Pro-2006: Dusted off the old Pro 2006

[Engine104]

Hi Paco-Jerte,

The only mod I ever did on mine was cutting the diode to increase the scan speed.

I think this is a component going bad in the UHF section. I can send it to Gerry at G&G, but I'm not sure it's worth doing.

 

[JustLou]

I picked up an unmodified 2006 in almost mint condition for under $60 not too long ago. What it can do, it still does very well.

 

[Paco-Jerte]

Hi Paco-Jerte,

The only mod I ever did on mine was cutting the diode to increase the scan speed.

I think this is a component going bad in the UHF section. I can send it to Gerry at G&G, but I'm not sure it's worth doing.

You probably better off getting a used one locally or the bay

 

[Engine104]

You probably better off getting a used one locally or the bay

I think so too.

My 2006 still works great for everything except UHF (800, civilian air, mil air and VHF).

 

[Paco-Jerte]

I think so too.

My 2006 still works great for everything except UHF (800, civilian air, mil air and VHF).

I personally dont do much 800mhz monitoring so for me having that issue its no biggie. Would of been a HUGE deal in 80's and 90's LOL

 

[mrkelso]

I still kick myself for selling mine.

i still have both books sitting on the desk.

 

[Poonwart]

I have a 2006 modified for 6,400 channels. The 16 position dip switch on the back selects 16 different groups of 400 channels and a wired remote control (an old CAD mouse) allowed me to select SCAN, MANUAL, SEARCH UP and SEARCH DOWN. The battery was relocated inside the chassis. The remote was useful when late night scanning in the dark.

 

[Paco-Jerte]

cool mod thanks for sharing a pic

 

[Xray]

Airshows are coming up, one on 19/20th and the other 2 weeks later labor day weekend.

Looking forward to running the 2006, never had anything but a handheld at airshows.

 

[Xray]

Have had my jacked up 2006 out in the field for the last 4 days, a smashing success.

Have it hooked up to an unpowered bearcat speaker, perfect level for me. I don't need it blasting out at 90 decibels, and its nice not having another set of batteries to drain.
Have it hooked to this antenna
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DUSBHDM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Very nice, was pulling in weak signals that my handheld missed, long cord and strong magnet that stuck right on my steel sun shelter.

I set up a pop up sun tent all 4 days, this rig kept me informed of everything. I also have my handheld bearcat that I wear on my hip when I walk away, otherwise the handheld is off, saving on batteries.
Also allows me to search for freqs with one scanner while scanning with the other.

Big charger lasted 3 8 hour days from start to finish, probably would have lasted for 4 but I charged it to avoid the chance of it going dead.
Don't know why I didn't think of this years ago.

 

[Paco-Jerte]

Found a Pro-2005 over the weekend in a garage sale @ Van Nuys and the guy wasn't sure if it powered on or not but its condition was actually good so I bought it for $15.00. Kinda dusty and dirty but nothing seems broken or missing on it. I'll be able to test sometime this week.


I'll post pics too when fully tested.

 

[Xray]

Here is my final setup.
Little unpowered Bearcat speaker wasn't quite enough so I dredged a battery powered guitar amp out of the garage and paired it with the 2006 - Superb sound, I had crowds of people listening in awe to the Blue Angel chatter while they flew. Love the bass adjustment, prefer mostly bass with a touch of treble. Can even add a little reverb to it.
Amp takes 6 AA's and has lasted 3 full shows 6-8 hrs a day, one more show to go. Booster that powers the scanner lasts 3 shows too, might do a 4th but I'd run the risk of cutting out during the show.

Semi portable setup, I can easily set it up under a tent or something but there it stays ,,, Prefer the tailgate setup to the milk crate setup.
I could have done this years ago, glad I finally thought of it and gave the old 2006 a new lease on life - I don't think there is a better scanner for monitoring airshows.

 

[PACNWDude]

Pro-2006 with my setup in 1997.

Still use my Pro-2006 for air band. Here is a picture from 1997 in Mississippi, where I heard a lot of local traffic…..mostly old cordless phones. Has the diode and discriminator mods, I also have the Bill Cheek book.
Like others have said, the rubber feet have turned "gummy" a bit though. One foot is also cracked and glued back together. The 2006 was my main scanner that traveled with me over the years and has held up well considering that.

Glad to see and hear that others are still in use.

 

[Xray]

If they made a 2017 version of the 2006 with nothing added but alpha tagging and maybe computer programming, priced it under $200 I would buy it in a heartbeat.

 

[DeDawg]

Here is my final setup.......I had crowds of people listening in awe to the Blue Angel chatter while they flew.

Cool as hell. Last airshows I went to at Pt Mugu, took two handhelds to moniror diamnod and solos. Was another freq I think when they were in "the box" but that was 15 years ago. One ear bud for each radio. How geek can you get?

Let others hear the audio over the speaker now and then and they were floored. Maybe got a few interested at the time.

 

[iMONITOR]

Semi portable setup, I can easily set it up under a tent or something but there it stays ,,, Prefer the tailgate setup to the milk crate setup.
I could have done this years ago, glad I finally thought of it and gave the old 2006 a new lease on life - I don't think there is a better scanner for monitoring airshows.

Cool setup! Looks like it just returned from IRAQ. :wink:

 

[Xray]

Yeah, enough dust to have been in the desert.
Blew it out with compressed air and wiped it down, the majority still sticks.

 

[n1das]

The Pro-2006 was one of the best scanners manufactured during the Free Radio Listening Era, which ended on April 26, 1994. That was the day when the cell phone frequency censorship fully kicked in to help the cell phone industry continue to perpetuate their commercially serving lies about privacy.

A good mod worth doing is to optimize the amount of hysteresis in the squelch circuit. I think the circuit was designed to have 6dB of hysteresis, which I find to be WAY TOO MUCH for my liking. Like many Uniden scanners, the squelch circuit is cursed with way too much hysteresis. I like little to no hysteresis and no more than about 2 dB, just enough to get rid of the tendency to chatter at the threshold but not get in the way.

The amount of hysteresis feedback in the squelch circuit is governed by a resistor connected between pins 12 and 14 on the MC3357 FM IF chip. This is R148 and is 47k ohms in the old Pro-2004. This resistor is R152 in the Pro-2006 and is 33k ohms. Change this resistor to 100k ohms or 150k ohms, and not more than 220k ohms. You may want to experiment with the value of this resistor to find the amount of hysteresis that you like. From experience I found there is a sweet spot where the circuit has just enough hysteresis to just eliminate all of most of the tendency to chatter at the threshold but won't get in the way of being able to reliable open on a weak signal just above the threshold. Some experimentation may be required. Try changing R153 from 33k ohms to 100k ohms and see how you like it.

https://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_MR_Squelch.html

Have fun and don't listen to anything I wouldn't listen to with that full uncensored frequency coverage in the 800 MHz band.

The squelch hysteresis mod is a mod worth doing. If I come across another Pro-2006, that's the first mod I will do before doing the diode and scan speed mods.

The Pro-2005 was an early version of what became the Pro-2006. After the 2005 was in production, a transformer part from what I recall went end of life and became unavailable, forcing GRE to design in a new part. The particular circuitry involved was redesigned to use a different part and the new design became the 2006. There may have been a few other minor tweaks made along the way but the transformer part going end of life was what forced the design change.

 

[Xray]

Only thing that worries me is losing memory after so many entries.

I take it I should change the 9 volt every 6 months or so and have it plugged in when swapping batteries to avoid memory loss.

 

[Paco-Jerte]

Found a Pro-2005 over the weekend in a garage sale @ Van Nuys and the guy wasn't sure if it powered on or not but its condition was actually good so I bought it for $15.00. Kinda dusty and dirty but nothing seems broken or missing on it. I'll be able to test sometime this week.


I'll post pics too when fully tested.

Ended up selling it. It was working fine. Light was ok but not as bright.
Replaced the display panel, added 12mhz crystal for faster scan/search speed and discriminator tap. Sold quick on craigslist for $150.00 not a bad profit