Purchase a Pro-97? Already have a Pro-96...

[trixwagen]

Ok, I had a Pro-2055 for about 24 hours until the display went out. I liked the Signal Stalker, for the few times I tried it out. I had it side by side with my 96 and they seemed more or less equal on the analog frequencies, even milair (maybe).

So do you think it is worth getting a Pro-97 just to have the Signal Stalker and native milair capabilities? Or should I shut up and color and just be happy with my Pro-96? I'm sure there a lot of things for $150 I need instead of another RS scanner, but you know how it is.

 

[DaveIN]

The PRO-97 is a good scanner and when a sale is on at Radio Shack all the better, but keep in mind if you need to use it for Motorola analog Trunked systems, it *may* need to go back to a Radio Shack service center for a logic and display board replacement to upgrade the CPU/firmware for 800MHz rebanding once rebanding takes place in your area. It was reported via Strong Signals some time ago: http://www.strongsignals.net/access/news/news.cgi?type=single&section=radio&entry=1510

Let's see if they do intend to support it. It looks like the 2055 rebanding support is in question, however the new PRO-433 is listed on the Radio Shack web page as able to be software upgraded for rebanding.

 

[rpowley]

I have the 96 and 97 side by side, along with the 2055 and 2096. All are good for what they do. I bought the 2055 and 97 knowing that they may or may not work correctly after rebanding. Only time will tell what actions will be needed after rebanding.

 

[trixwagen]

Well, if rebanding is an issue, should I get a Uniden BR330T instead? $250 vs $150, though.

 

[DaveIN]

The 330 is an excellent radio. It can be firmware upgraded in the future for rebanding by downloading and installing an update.
See the Wiki for both radios:
Pro-97: http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Pro-97
BR330T: http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/BR330T

 

[trixwagen]

For those of you keeping score, I went ahead and grabbed a Pro-97 on sale. In some ways, I prefer it to the Pro-96 (display, more frequencies per channel), and in some ways not (feels cheap, sort of flimsy, and no digital, of course).

I'm going to put it up to the Pepsi challenge and see if there really is any noticable difference between a Pro-97 and an unlocked Pro-96 on the milair frequencies. And if Signal Stalker II is really all that useful.

 

[DaveIN]

The 96 is almost deaf in the "expanded" mil-air band.

 

[scosgt]

I find my PRO-97 MUCH more sensitive on some 800Mhz trunked systems. I have the firmware 1.0

 

[trixwagen]

UPDATE

Alright, here's my own personal experience during the Pro-96/Pro-97 Pepsi Challenge

MILAIR
There were quite a few times when the tower was talking to a B-1B, I could hear the tower on the Pro-96, but the B1-B's transmission was silent. The Pro-97 picked up both sides of the conversation.

SIGNAL STALKER II
This was a mixed bag. Sometimes it picked up nearby signals, sometimes it was deaf. For example, the city police radioing in across the street? Picked that up. However, I actually brought in the Pro-97 into the gym where they have a 900 MHz wireless broadcast of four TVs on the wall. The exercise bikes have a receiver you can plug in your headphones and listen to the TV while you ride. Anyway, the Stalker just didn't pick it up. I was able to find the stations doing a normal scan.

Often the Stalker would just pick up totally unlistenable frequencies (encrypted, digital, who knows). I guess that's the gamble of Signal Stalker. Sort of like metal detecting, right? You have to find a lot of pull tabs before you find a gold ring. Further investigation will have to be done to see if the Stalker is really worth a damn.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS
Thanks to Win96, the Pro-96 can pick up quite a few frequencies that would put an "Invalid Freq." on the Pro-97's screen. Now, many of these frequencies are of questionable usefulness...stuff like celluar images and that sort of thing.

BOTTOM LINE (as of right now, anyway)
Now if I was given the choice if I wanted a Pro-96 with better milair sensitivity or a Pro-97 that could pick up digitial...

I'll take the digital Pro-97. I'd take the 16 character display over V-Folders any day.