Pro-2006

[CrazyJh]

Hi all I just got my first scanner from the Goodwills, LOL but what the heck for $3.00 i can't complain. I have alot of it figured out but I was wondering what the ATT switch, 0db or 10db on the back was for.

Thanks for any info
Jim

 

[SAR923]

Wow, if that 2006 works, you got a heck of a deal for 3 bucks. It was probably the best Radio Shack scanner made in the days before trunking. If you do a search on the web, you'll find many modifications that can be made to this radio.

The ATT switch on the back is for attenuation of signals. Attenuation means you reduce the level of signal strength the radio receives. If you aren't picking up a lot of interference like cross talk between frequencies, leave it set at zero. If you do get a lot of this type of interference, switching it to 10db will reduce the interference but it will also reduce the signal strength of stations you want to receive.

 

[djeplett]

Hi all I just got my first scanner from the Goodwills, LOL but what the heck for $3.00 i can't complain.

:shock:
Must be nice. Guess I'll be making a trip to the local Goodwill soon! :lol:
Think they'll have a BC396T there that someone didn't want? :lol:

Seriously, CrazyJH if that's what you got you got an incredible deal.

 

[CrazyJh]

Hi all Thanks For The Info. I have found lots of mods for it on the internet but no one real said anything about the ATT switch, And yes it does work and picks up great, the back light dont work but I found I can get a new back light for $10 off ebay and a buddy of mine said he will put it in for free and since he works on tv i figured he should be able to do it and one of the legs is gone. I have seen scanners at the goodwill before, usaly the will let you plug them in and try them. I will be picking up all i find now


Thanks Jim

 

[ham612]

Congrats on an incredible deal. I have one that I picked up about 11 years ago and still love it. In my neck of the woods, we haven’t gone digital, and there’s very little trunking going on, so it still serves as my primary scanner. I have heard that the backlight panel replacement can be a headache so fair warning on that one. The scanner modification handbook series (3 volumes) by Bill Cheek has some excellent info on this radio (memory mods, computer interfaces and more).

Have fun, and thanks for the tip on deals at Goodwill.
MS

 

[Terry1810]

...I have heard that the backlight panel replacement can be a headache...

Replacing the backlight is not that difficult to do. The four I've gotten off eBay from three different sellers provided instructions with the new backlight.

Now myself and two friends with these radios have bright displays again.

 

[Eng74]

I got my Pro-2006 back in 1993. It is the "new" one with the light switch. The light is still nice and bright. It is still a good radio but you do get hooked having text tags with the new trunking radios.

 

[W6SDF]

The best radio in its day, and still a Great One today! I'm using two different methods to trunk track with them to this day too!

 

[whooey]

The best radio in its day, and still a Great One today! I'm using two different methods to trunk track with them to this day too!

Well, tell us your two methods, don't leave us hanging!!!

Brandon G.

 

[W6SDF]

Didn't mean to leave ya'll hangin, just didn't think there was much interest in the ol bird!

Method 1, and by far the easiest, is to install an optoscan 456 (or 456 lite) board & use it as your voice scanner with trunker. It's great using trunker to see all the traffic & pick & choose which talk group to listen to. I have a second 2006 serving as the discriminator output (what a waste, I know!) I just wish someone would come up with a "black box" APCO 25 decoder that would allow me to use this setup to hear digital signals.

The second method uses trunker, Pro-Turbo (no longer available or supported I don't think, but I have the demo version if anyone wants it.), and Bill Cheeks CE-232 add on board. It was VERY complicated to set up and was slightly slower to respond than method 1, but at the time there were no trunk trackers or they were just released and very expensive. What a thrill it was to get that configuration up & running at the time! It involved the two programs running simultaneously on one computer, and required 3 comm ports to be properly set up & running.