These were $399.95 when they were sold at Radio Shack. A friend gave me one a few years ago and it was in in very poor condition but I restored it and it looks and it works great now. The scan speed-up and cellular mods had already been done to it (clip 2 diodes), but I installed a receive LED that lights up when a signal is received, which is useful if you have more than one scanner going at one time. I replaced the EL display backlight, which used to be sold on Ebay for only $20 (3 years ago). Indeed there are LOTS of mods available for this scanner and the late Bill Cheek was the master at engineering all kinds of great things it could do.
Have had my Pro-2006 for about 10 years. Bought it used on Ebay but it still looks almost new and sounds great. I listen to it several times a week in my Hamshack. It's hooked to a Discone antenna about 30 feet high on a 2" pole and it almost never shuts up during the day. The police frequencies in my area are very active day and night, as are two meter and 70 cm, airport tower transmissions, etc. It's a keeper.
Still have mine...did the Optoelectronics 456 mod back in the day and had it running off my computer listening to all the cell phone traffic and decoding all the dtmf codes! I miss those days!
Awesome scanner! Base scanners are best compared to handhelds, but using an older base model like this one as a mobile isn't the best being it's rather big, but could work nonetheless. Realistic was one of many of the radio manufacturers that produced excellent transceivers and receivers. An oldie but a goodie you're definitely correct on that. Great video of an iconic radio
Nice video. Very good radio indeed. I bought mine in 1991, to complement my shortwave radio. The thing is i would follow an airplane coming to my hometown on shortwave. the signal would become audible around the middle of the atlantic when it was still under Shandwick control. Then Gander would get control until it came under Montreal centre control. That's where the scanner came into play. I could follow the airplane through to Landing. Works great, Still using today.
Get this 2006 back next week. Really missed it. For me one of the best scanners I have had. Use the h/h unidens a lot and with the realistic provides m with hours of entertainment. Have a realistic 909 too which is another nice radio.
Great Air Band Receiver. This was the scanner I always wanted as a young kid but couldn't afford , Found it one day in my late 20s at a ham fest. 'Instant Purchase!. For 75$ Needed Some of work, But all said and done this blows any other scanner out of the water with receive sensitivity. Today its still hard to find one under 150$
It was sold in Sweden back in the days under the name Handic 0080 and had a slightly different color scheme, but it's the exact same radio, and it was not cell blocked.
I great scanner! I have had many years of fun use. I did a mod and added an external signal meter. Best mod possible! Can't here the police anymore because they use p25 digital encryption in my area.
How do I fix a power failure on the Realistic pro 2006 ? Was always working all of a sudden lost power and will not power up.. any advise appreciated very much.
I have a Pro-2006 that I purchased in 1988. It works wonderfully & so far the screen is still strong and not faded. Can you tell me how to cut the analog cell diode so I can un-block those signals?
If i may say iv got one of the same scanner's comming from e bay very soon and yes I also paid a little more than i would have liked but the i see it it's money well spent and that's all there is to it really
I had two of these years ago.I did the cell mod.I would stay up late at night and turn in drunk drivers.The police asked how I knew that there was drunk driver out dring around and I just told them I heard them on my scanner.I must of turned in 40 or more drunk drivers.Wish I still had one of these.
Bought mine new and the Shack. Sad I've replaced mybacklight twice and may need a 3rd time. They aren't all that bright. I now have a green one that is easier to see, but, they fade fast these day it seems. And my eyes are fading as well, lol . Nonetheless, I can easily rad my SDS200. Love the speed of a non trunk scanner.
There is a MOD available for this scanner for a discriminator tap to feed the unfiltered trunk signals into a computer and decode in DSD to get the audio of the transmission. www.wentztech.com/radio/resources/Equipment-Mods/_Pro-2006-Mods/Realistic-Pro-2006-discriminator-mod.pdf
popular communications ran an article many years ago explaining how to boost the speed by basically swapping crystals with the one used in the Pro 2006.
