Purchasing a RadioShack Pro-197

[SCPD]

Uniden BCD-996XT

Uniden BC-996XT is the BEST base/mobile period! Solid built and great controls/audio and no intermod at all. I would highly recomend this scanner. It should be noted that Radio Shack has ALL scanners on sale as of this writing 1/20/13 and some are bellow my cost from the distributor as usual.
Hope this helps everyone!

73's

 

[KI5FKE]

Update: I went ahead and purchased the Pro-197!!! I believe it will be a great addition to my small collection for monitoring!

 

[markbart]

FWIW I think the PRO-197 is a great scanner.I just wish I had one.Unless my rich uncle gets out of the poorhouse thats not going to happen.


Mark

 

[n8zcc]

FWIW I think the PRO-197 is a great scanner.I just wish I had one.Unless my rich uncle gets out of the poorhouse thats not going to happen.


Mark

Check craigslist for your area daily, I just grabbed a PRO-197 for $200. I kept looking for a few months before one came around and when it did, I grabbed it.

 

[b1efvr42]

Pro-197 Purchase

Personally I wouldn't go there. I just did some extensive tests comparing sensitivity of the PRO-197 and the PRO-2096 and was actually surprised to see that the newer 197 was not as sensitive. Even with both scanners connected to the same antenna source (where there is some bleed-off of the incoming signal), only the 2096 could receive trunking from a tower that I was actually beyond the footprint for. The 197 just does not have the ears of the 2096. If you can find a 2096 (on ebay) I would buy it. I've since sold my 197 and am sticking with the always dependable 2096. Good luck.

 

[W4EMS]

Will the 2096 work with systems that use 700Mhz? Many use that part of the spectrum these days with trunking. See this link at RR wiki: Pro-2096

 

[KI5FKE]

Will the 2096 work with systems that use 700Mhz? Many use that part of the spectrum these days with trunking. See this link at RR wiki: Pro-2096

I heard of it working for conventional 700 MHz, but not trunking.

 

[KI5FKE]

Personally I wouldn't go there. I just did some extensive tests comparing sensitivity of the PRO-197 and the PRO-2096 and was actually surprised to see that the newer 197 was not as sensitive. Even with both scanners connected to the same antenna source (where there is some bleed-off of the incoming signal), only the 2096 could receive trunking from a tower that I was actually beyond the footprint for. The 197 just does not have the ears of the 2096. If you can find a 2096 (on ebay) I would buy it. I've since sold my 197 and am sticking with the always dependable 2096. Good luck.

I have a Pro-2096. It is a good scanner.

 

[b1efvr42]

A 'pro- 197'...I wouldn't run out to buy it too quick. I did a side to side comparison with both the 2096 and 197 connected to the same antenna source (and even separate antennas) and the 197 does not have the sensitivity of the 2096 particularly with respect to digital Trunking. There is an OPP tower with a footprint that comes no closer than 10 miles north of my location. The 2096 continued to receive all of the digital Trunking transmissions from that tower that the 197 was missing about a third of the time. I sold the 197 and stayed with the always reliable and easier to program 2096 since I didn't need the extra channel availability anyway. The 197 does have additional text tagging but who can't adequately tag a frequency with 12 available characters? The 197 does have the nifty flashing LED feature but what's the point if you're missing some of the digital Trunking traffic.

 

[KI5FKE]

Yay!!! The new addition to my listening post has arrived! Updated shack pictures to come soon!