Pro-2022, BC590XLT, Pro-95
Pro-2006, Pro-2035
Saturday, April 3, 2010
New setup
Instead of working in the garden as I should on this beautiful spring day, I decided to reorganize my radio shack. Here's a picture of the new layout of the scanners:
Friday, April 2, 2010
CE-232 runs in DOSBOX
Thanks to KC2RGW for this great tip on running older radio control software on newer machines. An Open Source program called DOSBOX runs an emulator under Windows XP and simulates a DOS machine running at 286/386/486 speeds - just what the CE-232 interface wants to see. No more crashes and hiccups because the computer is too fast, and best of all I can use the computer for all the other normal tasks because DOSBOX only uses 10-15% of the CPU. It was up and running within minutes of download.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
EDA-UG2402 Drop Amp put into service
I initially used a passive 4-way MCL splitter to feed the Pro-2006, Pro-2022, Pro-2035 and BC590XL scanners, but it's only designed to work up to 400 MHz. Many people on the RadioReference.com scanner forums recommended the EDA-UG2402 drop amp for scanner use, and it's rated up to 1 GHz. So, a quick eBay purchase later I have one in service...
I cannot detect any problems with it; the aircraft band frequencies I've been monitoring this week appear to be as strong on the UG2402 as with the MCL.Very happy with it especially since it only cost $8.
I cannot detect any problems with it; the aircraft band frequencies I've been monitoring this week appear to be as strong on the UG2402 as with the MCL.Very happy with it especially since it only cost $8.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
CE-232 Programming
Thanks to another kind soul (and fellow ham), I was able to secure a copy of the developer's toolkit for the HE-232 (precursor to the CE-232) including sample Basic code. Whoo-hoo! Programming can commence!
The demo code that comes with the developers toolkit is written for QBasic, which used to come with every DOS and Windows computer. Alas, Micro$oft stopped shipping it with WinXP. But the folks over at the QB64 project http://www.qbasic.com/ make an updated version that appears to work just as I remember QuickBasic working all those many years ago. QB64 even created a compiled version of the code that will run as a standalone .exe under the WinXP command prompt. Back in the day, you'd have to pay M$ the big $$$ to buy a stand-alone compiler.
I took a quick look at the programming guide, and it's obvious this won't be a simple task to create software for the CE-232. I'll have to spend some time mapping out the program flow to learn exactly how this works. But it looks doable.
The demo code that comes with the developers toolkit is written for QBasic, which used to come with every DOS and Windows computer. Alas, Micro$oft stopped shipping it with WinXP. But the folks over at the QB64 project http://www.qbasic.com/ make an updated version that appears to work just as I remember QuickBasic working all those many years ago. QB64 even created a compiled version of the code that will run as a standalone .exe under the WinXP command prompt. Back in the day, you'd have to pay M$ the big $$$ to buy a stand-alone compiler.
I took a quick look at the programming guide, and it's obvious this won't be a simple task to create software for the CE-232. I'll have to spend some time mapping out the program flow to learn exactly how this works. But it looks doable.
Pro-2006 in action
Pro-2006 is at the bottom of the stack of scanners, fed from a RadioShack attic-mounted scanner antenna through the MCL ZSC 4-1B splitter. Also pictured: BC590XLT (top), Pro-2035 (right) and Pro-2022 (middle).
MCL ZSC 4-1B splitter:
:
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Pro-2006 links on the web
One of the first things I did after getting the Pro-2006 was to search Google for resources on the web. Surprisingly, there weren't as many as I had remembered seeing in years past. I imagine that, as this receiver ages, there are few web pages kept up-to-date. Many seems to be dead links or no longer exist. But there are a few good ones left:
http://members.cox.net/miked2000/2006.htm
http://monitoringpost.com/
eham reviews: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/861
I was especially interested in software that would work with the CE-232 serial interface. Sadly, many of the people who created software for the scanner are no longer providing it. One was Redshift (this links to a Wayback archive): http://web.archive.org/web/20010123114400/http://steaksandwich.com/
There is one package, Pro-Turbo, that still appears to be in existence (although the web page hasn't been updated in 7 years): http://www3.sympatico.ca/len.c/
One kind soul still had a copy posted of Bill Cheek's original DOS program CE232 (also called HB232) that accompanied the CE-232 board: http://gbppr.dyndns.org/#19
http://members.cox.net/miked2000/2006.htm
http://monitoringpost.com/
eham reviews: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/861
I was especially interested in software that would work with the CE-232 serial interface. Sadly, many of the people who created software for the scanner are no longer providing it. One was Redshift (this links to a Wayback archive): http://web.archive.org/web/20010123114400/http://steaksandwich.com/
There is one package, Pro-Turbo, that still appears to be in existence (although the web page hasn't been updated in 7 years): http://www3.sympatico.ca/len.c/
One kind soul still had a copy posted of Bill Cheek's original DOS program CE232 (also called HB232) that accompanied the CE-232 board: http://gbppr.dyndns.org/#19
Welcome to my Pro-2006 blog!
I've been a scanner enthusiast for the past 35 years, but never owned the "ultimate scanner", a Pro-2006. Even though it's nearly 20 years old, I think it's still one of the most impressive scanning receivers ever produced. I finally succumbed and picked up a nice model this week that has the Commtronics CE-232 computer interface board installed. The scanner also has several other modifications installed (but I don't yet know what they are), so I thought I'd start this blog to keep track of my experiences with this classic (but new to me) radio.
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