So I just bought a Pro-164 scanner and I need to know how I go about programming this thing to get all the local PD, EMS, and Fire channels..... Can someone please help me figure this crap out? It seems a bit involved. Thanks a bunch!
Radio shack pro-164 mclean county il bloomington normal
- Thread starter zimmerman_pm
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Ok so I went to Radio Shack and bought the cable I need to hook it up to my computer and downloaded the Mclean County frequency pack but I dont see it on my scanner now.....
ScanHandler
Member
I have the same scanner, and I have no idea how to program it... I tried entering trunking infomration on the keypad, and never got it to work. I just today brought it back to Radio Shack to get reprogrammed. Won't yours program it for you?
Anyway, I am going to try the software programming soon. Just haven't hooked it up to the computer for that yet. Good luck.
Anyway, I am going to try the software programming soon. Just haven't hooked it up to the computer for that yet. Good luck.
thats weird my local radioshack said they don't program them anymore..... and i live about 40 min away from him.
So program it by hand! There's not all that much in this county,not counting starcom21 of course. R/s at the eastland mall will program it for you,but everything you end up with is incorrect.
I bought my pro-197 and had mclean county loaded up in about two hours by hand.
n9zas
N8IAA
Member
Did you use software to load the frequencies? You do need to be a premium subscriber to import from RR.
Larry
With the software that came with my cable I got 2 free downloads from radio reference and I downloaded all the codes for Mclean County but it won't upload to my scanner.....And the radio shack at Eastland Mall said they will no longer program scanners for anyone....
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
Let's start with some very basic questions;
a. Let's insure that you bought the right software. Since you mentioned you got 2 free downloads, did you get ARC300?
b. Which cable did you buy? The 20-546 USB cable, hopefully? Did you load the right drivers for your OS (Vista, Win7) and check the allocated COM port as described in this wiki article (all links are in blue)
Connecting scanners via USB - The RadioReference Wiki
c. I don't have ARC300 but I would expect that there is some sort of routine you have to do to make sure the correct COM port is selected
d. Is there a procedure in the 164 to put the radio into a PC mode?
Those are a few things that having issues with can prevent a PC from uploading to the scanner.
Best Regards...Mike
a. Let's insure that you bought the right software. Since you mentioned you got 2 free downloads, did you get ARC300?
b. Which cable did you buy? The 20-546 USB cable, hopefully? Did you load the right drivers for your OS (Vista, Win7) and check the allocated COM port as described in this wiki article (all links are in blue)
Connecting scanners via USB - The RadioReference Wiki
c. I don't have ARC300 but I would expect that there is some sort of routine you have to do to make sure the correct COM port is selected
d. Is there a procedure in the 164 to put the radio into a PC mode?
Those are a few things that having issues with can prevent a PC from uploading to the scanner.
Best Regards...Mike
Also, it appears that my computer is not recognizing my scanner....I installed all the drivers from the radio shack cd
When i power on the scanner it says it was programmed by Scancat-Lite....does this make a difference?
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
Re Scancat Lite - that's the software RS used to use (maybe still does in some stores) to do the programming. It's a total POS - typically causes a lot of problems for people.
Anyway back to the 20-047 cable (which is the old version of the USB cable they now sell - no biggie it will still work) - we first have to make sure you get the right drivers for your OS and get them installed properly. If the CD doesn't work, you can go to the wiki article I gave earlier (anything in blue is a link) and download the drivers from the FTDI website. The links are there.
In general what you would need to do here is to load the drivers then check Windoze Device Manager to see precisely which COM port was allocated. The software is kinda stupid - it might have allocated a port that's already taken up by something else. Examples would be a BlueTooth or a USB camera - with some distributors, their software retains the COM port settings even if the device is not connected.
You can then check to make sure the speed on the port is set up.
take a look at the article i linked to earlier; this is discussed in detail there...73 mike
Anyway back to the 20-047 cable (which is the old version of the USB cable they now sell - no biggie it will still work) - we first have to make sure you get the right drivers for your OS and get them installed properly. If the CD doesn't work, you can go to the wiki article I gave earlier (anything in blue is a link) and download the drivers from the FTDI website. The links are there.
In general what you would need to do here is to load the drivers then check Windoze Device Manager to see precisely which COM port was allocated. The software is kinda stupid - it might have allocated a port that's already taken up by something else. Examples would be a BlueTooth or a USB camera - with some distributors, their software retains the COM port settings even if the device is not connected.
You can then check to make sure the speed on the port is set up.
take a look at the article i linked to earlier; this is discussed in detail there...73 mike
Since you already installed the 20-546 driver you only need to select the com/usb port in the ARC300 upload window. Also make sure that you do NOT use the conversion cable, help docs can be found at RadioReference.com - Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference or www.800scanner.com
Gommert
Butel Software
Gommert
Butel Software
So I attempted to install the driver but I dont think it worked... Also there is a green light on my scanner cable but it does not light up after its plugged in..should it?
Also is there a way to completely clear the info from my scanner?
Also is there a way to completely clear the info from my scanner?
OK! So i installed Win97 and found out which port I need to use for my scanner to read/write.....Can anyone tell me how to switch the port in ARC300
Thank you everyone for your help! This site is tremendous and all your information was very much appreciated!
Spfld800MhzTrunking
Member
The Pro-164 will not work in Mclean County as they are on the Statewide Starcom 21 P25 Digital System.
I thought the Pro-164 was a trunking digital scanner....
It IS a trunking analog scanner,but not digital. Trunking is not always digital,hence the reason for the pro-164.
Invest in a pro-106 or a pro-197 and you won't go wrong!
n9zas
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