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| Reviews Summary for Radio Shack PRO-93 |
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Reviews: 14
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Average rating: 4.2/5
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MSRP: $250
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Description: 300-channel dual-trunking scanner, covers 25-54, 108-174, 216-225, 406-512, 806-960 (excluding cellular) and 1240-1300MHz
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More info: http://www.radioshack.com/
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You can
write your own review of the Radio Shack PRO-93.
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KI4BSL
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 18, 2005 13:52
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Nice radio
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have had this scanner for a few years now.
I don't really have any complaints, other than the fact that it is hard to get cables for it. (Typical RadioShack, go figure.)
For a while I used it as a portable, but currently it is on the desk here in the radio room, plugged in with a power adaptor.
It does well rejecting intermod and interference. I have a PC located right below it with minimal effect.
So overall, if you have the chance to get one at a good price, go for it!
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KI4BPF
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Rating: 4/5
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Oct 4, 2004 00:08
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Not bad at all!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Don'ts:
1) Don't get a Version 1.0....it has text tag bugs on one or two channel groups (What you put in to ID a frequency on one channel will be switched with another on a different channel bank). Minor stuff.
Outside of this and the 300 channel limit.......nothing else is really a big deal.
PS- Be careful with the antenna. I hit the antenna one too many times and the scanner wouldn't recieve anything at all. The problem was that the tiny connection from the bnc to the board had broken loose. Easy to fix if you can replace the small wire and solder it to the bnc. Just push the the wire as far into the hole in the board and solder the other end to the bnc. I don't have a sensitive enough soldering gun to do any board work, so....
The stock antenna is pretty good too. The 900mhz antenna at RadioShack is no improvment either. You can try a better antenna from a ham store if you like.
The best mod is the Star program using the computer link cord. It is free and you can
program ANY freq (except cell phones) as long as you don't go below 17 mhz. The scanner will not recieve anything below that. There are also extended frequencies to use. Use the program to put 17mhz and I think four others. Go to that channel and hit "Function" + "tune" and it will go to 17 mhz. From there it will scan up to 25 mhz. The other frequencies will do the same. Not much in these areas to listen to though. You can pick up the Atomic Clock on 20 mhz and some other foreign radio broadcasts.
Enjoy and make sure to get the computer cord and download the free software for it.
http://www.starrsoft.com/freeware/Win93/
Lance KI4BPF
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N6KEK
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 19, 2004 08:42
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Good radio
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Very sensitive radio and good performer but on the Don Starr loader opening the blocked section you will find yes it does work but the bandpass filtering in the radio prevents any real useful benefit from listening out of the bounds of the filtering so really it is a waste of time unless you are very close to system you wnat to listen too in these blocked regions.
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KI4BPF
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Rating: 4/5
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May 29, 2004 02:30
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Good Stuff
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Well, owned for about 2 years. Unfortunately it is the Version 1.0.....not a big deal.
If you want a good scanner for the money and will be dropping it on the ground as much as I do, the Pro-93 or 95 is the way to go. 95 has 1,000 channels which is the only difference and I would definately buy it over the 93's 300 channels. But for $125 two years ago it isn't bad at all. The audio is good and it is loud too. Battery life is good. Fast scanning and easy button usage. Great scanner.
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W6YB
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 20, 2003 18:36
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No problem!
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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As I'm writing this, I am listening to a trunking system on my PRO-93. This is my second scanner and my first trunking scanner. When my local PD and FD went to a trunking system I knew I would have to buy a trunking system. I like this scanner because of all the features it has a reasonable price. I covers all the trunking systems that and need to listen to and as no intermod problem, even here in the LA area. I seen no problems with this scanner and I see no eason NOT to give it a 5.
73,
Andrew W6YB
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GEM02SCANMAN
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Rating: 4/5
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Aug 4, 2002 22:59
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Pro-93
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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The pro-93 is well worth the loot of $249 I Just wish there where still on sale. I usually take it along with me in my car. I currently own the pro-93 1.03 version which means no alpha-tagg bugs. The things i like about the pro-93. Frequency range is great although it could be better 25-1300mhz, Fast scan/search rate, (better than the pro-92) Use's 4 AA's, (Unlike the pro-92 uses 6 AA's) Trunks and scans conventional freq's at the same time, pc interface, cloning capability, 12-character alphanumerics, Selectable lcd display settings and backlight settings. Switchable 20dB attenuator, Sensitivity's great! Over all great scanner to own.
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6METERFM
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Rating: 1/5
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Jul 28, 2002 06:11
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Nice features but needs help!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I purchased one of these a few months ago because of the features and the $169 price. I liked the alpha tag feature and the large display. The frequency covwerage was also impressive...even went down to 25 Mhz! I had been using a Uniden BC-80XLT hooked up to a VHF dipole antenna with good results. Once in a while you would hear a blurb of intermod come through, but it only had 5 scan banks and 50 channels. When I got the Pro 93 home and set it up, I was suprised to find I wasn't getting any reception on VHF Hi. (140-170Mhz)
I heard activity on VHF Lo, UHF and 800 but no matter what I did, attenuator on or off, I couldn't get a peep out of the VHF Hi band. Thinking I had a defective unit, I returned it and tried another one but with the same results!
I even tried the Pro 2053 which is the big brother base station version of the 93 and it
responded the same. Took it back and went back to my BC80. It then occurred to me that
it was front end overload! With the rubber duck you got the limited reception one would expect from that type of antenna, but once a external antenna is connected, the 140-170 Mhz portion of the receiver completely shuts down! I'm not in a rural area, but I'm not in a high intermod area either. We have one tower that has a paging transmitter on it within a couple miles and I would be suprised if that is the culprit. Anyway, either the receiver is TOO sensitive or the selectivity is extremely poor so if you live in an area with pager towers etc., make sure you try the VHF Hi portion of this scanner while you can still return it. You may find it wont work!
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K1YZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 6, 2002 10:18
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The best hand held Trunk Tracker
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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It has a couple of quirks, like the display issue mentioned, but overall there's nothing even close available today. With 300 channels, and the ability to only have to enter the data channel(s) for a trunking system, it gives you plenty of capacity. Alpha tagging, free software, good receiver sensitivity and overload handling, and great audio make this a keeper. To learn the tricks and how to solve the quirks (like the blank display problem) of this excellent scanner, join the Pro-93 group on Yahoo.
Steve
K1YZ
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PUTTNU2SLEEP
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Rating: 3/5
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Jun 6, 2002 00:23
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Mixed Thoughts
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Well I first puchased a pro-93 back when radio shack had it on sale for $169. Which was an awesome deal, I havnt seen it on sale below $199 since that one time. I had a little difficulty programming it, and when I inquired some help from the local radio shack knuckle heads, well you know how that goes I've got Questions and they dont have the answers.Anyway a day later I had it figured out that on (edacs)you cant program anything on channel 00 you have to start on 01. But once i got it going and tagged, It was awesome.
But around 2 weeks of having it, the display went out I mean the screen just disappeared. I had'nt abused the unit, in fact i babied it intensly as i do all my new toys. I took it back to radio shack and asked them what was the deal ,of course they didnt know.So i exchanged it and am hoping the life span of my new scanner is better the the first, so far 1 week since the exchange..by the way i had put my scanner on lawaway for the sale price, hence the reason for not having it long the first time.
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KB1FPM
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Rating: 5/5
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May 10, 2002 14:16
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Very Pleased
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This is my first scanner. I purchased it about six weeks ago -- for most of the reasons noted in the reviews below -- after a lot of research. It hears very well and functions great -- a really superior addition to the shack. I did have to hunt around to find one with version 1.03 software, however -- most I found for sale were 1.00. According to word on the Yahoo Groups Pro-93 list, RS is now able to upgrade the v. 1.0 receivers.
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