[Pro2006] What to do!

[Wessuk at aol.com]

HI Bob and thanks for your interesting input. I was one of those guys that  
even though being careful i still managed to crack the LCD display on 2006 
which  absolutely gutted me. Bob would you know of any one that may have an LCD 
display  that would suit my 2006, or maybe a broken scanner that i could use the 
LCD  panel from? I have tried radio shack but they will not ship to me here 
in  England UK. Any help or advise would be warmly appreciated as i so much 
want to  revive my beloved 2006. 
 
Regards to all at QTH
 
Wess....England UK
 
 
 
In a message dated 17/06/2004 14:22:25 GMT Daylight Time,  
bwhiston at baldwinfarm.org writes:

At 21:32  15-06-04, you wrote:
>Hello Laird and other fans of these great Radio  Shack scanners,
>
>1.  I have a couple of Pro-2004s that  don't work, and display some weird 
>symptoms.  When he was alive,  Bill Cheek emailed me that many of the 
>problems were related to bad  soldering on the motherboard.  I got the 
>scanners used, and it  looks like someone has tried some repair or 
>modification of the  radios.

OK...  The PRO-2004s  suffered from a bit more than *just* `poor' 
solder jobs.  They also  have poor through plated holes on the assorted 
circuit boards.  (I've  got a pair of them myself and have `fought with' 
them quite a bit over the  years.  I also finally just through in the towel 
a couple years ago  and basically let both of them `die' and went and dug 
out a pair of 2006s  I had stashed away.  I figured that until I could 
actually get a  *real* `repair bench' back up and running, having children 
and needing  that `spare bedroom' that was originally one's `lab' is *where* 
my `lab'  went, I could `get by' for a while.  {WAN GRIN!})  Anyway...   What 
you will need to be able to do is first get youself both a good  schematic 
*and* board layouts.  Next...  You will have to  *CAREFULLY* go through 
*each* board, starting with the power supply  section then proceding to the 
audio section, and then the digital section,  and finally the RF section, 
*CAREFULLY* wiggling all the wires followed by  all the `wired' components 
noting the results.  Put a marker on those  points where you find a 
problem.  After you've got a board full of  markers the next thing will be 
to carefully touch-up the solder joints on  those points taking care to keep 
from overheating whatever it is you are  resoldering.  This phase will 
probably entail several passes through  before one can be halfway assured 
they have gotten all those bad  spots.  Be especially careful about getting 
*both* sides of each  connection!  (Remember I mentioned problems with 
through plated  holes!)

OK...  Now that you've  pretty much taken care of *most* of the 
`problems' it is time to go after  the next set, `sour traces'.  For these 
this is where having access  to *both* a schematic and board layouts come in 
handy.  The main  places *I* found `sour traces' were between 
interconnection `cables' and  components.  IE: A ribbon cable is attached to 
the board in one place  but it doesn't go directly to the components it 
shows on the schematic and  instead goes to a set of `pads' that then have 
traces that *do* go to the  components.  (One of my 2004s actually has about 
1 & 1/2 dozen  jumper wires with `micro-clips' running from either cable to 
component or  bypassing the cable and going directly from component on one 
board to  component on another board!  Amazingly enough I actually managed 
to  get quite a few years of use out of it this way and the only reason it 
was  `retired' along with it's `mate' was that I was going to use it as an  
example to fix the `mate'. [Just as soon as I could get a `bench' back up.  
{WAN GRIN!}])  Anyway...  I figure that *if* one *takes their  time* and 
*carefully* goes through with just the resoldering and  installing jumpers 
as needed one can get a 2004 pretty much back up and  running in a few 
weeks.  (I say `few weeks' because, as I keep  emphasizing, *careful* is the 
`trick'!  You *have* to check out  *everything* and not just stop when it 
first flickers back to life because  you've gotten the ones that have 
already `gone' and not the ones getting  ready to go.)

After that you can then  address the display backlight problem.  In 
both of mine I didn't  replace the backlights with new EL panels even though 
I could have done so  at the time.  Bill and I had discussed the basic 
problems of the EL  panels and it was decided that I would try to see if 
there might be a way  to use LEDs instead.  I managed to locate some `milk 
white' plastic  that was thin enough to fit where the EL panel was mounted, 
trimmed a  couple pieces to fit with some extra sticking out to provide a 
place to  mount some LEDs, then I carefully *inset* the LEDs into the 
plastic so  that the majority of the light from the LEDs would be difused 
through the  plastic.  (One *has* to be *very* careful about getting the 
original  panel out from behind the readout *and* also careful that the 
plastic is  thin enough to fit back behind because those readouts are 
irreplaceable  and one doesn't want to crack them or in any other way damage 
it!)   My first attempt didn't quite fully illuminate the whole display and 
I had  to eventually carefully glue some thin foil to the backside to 
reflect  back the light that was escaping out the backside.  {GRIN!}  (I  
also tried several different colours of LEDs eventually settling on yellow  
ones because they were the brightest I could find at the time that were  
also small enough.  Today I suppose that one could pretty much choose  most 
any colour since they have made some pretty serious advances in LED  
`tech-no-golly' and one can get some very small and bright ones in just  
about every colour.)  The other `route' that one can also take now is  
replacing the EL panel with another one since EL panel `tech-no-golly'  
these days has also made some decent advances and one can get  `experimenter 
kits' that one can pretty much cut out whatever size one may  need.  Either 
way, just like going through the boards and cables, the  operative `word' is 
*still* *carefully*.  As much as you'd like to  get that `old friend' back 
up and running as quickly as possible it isn't  something to rush.

Having said all  that I've said I think that if one just takes 
one's time and doesn't rush  most anyone can repair and get running their 
2004 *unless* one actually is  one of those very few that are absolute 
`ditzes' when it comes to basic  electronics and soldering.  (If one *is* 
worried about their  soldering abilities there actually are still some DIY 
kits out there that  one can build first to get some soldering experience 
`under their belts'  before attacking something like a 2004!  They, like the 
2004, call  for something around a 25 or so watt soldering iron with a 
fairly `small'  / `fine' tip along with being patient and not 
rushing.)  Personally I  would suggest that one acquire a `soldering 
station' that has the ability  to use assorted different sized tips and use 
the smallest tip possible to  do the job.  In my case I am used to using an 
UNGAR adjustable temp  soldering station but since it's not something that 
one can just go out  and buy any old place I'd recommend that one try and 
find something along  the lines of a WELLER WLC100 soldering station or 
WES51 `Electronic'  soldering station and adjusting either one such that the 
tip you've  selected will easily melt the solder without spattering and 
burning.   (These `stations' can effectively give one an iron that can be as 
`light'  as 10 watts and as `heavy' as approximately 50 watts depending upon 
both  the adjustment and `job' without having to have a whole `collection' 
of  irons!  All one has to do is just pick a tip and and then adjust for  
proper solder melting.)  As for solder...  Again, *personally*,  I use ERSIN 
`Multicore' solder but, any *quality* .040" dia. *rosin* core  solder should 
work.  (It shouldn't take all that much, just a  `smiddgen', solder to fix 
most of the joint problems and *maybe* a tiny  bit more for some of the 
`heavier' joints.)


>2.  I have  some Pro-2006s that have the dim display problem, and need to 
>have the  EL panel replaced.  That is a lot of expense and work to do.  I  
>don't have the time to attempt this repair myself.  I was  wondering if 
>there is a way to use a couple of LEDs to light the  display.

The 2006s shouldn't be any  harder to fix than the 2004s and 
actually could be the first ones you  *might* want to `attack'.  All you 
have to do is remember that  operative word *carefully* when you go in to 
`diddle' with that  backlight.  {GRIN!}  I'd sure hate to hear that you've 
cracked  the readout and are now looking for a replacement because you 
resorted to  `brute force' to free the EL panel from behind the 
display!  (By now  *both* the 2004s and the 2006s `glue' has hardened and 
you *will* have to  pick it away, slowly, piece by piece.)

I'm *not* trying to scare you!  I just want to let you know  that 
it *can* be done but, you *do* have to exercise some reasonable  caution and 
*not* try and `hurry' things along.  Like Bill used to  say...  "Most anyone 
can do this stuff as long as they realize this  *isn't* an old `hotrod' one 
is `cobbling together' out under the old shade  tree in the backyard using 
the `cowboy', if it doesn't go get a bigger  hammer, method."  {VBSE 
GRIN!}  I really wish that I had a bench  back up so that I could try and 
help you by working on mine and talking  you through the steps as we got to 
them!


---
Doleo ergo sum,
Bob  Whiston