

Would a realitively intelligent guy be able to figure this radio out?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[mikey60]

I have been a scanner enthusiast for better than 15 years. I currently have a pro-95 that I love. Listen to it constantly. I see the new radio shack pro 106 is on sale for 299.99 for one more day.

I am very tempted to go get one however I am concerned about programming it. What would I need to know or purchase (software?) to be able to get this radio up and running? I have never used programming software, not for lack of computer knowledge, just never had the need to purchase.

Does anyone know if I will I be able to pick up additional action in my area with this radio? I live in Washtenaw County, Michigan. Currently receive Saline, Ann Arbor, Wash Co. Sheriff, Pittsfield and Milan.

Would a realitively intelligent guy be able to figure this radio out?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

Washtenaw county is currently in the process of converting over to the MPSCS, which is a digital system. When that happens, your Pro-95 will no longer be able to pick up those calls.

The Pro-106 is a digital capable scanner, and will work with the new system.

The additional action you'll be able to get immediately would be the Michigan State Police, Livingston County, Monroe County, some stuff in Calhoun county, and other state and local agencies that use the MPSCS.

As far as other items you might need, I would suggest a cable for programming using a PC and software to program it. While it's not absolutely necessary to use software, it does make it a lot easier to program, and with a premium subscription to this web site, you can download the information right into the program from the database here.

There are currently three programs available for programming the Pro-106. All of them come with a free trial period so you can try them and see which of them you like.

Those programs are:

ARC500 from http://www.butel.nl
WIN500 from http://www.starrsoft.com
PSREdit500 from http://www.psredit.com (This one's my favorite for some reason )

Mike

 

[kb8rvp]

You can download the trial version of the win96 program http://www.starrsoft.com/software/win500/default.asp

or the psredit software
http://www.psredit.com

they both have a 30 day trial.

A lot of the Radio Shack stores are out of the Pro-106 so you may need to go in and have them back order one for you by going into the store or try calling the Brighton Store by using the store locator with a zip code of 48116. I know the Brighton Mi store will do it for you and program the scanner for you for Livingston County and the Ann Arbor area or if you find a Pro-106 at another store I can send you a file for the PSREDIT software and you can get your scanner going in a matter of minuets. You can also join the Radio Reference paid membership and use radio reference to program your scanner using either software programs.

Mike

 

[TedTed]

There is also ARC500: http://www.scannermaster.com/ARC500_..._197_s/380.htm or www.butelsoftware.com
They all have 30 days trial versions so give them a try before making a purchase.

TT.

 

[nitroharley]

Thank You Mike for the information. I have located a radio and hope to pick it up later this afternoon. I just read in the FAQ's for the psredit software, that the Radio Shack USB cable is NOT compatable with the Pro-106. If this is true, do you know what cable I should get?
Thanks again,
Steve

 

[kendrik578]

The pro-106 is fairly easy to program once u get to know it.It onley took me about 30 min to get used to it,i to dont use software but be aware of the glitch in it or you will have to start all over programing it,look in other threads about heap error it happen to me 10 min after i got it.Its a very good scanner and great digitel sound.Very high tec.

 

[uspatriot1975]

nitroharley:
Get the Pro-106, the Radio Shack USB scanner programming cable and sign up for the RR premium membership. You will not be disappointed. I chose to use the PSRedit software to program the scanner. I'm a novice at best and from open box to active scanning may have taken me an hour. And I spent about 15 minutes trying to figure out why my COM ports were not finding the scanner. But aside from any minor annoyances, you'll enjoy things much quicker with the programming cable, software and the membership. Money well spent.

 

[mikey60]

Thank You Mike for the information. I have located a radio and hope to pick it up later this afternoon. I just read in the FAQ's for the psredit software, that the Radio Shack USB cable is NOT compatable with the Pro-106. If this is true, do you know what cable I should get?
Thanks again,
Steve

The Radio Shack USB cable IS compatible, just don't use the adapter that comes with it. Was that My FAQ where you got that impression? If so I'll have to reword that one.

Edit: I see how the wording on that FAQ could be confusing. I've corrected that.

Mike

 

[nitroharley]

Can Radio shack program the pro-106?

Thanks to all who responded to my post. This is a very helpful site, good people.

Can radio shack program the pro 106 with their software? I believe they are using scan-cat. When I visited the scan-cat site, I believe I read that the software did NOT support the pro 106 yet?

The reason I ask is the associate at radio shack told me that they could pre program my radio to get me up and running. I will be looking into the other progamming software that has been suggested on this post as I want to fully learn and costomize my radio.

Oh, by the way, I don't actually have the radio in my hands yet. The associate told me he would have the radio shipped to his store by 4:00 yesterday. I called to confirm that he had the radio in before I made the trip to the store. When I arrived he had the pro 96 not the pro 106. Bummer.

He called around and located on in another store, in some far away place. They are shipping the radio, I should (hopefully) have it sometime next week. No disrespect directed towards radio shack or the associate. Mistakes happen.

 

[petey_racer]

The Radio Shack USB cable IS compatible, just don't use the adapter that comes with it.

What's nice is the ARC500 software explicitly tells you this when you go to up or download.

Just don't do what I did.
I keep the short adapter twist tied to the main cable so I don't loose it. I had the adapter plugged in by mistake and it took me a minute or two to realize why the program was not uploading. :roll:

 

[uspatriot1975]

Can radio shack program the pro 106 with their software? I believe they are using scan-cat. When I visited the scan-cat site, I believe I read that the software did NOT support the pro 106 yet?

The reason I ask is the associate at radio shack told me that they could pre program my radio to get me up and running. I will be looking into the other progamming software that has been suggested on this post as I want to fully learn and costomize my radio.

The nice thing about the 106 is that it comes with V-scanner files preloaded with several major areas frequencies already. All you do is find your major metro area in the manual and load the associated v-scanner file number. BUt if you're not in one of the major metro areas, you may have to have them pre load your freqs. It's a service they usually will support for all of their scanners.

 

[SCPD]

Thanks to all who responded to my post. This is a very helpful site, good people.

Can radio shack program the pro 106 with their software? I believe they are using scan-cat. When I visited the scan-cat site, I believe I read that the software did NOT support the pro 106 yet?

The reason I ask is the associate at radio shack told me that they could pre program my radio to get me up and running. I will be looking into the other progamming software that has been suggested on this post as I want to fully learn and costomize my radio.

Oh, by the way, I don't actually have the radio in my hands yet. The associate told me he would have the radio shipped to his store by 4:00 yesterday. I called to confirm that he had the radio in before I made the trip to the store. When I arrived he had the pro 96 not the pro 106. Bummer.

He called around and located on in another store, in some far away place. They are shipping the radio, I should (hopefully) have it sometime next week. No disrespect directed towards radio shack or the associate. Mistakes happen.

DO NOT use scan cat or scan cat lite!!!

 

[breadtrk]

Whatever you do, if you get any errors using the WIN500 software, don't post your experience here. The software was written by GOD and is perfect in every way and it is most certainly YOUR fault if it doesn't perform the way you expected it too.

 

[kd6ecz]

Whatever you do, if you get any errors using the WIN500 software, don't post your experience here. The software was written by GOD and is perfect in every way and it is most certainly YOUR fault if it doesn't perform the way you expected it too.

Wow... I'm guessing you had a bad experience.

I've had pretty good luck with Win96 for my Pro-96 in the 4+ years that I've used it. Problems and concerns with that software always seem to be answered in a timely manner on this forum.

 

[mtindor]

Whatever you do, if you get any errors using the WIN500 software, don't post your experience here. The software was written by GOD and is perfect in every way and it is most certainly YOUR fault if it doesn't perform the way you expected it too.

ROFL, I can see what may cause you to say that. Don may not be what some would consider a "people person", but he writes quality software and sells it for a reasonable price (reasonable enough that you shouldn't expect to get 8 hours of handholding from him... he has to make a living and writing this software doesn't do it alone).

The part about making a living applies to Mike/PSREdit too - He perhaps has a bit more tact and doesn't come off as being so standoffish though.

Both pieces of software are quality ; both guys are good guys who do support their products. So for anyone reading, they shouldn't be scared off by your experience.

Mike

 

[DonS]

Whatever you do, if you get any errors using the WIN500 software, don't post your experience here. The software was written by GOD

As far as the PSR-500, PSR-600, PRO-106, and PRO-197 are concerned... yes, Win500 was written by "GOD". Unfortunately, even GOD f***s up sometimes (Heap Errors, Free Will, etc.).

 

[Wahoos4Life]

I just got mine what i use

1.Radio shack programing cable
2.Premium subscription to this sight
3.Arc 500

I was up and running in minutes with hundreds of freqs

 

[nitroharley]

Please explain why...

 

[PHOENIX_SCANNER]

Owned a dozen radios with PSR internals..


1) PSREdit
2) WIN500 (close second)

Sometimes it is hard to explain why you like certain things over others...

And this is one of those cases....so I won't bother....

Let's just say I have a long background with scanners, and computer software, hardware, networks, etc., and have a lot of time spent using Microsoft Excel, and PSREdit flows for me. As for WIN500 it is nice that the monitor / control function works in the same shell as the programming section, and it is also a sweet program. I would say download the trials of each and decide.

 

[Grubbyg]

I tried PSRedit today but I was unable to download to my scanner got an error "send initialize timeout! Please make sure cable is connected and try again" after trying multiple times and making sure the cable was being recognized I gave up and tried WIN500 it worked the first time. I liked the user interface of PSRedit better but it didn't work so it looks like WIN500 may have to get my $ unless I can figure out the problem.