Pro-97 Signal StalkerII

[SCPD]

I don't know if this has been covered, I havn't been on here in ages. My Appologies if it has.

On my pro-97 When I set signal stalker or special stalker NOTHING HAPPENS! I have had one hit, When I keyed My UHF Business radio right next to the scanner. then ss worked. When I backed off (25 feet) from the dcanner the SS stopped working. is this a glitch? or is this how GRE's SS works?

Thank's
MT

 

[ILbandit]

I'm no pro on the subject, but I believe in order for the "signal stalker" to register a hit, the signal has to be about 10 to 15 db above the noise floor.

It will work better on some bands than others, your resonate freq. on the antenna, conditions, and other factors will make a difference on how well it works.

Basically, the way I understand it, you have to have a fairly strong signal, transmitting/modulating for a second or two, to register a hit.

I've noticed that the range on the s.s., and close call both vary on a daily basis.

Hope this helps, maybe someone else will jump in that has more experience than me with the subject.

 

[jimlawrence]

My experience has been that it takes a relatively "strong" signal to be captured by the -97 while in SS mode. I think the idea behind SSing is to find nearby activity so it's not exactly like a regular search where just about any signal the -97 hears breaks the squelch.

If you're in a relatively quiet RF environment, you will need some patience and you may not hear anything. Try taking it out in the car and go someplace that's RF "busy" like an airport, local antenna farm, or downtown in any major urban area during regular business hours and see if it behaves differently.

Remember, too, that part of the equation in capturing freqs while SSing is the antenna on the unit; use the best one you have.

-Jim

 

[Caesar]

i am sure this is not the problem, but make sure ATT is off, but yea, i mean at your house unless you live right by bussiness and such, you probably won't have a pickup, but i had the Pro 97 and now the bc246t and i've seen the Pro 97 seem to have better pickup, maybe not quicker, but it seems to picker up weaker transmissions... but yea for SS you have to be close...

 

[W4KRR]

i am sure this is not the problem, but make sure ATT is off, but yea, i mean at your house unless you live right by bussiness and such, you probably won't have a pickup, but i had the Pro 97 and now the bc246t and i've seen the Pro 97 seem to have better pickup, maybe not quicker, but it seems to picker up weaker transmissions... but yea for SS you have to be close...

I guess "close" is a relative term. My PRO-97 in "Signal Stalker" mode will pick up my county's 800 MHz trunked system when I'm between 1 to 1.5 miles from the tower. I'm sure the range for hand held portable radios will be a lot less.

 

[kikito]

I guess the performance of Signal Stalker (or Close Call for that matter) is HIGHLY dependent on two things:

-- Your area's amount or intensity of RF activity
-- Personal expectations

From my personal experience, Signal Stalker works EXCELLENT! I've used nothing more than the stock antenna. And it picks up stuff from great distances too!(several miles at times).

It works so good for me that I can almost use it as a regular scanner because of the constant activity it reliably picks up. In the few weeks I've had my Pro-97, I almost got bank 9 full of just SS hits (That's almost 100 ch.). That's more hits than I've ever had in months of doing "regular" searches with a scanner.

In contrast, the BC246T's Close Call, although it works OK and has more neat features, it has never come close to the reception performance of SS II in my comparisons and side-by-side testing. And yet, some people swear by Close Call. That goes to show you the mixed individual results of the technologies involved and the significance of your area's RF "background noise".

Anyway, thought I share my experience and opinion about it.


P.S. Another thing to consider when having poor performance using SS II is some people have reported the feature to not work properly when using ScanCat lite software to program the radio. Even some early Beta versions of Win97 have caused some problems. That said, I highly recommend Win97 for programming and staying away from other software.

 

[SCPD]

Well That answered that. I am in a very RF Quiet area, On occassion I might pick up the pulse of an electric fence guarding cows on VHF Lo. I did hear the local Police "Officer" when hey accessed the repeater in the input, But, He was like in my driveway and I had the scanner sitting on the roof of his car.

I suppose SS isn't what I expected, I immagine I will stick to USER SEARCH to find new frequencies. Of course the 97 dosn't display LTR, MOTO or EDACS in User. Guess thats whay We collect.

Thanks Y'all for the input.