GRE US Personnel Attempt Restart of GRE Business

[MattSR]

Originally Posted by slicerwizard

Codec licensing should be the easiest task - what business reason would DVSI have to refuse licensing?

Exactly right Wayne, selling codecs is DVSI's bread and butter - its their primary source of revenue.

[Unitrunker]

Originally Posted by DonS

Potential "impediments" to using the AMBE-20x0 parts from DVSI: board space, power consumption, available pins on other (interfacing) parts, having to maintain inventory on yet another piece of hardware, possible higher cost per unit sold, not necessarily the same vocoder implemenation as the various DVSI IMBE/AMBE libraries, etc.

They seem to render their own chips obsolete every few years forcing new board layouts and firmware changes each time.

While the AMBE patents will be with us for a while, the original IMBE patents are fast approaching the end of their 20 year term. The original P25 CAI is from 1996. In a few years, you might see Phase I become standard on low end trunking scanners like the 310/410 while TDMA models can be had at a premium. Anyone up for a shiny new PSR510/610?

[troymail]

Originally Posted by Unitrunker

They seem to render their own chips obsolete every few years forcing new board layouts and firmware changes each time.

While the AMBE patents will be with us for a while, the original IMBE patents are fast approaching the end of their 20 year term. The original P25 CAI is from 1996. In a few years, you might see Phase I become standard on low end trunking scanners like the 310/410 while TDMA models can be had at a premium. Anyone up for a shiny new PSR510/610?

In the mean time, Phase 2 starts rolling out all over (maybe).... As always, time will tell.

[lep]

I repeat an observation I have offered in another thread. Any protocol which is an "approved ITU Standard" is required by terms of the approval to be able to be licensed on "normal commercial terms". There are a few protocols where the IP owner does NOT want to submit to that requirement and does not seek to have the imprimatur of the ITU for that reason. As a general rule an approval as an ITU Standard is very important for international sales in smaller nations but is of no particular importance in the USA unless required by a govermental contract. It is the owner of the "copyright" that determines whether or not the 'chips' are available to the public, not the chip maker. [now we are Really off topic!]

[N1SQB]

It really is sad to hear that GRE as it exists now, is or will be, no longer. Lindsay is right,since the early days of the Pro-2006, which was one of their best scanners, GRE has been around. I still have mine and in mint shape listening to Milair. Now, as far as the future, I believe we have to keep an open mind. Let's not shoot down the GRE-America folks who are at least trying to do something to restart things even if under a different name. Nothing says they HAVE to try anything. They could just simply sit back, go with the flow and let things take their course. I strongly suggest to everyone on here to take a wait-and-see attitude towards this. Hope for the best but prepare for the worse. Jumping and bashing each other on here over something none of us have any control of is just ridiculous. I understand this could not have come at a worse time with the holidays coming up and all. It cannot be easy on GRE's side either to have to do this. Shutting down a decades old business due to monetary issues is horrible, but a definite sign of the times. Let's keep our fingers crossed and give those folks trying to reorganize, revive, or restart the business a chance! Just a thought people!

Manny

[mke65]

I say combine AOR with GRE to make a scanner which is a great DC to Daylight scanner with Digital Trunking capabilities.

Why this has not happened yet is a mystery to me.

[garys]

Originally Posted by mke65

I say combine AOR with GRE to make a scanner which is a great DC to Daylight scanner with Digital Trunking capabilities.

Why this has not happened yet is a mystery to me.

A guess would be that the companies had no interest in making it happen. Scanners are niche market, a scanner as you describe is probably a niche within in a niche. There are probably more people interested in lower end scanners than there are in high end scanners.

[BigEvil]

while I'm looking forward to hearing more official information regarding GREs shutdown I do think everyone is overlooking the good news here.

A couple of potential positive things that could come from this

1) GRE US takes over manufacturing and development of their scanner line: that is great all around, a domestically owned/operated scanner company, bravo... They would likely be able to cater to the us market needs faster/quicker than before and US consumers might see slightly more influence on the products. (D-Star is a perfect example of trickle down marketing/products from Japan that the US based customers would greatly appreciate having more influence/feedback on).

2) A investor, consortium of money, or company buys up their assets and continues on where GRE left off: This keeps competition in the marketplace, the known GRE support, warranty, and further development of the GRE products. The consumer would likely see little impact other than a delayed product cycle until the deal closes. Other than jobs lost there is no real downside here that is felt by us.

3) Their assets are liquidated and sold off to a number of different companies, investors etc... ; While this would be sad for the nostalgic fans of the traditional GRE brand, this is actually potentially the most positive outcome for the hobby itself. Patents, technology, and other development that GRE has created over the past few decades might find itself in better hands than it was previously in. It seems somewhat clear now GRE Japan did not have a effective business model for the development and marketing of their products and I think their technology might be better utilized under different management. The sky is the limit on what a move like that could translate to in terms of consumer scanner products but I think sometimes letting others get a chance to take those assets and run with them can be ultimately much better for the end user (on the other hand likely not so good for GRE Japan corporate bond holders....)

4) Last but not least, no one wants their company, the US operations can't raise funding to carry the torch, and the remaining inventory is simply blown out and liquidated. While sad for GRE, this is great for customers who will likely be buying their favorite GRE scanners at a significant discount in the coming months.

Just a perspective I think we haven't been appreciating during this, I don't see any negative here.

[BigEvil]

Originally Posted by SquierStrat

Awesome!! So not only are the live feeds causing agencies to move towards CADs, encryption, and cell phones, they're also causing scanner companies to suffer because people dont really "need" their products anymore

Live Feeds, What a great idea!!

While my previous postings have indicated that I do think the hobby overall is on a downslope I don't think you can blame live feeds for a manufacturers demise. Live Stream and Mobile App users are a different consumer base than that who wants needs a dedicated scanner. When you see 300-400 listeners on a feed )(like LAPD Citywide etc...) I don't think thats 400 former scanner customers and instead is 400 listeners who wouldn't have ever been there in the first place had it not been for mobile apps and the web infrastructure that RR.com and broadcastify provide.

The monitoring enthusiast who wants to be able to hop from frequencies/systems and follow specify incidents/action is going to need a scanner and is a different kind of end user altogether. I don't think the live feeds cannibalize the scanner hardware portion of the market, I just think that the number of people who need that traditional type of solution is dwindling or has already been fulfilled.

[pdfdems286]

without addressing bigeveils entire statement, i have to say the scenario of someone buying gre, and making it a solely based usa company is delusional. why do you think almost everyone outsources ?.
i seriously am not attempting to attack you, just a sad fact of life. why does anyone think that any product made here, is going to be made better than overseas ?. even if this was the scenario, the same cheap
components would be used. also, if the company has to pay american wages and benifits, the bottom line will be a much more expensive product. like someone else pointed out, scanners are a niche market.
a company would need a healthy bottom line to keep producing scanners.

for whatever it's worth, i too will miss gre. they did come out with some great one's.

[zerg901]

pdfdems286 - recent news reports indicate that some manufacturing is returning to the USA

[pdfdems286]

Originally Posted by zerg901

pdfdems286 - recent news reports indicate that some manufacturing is returning to the USA

that's great. the fact still remains, and correct me if i'm wrong, when bearcats <not uniden> were made in the usa, the heat sink <pot ? / pod ?>on the bc250 , used to blow about once a year.

[pro92b]

Yes, some components in the BC250 got too hot and failed. That proves nothing as each model has its weaknesses. GRE has been using poor quality volume/squelch pots in many recent models. They fail quite frequently and I would have expected GRE to find a new supplier long ago but they didn't.

All electronic devices have issues - just look on any forum about laptop computers...

[RadioDaze]

Originally Posted by BigEvil

1) GRE US takes over manufacturing and development of their scanner line: that is great all around, a domestically owned/operated scanner company, bravo... They would likely be able to cater to the us market needs faster/quicker than before and US consumers might see slightly more influence on the products. (D-Star is a perfect example of trickle down marketing/products from Japan that the US based customers would greatly appreciate having more influence/feedback on).

I don't read anything in this statement that suggests that manufacturing wouldn't still continue in China. He mentioned GRE "taking over" manufacturing, not necessarily "moving" manufacturing. I doubt anyone believes anymore that a product manufactured in the US wouldn't cost twice as much.

The best option would be to contract with the plant where the scanner had been previously made, and continue making the current and future models.

[zzdiesel]

The biggest issue is/was the our American labor force has out priced ourselves. I saw this coming back in the 80's

[gr8rcall]

Originally Posted by zerg901

pdfdems286 - recent news reports indicate that some manufacturing is returning to the USA

Awesome!!!

[Chauffeur6]

Originally Posted by zerg901

pdfdems286 - recent news reports indicate that some manufacturing is returning to the USA

Originally Posted by gr8rcall

Awesome!!!

Peter's post had nothing to do with the GRE situation specifically. He was making a comment about US manufacturing jobs in general, and was pretty much off-topic (and possibly misleading) as far as this particular thread is concerned.

[trsundstrom]

Originally Posted by mke65

I say combine AOR with GRE to make a scanner which is a great DC to Daylight scanner with Digital Trunking capabilities.

Why this has not happened yet is a mystery to me.

I wouldn't want a DC-to-daylight receiver. Filter bandwidths for modes on LW-MW-SW are significantly different than than those for 30 MHz and up. Receiver goes down, and you are out everything. You might be able to build something like this, but it would be expensive. Look at the high-end WinRadio now on the market.

HTH.

For me I'd like to see a durable cased handheld portable with a keyboard. Something akin to the -500/-106 but with added Phase 2. The event that prompted me to get my current scanner was no information during the long power outage caused by hurricane Irene. Nothing on the ARES repeaters, nothing on Philadelphia's all news radio station. Just my thought on the matter.

[Bob3655]

[QUOTE=pro92b;1840654]

I agree w/you 100% as that is why I have stayed with Uniden America Corp but I do believe it would had been good if GRE America didn't fold up as now consumers have no choice. That is sad in this economy.
Also, R/S will have to display Uniden Bearcat now..not just sell it way to high in price online. That is a rip-off in my opinion.

73's




Uniden BCT-15X

[FLA2760]

Originally Posted by ButchGone

Weird to release the biggest new development in scanner world, Phase-2 TDMA capability, then pack up shop. I wonder if any of the amateur radio makers like ICOM, Yeasu or Alinco would care to snap up the scanner market with products that trunk, decode Phase1,2? I'd love an ICOM-grade P25 scanner!
Whatever happens I hope Uniden continues developing new products but doesn't get greedy by jacking up prices in a market they own!
BG..

I was thinking that earlier today re an ICOM P25 trunking radio too.