PRO-2006 mods

[Have_Teeth]

Ok, I'm pretty sure I can figure this out without letting all the blue smoke out. I just have a couple of questions on your implementation - it looks like you soldered a capacitor to the cathode of diode D-33 and then ran a wire up near the rear of the case where you completed the circuit and shrink tubed it, is that right?

Yes. I used RG-174 coax (very thin) for the discriminator and for the s-meter output. The shielding on RG-174 is excellent. You don't want to put noise into either of these taps.

Also, what point did you select for your ground, are you grounding to the chassis at the jack in the rear panel?

I soldered to the side of a can, which was grounded. I think I also created my own ground point (scratch away at some of coating on the PC board) and tapped there.

Using shielded wire is extremely important.

----

I don't use the internal PS; it's just there. Haven't bothered removing it. If and when I do, the hole from the AC power cord will be used for an IF output.

 

[leftover]

I have been moding my PRO-2006 scanners ever since Bill Cheek published his first book. I blew up the CPU on one trying to upgrade the 6400 channel mode. I forgot to unplug it before I started to resolder a wire. I saved that one for spair parts. I was real proud of the HB-232 interface. That was also my introduction to computers. I still have the Radio Shack "Sensation" , 486 25 MHz cpu with a built in sound-card an CD-R. Very hi-tech at the time.

 

[Have_Teeth]

What I find amazing, is how much "scanner" we got for $399US ($529CAN list price) back in the day.

Take a look at what we get now for $279US (RS sale price) ($549US GRE prices) and people still whine that things aren't good enough for the money we pay

I've been doing a lot of whining about Uniden products lately, but only because certain features don't work as advertised. Overall, manufacturers have made TONS of progress since 1993.

 

[frankh]

ScanStar and ScanCat (two of the three links mentioned on Opto's website) don't appear to even sell/promote software for the OS456Lite board any longer. I guess Opto hasn't updated their site in a while.

The only software, to use with an optoboard http://www.datafileinc.com/ . The lite version of the 456, doesn't support tone decoding or an s meter.

 

[Have_Teeth]

The only software, to use with an optoboard http://www.datafileinc.com/ . The lite version of the 456, doesn't support tone decoding or an s meter.

What the hell? No tone decoding or RSSI output? I wish Optoscan all the best in clearing out their remaining inventory. What were they thinking? Maybe they're former Uniden employees.

 

[leftover]

What the hell? No tone decoding or RSSI output? I wish Optoscan all the best in clearing out their remaining inventory. What were they thinking? Maybe they're former Uniden employees.

The story behind the OptscanLite is that one of their suppliers stopped manufacturing the component that was needed for tone decoding and RSSI. Instead of discontinuing this popular board, they just made a "Lite" version. The original version is very disirable, found sometimes on Ebay.
I wonder if there is a "hack" that would upgrade the "Lite" version? I have both boards installed and have retired the "Lite" 2006 to the closet shelf for now.

 

[raisindot]

Really? $100 more then what you paid for it? How long ago? I just bought one off eBay for $100!

Around three years ago. There was a short spell when, for some reason or another, demand for 2006s was extremely hot on Ebay. Naturally, that seemed like a good time to sell...

Suzie

 

[PHOENIX_SCANNER]

I regret selling mine don't really know why I did the 6400 channel mod to it as, I live in a small town and would never, need that many Lol! I also did lots of the other mods including getting rid of the PS tranny and building an external supply to reduce the heat inside the case for prolonged life. I bet I wind up looking for another one yet Lol!

I would venture to bet that most people paying $100 a pop on ebay for a 2006 are either previous or current owners, who know what this thing really is.

The Chinese have still not quite matched the Japanese scanner electronics of the early 90's Radio Shack scanners, especially this one.

There is a certain feel with this scanner, the squelch, the audio, the sensitivity, the selectivity, it just FEELS like a million bucks, like a top notch commercial unit.

 

[beejay]

hey guys,
I agree that the two RS -2005's that I have owned and modded since the 80's are very good scanners!
At 79 1/2 years old and been playing the scanner game since the 60's,I think I can speak with some authority to some of you kids ! Of course I'm presently trying to conquer my GRE-600 after mastering
my 780xt ! I'm down to only 9 scanners ( subject to change at any time ) !
The only problem I have had is how to keep the 2005's from interfering with each other when sitting side by side ( I tried insulating the cases and putting rf chokes on the power lines but never
got that problem solved ) !
Thanks for listening to an ole' boy ramble, AND HAPPY SCANNING !!

BEEJAY

 

[FrankJ]

I've always wondered how the PRO-2006 compared to a true "commercial grade" receiver as far as sensitivity, selectivity, and dynamic range. Anybody ever done any comparisons and to which receivers? I know the ICOM R-7000 was it's competition back in the early 90's.........

 

[N1SQB]

Lovin My 2006!

I have to admit, I am still in love with my 2006. I love the "hack-ability" of this radio. Mine has the Opto-lite board installed. I have also done the analog signal / center tune mods. I have an on / off switch installed where the headphone jack used to be, for the key beep. I will be posting pictures of the interior of the radio. For those of you who are still interested in one or have one with a dimmer, listen up. Mine has the dimmer switch. The only difference between that kind and the newer one with the on / off switch is a resistor. If you are comfortable with working on the inside of your radio and have decent DE-soldering skills, it is as easy as clipping a particular resistor and the dimmer switch is converted to an on /off switch. It is NOT hard to do and it works. So dont deny yourself a good used 2006 just because it has a dimmer switch. I will be glad to help anyone do this. Stay tuned.......

Manny

 

[AZMullins]

Another proud PRO-2006 owner sounds off...

I still have 2 of these that I purchased brand new back in the 1990's. Paid around $400 for each of them and did the full-freq range (cell) restore and faster scan mods to both of them. As I recall, it simply involved snipping two diode leads that were right next to each other to enable both mods! Very "mod-friendly" receivers. I also installed the full-blown Optoelectronics OS456 board in one of them, which I used with my state-of-the-art homemade Pentium III computer running Probe v7 software. I connected them to a Scantenna mounted about 30 feet above ground, fed with Belden 9913 coax. The Probe software could access the computer's CD-ROM which had a copy of the Percon frequency database in it, and would show me real-time on the computer monitor just who I was listening to at the time. I was able to set my latitude and longitude in the software, and the program's display indicated the distance between my location and the transmitter site of the station that I was listening to. It was quite remarkable at the time! I loved being able to leave my setup running 24/7 while I was at work or sleeping, then being able to reference how many hits each programmed frequency had achieved. Made it real easy to determine which freqs were active over the long haul.

Both of those PRO-2006 units are still in like-new condition. They've been sitting in a box for the last few years, since I got away from the hobby for a number of reasons. But I've got the bug again and I'll be purchasing a new digital trunking scanner soon. I was thinking of selling the PRO-2006 units to help offset the cost of a new scanner, but I just can't bear to let them go at the prices that they fetch nowadays. They certainly were (and are) remarkable devices, especially with some user-added "enhancements".