Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

I just noticed the Pro-96 is no longer available on the radioshack.com
website, even though the 2096 is still listed. (I don't visit the
website often, so have no idea how long it has been gone.)

Anybody know why it is no longer listed? I thought it was advertised
as their "flagship" scanner. (At least the price certainly reflected
that!)

Does it have some problems as I've seen a few others in the NG
suggest? Hard to believe that it would be "obsoleted" yet...

-Dan

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

Dan wrote:
I just noticed the Pro-96 is no longer available on the radioshack.com
website, even though the 2096 is still listed. (I don't visit the
website often, so have no idea how long it has been gone.)

Anybody know why it is no longer listed? I thought it was advertised
as their "flagship" scanner. (At least the price certainly reflected
that!)

Does it have some problems as I've seen a few others in the NG
suggest? Hard to believe that it would be "obsoleted" yet...

-Dan

What problems are you talking about? Mine has given no worries whatsoever.

Cheers.

Ken

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 08:35:41 +1200, Ken Taylor
wrote:

Dan wrote:
I just noticed the Pro-96 is no longer available on the radioshack.com
website, even though the 2096 is still listed. (I don't visit the
website often, so have no idea how long it has been gone.)

Anybody know why it is no longer listed? I thought it was advertised
as their "flagship" scanner. (At least the price certainly reflected
that!)

Does it have some problems as I've seen a few others in the NG
suggest? Hard to believe that it would be "obsoleted" yet...

-Dan

What problems are you talking about? Mine has given no worries whatsoever.

Cheers.

Ken

I've seen a few posts regarding choppy or garbled audio reception with
the PRO-96. A Google web search of "Pro-96 garbled audio" brings up a
few hits as well. Explanations I have seen:

1. Problems with scanner
2. Encrypted audio (but not being detected as such)
3. Poor signal
4. Faulty/Buggy transmission network (doesn't seem likely as I would
think the PD department would be all over this in a heartbeat...)

I was just wondering if they *actually* did find some issue with the
PRO-96 since it seems to have vanished from the website...

-Dan

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

Dan wrote in
:

I was just wondering if they *actually* did find some issue with the
PRO-96 since it seems to have vanished from the website...

Perhpas, with the issues you mentioned, and the rebanding of public safety
together, they have decided to work on an entirely new model, rather than
release an upgraded model or firmware updates.

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 12:06:05 GMT, Dan wrote:

I've seen a few posts regarding choppy or garbled audio reception with
the PRO-96. A Google web search of "Pro-96 garbled audio" brings up a
few hits as well. Explanations I have seen:

1. Problems with scanner
2. Encrypted audio (but not being detected as such)
3. Poor signal
4. Faulty/Buggy transmission network (doesn't seem likely as I would
think the PD department would be all over this in a heartbeat...)

I was just wondering if they *actually* did find some issue with the
PRO-96 since it seems to have vanished from the website...

Digital audio will almost never be as clear as analog audio. I say
"almost" because a good technician, given the proper equipment and
enough time, can make a current Motorola digital transmitter sound
hi-fi. But if you drop a few bits of signal, ant there was a change
of audio during those bits, you'll hear garble. Garble is digital's
"noise burst" or "picket fence". Make sure you never drop a bit, and
use 100 KHz bandwidth, and all digital will sound better than analog.

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

What happened to forward error correction to help in bit loss.

..


"Al Klein" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 12:06:05 GMT, Dan wrote:

I've seen a few posts regarding choppy or garbled audio reception with
the PRO-96. A Google web search of "Pro-96 garbled audio" brings up a
few hits as well. Explanations I have seen:

1. Problems with scanner
2. Encrypted audio (but not being detected as such)
3. Poor signal
4. Faulty/Buggy transmission network (doesn't seem likely as I would
think the PD department would be all over this in a heartbeat...)

I was just wondering if they *actually* did find some issue with the
PRO-96 since it seems to have vanished from the website...

Digital audio will almost never be as clear as analog audio. I say
"almost" because a good technician, given the proper equipment and
enough time, can make a current Motorola digital transmitter sound
hi-fi. But if you drop a few bits of signal, ant there was a change
of audio during those bits, you'll hear garble. Garble is digital's
"noise burst" or "picket fence". Make sure you never drop a bit, and
use 100 KHz bandwidth, and all digital will sound better than analog.

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

On Sat, 25 Mar 2006 12:09:50 -0600, "JSF" wrote:

What happened to forward error correction to help in bit loss.

Ever hear a new Motorola digital radio? I'd guess there's some ECC or
FEC in there.

Of course they don't cost $400, and they don't scan 30-2000 MHz, or
1000 channels, but they sound better than analog if the system is set
up properly.

Then, again, why doesn't your cell phone have FEC? Same reason? Only
1 channel effectively, and some of them are pretty expensive when they
first come out.

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

Al Klein wrote:
On Sat, 25 Mar 2006 12:09:50 -0600, "JSF" wrote:


What happened to forward error correction to help in bit loss.


Ever hear a new Motorola digital radio? I'd guess there's some ECC or
FEC in there.

Of course they don't cost $400, and they don't scan 30-2000 MHz, or
1000 channels, but they sound better than analog if the system is set
up properly.

Then, again, why doesn't your cell phone have FEC? Same reason? Only
1 channel effectively, and some of them are pretty expensive when they
first come out.

FEC would be fine but there's always a tradeoff between bandwidth, power
and price.

Cheers.

Ken

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:30:06 -0500, lsmyer wrote:

Posted today at the Radio Shack Scanner forum at RadioReference.com:

The Pro-96 Scanner is still an active part of RadioShack's product line.
However, our stock is low at this time due to high demand. We hope to
restock this scanner soon and apologize for any inconvenience this may
cause you.

Here's the link:
http://radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33975

Interesting reply from R/S... and while I don't deny that it certainly
is "plausible", it seems a bit fishy... and I know all too well how
the world of PR works.

Why actually "pull" the item from the website? Why not simply show it
as "Out of Stock"? (As they currently do for the Pro-2096)

-Dan

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

Dan wrote in message
...
On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:30:06 -0500, lsmyer wrote:

Posted today at the Radio Shack Scanner forum at RadioReference.com:

The Pro-96 Scanner is still an active part of RadioShack's product line.
However, our stock is low at this time due to high demand. We hope to
restock this scanner soon and apologize for any inconvenience this may
cause you.

Here's the link:
http://radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33975

Interesting reply from R/S... and while I don't deny that it certainly
is "plausible", it seems a bit fishy... and I know all too well how
the world of PR works.

Why actually "pull" the item from the website? Why not simply show it
as "Out of Stock"? (As they currently do for the Pro-2096)

-Dan

That makes too much sense for upper management!

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

Aw come on - give the poor clerks a break - if they make minimum wage they
are doing good.

Don't expect a $50/hour engineering response from a $5.15/hour clerk

Some of the stores here have college kids trying to get thru school. Some
are interested in the merchandise and learn quickly -- others do not. Be
polite and educate the clerks in a nice way if you are indeed knowledgeable
yourself.

Radio Shack is a good place to buy things if you have done your homework and
know what you want.

Some stores here have VERY knowledgeable clerks -- just do a little asking
around and go there.

--
CL -- I doubt, therefore I might be !






"lsmyer" wrote in message
...
I went to a Radio Shack today. The Pro-96 was nowhere to be seen. They do
have a couple of scanners that are on sale, and I was actually tempted to
buy one of the Pro-83s for $69.97 which is apparently being closed out. I
bought one of them a year ago back when they were $99, but I wasn't really
impressed.

It was alarming how stupid and unknowledgeable the two employees which
were in the store today. I picked up a scanner, and she said "Looking for
a CB?" Then, after finishing with the scanners, I walked over to where the
portable radios used to be. I asked if they had the Eton E10. She said
Eton is the same as Grundig. But she didn't say if they had the radio. So
I asked again, and she asked why was I looking for that radio. So I told
her that I want a radio with shortwave. She said that they don't have the
E10 any longer, but they have a couple of other radios with shortwave. How
many shortwaves do you need? She then pointed at the Grundig crank radio
and said this one has one shortwave. I think we sold the one that had two.

Needless to say, I left without buying any shortwaves.

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

Caveat Lector wrote:
Aw come on - give the poor clerks a break - if they make minimum wage they
are doing good.

Don't expect a $50/hour engineering response from a $5.15/hour clerk

Some of the stores here have college kids trying to get thru school. Some
are interested in the merchandise and learn quickly -- others do not. Be
polite and educate the clerks in a nice way if you are indeed knowledgeable
yourself.

Radio Shack is a good place to buy things if you have done your homework and
know what you want.

Some stores here have VERY knowledgeable clerks -- just do a little asking
around and go there.

I bought my Pro-96 in a downtown Chicago RadioShack store - very helpful
clerks. They didn't have the beast in the store when I was to be in town
so one of the guys picked one up from another store on his way home and
had it for me in his store next day. Great service!

Cheers.

Ken

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

lsmyer wrote in message ...
I went to a Radio Shack today. The Pro-96 was nowhere to be seen. They
do have a couple of scanners that are on sale, and I was actually
tempted to buy one of the Pro-83s for $69.97 which is apparently being
closed out. I bought one of them a year ago back when they were $99, but
I wasn't really impressed.

It was alarming how stupid and unknowledgeable the two employees which
were in the store today. I picked up a scanner, and she said "Looking
for a CB?" Then, after finishing with the scanners, I walked over to
where the portable radios used to be. I asked if they had the Eton E10.
She said Eton is the same as Grundig. But she didn't say if they had the
radio. So I asked again, and she asked why was I looking for that radio.
So I told her that I want a radio with shortwave. She said that they
don't have the E10 any longer, but they have a couple of other radios
with shortwave. How many shortwaves do you need? She then pointed at the
Grundig crank radio and said this one has one shortwave. I think we sold
the one that had two.

Needless to say, I left without buying any shortwaves.

For some reason, every time I venture into Radio Shack, I start thinking of
Jay Leno and "Jay-Walk All Stars"; I wonder why?!?

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

wrote:


lsmyer wrote in message ...
I went to a Radio Shack today. The Pro-96 was nowhere to be seen. They
do have a couple of scanners that are on sale, and I was actually
tempted to buy one of the Pro-83s for $69.97 which is apparently being
closed out. I bought one of them a year ago back when they were $99, but
I wasn't really impressed.

It was alarming how stupid and unknowledgeable the two employees which
were in the store today. I picked up a scanner, and she said "Looking
for a CB?" Then, after finishing with the scanners, I walked over to
where the portable radios used to be. I asked if they had the Eton E10.
She said Eton is the same as Grundig. But she didn't say if they had the
radio. So I asked again, and she asked why was I looking for that radio.
So I told her that I want a radio with shortwave. She said that they
don't have the E10 any longer, but they have a couple of other radios
with shortwave. How many shortwaves do you need? She then pointed at the
Grundig crank radio and said this one has one shortwave. I think we sold
the one that had two.

Needless to say, I left without buying any shortwaves.

For some reason, every time I venture into Radio Shack, I start thinking of
Jay Leno and "Jay-Walk All Stars"; I wonder why?!?

Unfortunately, that's about the average intelligence level of the
average American. Today's minimum wage employees can't count change. If
you're lucky, you'll get one that's reasonably conversant in English.
(But their Spanish is muy bueno, amigo!) If you pay $2/hr more, you'll
get somebody who has a worthless college degree and who can write a
research paper just fine if you allow them to look one up on the
internet. Is it any wonder why employers are looking to China and India?
The average Chinese is better educated than the average American!

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

running dogg wrote in message
...
wrote:


lsmyer wrote in message
...
I went to a Radio Shack today. The Pro-96 was nowhere to be seen. They
do have a couple of scanners that are on sale, and I was actually
tempted to buy one of the Pro-83s for $69.97 which is apparently being
closed out. I bought one of them a year ago back when they were $99,
but
I wasn't really impressed.

It was alarming how stupid and unknowledgeable the two employees which
were in the store today. I picked up a scanner, and she said "Looking
for a CB?" Then, after finishing with the scanners, I walked over to
where the portable radios used to be. I asked if they had the Eton
E10.
She said Eton is the same as Grundig. But she didn't say if they had
the
radio. So I asked again, and she asked why was I looking for that
radio.
So I told her that I want a radio with shortwave. She said that they
don't have the E10 any longer, but they have a couple of other radios
with shortwave. How many shortwaves do you need? She then pointed at
the
Grundig crank radio and said this one has one shortwave. I think we
sold
the one that had two.

Needless to say, I left without buying any shortwaves.

For some reason, every time I venture into Radio Shack, I start thinking
of
Jay Leno and "Jay-Walk All Stars"; I wonder why?!?

Unfortunately, that's about the average intelligence level of the
average American. Today's minimum wage employees can't count change. If
you're lucky, you'll get one that's reasonably conversant in English.
(But their Spanish is muy bueno, amigo!) If you pay $2/hr more, you'll
get somebody who has a worthless college degree and who can write a
research paper just fine if you allow them to look one up on the
internet. Is it any wonder why employers are looking to China and India?
The average Chinese is better educated than the average American!

EXACT-A-MUNDO!!

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

I've come to expect most of the clerks at the shack don't know what
they're talking about. And yes, you pay peanuts - you get monkeys. I
just tell em I don't need any help when they ask.

I went in to the local shack couple years back and asked if they had
ICs.
"Whaddayamean ICs" said the kid.
"Ya know, integrated Circuits"
"Nope, we don't have any of those."
So I reached over and plucked up the dual D flip-flop I was looking for
and said, "You don't have any of these?"

Not long after that I went in to the shack for something else. I got
what I needed and headed over to the cash register corral. I'm like
sixth guy in line and there's one register open. I'm already getting
kinda flustered cause I really don't like standing in line. I catch
one of the clerk turds on the floor PLAYING WITH A RC CAR. I yelled up
the line to the lone kid manning the only open register " Hey Buddy,
think you can get your pal over here to put away the toy and open
another register?" Got a few smiles and nods from the others in line.

I left the store and went over to Walmart and picked up a few things.
Was about an hour later that I happened to walk by the Rad Shack and I
saw the store manager playing with a RC car out on the sidewalk

Pay peanuts - get monkeys.

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

wrote in message
ups.com...
Cite your source on this statement. Or did you just make it up?

running dogg wrote:

The average Chinese is better educated than the average American!

Running pup often talks out of his buttocks.

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

Well I have 4 in stock at my store. And RS.com will pull am item now if it
is expected to be out of stock for more than a few days.

Oh I do work for RadioShack and I am a ham. My staff and I do know what we
are talking about, but with the change of focus moving away from do it
yourselfers, RS is changing also. I grew up in the Boston area and had a ton
of parts shops around they all closed over a decade ago because most people
do not do it themselves anymore. So RS has been and is changing with the
times. They have been doing it since there inception in Boston many many
years ago. If you want speciality parts go online to mouser, fry's and the
others that have filled the vacuum. As for scanners well unfortuanately even
the digital ones are never 100% on because of many reasons.

73
KB1HUP
Dave

"Dan" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:30:06 -0500, lsmyer wrote:

Posted today at the Radio Shack Scanner forum at RadioReference.com:

The Pro-96 Scanner is still an active part of RadioShack's product line.
However, our stock is low at this time due to high demand. We hope to
restock this scanner soon and apologize for any inconvenience this may
cause you.

Here's the link:
http://radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33975

Interesting reply from R/S... and while I don't deny that it certainly
is "plausible", it seems a bit fishy... and I know all too well how
the world of PR works.

Why actually "pull" the item from the website? Why not simply show it
as "Out of Stock"? (As they currently do for the Pro-2096)

-Dan

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

On 28 Mar 2006 09:30:50 -0800, "N9NEO"
wrote:

I left the store and went over to Walmart and picked up a few things.
Was about an hour later that I happened to walk by the Rad Shack and I
saw the store manager playing with a RC car out on the sidewalk

Pay peanuts - get monkeys.

When the CEO is a fake college grad, what can you expect but fake
employees, for the most part.

If you find a RS with a good knowledgeable employee, treasure that
store and don't go to the ones with the burger-kiddies ("Would you
like any cellphones with that?").

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

On 2006-03-29 18:00:30 -0800, Al Klein said:

On 28 Mar 2006 09:30:50 -0800, "N9NEO"
wrote:

I left the store and went over to Walmart and picked up a few things.
Was about an hour later that I happened to walk by the Rad Shack and I
saw the store manager playing with a RC car out on the sidewalk

Pay peanuts - get monkeys.

When the CEO is a fake college grad, what can you expect but fake
employees, for the most part.

If you find a RS with a good knowledgeable employee, treasure that
store and don't go to the ones with the burger-kiddies ("Would you
like any cellphones with that?").

The last RadioShack I went to, (this is a good story, really!), the
"kid" working there took a new scanner that a customer puchased and
hooked it up to the store's PC. Loaded all the local freqs including
TRUNKING freqs in a minute or two.

Blew my socks off - I'd have guessed a 17 year old would have sold the
scanner and said, "have a nice day".

Made me think of even buying a new scanner...

--

acs

---
Grundig Satellit 800M, Degen 1102,*FR200,*
100' Random Wire, Degen "31" Amplified Loop,
Pulling signals out of thin air in the Pacific Northwest Since 1992
http://www.chevyorange.com

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

AC Smith wrote in message
news:2006040111132316807-chevyorangeradio@gmailcom...
On 2006-03-29 18:00:30 -0800, Al Klein said:

On 28 Mar 2006 09:30:50 -0800, "N9NEO"
wrote:

I left the store and went over to Walmart and picked up a few things.
Was about an hour later that I happened to walk by the Rad Shack and I
saw the store manager playing with a RC car out on the sidewalk

Pay peanuts - get monkeys.

When the CEO is a fake college grad, what can you expect but fake
employees, for the most part.

If you find a RS with a good knowledgeable employee, treasure that
store and don't go to the ones with the burger-kiddies ("Would you
like any cellphones with that?").

The last RadioShack I went to, (this is a good story, really!), the
"kid" working there took a new scanner that a customer puchased and
hooked it up to the store's PC. Loaded all the local freqs including
TRUNKING freqs in a minute or two.

Blew my socks off - I'd have guessed a 17 year old would have sold the
scanner and said, "have a nice day".

Made me think of even buying a new scanner...

That is strange! How out-of-the-ordinary!

HJ

Pro-96 no longer for sale at Radio Shack?
 

lsmyer wrote:
I went to a Radio Shack today. The Pro-96 was nowhere to be seen. They
do have a couple of scanners that are on sale, and I was actually
tempted to buy one of the Pro-83s for $69.97 which is apparently being
closed out. I bought one of them a year ago back when they were $99, but
I wasn't really impressed.

It was alarming how stupid and unknowledgeable the two employees which
were in the store today. I picked up a scanner, and she said "Looking
for a CB?" Then, after finishing with the scanners, I walked over to
where the portable radios used to be. I asked if they had the Eton E10.
She said Eton is the same as Grundig. But she didn't say if they had the
radio. So I asked again, and she asked why was I looking for that radio.
So I told her that I want a radio with shortwave. She said that they
don't have the E10 any longer, but they have a couple of other radios
with shortwave. How many shortwaves do you need? She then pointed at the
Grundig crank radio and said this one has one shortwave. I think we sold
the one that had two.

Needless to say, I left without buying any shortwaves.
The one in my area has a hot babe and I never treat her bad, cute face,
and a great set of tubes