Buyer Beware - Pro-2055

The Pro-2055 is a good all around analog trunking scanner. It covers all of the popular public safety bands, ham bands, air band and even MilAir. It is a triple trunking analog scanner with a host of features. However there is one flaw. The LCD will go out unexpectedly forcing you to send it back to Radio Shack for the repairs.

The Pro-2055 scanner is made by a company called GRE (General Research of Electronics, Inc.) They make some of the best scanners out there; Pro-96/2096, Pro-95, Pro-97 and many others. Typically they never have any problems, except for the Pro-2055 model.

The Pro-2055 is the base/mobile model of the Pro-97. There have not been any reported (continuous) problems with the Pro-97 that I am aware of. I own 2 Pro-97's and have not had 1 minutes trouble. I was thinking of trading one for a mobile like the Pro-2055, but I just can't do it with the LCD problem. This is a bad mark on GRE as far as I am concerned. They should issue a statement and recall those whose LCDs go out. Date codes that seem to be mostly affected are 06A05 and 09A05. Although some 01A06, 03A06 and 04A06 have reported the LCD failing.

At least when Uniden's BCD396T had the silk screen print problem, they stepped up to the plate and issued a statement and recalled the product to be fixed free of charge which included shipping. NOTE: The BCD396T print issue only affected the first production run units. New units shipping after that are not affected!

GRE makes a good scanner in the Pro-2055, but I don't think I would ever buy another. I owned one about a year ago, but sold it in fear of this problem. I only owned it for about 2 months. I never had any trouble with the one I had, but I didn't want to go through the hassle.

GRE, shame on you! An obviously defective product should be recalled. You [the customer] shouldn't be charged for fixing the defective parts, no matter how long you own it since it is known that this is a defective product. As of this date they are charging $49 plus tax to repair the faulty LCD if you are outside your warranty (1 year warranty). There is a growing list on RadioReference.com who have had the LCD problem on the Pro-2055. How many others out there have bought a Pro-2055 and had this LCD go out that are not RR.com members? Thousands, I'm sure.

I think the way GRE/Radio Shack is handling this gives them a black eye. At least to me it does. I am not naive enough to think that electronics can't have problems. I am just saying that when they do, in this capacity, they should be addressed properly. GRE (RadioShack) has not admitted they have a problem, nor will they. They want to sell you the product, then have you pay for the repair. Obviously that is what they want, they are proving it over and over again.

I would be very cautious of buying a Pro-2055 scanner at this point. Spend a few more dollars and get a BCT15 or similar GRE model. Good Luck

800 MHz Rebanding

Ahhhh, rebanding. What's all the fuss about? Put simply for scanner users it could be a headache for some. Keep in mind that rebanding will only affect Motorola 800 MHz trunking systems. Other systems (LTR, EDACS, etc) in the 800 band will only need to have the new frequencies programmed into your scanner.

Very few trunk tracking scanners will work properly after rebanding occurs on the system(s) you are monitoring. Why? Trunk tracking scanners use factory programmed tables to decode the trunking data. After rebanding, these tables will change on the control channel of the system you are monitoring. Your scanner will still be trying to use the old tables to decode the trunking data while the rebanded system will use a new set of tables. This will cause your scanner to miss the trunking data and not decode the traffic.

What can you do about this? Not much if you don't own a newer scanner capable of being updated. Newer scanners have the ability for users to apply firmware (or software) updates to fix minor bugs, adjust settings, etc. The manufacturer issues these updates and the user can add them to the scanner using a PC.

What scanners are said to survive after rebanding? Lets take them 1 model at a time. Newer Uniden scanners will likely be able to be upgraded by a user applied firmware update. This update will adjust the trunking tables to work properly on Motorola Systems. Following are a list of Uniden Scanners that are expected to survive the rebanding process:

Uniden

*BCT8
*BCT15
*BC246T
*BR330T
*BC898T
*BC296T
*BC796T
*BCD396T
*BCD996T

See Uniden's Statement on Rebanding If you own an older Uniden, not on the list above, it will not work if your local Motorola 800 MHz system rebands.

The second scanner make we are discussing are the Radio Shack brand scanners. Most of the Radio Shack trunking scanners will not work on Moto 800 MHz systems after rebanding, including the popular Pro-97 and Pro-2055 scanners. What Radio Shack scanners are said to survive? See below:

Radio Shack

*Pro-96
*Pro-2096
*Pro-528
*Pro-433
*Pro-92 (original version only)

Radio Shack's Official Response to Rebanding.

The Pro-96 and Pro-2096 scanners have the ability to have their tables manually adjusted by the user via Win96 software. This is said to keep them working after rebanding occurs. The Pro-433 and Pro-528 will likely have a user applied firmware update issued by Radio Shack. The Pro-92 (original version only) will likely not need any updating, as it does not use trunking tables to decode the Motorola 800 MHz systems. Versions Pro-92A and Pro-92B however will not work on Moto 800 MHz systems that reband.

All other scanners not listed will likely not work on trunking systems after rebanding. All scanners will work just fine on all systems; LTR, EDACS, Conventional frequencies, etc. The only systems affected by rebanding are Motorola systems.

800 MHz Rebanding simply means that frequenices in a given range are currently being used for both Public Safety and Cellular use. This is said to be causing a significant amount of interference on public safety radios from cellular frequencies. The FCC and Nextel (Sprint Nextel now) are rebanding the 800 MHz band to separate public safety and cellular. For more information see the official 800 MHz Reconfiguration Website. To get a better idea of how 800 MHz Rebanding will look inthe 800 MHz spectrum, see the illustration below:



For more information see the following resources: Reconfiguration Quick Reference Guide, The Expansion Band Brochure, or the Official Reconfiguration Reference Guide 2.0.

Keep in mind that rebanding will only affect Motorola 800 MHz trunking systems, as far as your scanner properly working is concerned. Other systems (LTR, EDACS, etc) in the 800 band will likely have their frequencies moved, requiring you only to program new frequencies into your scanner, but trunking will continue to work on these systems.

The rebanding process won't happen overnight. It has been delayed several times up to this point. No one seems to know exactly when systems will begin rebanding. It could be months, a year, or more before this affects numerous scanner hobbyist. Until then, enjoy your older scanners and start looking to upgrade to newer ones if necessary!

Matt Outlaw
aka safetyobc

Welcome

Welcome to the iScanner blog. Here at iScanner we will be posting tips, tricks, suggestions, reviews and other information for radio scanners. Also new and upcoming scanners will be featured here. Thanks for stopping by, and please feel free to post your comments.

Thanks,

iScanner