Pro-94 Michigan?

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New to the forum and seems like a great site. I have a radioshack Pro-94 that I have not used in many years and have a recent spark of intrest. I mainly used it to listen to local police and fire in southeastern michigan(macomb county mainly). Most freq's are no longer in use and found that most cities have switched to the MPSCS. My question is if my scanner is capable of listen to this or if it is to outdated. If so I can take the next steps of learning how this system works and how to use it with my scanner. As you can see I am a beginner but look forward to using my scanner and learning from this site. Thanks Redneck.......
 

rdale

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Your scanner cannot do MPSCS. You need a digital scanner.
 

N8IAA

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Rdale is correct. Your county is on the Michigan digital system. To monitor, you will need any of the newer digital scanners(Pro-96/2096, Uniden BCD396/996, or GRE PSR-500/600). Bought my 96 almost 3 years ago, and have been happy with it since.
HTH,
Larry
 
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Thanks for the help. I wonder if anyone would have any use for my Pro-94 or if it is going to collect dust in my basement. Im going to research the Pro-96 and see if I can find a good deal. Are they reasonably priced?
 

mikey60

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Thanks for the help. I wonder if anyone would have any use for my Pro-94 or if it is going to collect dust in my basement. Im going to research the Pro-96 and see if I can find a good deal. Are they reasonably priced?

While the Pro-96 is an excellent radio, and works well on the Macomb Simulcast (as well as any scanner can work on these types of systems). If you're going to buy new, I would suggest the GRE PSR-500 over the Pro-96.

There have been rumors that once the issues with Digital TV and 700Mhz issues with Canada have been worked out, that there may be some 700Mhz frequencies added to the Macomb subsystem. If or when this happens, the Pro-96 will not be able to track these frequencies properly.

The 700mhz frequencies are supposed to become available after February of 2009 when the analog stations that currently have those frequencies cease operation. I don't know the status of any agreements with Canada, so that may slow down the opportunity for 700Mhz usage in SE Michigan.

Mike
 
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While the Pro-96 is an excellent radio, and works well on the Macomb Simulcast (as well as any scanner can work on these types of systems). If you're going to buy new, I would suggest the GRE PSR-500 over the Pro-96.

There have been rumors that once the issues with Digital TV and 700Mhz issues with Canada have been worked out, that there may be some 700Mhz frequencies added to the Macomb subsystem. If or when this happens, the Pro-96 will not be able to track these frequencies properly.

The 700mhz frequencies are supposed to become available after February of 2009 when the analog stations that currently have those frequencies cease operation. I don't know the status of any agreements with Canada, so that may slow down the opportunity for 700Mhz usage in SE Michigan.

Mike


From what I found online the Pro-96 and PSRr-500 are priced about the same around 449.99-499.99. Ill check elsewhere on the site for gre psr-500 reviews. Is the Gre fairly user friendly compared to a Radio Shack? Thanks.............
 

N8IAA

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From what I found online the Pro-96 and PSRr-500 are priced about the same around 449.99-499.99. Ill check elsewhere on the site for gre psr-500 reviews. Is the Gre fairly user friendly compared to a Radio Shack? Thanks.............

Very different than the Pro-94! My suggestion is to download the different programming software that is available for the 500. You will be lost without using software to program the radio. There is Win500, PSRedit, and Arc500.
Larry
 

brent30

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If you are not fimilar with digital scanners and how its set up, like me, buy a pro 96, radioshack programmed all the freqs for my area.. over 250, for free and they were very helpfull, at my radioshck here they do not have any GRE's. As for you other scanner sell it on ebay, i have been selling random things for years now and have always gotten a good price for my items. But if your good with scanners and programming i have heard GRE is the way to go.
 

N8IAA

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If you are not fimilar with digital scanners and how its set up, like me, buy a pro 96, radioshack programmed all the freqs for my area.. over 250, for free and they were very helpfull, at my radioshck here they do not have any GRE's. As for you other scanner sell it on ebay, i have been selling random things for years now and have always gotten a good price for my items. But if your good with scanners and programming i have heard GRE is the way to go.

GRE made the 96 for RS. If they use ScanCat Lite don't let them program your scanner. Get the free 30 day trial of Win96 and program your scanner yourself.
Larry
 
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iMONITOR

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Welcome to Radio Reference weekendredneck!

If you want something to do with the PRO-94 while you're researching digital scanners, don't forget about commercial aircraft, railroad, marine, and amateur radio. You're scanner is still fine for these bands! Also schools, and shopping malls.
 
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Thanks for the info and the welcome. Ill probaly opt for Pro-96 and try the software for programing. As for the Pro-94 ive always had a intrest in railroad(not sure if anything is in my area) and im only a mile or so from Lake Saint Clair so marine would be interesting(does the Macomb County Sheriff Marine Division use the MPSCS also?. Now I just need to find some freq's. Thanks again for the replies.
 

iMONITOR

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As for the Pro-94 ive always had a intrest in railroad(not sure if anything is in my area) and im only a mile or so from Lake Saint Clair so marine would be interesting(does the Macomb County Sheriff Marine Division use the MPSCS also?.


Macomb County Sheriff is on MPSCS:

TG 2921 50BOAT1 Marine Divison 1
TG 2922 50BOAT2 Marine Divison 2
 

freqs

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Welcome to Radio Reference weekendredneck!

If you want something to do with the PRO-94 while you're researching digital scanners, don't forget about commercial aircraft, railroad, marine, and amateur radio. You're scanner is still fine for these bands! Also schools, and shopping malls.
dont forget clinton twp still use there own freqs 460.325 pd and 423.550 fd as of today i still heard them there . is still some analog fd and universal ems is on 423.125and most dpw are not on mpscs yet
 

freqs

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From what I found online the Pro-96 and PSRr-500 are priced about the same around 449.99-499.99. Ill check elsewhere on the site for gre psr-500 reviews. Is the Gre fairly user friendly compared to a Radio Shack? Thanks.............
check the for sale area rocksteady has the 500 and 600 for sale $490 shipped
 

BuiltonAsus

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If you look on the For Sale section of the forums you can find PRO-96's going for under $300. I bought mine for $275, and it was in perfect working condition, just like new.
 
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