PRO-433 vs PRO-163?

[StoliRaz]

Hi all, I've had a PRO-433 for years and I love it. Long story short, the one thing I really hate is that there are no alpha tags for it. I use it infrequently so remembering what freq. is what is a pain, esp. with trunking. The PRO-163 has tags and is very similar with one big difference- it's made by GRE. I have a GRE PSR-300 as well, it's not bad, but I've decided that I like the Uniden made models a little better. The reception on the 300 doesn't seem that great. Anyone own both a PSR-300 and a PRO-163? Since the 163 is a base I would think it would have better reception than the handheld PSR-300. Any input from 163 owners would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[StoliRaz]

Geez, no one?

Anyone own a 163 and want to share a review of their scanner? Do you get good reception? I know it'll be a pain to program because I already own a PSR-300, the handheld version of this scanner (and ARC-300 which I could use to program the 163 as well), just considering upgrading to something that does alphatags so I don't have to try to remember frequencies and talkgroups. Thanks a bunch.

PS- PRO-433 owners feel free to post yours likes/dislikes about your machines as well. It's a rare scanner, apparently. I don't know of anyone who owns one..

 

[N8IAA]

Love my 163. Have had it for almost two years. It is used to scan all my favorite conventional freqs, along with milair. I use Win97 to program mine. It runs almost all the time when I am in the shack. It was bought to replace my aging BC895.
Larry

 

[NCVFD1]

I have the pro 433 and 163 and have very good reception from buffalo ny to erie pa

 

[stutch13]

I have the PRO 163 and reception is great here in western Ne. Of course the one drawback of this scanner is no digital reception which I didn't know every state agency would be converting to eventually (when, I'm not sure).. You can almost bet that the switch will be any day now.. I've had this radio since the first of October as a birthday present, and now it seems like it isn't the radio to have.. I'm not going to jump to digital anytime soon but I wish I knew this was the way everything was going to go, I could have gotten a cheaper scanner or waited and gotten the latest "IT" scanner in a few more years..

 

[EmergencyTraffic]

I have the PRO-163. I am currently using it as a base station covering Sacramento, CA. The PRO-163 comes with a kit to mount it in the dashboard of your vehicle (most likely meant to go in place of your AM/FM/CD deck). And definitely will need ARC-300 that you mentioned if you're running Windows Vista, as the programming software that Radio Shack sells with the USB Programming Cable is only compatible with Windows XP and earlier versions. Overall it has worked well for me, and the alpha tags are a good compliment to it.

 

[NCVFD1]

pro-163 works with vista i have vista

 

[N8IAA]

Cable and program work great with Win7, too. Didn't even have to install the drivers
Larry

 

[drummagick]

I have a Pro 433 and I love it, alpha tags or not. It has wonderful reception.

 

[StoliRaz]

Ya, I love my PRO-433 as well, it's hard to think of parting with it. It's been good to me for the past 3 years, the reception is top notch. It just drives me nuts that it doesn't have alpha tagging capability (especially when trunking. Nothing like having to look up what "39 454" stands for every time it comes up) and the fact that it basically won't really work in the 800 mhz band once rebanding hits is a little scary. As far as I've seen, the firmware cannot be updated to support rebanding on the 43, which means it won't be able to trunk anymore. That's pretty much the straw that beaks the camel's back, I think. My thought process is get whatever I can for it (within reason, of course) while upgrading to something with alpha tags and can update the firmware as needed. Like I said, I have ARC-300 already since I own a PSR-300. I guess logically, the 400 makes the most sense. I hate that Uniden offers nothing similar for the same price ($150). Oh well. Just my thoughts...

 

[TPBrown]

I have the PRO-163. I am currently using it as a base station covering Sacramento, CA. The PRO-163 comes with a kit to mount it in the dashboard of your vehicle (most likely meant to go in place of your AM/FM/CD deck). And definitely will need ARC-300 that you mentioned if you're running Windows Vista, as the programming software that Radio Shack sells with the USB Programming Cable is only compatible with Windows XP and earlier versions. Overall it has worked well for me, and the alpha tags are a good compliment to it.

If you have windows 7 the cable works with it.