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Reviews For: Realistic PRO-2006 (the famous)-Bill Cheek Favorite!

Category: Receivers: Scanners

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Review Summary For : Realistic PRO-2006 (the famous)-Bill Cheek Favorite!
Reviews: 22MSRP: 400
Description:
Super. I believe it is what they call a "GRE" scanner from Japan. Highly modifiable. Highly regarded by all scanner gurus and BILL CHEEK (God Bless). Without a doubt, the worlds most popular scanner of all time. Great sensitivity and selectivity. Japanese quality throughout. Easy full 800 Mhz. Hyperscan. Many aftermarket accessories for trunking, etc. Hard to go wrong on this one. Tandy did'nt make enough of 'em! A classic!
Product is not in production
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# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00224.9
TOMMYT Rating: 2005-01-31
Classic Scanner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This scanner is the overall best desktop scanner I ever owned. It does just about everything you can want from a scanner. I have owned one for over 4 years and have enjoyed it greatly. While it is a bit old now as compared to other scanners, it will always have an honored place on my table.
KJ6QB Rating: 2003-06-26
The Best Scanner! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
What can I say. The product speaks for itself. This truly is the BEST conventional scanner I have ever owned. In fact I have owned two of them. I purchased the latest one brand new in 1991 and have never had any problems whatsoever with it. Very good receiver sensitivity, and all the "Bells and Whistles" one could want.
WA4AOS Rating: 2003-01-18
Great, but could have been better! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I just wrote my review of the Pro 2004 and I had about as much to say about the 2006 as the 2004. Having said that, I have duplicated my review of the 2004 below. The major advantage of the 2006 is the faster scan rate and that should be of interest to some folks. However, the pluses inherent in the 2004 may offset the minuses of the 2006. In any case both are excellent units and with a little work either can be improved considerably.

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…
KC9AXZ Rating: 2002-11-11
Awesome Scanner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I owned one for over 10 years. Definately suggest this scanner. I unfourtinately had to sell mine a few months ago. If you have a chance to get a 2006 don't let it pass by.
DT593 Rating: 2002-10-14
Got My Moneys worth 100 Times Over Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Have had mine for about 10 years. Have done the 6400 ch. mod as well as most other mods. Radio is my "Benchmark" when comparing radios for articles in scanner related market.
I was in the middle of working with Bill Cheek with a better Illumination method..Bill died before I could send him instructions on how I replaced the Florecent Backlight with something more acceptable.
The good points of this receiver are.
1. Great Ears
2. Ease of Modifications
3. Price for what you get
4. The thing Is like the Energizer Rabbit..keeps going...and going..

The Not So Great Features:
1. Case Cheaply made (Plastic screw holding tabs on case broke first time disassembed)
2. 110v Power supply Runs HOT..got around this by always running it with a decent 12v power supply.
3. Adjcent frequency interference common on VHF hi band.

All in all has been running WELL 24 hrs a day for 10 years without any problems.
KE4RWS Rating: 2002-04-10
Absolutely Top-Notch! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The late Bill cheek was highly instrumental in me trying out this great scanner/receiver. It truly was everything he said it was and then some! I poured over everything Bill wrote about this product, not knowing at the time it would one day be succeeded by inferior receivers (within the same price range).

It's too bad Radio Shack got such cold feet and started cutting everything in their inventory which could be "easily modified". This obviously turned a lot of people away from thier line of scanners.

The PRO-2006 is an easy-to-use scanner with great features, and few short-comings (like maybe a VFO). With that only exception it still ranks at the top of the list of available scanners today!

GRE of Japan truly made a great product with the advent of the 2004,2005,2006 line. Oh well, nothing lasts forever . . .

This product is always a great buy when you can find them at a decent price.
KC2IGY Rating: 2001-11-13
Still the best at what it can do. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
If only GRE could produce a scanner with all of today's features, that could perform as well as the old 2006. The radio is a legend. Not much else to say.
KB9IV Rating: 2001-11-10
King Of The Hill Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
A spectacular scanner. Easily upgradeable, clean, fast scan (40 Ch/sec), can be
found readily.
Mine had the Backlight gone dim, so I replaced the Backlight......Now it's
bright. I wouldn't recommnd replacement for anyone, not easy. Display
Backlights are $30 via RS. Not a plug in proposition.
Really a enjoyable scanner, get a manual a must!!
W1EMJ Rating: 2001-05-06
The Very Best!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Scanners do not come any better than this!
Hate the plastic case tho!!!
GW1253 Rating: 2001-04-06
Brilliant Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The best scanner ever made. absolute perfection
The Rolls Royce of the scanner world.