peter_rothschild@sra.com wrote:
> I recently picked up a Pro 64 because I like the 10 priority channels,
> but I have been a little disappointed in how they work.  The radio often
> does not notice activity on the priority channels for 10-15 seconds,
> long enough to miss entire conversations between dispatchers and police
> cars.  I can see the display flash every two seconds as it checks the
> priority channels, but it can blink 5-10 times before switching to a
> priority channel, meanwhile I can hear activity on one of the priority
> channels through another scanner.  Some of the priority frequencies are
> also in my regular banks, and it will stop on the signal in the bank for
> a long while before switching to the same frequency in the priority bank.
> The signals it is failing to notice are not weak, they are strong enough
> that they come through even with the squelch near max, although I keep
> the squelch near minimum.  The darn thing just doesn't seem to notice
> that they are there.  I can test this by putting a continuous broadcast
> like weather into a priority channel, and watch it take several scans of
> the priority bank before I hear it.
> 
> Does anyone else have this problem, with a Pro-64 or any other model?
> Is this an inherent problem with the Pro-64, or do I have a lemon?
> Is this due to the 64 scanning the priority bank at a higher rate, so
> it is more likely to miss a signal?

Hi Peter,
   Recalling from memory, I think this is a "wacko" design issue of
the PRO-64 and its base counterpart, the PRO-2041.
   While the priority bank can have up to ten channels in it, a
channel from that bank will only be samped once every two seconds.
That's right..."a" channel, as in singular. So if you have all 10
programmed, it will take roughly 20(2 secs X 10 channels) seconds
for it to check each frequency.
   While the PRO-64 doesn't mention this mode of operation, it
is probably an error/oversight. It states that the priority "channels"
are checked every two seconds. From the Tandy web page for the
PRO-2041, we have :

      USING THE PRIORITY FEATURE

      The priority feature lets you scan channels and still
      not miss important or interesting calls on the priority
      channels.  You can program up to 10 frequencies as the
      priority channels.  When you turn on the priority feature,
      as the scanner scans channels.  It checks one of the
      priority channels every 2 seconds for activity.

   While I have not explicitly checked the PRO-64, I have confirmed
it on the 2041 and see no reason why the 64 would operate differently
since they are the same radio and should have the same firmware. Or
perhaps GRE realized their boo-boo and fixed it in a later version?
Your description seems to confirm that your 64 is checking only a
single channel every two seconds.
   What monkey designed this approach I'll never know but I
guess even GRE gets the chance to fumble the ball now and again.
I too missed this point in my original of the 2041 review until
someone pointed out to me who was experiencing the same thing
you are. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure why more people
haven't come forward with this "feature" ;-)