Pro-197 biggest joke ever

[Michael-SATX]

OK, Dusco25 by default the "Global Attenuation" is enabled on the Pro-197,(Also try Squelch Knob at 11 O'Clock)
So next please lQQk at your display while scanning and see if you see a "GA" indication on the top display line ?
If so, try turning it off by first pressing the "FUNC" key then the "ATT" key to disable global attentuation.
So now with the "GA" gone from the display while scanning please retry your Conv P25 reception.
Being the Conventional UHF P25 tower is 17 miles away, please NO ATTENUATION should be
enabled and thus snuffing down your reception by 20 decibels, you want better RX and not worse
Do yourself a favor and try this easy and obvious expirement and let us know your RX results ... OK.

btw ~ If still no better results, I also have to suspect the BNC jack maybe being bad or a cold solder joint to the PCB
One of my Pro-197's has an issue until I twist off the BNC antenna connection enough so it is not securely locked,
then wa la the reception is completely normal like my other Pro-197 Scanner RX.( How strange is this rare issue right ?)
To tweek how loose I wiggle off my BNC antenna I use the TSYS signal strength % percentage reading while tweeking.
When I get my normal 99% TSYS RX, I know I have my sweet spot or temporary workaround, when I have time I will go inside
and see what this units actual problem is ... either a bad BNC jack and or a broken solder connection. Hope this helps you !

 

[fasteddy64]

When I first purchased my 197 I felt the same way, it was the worst scanner I had ever owned.
After some research I found it was being destroyed by FM broadcast interference.
This trap:
RadioShack FM Trap : Adapters, splitters and amplifiers | RadioShack.com
was all it took to rectify the situation. It is now serving me very well.

 

[Ronaldski]

Have you had it n close proximity to radio transmitters?

Appears anyway you just gave up and not trying our suggestions fully. I strongly suggest to try my tip on using a qtip and a cleaner like isopropyl alcohol on the connections. Even though the connectors look clean, normally you get some dirt on the qtip. This is especially a big problem if there is a smoker in the house.

I fixed a few radios including a pro 197 with dramatic reception increases. Its cheap, easy and quick!

Add me too as well if you wanted to sell it.

 

[caravanken]

I am using Mini 8X coax on PL-259 connectors. The coax is just under 1/4" and very flexible not to mention low loss. I use PL-259 connectors because the antenna uses a SO-239 and I don't want to use an adapter to keep the number of connections to a minimum outside to reduce moisture incursion points. I may have missed it but if you have not done a reset to all settings, give that a try. If you are trying to receive P25 digital signals and being 17 miles from the antenna, you may need to build what they call a Corner Reflector Antenna. Go to Corner reflector antenna and consider this approach.

 

[kb8rvp]

Like others have said make sure the squelch is not set to far to the right. It should be at about 10 o'clock.
Another big one is the Radio Shack scanners made by GRE are very sensitive and it's not always how far the signal your trying to pick is away from you but how close the cell towers and radio stations in your area are to you. I have programmed many Pro-197 scanners and some just don't work some places. They are almost twice as sensitive as the Uniden scanners. I had one of my friends call and he could not pick up anything in his house with a Radio Shack handheld Pro-106 scanner. He said one day it just stopped receiving. I asked if any new cell towers whet up in his area. He said no in fact he went out and bought a cell phone booster for his house because he wasn't getting any signal in house. I asked how long he had the booster and he said about a month or so which was about the same time his scanner quit working. I asked him to unplug the cell booster and wow his scanner started working again. Look around outside and inside your home to see what might be overloading the front end of your scanner. Also take it down the road a few miles to see it is starts working. Other than that maybe you got a bad one I have seen brand new RS scanners not work. Return it and try another. I have seen this happen three times.


Good Luck,
Mike

 

[caravanken]

Here is another idea. Build a power cable for your mobile and take your scanner to the tower. If it works there you have a reception problem for sure and my bet is, it will work. If it doesn't you have maybe more than one issue but a programming issue would be on top of my list of next things to do.

 

[AuntEnvy]

Another question would be... was this purchased brand new at a retailer or used?

If used, there's no telling what it could be.

 

[odlaw]

Wouldn't the signal strength meter or bars be pegged or full if it was an overload problem??
Take the radio outside and use the stock telescoping antenna that came with the radio. If reception improves then it probably is ant/coax issue. 17mi at 460mhz should be doable with stock antenna outdoors from my experience.

 

[bigrick1964]

If i might put in my 2 cents worth. I got my first 197 about 2 weeks ago, wouldn't pick up jack, i read Marks easier to read scanner manual for it and that made all the difference. I programmed it using Butel, which made it a lot faster and easier. I changed the threshold high and low default for picking up and holding a signal, i think that's kinda how you describe it, from 95 and 75 to 85 and 55. I also set it to "yes" to check all control channels when scanning, from default of "no". Now my 197 blows my new uniden away. I'm like you, I was disgust with it until I read marks scanner manual. Don't give up yet.

 

[joeuser]

Take a look at my FAQ's - Reception FAQ's

#11 easiest and I have seen a couple dramatic improvements including even seeing zero bars, then after, 5 bars of signal!

This is a bookmark/favorite worthy site!

I own 4- Pro-197's now (OK one is a GRE PSR 600) I'm having great success with them currently. However, I just get a P25p1 system with them. All the other freqs are conventional...

 

[teufler]

do you have any indication of a control channel, bars or something to show signal strength. If so, its not the antenna. Can you operate on id search mode or wildcard mode. if so anything coming through, you will hear it. if not indication, do you havbed any other antenna that nas a bnc connector that you can try. This would role out the bnc connector or it would highlight the problem. Are there any other trunking ststems, or p25 systems available.? Possibly its the range of the system you are attempting but if you have some scanners that are playing back, I lean to more of a connector problem.