I was one of the lucky ones who purchased the PRO 83 for $60 on Black Friday. I went in about 10 am for something else (which was out of stock) but when I saw a scanner that would do "signal stalking" I grabbed it. I've been drooling over an Opto unit for a long time but never felt I had enough hobby money for it.
My experience with the PRO 83 has been good. It is frustrating not being able to store a stalked frequency. It seems to work OK otherwise. I was parked outside a Target store in my vehicle about 150 feet from the building and got, loud and clear, some kind of internal communication system. One automatic radio transmission told the employees in a recorded voice that a cleanup was needed in one of the aisles.
I have had some random luck with the unit in other situations. The frequent stops for pager signals is annoying but I guess there is nothing one can do about that. Programming the scanner is not easy unless you spend a lot of time with it. It is way better than Icom with the tiny buttons and excessively complicated programming steps.
At this point I use it with a 2-meter ham antenna mag mounted on the trunk. That seems to work well and I get Sheriff Dept. signals clearly from about 30 miles away. The mag mount is getting old since it scratches the trunk lid and has a wire trailing on the side of my Impala. I've thought about a glass mount antenna but, if I had the bucks, would love to have a professional grade hidden antenna in a side mirror, etc.
I want to make or get a programming cable. The blackbagsoftware site has one for $20 with software and database access. Any comments on this or other programming scenarios?
My experience with the PRO 83 has been good. It is frustrating not being able to store a stalked frequency. It seems to work OK otherwise. I was parked outside a Target store in my vehicle about 150 feet from the building and got, loud and clear, some kind of internal communication system. One automatic radio transmission told the employees in a recorded voice that a cleanup was needed in one of the aisles.
I have had some random luck with the unit in other situations. The frequent stops for pager signals is annoying but I guess there is nothing one can do about that. Programming the scanner is not easy unless you spend a lot of time with it. It is way better than Icom with the tiny buttons and excessively complicated programming steps.
At this point I use it with a 2-meter ham antenna mag mounted on the trunk. That seems to work well and I get Sheriff Dept. signals clearly from about 30 miles away. The mag mount is getting old since it scratches the trunk lid and has a wire trailing on the side of my Impala. I've thought about a glass mount antenna but, if I had the bucks, would love to have a professional grade hidden antenna in a side mirror, etc.
I want to make or get a programming cable. The blackbagsoftware site has one for $20 with software and database access. Any comments on this or other programming scenarios?
