Recieved a Pro-97 as a gift and I have no idea what I'm doing

[Branket]

Hello all,

First off let me say that if there is some sort of beginners guide that I missed please let me know other than that I think the title is fairly self explanitory. I recieved a Pro-97 as a gift and I have asolutly no idea how to operate it. I am completely new to the world of radio scanning and while it seems very interesing to me I have no idea how to go about getting started with the hobby. Now for some details.

The radio is basically brand new but it doesn't have a users manual because the previous owner had it for a while and gave up on trying to figure it out. It seems fairly complex and since I have no experience of doing any radio scanning the task of acctually finding something worthwhile to listen to seems quite daunting. So far I've found the weather band thanks to the weather button, and what the radio says is a police department by pushing the scan button. I don't know how to do any fine tuning or anything about trunking ect.

This is my local area from the database here:
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=2474

I'm just interested in picking up whatever I can so any help with how to efficantly find any of the listed frequencies would be a great help. Also any pointers about the radio in general would be a great help, or any tips or bits of knowledge that I should definatly have would be appreciated. If this should be in a different section mods feel free to move it. I didnt see a "clueless beginers" section

Thanks in advance.

 

[Highpockets]

Hello all,

First off let me say that if there is some sort of beginners guide that I missed please let me know other than that I think the title is fairly self explanitory. I recieved a Pro-97 as a gift and I have asolutly no idea how to operate it. I am completely new to the world of radio scanning and while it seems very interesing to me I have no idea how to go about getting started with the hobby. Now for some details.

The radio is basically brand new but it doesn't have a users manual because the previous owner had it for a while and gave up on trying to figure it out. It seems fairly complex and since I have no experience of doing any radio scanning the task of acctually finding something worthwhile to listen to seems quite daunting. So far I've found the weather band thanks to the weather button, and what the radio says is a police department by pushing the scan button. I don't know how to do any fine tuning or anything about trunking ect.

This is my local area from the database here:
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=2474

I'm just interested in picking up whatever I can so any help with how to efficantly find any of the listed frequencies would be a great help. Also any pointers about the radio in general would be a great help, or any tips or bits of knowledge that I should definatly have would be appreciated. If this should be in a different section mods feel free to move it. I didnt see a "clueless beginers" section

Thanks in advance.

Here is a easy to read manual for the pro97, by the way, welcome aboard, I'm sure you"ll get the help you looking for here!

http://myweb.cableone.net/marksscanners/97/97.html

 

[Dubbin]

THIS should help.

Steve was quicker on the trigger

 

[Branket]

Thanks that looks like a great start. Now I've got something to read tonight when I'm up in front of the computer anyway.

 

[n2mdk]

This is also helpful in programming trunked systems http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Programming_Shortcut_Pro-97

 

[stevolene]

just keep coming to this site for info, Ive been frustrated myself many times when trying to figure out a new scanner, but don't give up, have patience and before long you'll be listening to everything you want to listen to. Ive found the WIN97 program works great to program the pro 97 by computer, of course you'll need the usb cable 20-047, also by being a premium subscriber on RR, you'll have a plethora of frequencies to download right to the program, its amazing..........welcome, and good scanning

 

[jleverin]

Yeah, the references on this sight make setting up your scanner much easier! Whatever you do, DON'T try to read the manual, it will just confuse you more! The user manual for the Pro97 is totally not user friendly. My advice is get yourself a 20-047 programming cable from RS and download a free copy of Win97. I am a total idiot when it comes to this stuff and I was able to figure out how to program my scanner and it now works great, I am picking up frequencies that I wanted to but never could with either my pro-82 or a 2meter ham portable. You can go to a place on the web called city frequencies and get a copy of freqencies in your area and plug them into the Win 97 table and download them into your scanner. I am using a $17 center whip antenna and a 9v adapter that I bought for my Pro82(interchangeable with the 97) and it picks up police, fire, RR and some airport transmissions. The only stuff I can't pick up is the stuff that has probably been encrypted like CO state patrol and a few other areas.As for the trunked stuff, I am open to suggestions on how to do that, I still can't figure those out. Most of the references I have seen refer how to put them manually into the scanner. I am looking for a way to load them into the Win 97 program and download them Hope this helps you, I was starting to wonder if I would EVER get the 97 programmed but now that I have it is a GREAT little scanner. If anyone has tips on what to do with the trunked material please message me, I still have lots of room to load those in.