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| Reviews Summary for Realistic PRO-2004 |
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Reviews: 12
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Average rating: 4.6/5
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MSRP: $399.95
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Description: Realistic PRO-2004
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Product is in production.
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write your own review of the Realistic PRO-2004.
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G0UOO
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 7, 2010 03:47
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Excellent
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I bought mine in spring 1987. It's used 24/7 and never gets switched off. Currently it's doing good service with AIS and Shipplotter. In over twenty years the only thing that's gone wrong is that the panel illumination failed, but I can live with that.
I did the faster scan mod, and tapped off the discriminator for AIS use.
Good performance, reliable and well built. They really don't make 'em like this anymore!
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WA8EBM
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Rating: 3/5
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Nov 20, 2009 11:37
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If it still works-keep it
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Bought one of the first ones that came out. It worked great for about 3 years. Did all the mods, tapped the IF and fed it into a all mode xcvr and worked great for SSB. Went dead and sent to RS for repair. It turned out to be corroded feed through holes on the double sided circuit board. Happened a 2nd time and went in myself and cleaned/resoldered every feedthrough hole I could find. Worked for a while then crashed again and was never able to revive it.
Loved it while it lasted. RS tech told me the corrosion problem was not isolated just to mine.
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G6GBT
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 19, 2009 20:01
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Gear should be made just like this, but unfortunately it now isn
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Just been given this scanner from an ex ham that's no longer interested in the scene. It's an old but extremely well constructed bit of kit and i love Realistic gear. I've tried it on an external ant' with superb results, while my Alinco dj-x3 and other scanner just overload and simply do not compare. Problem is that the display is relatively dim as it was used regularly and has been in storage for numerous years i believe. I've been told it cost about £300 in the late 80's. Anyone able to assist with info regarding changing the electroluminescent backlight please? Regards.
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SWL377
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 13, 2005 12:02
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GREAT scanner
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This is one FINE scanner. I used it on a commercial fishing boat as a DF rcvr connected to a psuedo doppler ADF setup. The 2004 performed way better than plastic cased scanners which probably got RF leakage into the chassis from all the stuff we had going on the boats. The 2004's major weak point is the display backlight. It wears out. The 2004 had a good front end, didnt get swamped by VHF and UHF pager transmitters which would wipe out reception on some lesser quality scanners. It was a very respectable VHF performer. Could hear weak signals better than some decent marine VHF transceivers. Everyone who owned one seems to have made the cell phone mod. Fairly useless now that most cells are digital. It sure paid off big on one boat though. They nabbed a comm from one boat to another telling about a fantastic school of herring and exactly where it was. They paid for the 2004 many many times over that night.
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W5JLH
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 1, 2004 00:18
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Changed Design
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have had a Realistic PRO-2004 since they came out in 1988. I remember pouring over the catalog and eventually buy the thing on TSP. $400 Bucks to me then was a small fortune, almost 2 mortgage payments... I enjoyed the scanner and eventually did the cell phone mod which worked perfect. After many years, the Backlight Panel went dark, but the radio kept working. I recently (last fall), saw some elctro-luminecent panels for sale in a parts catalog for around $3.99, I bought one and was able to replace it with a bright blue new one. I always hated the sloped panel on the front which made it hard to stack with my other radios, so I decided to change the appearance. I cut out a nice equipment rack panel and dremelled and carfully carved the chassis out of the radio and built it into a rack panel, I then added an s-meter and a COR light, front panel speaker and a mute switch. This thing looks like a RACAL or Watkins Johnson now. Will explore MILSAT SATcom now...LOL! Added some brushed aluminum handles this idea might catch on for scanner manufacturers if they would just make them look like radios...LOL 73's
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AF1952
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 24, 2003 22:44
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An oldie but a goody.
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I purchased my Pro-2004 in 1988 and it has never let me down. As a UK purchaser I was not cursed with the missing cell phone frequencies problem , therefore the only mods required were the extra 100 channels and scan speed. I guess I must be lucky as 16 years later my backlight is still working as new. The only problem I have encounted is the appearance of puncture holes in the membrane key pad , although I suspect this is due to damage caused by a curious house cat. I note however that the membrane conceals fairly robust mini switches so the damage is only aesthetic.
I have purchased three more up-to-date scanners this year which have greater sensitivity than the 2004, but this old teenager still gives a good account of itself. There is no doubt that the 2004 is easy to program and all settings ( mode, steps and delay ) can be changed on the fly at anytime. The modern scanners I have do not allow this and any changes involve going through a complex sequence of knob turning and/or key pushing. My new scanners all program differently and I have to keep referring to the user manuals, however the 2004 is self explanatory and logical to use.
I still use my 2004 every day and would not part with it, how can you get rid of an old faithfull friend ?!!.
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G4IRX
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Rating: 4/5
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Oct 11, 2003 15:37
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A trend setter.
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Bought mine used after selling a PRO2005 in 1990.
Performance in strong signal areas appeared to be much better than the 2005, I suspect due to the metal case.
Mainly used for VHF and UHF airband reception where the weak signal performance seems excellent.
The downside was dry joints on the CPU board, due to poor-quality plated through holes. I stripped the unit and put wire links in these, soldered top & bottom, no problems for 10 years since! Also did the 400ch and speedup mods at the same time.
The user interface is so intuitive compared with other scanners, I have never been to use AOR, Yupiteru without constant reference to the handbooks!
Very good value for money. If it were not for the dry join problem it would rate a 5!
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W3NRL
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 16, 2003 12:41
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best scanner i've owned
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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i had this scanner since they came out and i had others, but since sold them all and keep the 2004. Guys i have heard of the mods for this radio where can i get a copy to mod the memory and s-meter
thanx
w3nrl
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WORLDWIDE390
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 16, 2003 12:22
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Great Unit
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Great unit, easy to mod and has not given me any trouble. Would buy another one if I could find one.
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WA4AOS
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 18, 2003 18:09
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Best Over All..
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I bought a Pro 2004 for my dad some years ago and after his death, the unit was given back to me. I read what I could about the 2004, 2005 and 2006 on the Internet and decided to buy a 2006 and later sell the 2004. Upon receiving the Pro 2006 and inspecting both the 2004 and the 2006 on the bench, I was disappointed with the PRO 2006. Checking the sensitivity on both units, I found the Pro 2004 to be slightly more sensitive than the 2006. The case of the 2006 is cheap plastic and no internal shielding, as one would expect. This allowed computer clock racket to get into the 2006 while the 2004 never broke squelch setting in the same location. The Display is smaller on the 2006 as well as the knobs. I initially thought the keypad on the 2006 might be better than the 2004 but I ended up taking the 2006 apart and cleaning the contacts due to some oxidation that had managed to corrupt the 1 and 2 buttons on the keypad.
In contrast the keypad on the 2004 is a sealed unit that has excellent tactile response and should be immune to problems that the more open 2006 has. I found some 3” Aluminum tape that I was able to cover the inside of the 2006 case with. This allowed the 2006 to operate next to my computer system without racket from the computer getting into the 2006, as was the case initially.
After shielding the 2006 case and rechecking against the 2004, I found both units to be closer in sensitivity in fact they were neck in neck.
Both the 2004 and 2006 are excellent scanners in that they are easy to upgrade and open up. Both have very good sensitivity and good audio. I honestly believe the 2004 to be the better unit with its more professional construction and larger display.
The one problem is that the backlight for the 2004 is no longer available from Tandy, however, it is available for the 2006. I have found a source for a backlight equivalent that is not perfect but is very nice. It just takes a little finesse to change this out. I have already repaired 5 of the 2004’s with new backlights for friends and have given some thought to making a replacement kit available or do this as a service.
The other thing that I have done to all of the 2004’s and 2006’s that have crossed my bench is to remove the resister that allows the display to come on when the dimmer switch is in the low position. This allows the display backlight to either be off or ( on-High ) Obviously, you leave it off when you are not needing to read the display which is most of the time. In ambient light the display is perfectly readable even with the backlight off and not really needed. This should greatly lengthen the display backlight life.
Removing the backlight low level resistor on the 2006 is more challenging unless you are familiar with SMT components. They are very small and a challenge to work with. On the 2004 this is easier to do and can be accomplished in less than an hour.
Other mods for opening up the 2004 and 2006 for additional frequency coverage are well documented and I will not waste more space here going into those mods.
Bottom line. The 2004, 2005 and 2006 are very good receivers. The 2004 is built the way that the 2005 and 2006 should have been. However, with some internal shielding of the 2006, the sensitivity is improved and noise corruption is reduced. I have decided to have 2 Pro 2004’s running as opposed to one fast 2006. I really don’t need 400 memories anyway and with a pair of 2004’s, I always have a spare unit should either one ever need my service. I will be glad to offer help with mods for the 2004, 2005 or 2006 or basic information via email…
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