The Thrill of using a more Basic Scanner

PACNWDude

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I have a total of 6 of the PRO-2006 scanners (one of them is actually the Commtel COM205 version of the PRO-2006), all in great working condition and most are used daily. They first appeared in the 1991 Radio Shack catalog. I purchased one at that time, and acquired more (new and used) over the years.
Only have one Pro-2006, purchased in 1993, and several other Pro-series (2032's, 2040 that I have on my desk now). Great radios that I still use for monitoring local VHF and UHF analog comms, as well as some flightline and air traffic control users.
 

sprman1955

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Love my PRO 60 and my PRO 2006A still use it every day .Dont use my GRE PSR-500 very much,its not as fun to use.Just finished scanning everthing i could find thats analog i can hear.My list is 503 and counting.Wanted to see just what i could receive at my location ,TN. :) Going to keep searching!
 

N4DJC

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I have a 80XLT I bought in the early 90’s for NASCAR that I still use for monitoring amateur radio repeaters and trains.
 

Omega-TI

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I find my RCA 16S400 picks up analog frequencies better than my SDS100. I also find that when scanning with my 800xlt I hit on more transmissions than the SDS100 that misses them, even when I scanning a limited number of frequencies. Now the SDS100 only has a few P25 channels programmed into it, even then I only get 1/2 of the conversation. So yeah, just because somthing does a lot, it does not mean it does everything well. This is all my opinion. If someone has an issue with that I don't care.
 

scannersnstuff

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I still have a few very basic scanner's. At the bottom of the pile is the highly overloaded ws-1010, which I don't use. In my area, all the public safety is trunked 800.
 

IC-R20

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I get what you mean. I recently got a Whistler WS1010 last year and then the BC125AT earlier this year when the local walmart started stocking them. They don't anymore but the whistler still is there. I also have some older 1990s era radioshack branded handhelds and magmount antennas. I don't know how to put it into words but I get exactly how you mean. I love using them too.
 

scannersnstuff

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I get what you mean. I recently got a Whistler WS1010 last year and then the BC125AT earlier this year when the local walmart started stocking them. They don't anymore but the whistler still is there. I also have some older 1990s era radioshack branded handhelds and magmount antennas. I don't know how to put it into words but I get exactly how you mean. I love using them too.
IC-R20 - I give very high accolades to the bc-125-at, What a great,inexpensive scanner. I wish I never sold mine. Had a GRE psr-500. When I sold it, I wanted a ws-1040 but didn't have the buck's. Settled for the 1010. Among other thing's, it doesn't do mil-air. It suck's at what it does do.
 

6079smithw

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I still use my Pro-97 for air and happily mine and the next county are still analog.
IMG_0008.jpg
Grindin' away on Nevada Shared Radio System (EDACS) and CalTrans Dist. 3 as we speak!
Easier to carry outside than my 536 too. When I was doing linehaul between Reno
and Sacramento I used a BCT-7 to cover CHP and Caltrans along I80 and over Donner
Pass. Excellent 42-45 mHz sensitivity and good on 800 too. Internal speaker was weak but
it would wail when hooked to a Moto external. Still have both.
 
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Falcon9h

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View attachment 131057
Grindin' away on Nevada Shared Radio System (EDACS) and CalTrans Dist. 3 as we speak!
Easier to carry outside than my 536 too. When I was doing linehaul between Reno
and Sacramento I used a BCT-7 to cover CHP and Caltrans along I80 and over Donner
Pass. Excellent 42-45 mHz sensitivity and good on 800 too. Internal speaker was weak but
it would wail when hooked to a Moto external. Still have both.
Sounds like you're a trucker. Respects!
I thought of changing the speaker to see if I could get more mellow sound but never followed through.
 

Falcon9h

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Yep. (Supposedly) retired but still run gigs now and then to show the youngsters how it's done.;)
The Mack COE was just plain noisy so the ext speaker was a must.
And I do like the avatar... good movie!
 

Omega-TI

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I’d also add that in many cases some of the older radios are truly better receivers than some of the newer ones!

Ain't that the truth! My old RCA 16S400 (crystal scanner) which is at least 35-40 years old does better than my SDS100 on analog signals just 30 miles away.
 

StoliRaz

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Reminds me of when I started out in the 90s. No digital, barely any trunking. Tons of UHF and VHF. I remember scanning around looking for cell phone calls to listen into. 😂 those were great days. Isn't as fun today and I live 25+ miles from the city where before I was 9 miles or so out. So, not as much to listen to unfortunately. The big digital industrial trunked systems really sucked the fun out of searching for buses,taxis, oil delivery trucks, etc. Now we're just grateful for what isn't encrypted 🙄
 

Ubbe

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Ain't that the truth! My old RCA 16S400 (crystal scanner) which is at least 35-40 years old does better than my SDS100 on analog signals just 30 miles away.
One of the things that are different in modern synthesizer scanners are that the PLL that are used are constantly tuning the frequency one step up and one step down that will frequency modulate the oscillator signal, and the whole chain to the demodulator, with white noise and creates a constant background hiss independent of how high signal level you are receiving. You always have that hiss when monitoring analog signals.

A crystal scanner are dead silent when the signal are high enough and will be e relief for your ears if you still can use one to monitor some frequencies.

Some 2-way commercial radios have an opto coupler connecting an additional big capacitor to the steering voltage from the PLL to filter out that FM noise but disconnects the capacitor when scanning to still be able to have a fairly high scan rate. I've never seen a scanner schematic that use that solution, but it becomes less important now when monitoring todays digital systems. But usually if a scanner has a slow scan rate it will indicate a good filtering of the PLL signal and will have less noise added to the audio.

/Ubbe
 

dave3825

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I still have a few very basic scanner's. At the bottom of the pile is the highly overloaded ws-1010,
I have something a lot less basic than that.

View attachment 131145


 

Scan125

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Some 2-way commercial radios have an opto coupler connecting an additional big capacitor to the steering voltage from the PLL to filter out that FM noise but disconnects the capacitor when scanning to still be able to have a fairly high scan rate. I've never seen a scanner schematic that use that solution, but it becomes less important now when monitoring todays digital systems. But usually if a scanner has a slow scan rate it will indicate a good filtering of the PLL signal and will have less noise added to the audio.

/Ubbe
This could explain why my commercial certified Yaesu FTA250 Airband Transceiver has such a *very slow* scan rate. Clearly for commercial aircraft use noise has to be kept to a minimum for the sake of all parties.

Thanks for the pointer/suggestion.
 
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