Trying to decide: The PSR-500 or the BCD396XT--MSP, Anne Arundel, Balt Co, PG Co.

[RadioSpike]

I an new to these Forums and am buying my first scanner and it appears it needs to be digital for this area.....which scanner is best for Maryland? I ve checked the posts and the scannermaster site...they seem very much biased toward the new Uniden....could you guys help me figure out which is best for Maryland? I'm leaning toward the GRE PSR-500/RS Pro-106....I actually like the idea that the sound quality is supposedly better on the GRE, cause after all I'm mostly going to be listening to the thing....Thanks a lot for any help!

[OldsDoug]

Yes, you will need a digital trunking scanner. I have both Uniden and Radio Shack radios; the audio quality is significantly better with the RS/GRE. However, I believe there is one milair band that the Unidens will receive that the Radio Shack / GRE will not, and I like the Uniden display better (larger characters and you can block out some of the info that I consider unnecessary). Finally, the Uniden rarely goes on sale, while I got $200 off on my PRO-197 when I bought it just before last Xmas. It was also on sale before Memorial Day for $100 off. Also, I think the actual receiver of the GRE/RS is a little better than the Uniden, but that won't make that much difference in these metropolitan areas. So, if you can wait for a sale (probably the next one will be Labor Day) the Radio Shack one is the better deal. Oh, I understand that the GRE unit comes with the programming cable and the RS one doesn't. But again, if you don't care about that one milair band, probably the best thing to do is catch the Radio Shack one on sale.

[Dewey]

Here's the hard part that may be determined by your actual location. As already stated and I will agree, the x96T/XT series are not as sensitve as GREs or even their own Uniden older brothers. However, that will result in a much quieter and less stressing listening experience when in an area of very high RF activity. Current GREs tend to have a hotter (more sensitive) receiver than the current Unidens, but the cost for that is that they are more prone to intermod (plain english- unwanted reception of other frequencies that will interfere with what you want to hear... or not hear if the channel is quiet). So if you travel a lot through DC, especially areas like Tenley Circle or the Washington Hospital Center, you may be happier with the less sensitive, but quieter Uniden. But, if you're on the fringes of DC (just supposing) but don't often visit, and are interested in hearing DC, you may be happier with the GRE. My 396T will NOT pick up DC from my home, and my 996T gets broken/garbled DC reception on the outside house antenna. My Pro-96 and older portable Unidens, 250, 235, and 245 have NO PROBLEM receiving DC inside the house (the 235 & 245 are used for control channel monitoring).

The standard disclaimer applies... your mileage may vary.

Dewey

[dmi]

Originally Posted by Dewey

Here's the hard part that may be determined by your actual location. As already stated and I will agree, the x96T/XT series are not as sensitve as GREs or even their own Uniden older brothers. However, that will result in a much quieter and less stressing listening experience when in an area of very high RF activity. Current GREs tend to have a hotter (more sensitive) receiver than the current Unidens, but the cost for that is that they are more prone to intermod (plain english- unwanted reception of other frequencies that will interfere with what you want to hear... or not hear if the channel is quiet). So if you travel a lot through DC, especially areas like Tenley Circle or the Washington Hospital Center, you may be happier with the less sensitive, but quieter Uniden. But, if you're on the fringes of DC (just supposing) but don't often visit, and are interested in hearing DC, you may be happier with the GRE. My 396T will NOT pick up DC from my home, and my 996T gets broken/garbled DC reception on the outside house antenna. My Pro-96 and older portable Unidens, 250, 235, and 245 have NO PROBLEM receiving DC inside the house (the 235 & 245 are used for control channel monitoring).

The standard disclaimer applies... your mileage may vary.

Dewey

As far as ease of programming, in the field and on the fly, using software / keypad.. which one is better suited as I read a review for the PSR-500 on eham (GRE PSR-500 Product Reviews) that said it was difficult and annoying to program in systems..

I live a few miles from the NW border of DC in Montgomery County and am trying to determine which one to get.

I want to model that I can program or 'clone' as closely as the entire Montgomery County TRS db.

Here's the clip from the eham article that made me question it:

--snip--
KC0SHS Rating: 3/5 Jul 30, 2008 14:55
Had higher expectations Time owned: 0 to 3 months
One sentence... unless you need ESK, the Uniden396 is a better deal.

The Uniden 396 and the GRE-500 are both hard to program. Pick your poison. With that, the Uniden radios are much better designed, comes with more accessories and the software needed to program it is free from the manufacturer.

Issues I have with the GRE-500...

This thing is BIG. Does not fit into a shirt pocket like the 396

Comes without rechargeable batteries

The pre-programmed V-systems are misdocumented but once you find your system, it works. No statewide systems pre-programmed

The firmware (mainly the objects) is grossly ambiguous

Enabling and disabling objects is very unclear and painful to do on-the-fly

If you have allot of objects, they are overwhelming to manage from the front panel.

Can't disable tower sites without DUPE-ing the object and deleting the towersite

must create a object to search a system

must create an object to hear car-to-car comms

Programming all but the simplest systems is painful from the front panel as you spend more time creating objects and linking to them over-n-over.

Large state-wide systems are not manageable without external software

Comes with a custom USB to serial adaptor when it could have used a simple serial port. (install yet another damn driver?!)

No software meaning that you still have to expend $$$ to purchase third party software to use this radio. None of the third party software works in linux or MAC unlike the uniden software. Unless you run windows somewhere, this radio is useless.

Plugging or unplugging the external power supply (with batteries installed) without the radio being off locks up the radio.

If you live near any commercial transmitter sites (1 mile) this thing will intermod. There is a reason the PAD key is predominate in it's operations.

one plus note... the Digital DSP is allot better on the GRE then the uniden radios.

If I didn't need the ESK, I would be running back to my 396. Once you know how a digital truncked system works, the uniden radio's programming is more straight forward unlike the gre-500
--snip--


thanks,

jay

[RadioSpike]

The hotter receiver of the PSR-500 is one thing that will make me lean to the GRE.....I see no value in making the receiver less sensitive in order to avoid unwanted noise. Isnt that the purpose of the squelch circuit which the GRE does have but the BCD396XT does not? To avoid unwanted /insufficient signals/noise ?

Seems to me GRE has all the bases covered. More sensitivity, better audio, better digital decode, intuitive programming. All the rest seems like bells and whistles. I do not need a GPS function, I know how to read a map and do not use a GPS, and printed manuals are nice.

Hello GRE.

[Dewey]

Originally Posted by RadioSpike

The hotter receiver of the PSR-500 is one thing that will make me lean to the GRE.....I see no value in making the receiver less sensitive in order to avoid unwanted noise. Isnt that the purpose of the squelch circuit which the GRE does have but the BCD396XT does not? To avoid unwanted /insufficient signals/noise ?

Seems to me GRE has all the bases covered. More sensitivity, better audio, better digital decode, intuitive programming. All the rest seems like bells and whistles. I do not need a GPS function, I know how to read a map and do not use a GPS, and printed manuals are nice.

Hello GRE.

Don't get squelch and intermod confused. First, the Unidens do have squelch controls. The purpose of the squelch is to set how strong of a signal that you want to break the receiver's audio circuit. Squelch is normally set very close to the white noise/no noise threshold when no signal is present. However, there are times when the received signal is enough to break the squelch, but filled with too much static to be understood (this is normally for analog systems since digital reception is either you get it or you don't). Those are the times when you would normally set the squelch a little higher than the no signal threashold.

Intermod is a different creature. Intermod may be so strong that it desenses the receiver causing you to not hear anything. Or, it may overpower the desired receive frequency drowning out a valid signal when it is present, and blasting through your speaker when no valid (desired) signal is present. In both cases the squelch is not a factor because if you're not hearing anything due to intermod, the squelch will not help. In those cases where the intermod is drowning out the desired frequency, or "blasting through" when there is no activity on the desired frequency, the intermod is oftentimes stronger than the desired frequency, so the first thing blocked out by the squelch would be what you want to hear.

Dewey