Radio Shack Pro-97 Programming question

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kiferh0

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Ok... heres the deal. I have a RS Pro-97 and I downloaded Scancat lite software to reload all the data i lost. I have a Radioshack cable ( 20- 047 ) but i cant transfer the data from my pc to scanner. I double checked Radio Shacks website and a few other places and they all say that the cable is compatible with my scanner. Then.. i look on Scancats website and they say that my scanner is NOT compatible with the 20-047 cable. Scancat says the 20-047 cable will not work with radio shack scanners that us the headphone jack as a source for programming, then though the cable i have is just that. Anybody have any first hand info they can share? Also.. the green light in the orange box on the cable only lights up when plugging and unplugging the cable. I know this has probably been talked about in other threads but I couldnt find the answer to my question on the ones I checked out.
 

kilowa22

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Ok... heres the deal. I have a RS Pro-97 and I downloaded Scancat lite software to reload all the data i lost. I have a Radioshack cable ( 20- 047 ) but i cant transfer the data from my pc to scanner. I double checked Radio Shacks website and a few other places and they all say that the cable is compatible with my scanner. Then.. i look on Scancats website and they say that my scanner is NOT compatible with the 20-047 cable. Scancat says the 20-047 cable will not work with radio shack scanners that us the headphone jack as a source for programming, then though the cable i have is just that. Anybody have any first hand info they can share? Also.. the green light in the orange box on the cable only lights up when plugging and unplugging the cable. I know this has probably been talked about in other threads but I couldnt find the answer to my question on the ones I checked out.

You need to connect the 20-047 to the PRO-97 PC/IF plug not the Speaker/sound plug.
Unplug the 20-047 from the computer, plug it into the 97 PC/IF port. Open the windows device manager, then plug in the 20-047 to the computer USB port. Your device and com port number should be created and displayed. Use the displayed COM port # in Scancat to connect to the 97 using the software.
If the scancat software will not recognize the 20-047 then try another software program like starrsoft or butel to see if they work. I have read a lot of negative reviews on Scancat software. YMMV.
 

gmclam

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PRO-97 programming

The 20-047 cable is the correct cable for this scanner.

Plug the cable in to the computer, but not the PC. On your PC go to Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> Ports and see if it is listed as a COM port. If it is not, you'll need to install the correct driver for the cable. If it is listed, it will indicate which COM port has been assigned.

Now that the cable is working, plug it into the PC/IF jack on the side of the PRO-97. Do NOT use the short pigtail that came with the cable, it is not needed.

ScanCat software does not work correctly for this scanner. I highly suggest using different software. I use WIN97, which I got at www.starrsoft.com

In the program you are using, you'll need to set the COM port to the number that was displayed above via device manager. Note that when you plug the cable into the scanner it will display "** CLONE MODE **", you will not need to press buttons on the scanner to do anything. That is handled by the software.
 

gmclam

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I think you meant to say:
Plug the cable in to the SCANNER, but not the PC.
No, I meant to say: Plug the cable in to the computer, but not the scanner.

The reason is that you want to get the cable and its drivers working before you involve the scanner. Once the cable is working, then we can get the scanner involved.
 
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