View source for Popular Software for Radio Shack Scanners

When you are a newcomer, and want to use software to program and/or back up the contents of your scanner, the natural question is 'which is the best'? While it's always true that the 'best' software is in the eye of the user, generally speaking there are some packages that are much more popular than others.   
    
[http://www.scancat.com/scancat-lite-plus.html Scancat Lite Plus] has been visible for awhile now, and it's used in some RS stores to program scanners they sell. However, as documented on several occasions in the various RR forums, it's not the best choice, in most cases. This article lists the most popular packages, by scanner, in use by RR members. In general, the most popular choices tend to support connecting to the RadioReference database and downloading data directly. To enable this function you must have a [http://www.radioreference.com/apps/subscription/ premium subscription] which you can read about in the link. 
    
Those packages that have this ability are shown in '''bold'''. If no other packages exist to support this scanner, there will be no entry. Be sure to read the notes at the bottom of each section. 

Note that with the exception of the PRO-2052, PRO-106, PRO-197, PRO-651 and PRO-652, virtual control, logging and audio recording during scanning is not possible due to firmware limitations. Only up/download operations are supported.


There are no Mac-native solutions for programming. See this [http://www.scannermaster.com/Mac_Users_of_Police_Scanner_Radios_s/575.htm article] from Scanner Master for alternatives.


==Handhelds==
{| border="1" cellpadding="3" style="vertical-align:top;BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" colspan="2"    
! Scanner   
! Software   
|-
|[[Pro-18]]<sup>5</sup>
||||||
|-    
|[[Pro-83]]   
|
|'''[http://www.butel.nl/products/arc83/arc83.html ARC83]''' <sup>3</sup>
|Load83
|-   
|[[Pro-84]]   
|'''[http://www.fiftyonefiftysystems.com/Pro83Mgr/Pro83Mgr.html Pro83 Manager]'''
|'''[http://www.butel.nl/products/arc83/arc83.html ARC83]''' <sup>3</sup> 
|Load83
|-    
|Pro-89   
|[https://www.antistatic.org/ ProLink]   
|||
|-   
|[[Pro-92]]<sup>7</sup>   
|Win92
|||
|-    
|[[Pro-93]]<sup>7</sup>  
|Win93
|||
|- 
|[[Pro-94]]<sup>4</sup>
||||||
|-   
|[[Pro-95]]<sup>7</sup>  
|Win95   
|||
|-    
|[[Pro-96]]   
|'''[[Win96]]'''    
|'''[[ARC96]]'''<sup>3</sup>
||
|-  
|[[Pro-97]]<sup>1</sup>
||||||
|-
|[[Pro-99]]
|Win99
||||
|-  
|[[Pro-106]]<sup>2</sup>
||||||
|-
|[[Pro-107]]<sup>5</sup>
||||||
|-
|[[Pro-135]]
|'''[http://www.butel.nl/products/arc135/arc135.html ARC135]'''<sup>3</sup>
||||
|-
|Pro-136
|'''[http://www.butel.nl/products/arc135/arc135.html ARC135]'''<sup>3</sup> 
||||
|-
|[[Pro-137]]
|'''[http://www.butel.nl/products/arc137/arc137.html ARC137]'''<sup>3</sup> 
||||
|-
|[[Pro-164]]<sup>1</sup>
||||||
|-
|[[Pro-404]] 
|'''[http://www.butel.nl/products/arc404/arc404.html ARC404]'''<sup>3</sup>    
|'''[http://www.psredit.com/psredit100/index.html PSREdit100]'''
||
|-
|[[Pro-528]]   
|'''[http://www.butel.nl/products/arc433/arc433.html ARC433]'''<sup>3</sup>   
|||
|-
|[[Pro-649]] 
|'''[http://www.butel.nl/products/arc404/arc404.html ARC404]'''<sup>3</sup>    
|'''[http://www.psredit.com/psredit100/index.html PSREdit100]'''
||
|-
|[[Pro-651]]<sup>2</sup>
||||||
|-
|}

==Base/Mobiles==
{| border="1" cellpadding="3" style="vertical-align:top;BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" colspan="2"    
! Scanner   
! Software   
|-  
|[[Pro-160]]
|'''[http://www.butel.nl/products/arc160/arc160.html ARC160]'''<sup>3</sup>  
||||
|-
|[[Pro-162]]
|'''[http://www.butel.nl/products/arc160/arc160.html ARC160]'''<sup>3</sup>  
||||
|-
|[[Pro-163]]<sup>1</sup>
||||||
|-
|[[Pro-197]]<sup>2</sup>
||||||
|- 
|[[Pro-405]]   
|'''[http://www.butel.nl/products/arc404/arc404.html ARC404]'''<sup>3</sup>
|'''[http://www.psredit.com/psredit100/index.html PSREdit100]'''  
||  
|-
|[[Pro-433]]   
|'''[http://www.butel.nl/products/arc433/arc433.html ARC433]'''<sup>3</sup>    
|||
|- 
|[[Pro-650]]   
|'''[http://www.butel.nl/products/arc404/arc404.html ARC404]'''<sup>3</sup>
|'''[http://www.psredit.com/psredit100/index.html PSREdit100]'''  
||  
|-
|[[Pro-652]]<sup>2</sup>
||||||
|-
|[[Pro-2051]]   
|'''[http://www.butel.nl/products/arc433/arc433.html ARC433]'''<sup>3</sup>   
|||
|-
|[[Pro-2052]]<sup>7</sup> 
|[http://www.scannersoft.com Scan Control]  
|[http://www.ovscan.com/idtmirror/IDTracker.htm IDTracker]<sup>6</sup>
|[http://www.scancat.com/scg-win2.html Scancat Gold for Windows]
|-
|[[Pro-2053]]<sup>7</sup>  
|Win93    
|||
|-
|Pro-2054
||||||
|-
|[[Pro-2055]]<sup>1</sup>
||||||
|-
|[[Pro-2067]]<sup>7</sup>  
|Win92   
|||
|-
|[[Pro-2096]]   
|'''[[Win96]]'''    
|'''[[ARC96]]'''<sup>3</sup>
||
|}

===Notes===
# See the [[PSR-300/400 Software and USB Support]] article for these scanners. 
# See the [[Object Oriented Scanner Software]] article for more information.
# BuTel (ARCxxx) software can be purchased through a [http://www.radioreference.com/radioshack/?a=order Special RadioReference/RS Licensing] agreement. 
##See the [[Radio Shack Programming Software Free Trial]] article for RRDB Download instructions during the trial period.
##See the [[Radio Shack Scanner Programming Software Support]] article for instructions on installation and registering the software
# Only the B version of the PRO-94 can be programmed. The only package known to support this radio is Scancat Lite Plus
# See the [[GRE/RS PC Object Oriented FAQ]] article for more information for more information on these scanners. The software they use is proprietary.
# Only the original version of IDTracker supports this radio. Support is limited.
# No app for using the RadioReference web import exists. Winxx Data Converter will allow you to feed data into the Pro-9x series; the Excel app should work regardless of the radio used.
##[[Excel Copy/Paste Special to Software]]
##Winxx Data Converter
##'''Note:''' The Starrsoft [http://www.starrsoft.com/ website] has been up and down numerous times in the last year. The status of the author/owner (Don Starr) is unknown

==ScanStar Products==
The following packages support the Pro-92, 93, 95. 96, 2053, 2067, 2096 and PRO-2052. Note that any audio recorded with these products '''cannot be played''' back by a standard .wav player <br>
* [http://www.scanstar.com/products/commander.htm Spectrum Commander IX IX]
* [http://www.scanstar.com/products/manager.htm Spectrum Manager]
* [http://www.scanstar.com/products/tsxlt.htm Trunkstar XLT]
* [http://www.scanstar.com/products/trunkstarpro.htm Trunkstar Pro]
* [http://www.scanstar.com/products/ts9235.htm Trunkstar 9235] (Discontinued)

==Handheld/Base Cross Reference==
{| class="wikitable
!Handheld
!Base/Mobile
|-
|Pro-64
|Pro-2041
|-
|Pro-76
|Pro-2016
|-
|Pro-79
|Pro-2017
|-
|[[Pro-82]]
|Pro-2018
|-
|[[Pro-92]]
|[[Pro-2067]]
|-
|[[Pro-93]]<sup>1</sup>
|[[Pro-2053]]
|-
|[[Pro-95]]
|[[Pro-2053]]
|-
|[[Pro-96]]
|[[Pro-2096]]
|-
|[[Pro-97]]
|[[Pro-2055]]
|-
|[[Pro-162]]
|[[Pro-160]]
|-
|[[Pro-164]]
|[[Pro-163]]
|-
|[[Pro-528]]
|[[Pro-433]]
|-
|[[Pro-404]]
|[[Pro-405]]
|-
|[[Pro-106]]
|[[Pro-197]]
|}

; Notes
#The Pro-93 uses the same protocol as the Pro-2053 but has only 300 channels

==Mailing Lists, Threads and Social==
* Support for ProScan, ARCxx (BuTel software) and others can be found [https://forums.radioreference.com/forums/scanner-programming-software.89/ here]
* [https://www.facebook.com/groups/273230576919284 Free Scanner Software (Facebook)] 


[[Category:Software for Radio Shack Scanners]]