In the 70’s and 80’s I was mostly using Regency desktop/mobile scanners but for handhelds I started out with a 4-channel Midland VHF-High scanner. I used this for our local fire channels throughout high school as I was a fire cadet and kept it later when I became a POC Fire/Medic. While I had a variety of other scanners over the years I tended to avoid RadioShack scanners then for some reason.
I didn’t have anything against them at the time, they just weren’t what I was using. We had a decent Radio Shack store in town, and I was familiar enough with the place and it’s employees that they knew my name and address and I got my free battery every month. I ogled the scanner selection often but never bought a scanner there until the programmable ones came out. I did buy crystals, antennas and other stuff there, however.
I knew people who had RadioShack scanners and even had traded for one or another over the years but never kept them long. I had a Realistic tunable receiver that covered VHF High and Low bands for a while and later an 8-channel VHF scanner. I don’t recall which model, they all pretty much looked alike but it could have been a PRO-7. I also had a Pro-4 handheld for a while, a friend from the fire department gave it to me when he lost interest in it.
It wasn’t until programmable scanners became mainstream that I started looking at Radio Shack and their Realistic line as a regular source to fuel my scanner appetite. The Pro-30 was my first RadioShack programmable handheld. It replaced a BC100 scanner that I sold at the tail end of a long Amtrak trip. I liked the Pro30 as it had easily replaceable batteries and a BNC antenna connector, both of which the BC100 lacked. While I still preferred the Bearcat and Regency programming methods the RS was still pretty easy to use.
This PRO30 served me well for years but then I got a BC200XLT. That was an awesome scanner, had great audio and was fantastic on low-band when skip was up. Then, as now it seems, Bearcats (and Regency’s for that matter) tended to be more sensitive while the RadioShack scanners tended to be less so but better at adjacent channel rejection and selectivity. The Pro-30 worked better in town and had less problems with the high-power paging and taxi data interference that was pervasive in larger cities at the time.
One RadioShack scanner of the era that I really liked was the PRO43. At the time this came out I was living near a Naval Air Station and would listen to their tower operations on 126.200. Most of the Navy aircraft however would answer back on the UHF tower channel so I would never hear them. While I could hear them on the PRO2004 if I had one around, that was not exactly portable. The Pro43 however was my first portable that covered MilAir. It was also very small compared to other scanners of the day, so it was a great companion for plane watching and other outdoor endeavors. It even covered cellular frequencies with a simple modification.
I eventually had 2 of the PRO43’s during the 90’s. I did end up buying a batch of replacement keypads as they tended to wear out pretty fast. After this became a known trait, I ordered 6 of them from RS Parts to keep available, and I am glad I did They quickly became unobtainable, and I used 3 myself and gave the other 3 to friends who needed them. Other than that, the PRO43 was a great scanner for its time.
When I spent a few weeks in the UK in the 90’s, I brought my PRO43 with and played with it there a bit. While mostly I listened to aircraft I did manage to get some other traffic on it. I also stopped in at a couple scanner stores there in my travels and saw the “Tandy” versions of some of the scanners we had here in the US. I did find that the UK scanner hobbyists were more into the AOR type radios than we were here.
I also had a couple Uniden-built PRO83’s that I got on closeout a while later. These were compact and dirt cheap, so I added a discriminator tap to them and used them for things like ATCS, PL decoding and other tasks that discriminator taps were useful for. At the time I was really into data slicers and other decoders, and these were perfect for the job. They were decent little conventional scanners to boot.
I did have an original PRO92 and despised it. I really didn’t understand trunking much but was eventually able to figure it out but that PRO92 was a real dog of a scanner. I also had a BC235 at the time and that seemed a lot easier to deal with. I then beta-tested a BC245 which pretty much cemented my move to Uniden scanners, especially since it did EDACS. The PRO-92 was a real pain to operate and suffered from some serious interference issues on some of my important frequencies. I don’t remember if mine was just a lemon or if that was endemic to the model, but it soured me on RS radios.
Later I dabbled with a couple other RS handhelds, including the PRO94 (hated it) and PRO95 (Better but still bleh). The PRO96 however was a totally different story. While the local trunking was a mix of Motorola Type II and EDACS, Michigan was putting in their P25 system. I could hear the system from across the lake and my BC796 and BC296 would hear the system. The PRO96 however seemed to work better on P25 systems and could even display System ID’s and tower numbers right on the display. I had by then been using the OptoScan or an OS456 to collect this data but now I could do it right from a radio.
During a flight to the west coast, I had my PRO96 with me and was able to collect site numbers on the then-new Colorado system as we flew over. I had a blast doing so. I kept that PRO96 for years, even well into my retirement, just for that feature. I also had a PRO2096 that I used at home for that as well as running PRO96Com. I eventually got a couple more used ones that I used to set up PRO96Com at remote locations to collect data on the systems of interest.
When GRE brought out their own line of scanners I had at least one of each as I was commissioned to write articles on them and had to support them as part of my retirement job. I also had some of the RadioShack versions of them over the years. I had acquired a half dozen PSR600/RS PRO197/652’s and used them mostly for running PRO96Com. The PSR100, 200, 300, 310, 400, 410, 500 and 600’s and their RS clones were decent enough scanners, but I was much more comfortable with the Uniden methods of operations and eventually traded, gave away or sold off my entire GRE/RS fleet. I had a PRO-668, a PSR-800, a TRX-1 and a TRX-2 for a while but really did not like them at all.
For the past 5 years I have been using almost exclusively Uniden and Icom radios. While I have had a few legacy radios recently like a PRO2004, 2005 and 2006 that came from hamfests or friends they were in various states of operability, and I eventually sent them to a friend who had a better use case for them.
Surprisingly, other than the TRX’s I have had no Whistler’s myself but have helped others program and use theirs. Due to the design carryover from the RS/GRE genesis it is a simple thing to do.
It appears that Whistler may not be around any longer, at least in the scanner business (I have no inside info, just what I have been reading on the forums) which, if true, will be a bummer. Even though I am pretty much totally a Uniden guy ,the fact that there is a competitor can only make the dominant brand better. I know there are guys that swear by the Whistler/GRE/RS model of scanner, I get it, I am just not one of them.
I didn’t have anything against them at the time, they just weren’t what I was using. We had a decent Radio Shack store in town, and I was familiar enough with the place and it’s employees that they knew my name and address and I got my free battery every month. I ogled the scanner selection often but never bought a scanner there until the programmable ones came out. I did buy crystals, antennas and other stuff there, however.
I knew people who had RadioShack scanners and even had traded for one or another over the years but never kept them long. I had a Realistic tunable receiver that covered VHF High and Low bands for a while and later an 8-channel VHF scanner. I don’t recall which model, they all pretty much looked alike but it could have been a PRO-7. I also had a Pro-4 handheld for a while, a friend from the fire department gave it to me when he lost interest in it.
It wasn’t until programmable scanners became mainstream that I started looking at Radio Shack and their Realistic line as a regular source to fuel my scanner appetite. The Pro-30 was my first RadioShack programmable handheld. It replaced a BC100 scanner that I sold at the tail end of a long Amtrak trip. I liked the Pro30 as it had easily replaceable batteries and a BNC antenna connector, both of which the BC100 lacked. While I still preferred the Bearcat and Regency programming methods the RS was still pretty easy to use.
This PRO30 served me well for years but then I got a BC200XLT. That was an awesome scanner, had great audio and was fantastic on low-band when skip was up. Then, as now it seems, Bearcats (and Regency’s for that matter) tended to be more sensitive while the RadioShack scanners tended to be less so but better at adjacent channel rejection and selectivity. The Pro-30 worked better in town and had less problems with the high-power paging and taxi data interference that was pervasive in larger cities at the time.
One RadioShack scanner of the era that I really liked was the PRO43. At the time this came out I was living near a Naval Air Station and would listen to their tower operations on 126.200. Most of the Navy aircraft however would answer back on the UHF tower channel so I would never hear them. While I could hear them on the PRO2004 if I had one around, that was not exactly portable. The Pro43 however was my first portable that covered MilAir. It was also very small compared to other scanners of the day, so it was a great companion for plane watching and other outdoor endeavors. It even covered cellular frequencies with a simple modification.
I eventually had 2 of the PRO43’s during the 90’s. I did end up buying a batch of replacement keypads as they tended to wear out pretty fast. After this became a known trait, I ordered 6 of them from RS Parts to keep available, and I am glad I did They quickly became unobtainable, and I used 3 myself and gave the other 3 to friends who needed them. Other than that, the PRO43 was a great scanner for its time.
When I spent a few weeks in the UK in the 90’s, I brought my PRO43 with and played with it there a bit. While mostly I listened to aircraft I did manage to get some other traffic on it. I also stopped in at a couple scanner stores there in my travels and saw the “Tandy” versions of some of the scanners we had here in the US. I did find that the UK scanner hobbyists were more into the AOR type radios than we were here.
I also had a couple Uniden-built PRO83’s that I got on closeout a while later. These were compact and dirt cheap, so I added a discriminator tap to them and used them for things like ATCS, PL decoding and other tasks that discriminator taps were useful for. At the time I was really into data slicers and other decoders, and these were perfect for the job. They were decent little conventional scanners to boot.
I did have an original PRO92 and despised it. I really didn’t understand trunking much but was eventually able to figure it out but that PRO92 was a real dog of a scanner. I also had a BC235 at the time and that seemed a lot easier to deal with. I then beta-tested a BC245 which pretty much cemented my move to Uniden scanners, especially since it did EDACS. The PRO-92 was a real pain to operate and suffered from some serious interference issues on some of my important frequencies. I don’t remember if mine was just a lemon or if that was endemic to the model, but it soured me on RS radios.
Later I dabbled with a couple other RS handhelds, including the PRO94 (hated it) and PRO95 (Better but still bleh). The PRO96 however was a totally different story. While the local trunking was a mix of Motorola Type II and EDACS, Michigan was putting in their P25 system. I could hear the system from across the lake and my BC796 and BC296 would hear the system. The PRO96 however seemed to work better on P25 systems and could even display System ID’s and tower numbers right on the display. I had by then been using the OptoScan or an OS456 to collect this data but now I could do it right from a radio.
During a flight to the west coast, I had my PRO96 with me and was able to collect site numbers on the then-new Colorado system as we flew over. I had a blast doing so. I kept that PRO96 for years, even well into my retirement, just for that feature. I also had a PRO2096 that I used at home for that as well as running PRO96Com. I eventually got a couple more used ones that I used to set up PRO96Com at remote locations to collect data on the systems of interest.
When GRE brought out their own line of scanners I had at least one of each as I was commissioned to write articles on them and had to support them as part of my retirement job. I also had some of the RadioShack versions of them over the years. I had acquired a half dozen PSR600/RS PRO197/652’s and used them mostly for running PRO96Com. The PSR100, 200, 300, 310, 400, 410, 500 and 600’s and their RS clones were decent enough scanners, but I was much more comfortable with the Uniden methods of operations and eventually traded, gave away or sold off my entire GRE/RS fleet. I had a PRO-668, a PSR-800, a TRX-1 and a TRX-2 for a while but really did not like them at all.
For the past 5 years I have been using almost exclusively Uniden and Icom radios. While I have had a few legacy radios recently like a PRO2004, 2005 and 2006 that came from hamfests or friends they were in various states of operability, and I eventually sent them to a friend who had a better use case for them.
Surprisingly, other than the TRX’s I have had no Whistler’s myself but have helped others program and use theirs. Due to the design carryover from the RS/GRE genesis it is a simple thing to do.
It appears that Whistler may not be around any longer, at least in the scanner business (I have no inside info, just what I have been reading on the forums) which, if true, will be a bummer. Even though I am pretty much totally a Uniden guy ,the fact that there is a competitor can only make the dominant brand better. I know there are guys that swear by the Whistler/GRE/RS model of scanner, I get it, I am just not one of them.
