Pro-70 Still a decent scanner?

[BubbaFord]

Hi board. Been a railfan for a long time but only recently get interested in scanning. Yes, I've been learning that I've missed a lot by not scanning! We've been content with just 'wait and watch' but now we want more info, like train numbers, etc.

I have a scanner from the 1990's, the Pro-70. It functions properly, but not having any experience with this I don't know if it is a scanner that is as competent compared to new stuff. It's connected to an antenna mounted on my van that gets more comms than the rubber duck, but I don't know if I'm missing anything (or enough, anyway) to justify a more modern unit. I don't know if I am missing communications that a newer unit would catch. I don't get a whole lot of activity until something is relatively close, and I don't know if that's normal. The weather bands are much louder and clearer than the railfan stuff and I don't know if that's to be expected. I have a lot of frequencies listed as local to me programmed in and sweeping. Sorry if this is just not enough info to go on for assistance.

Great site, glad I found it!

 

[trentbob]

yeah the Radio Shack Pro 70, it's a pretty basic primary radio that really doesn't serve much purpose today but if you're a rail fan it certainly can pick up the VHF high railroad frequencies. If your areas railroad is nxdn of course it will not work.

So it has VHF high and low and UHF. It is direct programmable with a keyboard so you don't need crystals you just print out the frequency you want but it doesn't trunk track. So forget about any trunked systems. It is not digital so forget about any digital systems. Used 6 double A batteries.

Why don't you give us your state, county and most importantly your home town. I'll look up and see if there's anything at all you can hear.

 

[BubbaFord]

yeah the Radio Shack Pro 70, it's a pretty basic primary radio that really doesn't serve much purpose today but if you're a rail fan it certainly can pick up the VHF high railroad frequencies. If your areas railroad is nxdn of course it will not work.

So it has VHF high and low and UHF. It is direct programmable with a keyboard so you don't need crystals you just print out the frequency you want but it doesn't trunk track. So forget about any trunked systems. It is not digital so forget about any digital systems. Used 6 double A batteries.

Why don't you give us your state, county and most importantly your home town. I'll look up and see if there's anything at all you can hear.

Foristell, MO. We sit at the tracks right on the border of St. Charles and Warren counties just south of I-70. Thanks for the reply.

 

[trentbob]

Okay so your area is covered by two trunked radio systems that are digital phase one systems. If you want to listen to the St Louis metro area everything is encrypted meaning that no radio can pick it up the police hide their transmissions from everybody except themselves. Warren County doesn't look like it's much but st-charles county is on a phase one digital system and although there is a few encrypted channels it looks like it's pretty much in the clear for the police but your radio of course cannot pick up any of this. Looks like one time using another source I found the VHF High police frequencies that appear to be depreciated and that's why I didn't find them in radio reference directories but found them in others.

You probably know best about what railroad you're listening to that stuff sort of doesn't change, don't know if you're on a big high speed rail line that uses Amtrak or you are just near Freight yards or Freight track.

So that about sums it up. Now that you are signed up to radio reference go to the main page and click on the database and look up your counties. That's where I have been looking. Get familiar with the database and search for things in your area that might still be usable on your radio. The database is quite extensive and is kept up-to-date in most places.

Bottom line is your radio is very obsolete for today. If you want a radio that's going to really work well on the systems in your area you get what you pay for. Cheaper phase one capable radios may not work very well on the systems or you can get a top of the line radio for $700 that will pick up everything except the encrypted stuff. That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

 

[BubbaFord]

Thanks. We pretty much only need it for railfanning so the police and other stuff isn't a problem for us as of now.

The line is the Norfolk Southern, St. Louis to Moberly, not a main line. It's part of the old Wabash line. It sees maybe 10 trains a day, pretty sleepy. Again, appreciate it.

 

[trentbob]

Yep sounds pretty sleepy but there's going to be 1 frequency that has the dispatcher or train director on it... Seems like it's the same group of frequencies across the country. You may have a yard nearby also with the yardmaster.

They are still going to need those form Ds to pass stop signals when needed, open up switches on the main line to get into sidings etc etc. I see no reason why your radio wouldn't work good on the standard railroad frequencies that have been the same forever. Good luck to you.

 

[BubbaFord]

Last question, forgive a newbie... Are new units more 'powerful', as in able to pick up or amplify VHF hi/low and UHF signals this old scanner can't? I'm just trying to figure out if this one is on par with new stuff, at least from that perspective.

 

[trentbob]

Difficult question to answer because there are so many factors involved such as your RF environment and the antennas that you use Etc. To try to give a concrete answer... Some people consider radios that are older to have better reception from a certain time period on VHF High. Very very old radios could be a different story because they're just so old the electronics may not be superior or have suffered over time.

So from that perspective your radio could work just as good as a radio today that is used for rail scanning. Try searching websites that sell scanners such as scanner master or Bearcat Warehouse. They sell scanners that are geared towards railfans

Wish I could give you just a blanket answer but if your radio is in good repair and wasn't use very much and age has not taken its toll on the electronics it might work very well on VHF high and UHF frequencies. If it's beat up and weathered and been in the elements it may suffer. Tough question to answer

Use your favorite search portal and look up the vendors who sell scanners. You might find something that fits your needs that's relatively inexpensive and probably will receive better on the VHF high and UHF frequencies only because it's new. I'm not going into all kinds of Brands and model numbers here. I'll leave that up to you to take a look at things.

 

[BubbaFord]

Thanks. It was in a shoebox in a closet for most of its' life. Dad used it maybe 5 times when it was new then got bored and shelved it. Batteries were not in it during storage, fortunately. I just began using it about a week ago.

I think I'm done pestering you, I really appreciate your help.

 

[trentbob]

PS... Ask all the questions you want. There are some people that will hawk certain brands or models or have experience with them and they could join in. If you see a model you're interested in and you like the price ask about it. You can also go to the rail fan forum and there are many threads there about what is the best radio to use for rail scanning. The topic on this thread should really stay on Radio Shack scanners.

 

[N8IAA]

Last question, forgive a newbie... Are new units more 'powerful', as in able to pick up or amplify VHF hi/low and UHF signals this old scanner can't? I'm just trying to figure out if this one is on par with new stuff, at least from that perspective.

Not more powerful. The newer scanners can follow the transmission mode better. Your scanner uses the FM mode (which the NWS uses), the railroads use FMN. It allows more frequencies to be grouped together. That is why the trains sound quieter.

HTH

 

[BubbaFord]

OK, that makes sense. Would this account for what seems to be a fair amount of 'one-way' reception, as in, I hear dispatch talking to trains but I don't always hear both sides of the conversation? Obviously it could just be a stronger signal from dispatch and I'm just not picking up the train's response too, I guess. Sorry again, so much to learn.

 

[N8IAA]

OK, that makes sense. Would this account for what seems to be a fair amount of 'one-way' reception, as in, I hear dispatch talking to trains but I don't always hear both sides of the conversation? Obviously it could just be a stronger signal from dispatch and I'm just not picking up the train's response too, I guess. Sorry again, so much to learn.

Same here. When I listen to trains, I hear the dispatch clearly because they use higher transmit power. The only time I hear the trains, is when they are nearby, and talking to dispatch. They go through my city. Hear the train horns when they are near the crossings.

When I lived in Ohio, I was less than a mile from the yard, and could hear them better. The fact that the rail line was behind the houses at the end of the street did hurt either.

 

[reedeb]

I still have my Pro 70 as well as a Pro 60 haven't used them in a while [even tho Dallas is still on UHF] good little scanners BUT now I have them on my display desk.

 

[BubbaFord]

Well...

The scanner was in the van last night, connected to the antenna but disconnected from power. It's been perfectly fine since I began using it, but this morning we went to the tracks to find that the scanner no longer works. It appears to power on, but keypad input does nothing, and there is no audio output. There was no indication of any issues prior. Does not work via battery pack or power supply. Disconnecting the antenna and headphone jack have no effect.

We had a thunderstorm last night. Not a particularly intense one, either. But it is the first time it's rained since I started using it, so it makes me wonder- could that have had any effect on this? Nothing leaked in the van and no windows left open.

 

[trentbob]

Well I'm really sorry to hear that. When you said it was like new in a shoebox and only used a few times I thought you really had a diamond in the rough and the radio should have worked like new. The fact that you never attached it to a power source in the truck is significant oh, you say you had been running it on battery power in the truck so it's not like you blew it out or some kind of an inline fuse problem.

The weather conditions or being out in the truck shouldn't have affected it like that where it just stopped working. No doubt it could be age-related degradation of the electronics. You also might find it will work again.

Don't know your level of experience with radios but if you really feel like you're going to write it off as being permanently worthless I might suggest that you take a screwdriver and take it apart and do a look-see under the hood the same way you would with the car. Look for a disconnected wire or a broken solder joint especially in the area of the power source. Look for corrosion in The Battery area. Something might be very glaring and obvious. Something you can fix with a soldering gun. Keep us up-to-date.

 

[BubbaFord]

I'm almost too embarrassed to write this. The scanner is fine. Turns out, the keypad was unresponsive because apparently it has a button lock feature that was somehow enabled accidentally. Before we leave the house, we always test the scanner first by switching to the WX band because that instantly locks on, so we know the scanner is working before we're trackside. When it did not switch over to the WX, or then respond to any other touch commands, I stupidly assumed it got fried by lightning. (We test WX at home because we are too far away to hear train comms). I long pressed the key button and all is well.

Sometimes, my idiocy amazes even me. Apologies.

 

[TailGator911]

You should also be able to hear the hams checking in on the local repeaters during a severe weather event, SkyWarn, etc, if they are still operating on analog. Some have migrated to Dstar and DMR, but there are usually some holdouts that still use the analog frequencies.

 

[K9DAK]

I still use my $5 estate sale PRO-51 as an airband scanner since I work right across the street from a regional airport here in NE IL. Works great!

 

[trentbob]

I still use my $5 estate sale PRO-51 as an airband scanner since I work right across the street from a regional airport here in NE IL. Works great!

I agree with that, and that's the same way I feel about Bubba's radio. As far as the narrow FM and the regular FM it's a little bit different on scanners. Regular FM is closer to narrow FM on these radios than it is on professional radios. Often, while trying to pull out distance signals on Railroad monitoring I often change NFM to FM for improved reception on rail. Everybody's mileage will vary but it just shows to go you.