PRO-2052

[lgentle]

I just picked up the PRO-2052 for $149.00. I'm not sure if I really like it to much. After having to reset the thing right out of the box. I do have a couple of questions that the manual doesn't answer to well. I have been listening for about 2 years, but I never really got into watching; just listening. I started with a Uniden BCT7 (which still works perfectly!). I'm in Maryland Baltimore County. Hopefully some of you guru's can help me out a bit. I originally programmed freq's into 3 of the banks (Baltimore County, Carroll County & BGE (banks 1, 2, 3)). When I hit scan after programming, does it scan ALL the banks? The manual doesn't really answer that. I now have all the freq's in one bank. Second, I've read in a couple of places (including here) that this scanner will not scan trunked & conventional freq's at the same time, but I've also found around the web people saying that it will. The manual says it does. Also found that it will if hooked up to a PC using the software. Who to believe?

 

[AZScanner]

I just picked up the PRO-2052 for $149.00. I'm not sure if I really like it to much. After having to reset the thing right out of the box. I do have a couple of questions that the manual doesn't answer to well. I have been listening for about 2 years, but I never really got into watching; just listening. I started with a Uniden BCT7 (which still works perfectly!). I'm in Maryland Baltimore County. Hopefully some of you guru's can help me out a bit. I originally programmed freq's into 3 of the banks (Baltimore County, Carroll County & BGE (banks 1, 2, 3)). When I hit scan after programming, does it scan ALL the banks? The manual doesn't really answer that. I now have all the freq's in one bank. Second, I've read in a couple of places (including here) that this scanner will not scan trunked & conventional freq's at the same time, but I've also found around the web people saying that it will. The manual says it does. Also found that it will if hooked up to a PC using the software. Who to believe?

OK, to answer your first question... all the banks will be on by default, even if they are empty. However the scanner will skip them if they are not programmed. So the little number will be lit up, but it will not scan it unless you've programmed a frequency in that bank. You can press 1 thru 9 to turn banks 1 thru 9 off and on, 0 toggles bank 10. Use the shift button (SFT shows in the display) to set the number keys to toggle banks 11 thru 20.

The 2052 will scan conventional, motorola and edacs systems but NOT all 3 simultaneously. You can choose either conventional OR trunked scanning but not both (which is really weird, if you ask me - why not both?) There are some software programs out there that will toggle back and forth between conventional and trunking, giving you the effect of scanning both conventional and trunked at the same time, but it really just sends the keystrokes required to pop in and out of trunked mode at specified intervals. Another tip for you: The scanner only has 10 priority channels. Banks 11-20 do not have priority channels.

Any other questions on the 2052 just ask - I've had one since they first came out. I use it as my primary fire department scanner right now.

-AZ

 

[INDY72]

Funny AZ... My 2052 had all its banks on at the same time, (10X100) unless you turned off various ones manually. The 94 had/has the 10X50X2. There are 10 PC's, this makes the 2052 good for a Passport LTR scanner. The newest 2052 version-B- will scan conventional and trunk at the same time. The 2052 has software for full PC control/programmability. The 2052 would make an OK streaming machine.. and is the best mil air scanner ever made in my opinion.

 

[lgentle]

Great, thanks!

Thanks AZScanner for the info & tip. Let me see if I understand your tip. Your saying that it has 10 priority channels. Looking at the manual, I understand that as banks 1-10, the first channel in each is the priority channel?

AZScanner/milf - the best mil air scanner. What is "mil air"? Military plane's?

milf - version B. Is that printed on the bottom of the scanner? I don't see a version B anywhere on the bottom.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[INDY72]

The version letter will be right beside the model number on the info plate.

Mil Air is uhf military aviations freqs... Like 326.0000

There are 10 banks of 100 chans.. 1 priority chan per bank.. you can change the PC to any of the chans in the bank.

The 2052 is also a true NOAA/NWS SAME scanner allowing you to program up to 15 FIPS codes for specific counties to recieve the SAME alerts.

 

[fmon]

10 banks of 100 chans.. 1 priority chan per bank...

Minor correction, 20 banks of 50 chans..1 priority chan per 1st 10 banks.

And I alternate using MilAir until the Fire EMS tone hits my Motorola Monitor III, then the 2052 switches to Local Fire and EMS.

Mine is the older 2052 also, 99 model.

 

[oregontreehugger]

Has anyone used the 2052 mobile? If so, how was it? Thanks in advance...

 

[Cobra_Commander]

I have a question Will the pro-96 do milair almost as good as the 2052 or do i have to be within a mile of the milair source? to get it to work?cause it seems i havent heard a lick of milair on my 96 at all? :?:

 

[INDY72]

I ran my 2052's mobile all the time.. worked great....

Cobra my man,.. do you NOT read and pay attention?

This has been discused over and again: No scanner that is NOT designed from go to do mil air is going to be awesome on it when "tricked" into doing it vias software. This goes for both the 95, and the 96.

This issue is fixed by the upcomming 97, and 2051's.

 

[fmon]

I have a question Will the pro-96 do milair almost as good as the 2052 or do i have to be within a mile of the milair source? to get it to work?cause it seems i havent heard a lick of milair on my 96 at all? :?:

Use the 96 for what it's good for and the 2052 for MilAir.

 

[ka3jjz]

And to bring this back slightly to the first question re the software; Scan Control is, from all accounts I've read, the best for the 2052. Here's the URL:

http://www.scannersoft.com

They also have their own Yahoo group for support and tips.

73s Mike

 

[lgentle]

2052 to PC

Is the serial cable for the 2052 just a regular serial cable or do I have to buy the "Radio Shack" serial cable? That ScanControl software looks pretty nice & easy to use (better than punching all the freq's in manually).

 

[INDY72]

Its a standard serial cable.

 

[cassidy1190]

an answer to the original questoin:

The 2052 scans conventional and trunked at the same time, and can also scan multiple trunked systems at the same time. I am doing it as I write this message. It's also great for milair.

 

[lgentle]

Thanks to all!

Thanks to all who's helped me out. Everthings been really helpful.

ka3jjz - This software is really awesome! I've only been using it for about 20-30 minutes and love it! Thanks!

I'm still a little confused about this milair thing. Are there frequencies here that I can program into my scanner for milair? Are they location specific?

 

[cassidy1190]

what state do u live in?
what area of the state?

I live near McGuire AFB in NJ, so I hear alot of activity. Post that question in the forum for your state for more info.

 

[lgentle]

Scan Control

OK, I'm confused as how to enter all these Talkgroup ID's into this program. I don't understand how to do it. I also don't understand this ScanList term. I just programmed all the frequencies I wanted into Bank 1. I didn't put PD in bank 1 FD in bank 2, etc, etc. (I wouldn't know how to do that either). HELP.

 

[lgentle]

state

cassidy1190 - Maryland Baltimore County

 

[ka3jjz]

Re: state

cassidy1190 - Maryland Baltimore County

Since I don't have a 2052, I'll answer some of these questions in general terms; at the end of the message, I'll give a couple of Yahoo groups where you can get LOTS more information....

Think of talkgroups as users, or groups of users. Since each talkgroup might be one or more departments, you might not want to hear everyone all the time. In this mode, you are trunk searching. You have no control over what you hear; what the 2052 receives on the control channel, that's what you hear.

Now, if you want to just hear a few things (i.e. certain police barracks, not others), this is what a scan list will do. You would program your 2052 with *just those talkgroups that interest you*, then you would scan them, not too dissimilar to scanning just a few frequencies in a bank. This is referred to as trunk scanning.

As to milair - it's very much a catch as catch can thing. Last nite's State of the Union address was a good time to be listening; I'm up in AA county and had a potful of things, from tankers, to Combat patrols in training, to overflights....quite a bit of stuff, actually. The 2052 has one bug that is a real problem when listening in this arena; AFAIK, you can't change the mode on frequencies between 138-144 Mhz (where many Air National Guard frequencies reside) to AM; it defaults to FM. In the 225-399 Mhz band, though, all is well; the mode defaults to AM. It is an otherwise nice milair scanner, from all accounts.

You didn't mention if you had the full version of Scan Control; I've built several files (based on Scan Control, which I also have) and one set is for the milair stuff. The full version allows you to map a comma delimited file into Scan Control using a built in tool; the lite version doesn't have it. Let me know and I'll see what I can whip up.

Anyway, here's the promised URLs;

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ScanControl/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PRO-2052/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pro2052owners/

73s Mike

 

[lgentle]

Scan Control

I purchased the full version. OK, so what your saying about entering TG ID alpha tag's is I can only input tags for ID's that I want to listen to frequently? Sorry if I'm not getting this, but I'm still "new" to trunking. I'm used to my BCT7. Thanks again!