[Scan-DC] Pro-197

[Jeff Krauss]

>Message: 2
>Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2008 11:52:18 -0500
>From: <oldsdoug at hotmail.com>
>Subject: [Scan-DC] Radio Shack PRO-197 - Questions and comments
>To: <scan-dc at mailman.qth.net>
>Message-ID: <BAY101-W383052527A8CD3987ED58AC2E80 at phx.gbl>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>
>First, many thanks to those who gave us the word about the $200-off 
>sale price on the PRO-197 (and its portable mate, whatever that 
>is).  I ordered one before Xmas and had it shipped to a friend since 
>I was away, and picked it up yesterday.  So far, so good, but a 
>couple of questions, if anybody else has one.  First, I think that 
>the programming for Montgomery County may be out of date, as I don't 
>think it has the four talkgroups that they added and those that were 
>reassigned on the fire side - 7-Kilo was one of them, I don't recall 
>the other three right now.

The 7K, 7L, 71K and 71L talkgroups are in the Vscanner 1 
pre-programmed file, but their TG numbers are not in sequence with 
the other FD talkgroups.  In any event, you should consider adding a 
wildcard TGRP object for the Montgomery County TSYS if you want to 
listen to things like snowplows and other non-public safety 
transmissions.  If so, you'll need to add specific TGRP objects for 
the two MOSCAD TGs and then lock them out.

BTW, I use the WIN500 software.


>Also, I'm betting that the system for Arlington VA is not the "new" 
>one... not sure whether I have Arlington activated but haven't heard 
>anything so far.

Right.  I added the Arlington P25 TSYS and TGRP objects into the same 
scanlist that the Arlington analog system is on. I hear transmissions 
on both systems.
I also added TSYS objects and TGRP objects for WMAA, Washington Gas, 
BWI, Fort Detrick and WMATA into a different scanlist.  But then I 
locked out the WMATA system because all I heard was bus drivers and 
supervisors.

>I suspect that this receiver isn't quite as good as the Uniden 
>radios, was hearing some garbles last night... right now I have the 
>back-of-set antenna on it in an outside room, with antenna up about 
>10 inches, it seems to work better that way than with the antenna 
>fully extended... no garbles from the BC-796 with the same setup on 
>the other side of the wall.

These radios have a reputation for being very sensitive.  So 
sometimes the garbling problem is due to front end overload.  Some 
have reported success by adding attenuation (ATT) on some systems.