Dual conversion is back with new models?

[nanZor]

I got to play with a friend's RS Pro-404 conventional handheld today (RS version of GRE PSR-100) and boy does it have good audio!

However, I noticed that it seems that dual-conversion is back with only the standard IF's of 10.7 mhz (1st) and 455 khz (2nd). I thought I travelled back in time.

I thought all modern scanners were supposed to be triple-conversion, but maybe since it doesn't cover 800mhz it is ok to be dual-conversion again?

Strange since the low-cost conventional RS Pro-135 handheld and Pro-136 desktop (Uniden rebadges for RS) are triple conversion and they don't do 800mhz either.

I did some digging and see that the sister-unit GRE PSR-100 is also dual conversion (naturally), and their PSR-200 desktop lists only two IF's for dual conversion.

I must have missed something thinking that all new scanners are triple conversion these days...

 

[typesix]

Dual conversion scanners have never gone away, there have always been lower cost receivers that are dual conversion made by RS(GRE) , Uniden and now GRE.

 

[SquierStrat]

well i dont know what any of that means, but im glad to hear it has good audio, just like the psr 100

 

[KMA367]

Do you happen to have the FCC ID numbers for the 404/PSR-100 and -200? I'd like to look at their "attestations" to the FCC, but I'm coming up with my hands full of empty on the FCC EAS Search Form. Where I live, 800 Mhz essentially doesn't exist - nor does any trunking for heaven's sake, so one of those might be right up my dirt road. Occasionally "images" can be your friend on VHF & UHF. Thanks

I got to play with a friend's RS Pro-404 conventional handheld today (RS version of GRE PSR-100) and boy does it have good audio!

However, I noticed that it seems that dual-conversion is back with only the standard IF's of 10.7 mhz (1st) and 455 khz (2nd). I thought I travelled back in time.

I thought all modern scanners were supposed to be triple-conversion, but maybe since it doesn't cover 800mhz it is ok to be dual-conversion again?

 

[nanZor]

Hmm... it is listed as a model 20-404, and on the box and on the back of the unit it is labeled as "Pro-404", yet if you search for it, it doesn't really come up right away. Even on the RS site, they don't list it as a pro-404.

I've got some other comments on it, but will find a 404 related thread just in case...

 

[KMA367]

Pro-404?

Hmm... it is listed as a model 20-404, and on the box and on the back of the unit it is labeled as "Pro-404", yet if you search for it, it doesn't really come up right away. Even on the RS site, they don't list it as a pro-404.

I've got some other comments on it, but will find a 404 related thread just in case...

Does this look like it (other than the GRE vs Radio Shack label)? FCC ID is ADV0711

Here are two screenshots from the attestation that its images are nowhere near the cellular range, nor can it be easily modified:

-------------- and --------------

Freq ranges given are:
29–54 10-Meter Ham Band, VHF Lo, 6-Meter Ham Band
108–136.9875 Aircraft
137–174 Military Land Mobile, 2-Meter Ham Band, VHF Hi
380–512 UHF Aircraft, Federal Government, 70-cm Ham
Band, UHF Standard Band, UHF “T” Band

and IF Frequencies:
1st IF .......................................................................... 10.7 MHz
2nd IF ........................................................................... 455 kHz

Try this for the FCC info
https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas...rame=N&application_id=579557&fcc_id='ADV0711' though those FCC URLs sometimes are just temporary per session.

If it's the same radio, here's the RS 20-404 page
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3704415 I don't see it called the Pro-404 either.

RS website says there's one available at one of the three R/S stores in my rural county. It's all the scanner I would need around here, but I don't know that I could persuade Mrs. Wife that I need yet another one... even for $99.99.

 

[nanZor]

That's the one!

Yup - while thinking I just ran across an ACARS data freq in the air-band, it actually turns out to be an image of an amateur 2-meter packet station. Seems they change the low-side / high-side injection depending on the band - maybe they do it this way to avoid FM broadcast images when listening to vhf-air.

Actually, for $99, if you can find a Pro-137 Race scanner, you get 1000 memories, (10x100 matrix - a bit large, but hey) alpha-tags, triple conversion, 800 mhz+, a REAL belt-clip. No pl/dpl, trunking etc, but I think it makes a very fine conventional scanner. I don't use the race features - just reprogrammed it for conventional use. It looks far better in person than what is typically shown in photos, and the audio is fine, although some find the knob kind of fiddly to use.

This is what kind of freaks me out about dual-conversion, when the recent Pro-135 and Pro-137 handhelds have triple...

Thanks for looking up that data - sure is interesting...