Pro-2006 and OptoScan OS456 issues

[N8YX]

I know a couple forum users have OS-456 equipped Pro-2006s, so I'm throwing the following out to them and anyone else who owns one:

Does yours randomly lose its mind when under computer control?

I have four 2006 scanners in total. Two are equipped with OS-456 Full boards, and the other two will eventually receive OS-456 Lite boards (which I also have). The two Full units exhibit the same behavior when run under Spectrum Commander IX. After a while the radios appear to be unresponsive. Putting the program into manual control then issuing a frequency change command results in nothing, but no errors returned either. I use our local NOAA WX frequencies as a test. Zip, zero, nada. The only way to get the unit receiving again is to power-cycle it.

Different COM port settings have been tried with the same results. This hardware and software has supported PCR-1000, Pro-2035/OS-535 and Optocom receivers without issue so it appears to be something unique to the OS-456.

Also have Probev7 and Probe1k in a FreeDOS 1.2 VM. Next step is to fire it up, build a small scan list and see if the problem repeats itself.

Feedback welcomed.

 

[PACNWDude]

I have the newer Pro-2042 scanner with an OS-535 board, and as it has aged it seems to need to be power cycled at times as well. It also sometimes gets stuck in "Remote" mode, computer control only, where the scanner does not show anything on the LCD display, with only the yellow backlight being on.

I now use SDR USB receivers, I like the waterfall display when used with SDR# for example. So the Pro-2042 gets set aside more now as it is acting flakey, more so than when it was new. Need to take the board out and see if there is something obviously wrong with it (aging capacitor or some other component).

 

[N8YX]

Some additional testing and feedback. FWIW:

Spun up the FreeDOS/ProbeV7 VM and built a frequency file for the area railroads. Set the parameters for the attached OS-456 and let it scan.

Managed to reproduce the problem. Next, I reconfigured the VM's serial devices so it used the host's COM1 instead of the 4-port unit (COM5-8) which was in use prior. Same results.

Noticed an occasional pop-up about the settling time being too low (default: 18 msec) so I began adjusting this parameter. A value of 50 msec results in a nice, stable scanner. This may be an overall limitation of the scanner, or as the post above indicates an aged component. All of the 2006s are due their day on my test bench for backlight replacements and general maintenance so I may re-cap their power supplies and the OptoScan boards while I have them apart. I'm curious about what the odds are of two behaving the same way, though.

My other Opto receivers have been rock solid with default settings of both SC-IX and Probe. I don't see a way to change the settling time in Spectrum Commander (maybe per channel via Dwell?) so I'll probably end up running the OS-456 equipped scanners with Probe. Won't need to scan huge swaths of spectrum or massive frequency lists - I'll let the Optocoms do that heavy lifting. FRS, MURS, GMRS, VHF Marine and similar analog VHF/UHF services with relatively low channel counts would work fine with these.

Need to dig out my 2035/OS-535 and swap the 2006 out. The system I'm replying to this thread with is the scanner control development system of sorts - the other analog unit connected to it is a PCR-1000. Opto/ProbeV7 data files are the same between models so I can free up the 2006 for use in the main area.

 

[PACNWDude]

Wow, PCR-1000, somewhere I have one of those that was set up to use a Palm devices as its display and control unit. As for the OS boards, good luck, and let me know if you find some aging capacitors, I am not sure when I will have time to check my OS-535 in the Pro-2042......but suspect it being old and worn, it had a lot of use for a long time (as well as my Pro-2006/2032 scanners, some of those could use new backlights too).