Pro 651 Weak Signal Help

[golakers46637]

I am Fairly new to the digital scanners so i'm still in the process of learning these things. With that being said i recently bought a pro-651 scanner and programmed in over 100 of my local frequencies. i live in south bend,indiana where we have a decent population of around 100,000 people.

The problem i noticed was the "S" on the scanner will either blink when scanning or just blinks with one bar or sometimes none. Also when it does stop on a channel it has one bar. i have never got more than two bars signal strength. i watched some youtube reviews of the pro-106 which i believe was replaced by the pro 651 model scanner and noticed there is always full bars on the scanners on the videos i seen.

I can pick up about 3-4 channels consistently with good sound quality. usually a fire and local college police dispatch and occasionally a local police dispatch. i feel like i should be hearing more though. Is it possible it has something to do with the signal bar being low? is there a setting i should change to get me at full bars or something wrong with the antenna? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[joeuser]

I am Fairly new to the digital scanners so i'm still in the process of learning these things. With that being said i recently bought a pro-651 scanner and programmed in over 100 of my local frequencies. i live in south bend,indiana where we have a decent population of around 100,000 people.

The problem i noticed was the "S" on the scanner will either blink when scanning or just blinks with one bar or sometimes none. Also when it does stop on a channel it has one bar. i have never got more than two bars signal strength. i watched some youtube reviews of the pro-106 which i believe was replaced by the pro 651 model scanner and noticed there is always full bars on the scanners on the videos i seen.

I can pick up about 3-4 channels consistently with good sound quality. usually a fire and local college police dispatch and occasionally a local police dispatch. i feel like i should be hearing more though. Is it possible it has something to do with the signal bar being low? is there a setting i should change to get me at full bars or something wrong with the antenna? Any help would be appreciated.

The S is just showing you its got a signal. The more bars the better the signal. Most, if not all, scanners come with a terrible antenna. The first thing you should do is replace it with something better. You can get something for a specific range or an all band. There are pros & con's, etc. Replace that antenna or better yet, consider something for outside... Even a mobile on an AC unit can make a huge difference in what you can monitor!

 

[joebobe]

.... i feel like i should be hearing more though. Is it possible it has something to do with the signal bar being low? is there a setting i should change to get me at full bars or something wrong with the antenna? Any help would be appreciated.

You probably need a better antenna. It's pretty easy to put together a dipole type antenna, and hang it on the wall or put up in the attic. Just search Google videos for dipole scanner antenna for some great ideas for an antenna. You'll be amazed at how well a simple dipole will improve your signal. I have a 651 and the factory antenna truly is garbage. Good luck.

Joe

 

[Ronaldski]

When you first start the scanner, press the 3 key to see what firmware you have. I suspect you have 2.8 Assuming so it more than likely its just changing the settings when each bar shows up is all. Look at this one http://forums.radioreference.com/radio-shack-scanners/304374-pro652.html

Look at posts especially 7 & 9.

 

[riflemin]

RSL bar graph vs uP app ver

I have an elderly PRO-106 and last month I bought a new RS Pro-651 w/ s/n starting "004" and uP App Ver:RF2.6. I cloned the 651 and it seems to work as well as the Pro-106 ( was hoping for "better"). Two days ago I bought another as the price has hit $199.

A friend who has never owned a scanner bought 4 and when I cloned one of his 651s from mine it wasn't acting right including the RSL graph issue. He and I were very disappointed with this considering it is a brand new radio w/ protective film still on the display! His also had difficulty locking on the cc for our Longview Texas TxWarn site even w/ the 800mhz duckie, and we were under a mile from the tower at the PD! This was side by side with my Pro-106 working fine. I'm suspicious that the RSL display isn't the only problem with his radio.

When I cloned my newest Pro-651 it appeared to perform as well as my old Pro-106, receiving comms from the TxWARN sys in Smith County Texas. However it has the RSL bar graph issue. It has a s/n starting "012" and uP App Ver:RF2.8 .


I realize RS is in trouble but what happened to the QC at the vendor which manufactured these in the Philippines?