I appreciate the help Steve. I guess ill HAVE to buy the software for the programmer but I guess that will end up being easier. I travel to and from the shreveport area daily and would Luke to program a few if there local agencies in too. I do greatly appreciate the help though. I'll get started with the online manual and go from there!
Brandon,
All of the software packages do offer a thirty day free-trial period, before you have to either buy the software, or quit using it. That way, you can see which you like best. My personal favorite is Win500, and I suspect that is the most widely used. (My PSR-500 uses the same software; GRE makes the 500, and produces the Pro-106, with a different front panel layout, for Radio Shack.) But remember that is only my preference.
Any of the three will do the job, and you may prefer one of the others instead, because of the way it looks onscreen, or because it resembles another program that you're familiar with. Besides using software to get 'up & running' quickly, it has the additional advantage in that you can see most, if not all, of your programming information for a specific conventional channel (such as Tx DPS, or the ETMC
medevacs), or trunked system (like
TxWARN) at one time, on screen, rather than a couple lines at a time, scrolling through them on the scanner's display. Makes it much easier to spot & correct simple errors or omissions in data entry. Remember that, regardless of the software you decide on, it is a one-time purchase. Lifetime updates are free for all three programs, as the authors make occasional corrections, changes, or improvements.
You mentioned trips to Shreveport. Your Pro-106 has what is called "V-folders". That's where the preloaded frequencies are stored. However, you can replace any, or all, of them with your own programming files. For your home area, once you get your programming for the Smith County area tweaked to your tastes, save that to one of the locations, under whatever you named the file in your software. That could be Smith County, Tyler Area, Home, whatever name you wanted.
You can easily create a second file (stored in a separate 'folder') for when you get ready to hit I-20 east, & head toward Shreveport. In that file, you might have Gregg County (TxWARN is also in use there, but different talkgroups), Rusk, Panola, and Harrison counties, and Caddo Parish(in LA), plus Texas DPS and
LWIN. You can switch between folders loaded with only a couple of keystrokes and a minute or two for the new file to load & the scanner reboot.
For Shreveport itself, you could easily have a third file (stored separately, of course, in another folder in the scanner) for the Shreveport metro area. Caddo & Bossier parishes, LWIN, whatever you want. Again, only a couple of key presses to switch between your "trip" file to your "Shreveport" load.
In order for anyone to create a file for you, you'd need to provide some guidance on what you wanted in it:
Specific agencies
Channel types (dispatch only? or also talk/ firegrounds, etc)
Fire? PD? SO? EMS?
One county only? (Smith?) or also one or more adjacent ones (Cherokee? Rusk? Van Zandt? Upshur? Wood? Henderson? Gregg? Anderson?) Depending on your listening location (up on a hill, down in a low area, inside a house, or apartment, any number of factors), your actual receiving range will vary. Some agencies pretty much fade away once you get outside their jurisdiction, while others may be heard for a considerable distance.
If you don't connect with someone in your immediate area, I can put together a file for you, as long as I have some idea what you want. I have both Win500 & PSREdit500.
