Pro-2006: So it's come to this....

[kruser]

I had one back in the day, and it will do narrow band. The MODE button changes from WFM, to NFM, then AM no matter what frequency you are on. It was a great little feature they had.

On these old Pro 2004, 5 and 6 models, WFM is for FM Broadcast radio (88 to 108 MHz). WFM Mode is 50 or 100 kHz wide ( I forget which for broadcast radio).
NFM on the old Pro 2004, 2005 and 2006 is the same as just FM on today's models. It's 25 kHz wideband. Narrowband is only 12.5 kHz wide which these older models do not have correct filters for.

iMONITOR is correct in that these older models do not have Narrowband filtering. The NFM mode on a 2004 5 or 6 is 25 kHz wide which was wideband.

With that said, I still own three of these old models and they are all still in use today. The lack of a true narrowband mode does not really bother me. There are a few analog stations that don't sound the best in wideband but those are mostly stations I don't monitor often.
All in all, I still love these old radios!

 

[N1SQB]

UPDATE: Scanner arrives this Thursday. I am going to do the following mods, just for kicks.

Speed increase
800 MHz full coverage (just because )
signal meter
center tune meter
Carrier-on indicator light
Key Beep delete
Low battery beep delete
New EL light replacement
Removal of original power transformer

Manny

 

[TailGator911]

I keep my trusty 2006 dedicated to the local ham bands and milair. Still one of the best scanners ever made.

 

[KC1UA]

I may be wrong as it's been a long time, someone please chime in if I am. If you were to opt for an OS456 board I "think" you may have to undo a portion of these mods in order for it to work. I seem to recall something about that. Someone will know the details if I'm correct.

Either way, fun stuff. You have me wishing I still had one. As mentioned definitely one of the best scanners ever made.

UPDATE: Scanner arrives this Thursday. I am going to do the following mods, just for kicks.

Speed increase
800 MHz full coverage (just because )
signal meter
center tune meter
Carrier-on indicator light
Key Beep delete
Low battery beep delete
New EL light replacement
Removal of original power transformer

Manny

 

[PACNWDude]

Still have many Pro-series Radio Shack/Realistic scanners. They are mostly used to listen to aircraft traffic now. Great units, and that Pro-2006 meant a lot of listening fun when living in military dorms many years back, when cordless phones and analog cellular were popular. This was before the Electronic Communications Act of 1994 when they recalled many scanners for "modification." Great listening and awesome radio. I still use one today at work near an airport, and also for troubleshooting transmitters. It comes in handy being able to type in the frequency, and test a radio sitting in front of me. (Analog of course).

 

[TailGator911]

The 2006 I own now only has the bright panel display mod that was done by the previous (1) owner. I had one way back when that was Bill Cheeked out and that was a Maserati in its day. I was so busy for about 6 years and I put the ham radio hobby on the shelf and I sold that 2006 and lots of good radios just lightening the load during a move, and regretted it the very next day. I got into interstate trucking in the late 80s and all that time camped out at truckstops and playing on the cb got me re-interested in ham radio.

Now I am just hopeless. Just when I thought I was through, they draaaaag me back in. (My best Al Pacino impersonation)

 

[N1SQB]

Still have many Pro-series Radio Shack/Realistic scanners. They are mostly used to listen to aircraft traffic now. Great units, and that Pro-2006 meant a lot of listening fun when living in military dorms many years back, when cordless phones and analog cellular were popular. This was before the Electronic Communications Act of 1994 when they recalled many scanners for "modification." Great listening and awesome radio. I still use one today at work near an airport, and also for troubleshooting transmitters. It comes in handy being able to type in the frequency, and test a radio sitting in front of me. (Analog of course).

Yeah I remember that act. This particular scanner has a date code of 7A3 which means it was made in July of 1993 just prior to the act.
I will use it for aircraft frequencies and Milair stuff. Even marine radio traffic is good. I'm gonna do a quick video once I finish all the mods, just for nostalgic sake.

Manny

 

[fxdscon]

I'm still using 6 of the Pro-2006.... No doubt, one of the finest scanners made.

2 of them were purchased new by me, and 4 were carefully researched for pristine condition and acquired through the years from various sources (one of those is the Commtel COM205 version of the Pro-2006). All have been restored and are in tip-top condition.

Currently packing them up for an upcoming move, already planning a new rack system at their new location.

.

 

[N1SQB]

I'm still using 6 of the Pro-2006.... No doubt, one of the finest scanners made.

2 of them were purchased new by me, and 4 were carefully researched for pristine condition and acquired through the years from various sources (one of those is the Commtel COM205 version of the Pro-2006). All have been restored and are in tip-top condition.

Currently packing them up for an upcoming move, already planning a new rack system at their new location.

.

A picture of those 6 babies would be great!

Manny

 

[N1SQB]

Just when I thought I was through, they draaaaag me back in. (My best Al Pacino impersonation)

Tell me about it..

 

[fxdscon]

A picture of those 6 babies would be great!

Manny

As soon as we move into the new location and the new setup is unpacked, and up and running, I'll do just that! I also have and still use the hand-held version of the Pro-2006.... the Pro-34.

.

 

[VK3RX]

I have mint PRO-2004, 2020 & 2006.

The 2006 I retrieved from a friend I'd lent it to a few years ago. The backlight was out and I replaced it, but found it was not as bright as I thought it would be i.e. about the same as the 2004. I wanted to do the backlight on/off mod too, but it looked like I'd have to unsolder a shield to get to the resistors (if I've interpreted the mod correctly). Unfortunately I discovered the not-as-bright-as-I-thought problem AFTER reassembling it all.

 

[typesix]

On these old Pro 2004, 5 and 6 models, WFM is for FM Broadcast radio (88 to 108 MHz). WFM Mode is 50 or 100 kHz wide ( I forget which for broadcast radio).
NFM on the old Pro 2004, 2005 and 2006 is the same as just FM on today's models. It's 25 kHz wideband. Narrowband is only 12.5 kHz wide which these older models do not have correct filters for.

iMONITOR is correct in that these older models do not have Narrowband filtering. The NFM mode on a 2004 5 or 6 is 25 kHz wide which was wideband.

These models can do NFM programming at 12.5 kHz width for UHF with no problem. Some of the old Bearcat models like the original BC250 could only do 25 kHz. I had a BC250 briefly and found out about this before returning it for Regency M400 that preceded my current 2004. WFM mode is 50 kHz on the 2004 and search can be performed at 5, 12.5, 30(with cellar restored) and 50 kHz.

 

[wa8pyr]

I remember when the 2006 with an OS-456 board was an absolute treasure. Combined with Probe software it was an incredible combination for analog scanning. Those were the days!

Enjoy that 2006! One of the best receivers ever.

I had a Pro-2006 with OS456 board but sold it when I got a Pro-2035 and added the OS535 to it. Works great but I wish I hadn't sold the 2006. Still have an unmodified 2006 at home, although the OS456 is long unavailable. Still have my modified semi-Turbo Whopper Pro-2004 with a CE232 in it as well, although getting it to work on faster computers is a challenge.

 

[kruser]

These models can do NFM programming at 12.5 kHz width for UHF with no problem. Some of the old Bearcat models like the original BC250 could only do 25 kHz. I had a BC250 briefly and found out about this before returning it for Regency M400 that preceded my current 2004. WFM mode is 50 kHz on the 2004 and search can be performed at 5, 12.5, 30(with cellar restored) and 50 kHz.

Two different things.
Bandwidth and Tuning Steps.

You are talking about tuning steps which are not the same as bandwidth.

On older models with a 10.7 MHz IF, you can replace the IF filters with narrow bandwidth filters and make them narrowband.
It's not as easy to find narrow IF filters for some of the odd IF frequencies used today.

I'd need to look at a schematic for one of the old Pro200x models and see if they did use a narrow filter when tuning the UHF ranges. Models that did had two IF filters and possibly a third for broadcast radio. It's been a while since I've looked at the drawing for an old Pro-200x!

 

[JustLou]

I love the old scanners from the 80's 90's and 2000's. I have about a dozen base models and about 30 HH's. This is just one room in the back of my house. I have radios in just about every room much to my wife's displeasure.

 

[bberns22]

Have been buying and refurbing with excess pandemic time... So many LCD colors to choose from...

 

[N1SQB]

Nice job on all those light replacements

Manny

 

[Ubbe]

I'd need to look at a schematic for one of the old Pro200x models and see if they did use a narrow filter when tuning the UHF ranges. Models that did had two IF filters and possibly a third for broadcast radio. It's been a while since I've looked at the drawing for an old Pro-200x!

The 2006 use one 455KHz filter with a +/-15KHz bandwidth for NFM and after that a 455KHz with +/-6KHz that goes only to the AM demodulator. A 10,7MHz +/-100KHz filter are used for broadcast WFM.

/Ubbe

 

[Swipesy]

I find that my BC125AT gets better reception than my Pro 2005 when running side by side. And the 125 has alpha display and computer programming. In its day the 2005 was a workhorse but time and technology has passed it buy except the sound quality of the 2005 is unbeatable.