Reception Issues

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Nate1n22

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I have a Pro-197 and a Pro-106 sitting right next to each other. The Pro-197 has always gotten really good reception, but the 106 has always cut in and out. They both have basically the same antenna, so I don't get why the 106 has such bad reception.

Any suggestions to improve this?

XeX17wO.jpg
 

Nate1n22

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I bought the scanner used, so I don't know if the firmware has ever been updated. I don't see any issues with the elbow of the antenna.
 

caravanken

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Haysville, KS
First I would check the squelch to make sure it is full open and wait for a transmission to see if it still cuts out. If it does, swap antennas to rule out antenna differences. Another item you might check is the global attenuation on the 106, make sure it is off.

I compared both radio specs side by side and the two differences I can find are the operating voltages and the audio output. The 106 has 250 mW audio out and the 197 has 1.8 w. I am not a radio tech so not sure if this would affect reception but I don't think so. The lower wattage would take a lot less power from the batteries.
Good Luck
 
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kb8rvp

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If you want to check your firmware just press the number 3 right after you turn on the scanner. DSP should be 1.4 and CPU 2.1. If you need to download you will see it available for download on this page RadioShack.com

Also you may want to try the Radio Shack 800MHz rubber duck antenna which will work much better over the antenna you are showing in the picture.

Mike
 
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InlandAZ

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Well, for starters - what frequency ranges are you scanning? With that antenna fully extended it should be VHF low.
 

DickH

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I have a Pro-197 and a Pro-106 sitting right next to each other. The Pro-197 has always gotten really good reception, but the 106 has always cut in and out. They both have basically the same antenna, so I don't get why the 106 has such bad reception.

Any suggestions to improve this?

XeX17wO.jpg

We need to know which frequencies you are monitoring. The lengths of those antennas need to be rather precisely adjusted for specific freqs.and they may not work well on some freqs.
 

JoeyC

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Dec 19, 2002
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Wow, haven't seem that antenna in a long time! I used to have one but can't remember where I acquired it or if it came with a prior scanner I owned. As others have said, the antenna is stretched for the VHF-lo band as shown which would explain its less-than-stellar performance if you are listening to UHF or higher frequencies.
 

RoninJoliet

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ILL
I have 2-RS197 scanners, connecting the same antenna (attic RS grnd plane w/35' RG6U lowloss coax) back and forth to receive a tower for IL-700/800 Starcom Digital system 25 miles away one scanner has firmware 1.6-1.3 and receives perfect digital decode of that tower...The other 197 with firmware 1.7-1.3 receives the same tower with breaks in the decoding and dropouts ....Seems to me some of the original or early firmware was better??
 

joeuser

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I have 2-RS197 scanners, connecting the same antenna (attic RS grnd plane w/35' RG6U lowloss coax) back and forth to receive a tower for IL-700/800 Starcom Digital system 25 miles away one scanner has firmware 1.6-1.3 and receives perfect digital decode of that tower...The other 197 with firmware 1.7-1.3 receives the same tower with breaks in the decoding and dropouts ....Seems to me some of the original or early firmware was better??
I've read that claim before, however, are all the settings the same?
 

captncarp

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North River, NY. USA
Pretty basic but has each channel been set to the right mode? There is nothing that will screw things up faster than a FM freq. being set to AM. Unless you are only listening to VHF Low freq. those antennas should not be extended all the way.

DMC
 
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