I was taking my grandson around to the local area garage sales weekend before last, and seen a Radio Shack PRO-106 for sale for $7.50. Offered the woman $5 and she took it, explaining that they had tried to use it and she thought it was broke. Turned out that the rechargeable batteries were dead.
Nice unit, professionally programmed for an area in Texas, plastic still on, everything included, still in box. But after reading the instruction book, came away more confused than ever. Found Radioreference forums and learned a lot. "A LOT". Thanks for everyone who made it easier to understand the subject. Esp. the "sticky" posts.
Decided to buy a Radio Shack cable and power supply and found the store closed when I got there. (I've been out of this stuff for a while). Read about RS in the forum and turned to the old reliable / Ebay. So anyway, bought a Radio Shack cable and power supply off Ebay and was able to reprogram the unit for our local stations. (Actually ARC500 did the programming, which I also purchased. Learning curve there as well, but it came fairly easily. Trick to it is figuring out which number to assign which talkgroup to. So many rules....) First time I've ever messed with Trunking systems. Very confusing for first-timers like me. (my last scanner had 10 bands-100 channels, all conventional programming. (But it DID have the cordless telephone modification - heh, heh, heh.)
Also bought a charger and four NiMH AA batteries to make if mobile without killing the pocket book by using alkaline batteries. (Scanner went though a set of alkalines in three days.) Also rejoined RadioReference after being off for 7 years.
I'm really amazed at the quality and clarity of this unit. Very, very clear voice. Nice reception as well. Believe I may have to go garage saling more often. (Smile)
Immediately after getting it programmed, it went into scanning mode and picked up a call for an 84 year-old male, short of breathing and having chest pains - and the address was three homes away. Ambulance arrived in about 7-8 minutes and we listened to the Paramedics talk to the hospital about him. Kind of bitter-sweet, we will all be there someday, but until then, I'll be listening.
Just thought I would share my experience.
Cheers to all.
Nice unit, professionally programmed for an area in Texas, plastic still on, everything included, still in box. But after reading the instruction book, came away more confused than ever. Found Radioreference forums and learned a lot. "A LOT". Thanks for everyone who made it easier to understand the subject. Esp. the "sticky" posts.
Decided to buy a Radio Shack cable and power supply and found the store closed when I got there. (I've been out of this stuff for a while). Read about RS in the forum and turned to the old reliable / Ebay. So anyway, bought a Radio Shack cable and power supply off Ebay and was able to reprogram the unit for our local stations. (Actually ARC500 did the programming, which I also purchased. Learning curve there as well, but it came fairly easily. Trick to it is figuring out which number to assign which talkgroup to. So many rules....) First time I've ever messed with Trunking systems. Very confusing for first-timers like me. (my last scanner had 10 bands-100 channels, all conventional programming. (But it DID have the cordless telephone modification - heh, heh, heh.)
Also bought a charger and four NiMH AA batteries to make if mobile without killing the pocket book by using alkaline batteries. (Scanner went though a set of alkalines in three days.) Also rejoined RadioReference after being off for 7 years.
I'm really amazed at the quality and clarity of this unit. Very, very clear voice. Nice reception as well. Believe I may have to go garage saling more often. (Smile)
Immediately after getting it programmed, it went into scanning mode and picked up a call for an 84 year-old male, short of breathing and having chest pains - and the address was three homes away. Ambulance arrived in about 7-8 minutes and we listened to the Paramedics talk to the hospital about him. Kind of bitter-sweet, we will all be there someday, but until then, I'll be listening.
Just thought I would share my experience.
Cheers to all.
