Radio Shack "It's Been Discontinued"

Status
Not open for further replies.

Ensnared

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 24, 2004
Messages
4,438
Location
Waco, Texas
Over the years, people have debated about Radio Shack versus GRE scanner preference. Today, I had to send in my GRE PSR 500 for BNC repair. You can follow my posts for details.

So, I decided to fire up the old Pro 90. Yes, I realize that it did not survive re-banding; however, it makes a decent VHF receiver.

When I walked into Radio Shack, I asked for the familiar-looking battery pack with the pigtail. It was not there. When I asked the RS employee for help, he said, "it's been discontinued."

I know this is a fairly old radio, but this is ridiculous. This seems to be Radio Shack's modal response. I once attempted to find a replacement case for a Pro 2042 when it was around two years old. Same response, "it's been discontinued."

So, this is why I buy GRE.
 

joetnymedic

Member
Feed Provider
Joined
May 30, 2003
Messages
761
Location
West Haven, CT
true RS discontinues stuff very fast most times. I know that as I went looking for a belt clip for a pro-528 about a year ago. That too was discontinued as was a clip for another scanner which would have worked (maybe a pro-164?). I'm not sure how handy you are, but since it's a battery pack, you may want to get some tab batteries and link them together in the right configuration, cut the old pigtail off the old pack and solder it to the new on. I've done that before myself. just an idea
 

gmclam

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Sep 15, 2006
Messages
6,335
Location
Fair Oaks, CA
1) It depends on which Radio Shack you walk in to. They are not all the same.
2) The employees at a nearby RS change more frequently than their customers. But if they are not, you'll get a better response if they consider you to be a "regular".
3) Often times you can order a part for a newer scanner that works just fine in an older scanner. This has worked well for me when it comes to things like yellow battery holders.
 

bryan_herbert

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Messages
1,134
Location
Las Vegas, NV. DM26jc
This isnt just a problem with Radio Shack. I bought an HP laptop from Best Buy in 2006 and by 2007 it was discontinued. HP wanted $300 for a replacement hard drive, found one with the adapter at Fry's for $60, works better than the HP drives. If you were to go to the HP website right now and click the support tab my laptop isnt even listed. Its the same way with cell phones. My BlackBerry 8820 isnt even supported by RIM anymore and its barely 4-years-old.
 

nanZor

Active Member
Joined
May 28, 2009
Messages
2,807
Looks like the battery pack is the same as the Uniden BP-180. Scannermaster seems to have them, and even mentions use for the Pro-90 as well as others. It is still a nicad at 800ma. You might be able to get away with a Uniden BP-1200 which is nimh.

Some other locations might have even higher capacity versions, using nimh to boot, but since you are probably charging in the unit, taking it to full charge might go from full discharge at 14-16 hours to 45 hours or so with an upgraded 2200mah pack. That's also assuming that there is no timer in the pro-90.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

E-Man

Completely Banned for the Greater Good
Banned
Joined
Mar 1, 2004
Messages
841
Location
Global
Radio Shack does keep a limited amount of discontinued items. May be best to call 800 number than get some kid on commision to help.
 

GB1952

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
May 12, 2009
Messages
509
Location
CUMBERLAND CO
i think the kids worling at the local store here,dont want to take the time to find it or dont know what we are talking about,when i go in i either find it myself or they tell me to try anothet store
 

abqscan

DataBase Administrator
Moderator
Joined
Dec 8, 2002
Messages
2,877
Location
AOA
Battery pack for the Pro-90 (20-520) is RSU# 11975901. It is out of the warehouse right now and I don't know when it will be back.


Sorry to ruin your "Radio Shack's modal response" theory.
 

pjtnascar

Member
Joined
May 18, 2011
Messages
368
Location
Sussex County, NJ
The kids at my local Radio Shack did not know what PL 259 connector was. But they did offer to see if my cell phone qualified for a free upgrade. Radio Shack is really just a T-Mobile store that happens to sell electronics. Boy I miss the good old days when they had a nice selection of ham, cb, and scanner stuff. The only bright side to the quickly discontinued items is that some good stuff can be found really cheap on clearance.
 

Ensnared

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 24, 2004
Messages
4,438
Location
Waco, Texas
Getting Along without PSR 500

1) It depends on which Radio Shack you walk in to. They are not all the same.
2) The employees at a nearby RS change more frequently than their customers. But if they are not, you'll get a better response if they consider you to be a "regular".
3) Often times you can order a part for a newer scanner that works just fine in an older scanner. This has worked well for me when it comes to things like yellow battery holders.

Yes, I know that not all RS stores are the same, but this seemed to be an issue with the stock as one of the one person indicated, they were out of stock. I am a regular in the local store.

But, luck shined down on me. Thank God I had an old hydride battery pack from Scanner World. Batteries Plus indicated they would build me one if I had the pigtail.

When I was attempting to make do without the Pro90, I even attempted to revive my AOR AR1000. I tried to fix the factory frozen keyboard (after repair) by opening it up. It started scanning 800 and I heard one brief trunking frequency. So, what did I do? I plugged the plug in wrong and it started smoking. It is now in the trash.

So, onward to Batteries Plus and then to the Pilot to find a car adapter. I am determined to get this little boy running.

There is no doubt, Uniden and GRE make wonderful radios for RS. I just wished they would have better product support.

Thanks for the responses.
 

Ensnared

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 24, 2004
Messages
4,438
Location
Waco, Texas
Rs dc

With any luck Radio Shack will soon be discontinued... :D

Believe it or not, I don't want RS to go away. Even with their irritating ways, I still find good deals from time to time. I am just careful when it comes to scanners.
 

e737

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Sep 13, 2010
Messages
93
Location
Cape Cod
I feel your pain. Ive been in need of the same battery as you only to be told sorry we cant help you.
 

loumaag

Silent Key - Aug 2014
Joined
Oct 20, 2002
Messages
12,935
Location
Katy, TX
Ensnared:
In ref to the battery pack, it was discontinued long ago. I know, because when I started looking for one back in about 2001 they didn't have them and showed to be discontinued. Since it was a Uniden built radio I was looking for them to have one, but even then they were hard to come by. I then got the idea of just taking the battery pack apart and rebuilding it myself. I did it with NiMh cells, can't remembember what ma I used but I know it was1500 or better but less than 2100. This was before I was smart enough to know the circuit in the radio wasn't designed to charge NiMh batteries ( :lol: ). But, it has worked now for almost 10 years on that set of batteries and they have not failed yet nor has the radio smoked and it stays plugged in most of the time. If you can use a soldering gun (or a hot soldering iron) you probably can do the same thing.
 

Drafin

Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2003
Messages
659
Location
Charleston, SC
To stay on topic I agree about most Radio Shack's "It's Been Discontinued" response. There are a few Shacks out there that go the extra mile.

Now for the off topic portion of my post. :)

If you still need a battery pack for the PRO90 they can be had many other places (Amazon, ebay, atbatt.com, nicdladyonline.com, and others).

Draf
 

Ensnared

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 24, 2004
Messages
4,438
Location
Waco, Texas

Ensnared

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 24, 2004
Messages
4,438
Location
Waco, Texas
Thanks, but Batteries Plus Rescued Me

Ensnared:
In ref to the battery pack, it was discontinued long ago. I know, because when I started looking for one back in about 2001 they didn't have them and showed to be discontinued. Since it was a Uniden built radio I was looking for them to have one, but even then they were hard to come by. I then got the idea of just taking the battery pack apart and rebuilding it myself. I did it with NiMh cells, can't remembember what ma I used but I know it was1500 or better but less than 2100. This was before I was smart enough to know the circuit in the radio wasn't designed to charge NiMh batteries ( :lol: ). But, it has worked now for almost 10 years on that set of batteries and they have not failed yet nor has the radio smoked and it stays plugged in most of the time. If you can use a soldering gun (or a hot soldering iron) you probably can do the same thing.

If you only knew how inept I am at soldering. I attempted to fix the pigtail by soldering it onto the batteries. My miserable attempt was taken to Batteries Plus yesterday. And, as promised, they came through with flying colors. From what I understand, the pigtail is what is difficult to find. If you supply them with this wiring, they can make another.

So, I got this little bad boy Pro 90 scanning last night.

One can surely appreciate with advances made in scanning when you fire up an older unit. The Pro 90 had a pretty "pinched" audio, but received VHF quite well. I was even able to program McClennan County trunking after they "re-banded." I guess I was lucky in that this trunking system did not use frequencies outside the parameters of this radio.

Thanks for your response and advice. I will be impatiently waiting on the return of my most prized possession, the PSR 500. For now, this will suffice.
 

Ensnared

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 24, 2004
Messages
4,438
Location
Waco, Texas
Staying on Topic

To stay on topic I agree about most Radio Shack's "It's Been Discontinued" response. There are a few Shacks out there that go the extra mile.

Now for the off topic portion of my post. :)

If you still need a battery pack for the PRO90 they can be had many other places (Amazon, ebay, atbatt.com, nicdladyonline.com, and others).

Draf

Yes, sometimes, I have to stop and get some coffee before I launch off into some wild verbiage and get off topic. It is quite difficult for me at times. But, I am trying really hard.

Thanks for your suggestion regarding the sources. I love Amazon. They have proven to be an excellent source of goods.

See my post about Scanner World.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top