While plopping down another 200.00 on this hobby last night at radio shack,I saw a nice looking all black vhf/uhf,air scanner of the pro 135. For 100.00 it seemed tempting to pick up but has anyone else used it and what do you think??
radio shack pro 135
- Thread starter tommyscan
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No one has this to give a short review on?? Looks nice on the shelf but wonder since its limited to vhf/uhf/air if it receives better in those areas??
I'm using one right now as an inexpensive conventional-scanner for general aviation backup.
The database here is a little bit off - it has NO 800mhz coverage, and uhf is 380-512, rather than 406-512. Note that although I could program freqs in the 380-406 range, I haven't heard anything on them yet. The specs in the RS manual show it as being capable of 380-412, yet their own web description lists it as 406-512. Until I hear signals in the 380-400 range with some mil-air stuff, it might just be that you can program it down there, but nothing will be received? It will be interesting to find out.
The biggest improvement is obviously changing to a better antenna.
The very first thing I did was to tailor the weak speaker audio by placing the same material I use to protect the display over half of the speaker grill openings. You'd think this would actually dampen the audio even more, but it tailors the audio so that the clarity actually improves. The only handheld I've never had to do that with was the 396XT, but that is in a whole different league.
I'll have more to say about air operations with it in the aircraft monitoring forum.
The database here is a little bit off - it has NO 800mhz coverage, and uhf is 380-512, rather than 406-512. Note that although I could program freqs in the 380-406 range, I haven't heard anything on them yet. The specs in the RS manual show it as being capable of 380-412, yet their own web description lists it as 406-512. Until I hear signals in the 380-400 range with some mil-air stuff, it might just be that you can program it down there, but nothing will be received? It will be interesting to find out.
The biggest improvement is obviously changing to a better antenna.
The very first thing I did was to tailor the weak speaker audio by placing the same material I use to protect the display over half of the speaker grill openings. You'd think this would actually dampen the audio even more, but it tailors the audio so that the clarity actually improves. The only handheld I've never had to do that with was the 396XT, but that is in a whole different league.
I'll have more to say about air operations with it in the aircraft monitoring forum.
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Overall I'm very pleased with the price/performance ratio after a few day's usage. Nothing you can do about the weak-ish audio though other than tailor it a bit.
An interesting fact is like it's sister desktop version the 136, RadioReference is mentioned predominantly in the manual. Nice!
One thing I wish I could find out is the battery charge current spec. I can only guess at it. Since it seems to be on a timer of 14 hours max, if you run with very high-capacity batteries, it is possible one may not really get a full charge at the end of 14 hours from a fully drained battery, and have to pull the plug and charge again for a few hours to top it off - but I can't really tell unless I measure it. Not too critical since I charge outside the unit anyway, but it would be nice to know for those times when I do need to charge with only the built-in charger.
An interesting fact is like it's sister desktop version the 136, RadioReference is mentioned predominantly in the manual. Nice!
One thing I wish I could find out is the battery charge current spec. I can only guess at it. Since it seems to be on a timer of 14 hours max, if you run with very high-capacity batteries, it is possible one may not really get a full charge at the end of 14 hours from a fully drained battery, and have to pull the plug and charge again for a few hours to top it off - but I can't really tell unless I measure it. Not too critical since I charge outside the unit anyway, but it would be nice to know for those times when I do need to charge with only the built-in charger.
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That antenna is innapropriate for the task at hand, not to mention not being portable, which is one reason to use a handheld in the first place. Save your money for something designed for scanning / radio use - you are looking / being led to the wrong part of the store.
An inexpensive upgrade to the included antenna with the Pro-135, which is only tuned for the 156 mhz business band would be:
Model # 20-006 Center-Loaded Telescoping whip.
Model #20-034 High Performance VHF/UHF scanner antenna which is a 9-inch rubber duck tuned to the more popular scanning bands. It is not current stock, but some stores may have it locally on the shelf, installed on demos, or in their local inventory as #20-0034 (TWO zeros, 3, 4). A great improvement for only around $10 or so.
Obviously there are a lot of antennas you can use, but if you want to walk out of the store relatively inexpensively with a nice antenna upgrade, these are two good options.
Save your money for something designed for scanning / radio use - you are looking / being led to the wrong part of the store.An inexpensive upgrade to the included antenna with the Pro-135, which is only tuned for the 156 mhz business band would be:
Model # 20-006 Center-Loaded Telescoping whip.
Model #20-034 High Performance VHF/UHF scanner antenna which is a 9-inch rubber duck tuned to the more popular scanning bands. It is not current stock, but some stores may have it locally on the shelf, installed on demos, or in their local inventory as #20-0034 (TWO zeros, 3, 4). A great improvement for only around $10 or so.
Obviously there are a lot of antennas you can use, but if you want to walk out of the store relatively inexpensively with a nice antenna upgrade, these are two good options.
kcoleman
Member
The antenna pictured appears to be an indoor TV antenna. I'm not an expert on this subject, but I'm not convinced that you would "fry" your scanner. I've connected a tunable TV antenna to a scanner before, but never noticed any great gains over antennas designed for a scanner. But it's always fun to experiment.
If it's a powered(amplified) unit... then it might overload the scanner which would render it deaf to incoming traffic.
I'm sure there are those with much more knowledge that can better answer this question.
Good Luck,
Keith
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