Realistic Pro 26 Scanner Receiver

I've wanted the Realistic Pro 26 scanner for quite a few years. With a good frequency range [25MHz to 1300MHz no gaps] and some good features, I thought it would be perfect for me. But when I finally got one it quickly lost its appeal. Don't get me wrong, it's a good old school analogue receiver, and I couldn't wait to get my eagle talon hands on it. But there's just too many things about it that I don't like.

 

My hands were going a mile a minute. But then they slowed down.

First off, what I actually like about it

I love the screen when lit up. It has a nice orange amber glow. Scanning is fast [it has hyperscan]. It has a "limit" option, where the user can set the receiver to scan through a certain range over and over again. Takes 4 AA batteries. I much prefer the 4 battery scanners, my GRE 255 takes 6. But it gets a pass because its a great receiver. The Pro 26 has no gaps in the frequency range [that I know of] like so many other scanners do. And, the Pro 26 is smaller than I thought it would be.

What I don't like about the Realistic Pro 26 Scanner

The volume knob

It's like nothing I've experienced before on any other scanner. It needs to be turned almost all the way round to full blast to have any decent volume. My other scanners volume knobs only need to be turned to not even a quarter and they are up quite loud. The Realistic Pro 26 is quite weird in this way. It can pick up normal FM radio stations fairly loud without turning the volume all the way round, but in other frequency areas like Airband, NFM etc, it needs to be turned up almost the whole way.

The Pro 26 on Airband, picking up an airport. It's a looker, but not my cup of tea

The Speaker

Whiles its not terrible by any means, it certainly not great. And no, my Pro 26 does not have a blown speaker. I've seen a few reports of this online. It's completely fine. But it certainly doesn't sound as clear as my other scanners. The sound seems quite suppressed.

The Headphone options

Now I'm not sure if it is just my particular scanner, but the headphone jack on the Pro 26 appears to be mostly MONO. As in, it comes through one ear much more dominant than the other. I think this scanner is mono as standard.

To add insult to injury, the volume seems to stay the same when listening through headphones. That includes any beeping, like button presses and low battery alerts. I did find the way to turn the bleeping off for buttons presses, so at least that's something.

I know its an old scanner, but some of these things have been annoying. There is a bit of a cult following for this receiver, and I can see why in some ways, but I'd rather use the GRE PSR 255, or my old Realistic Pro 70 over this any day of the week. Or, in saying that, maybe even the little Quansheng, too! I see you tomorrow.