TRX-1 First Impression

UM.................THAT IS NOT A VOLUME KNOB ON TOP OF THE RADIO, THAT IS A SQUELCH KNOB.

I have not so far been able to figure out how to adjust volume.........what kind of sadistic fracker designs a scanner with a volume knob that doesn't adjust the volume??????

Can anyone tell me how to make the knob change the volume? :-(

Paul

sorry, the knob is only squelch. The ARROW UP and ARROW DOWN controls volume

Haha. I love it. When I go to my parents, my dad tries to turn my scanner volume down with the squelch knob, which only leads to more traffic (and noise if he goes all the way down).

That is the most retarded thing that could possibly have been done to a TRUNKING scanner.......seriously, W T F.

Anyway, moving past the giant Herpes sores on my new girlfriend, I am really liking how Whistler has the navigation and such set-up, a very big improvement over Uniden. I would have very much preferred something long the lines of the old PRO106 navigation system, with a God damn volume knob on top, but I did specifically buy this to test against the 436HP, not to test against my idea of the ideal scanner.

So, other things I noticed.

Is that a snake in my new scanner, or was it designed to emit a loud audible HISSSS on all analog and digital channels? It's as bad as my PRO106, ad is very irritating. Makes the scanner sound cheap, especially if you are forced to listen to 6 of them on a 9 hour shift 5 days a week.

Why is there no audio distortion or speaker/case vibration at MAXIMUM volume? I mean seriously, I cannot turn my 436HP past 11 of 15 without vibrations affecting the audio clarity. This damn Whistler can be turned to maximum volume with absolutely no signs whatsoever that you are pushing it, audio is loud and clear, as if you are only setting it to 50% of what it's capable of. This scanner is replacing a PRO106 that is used in a vehicle at loud volume, so that clarity will be VERY noticeable!

So, stupid as hell lack of volume knob aside, this Whistler so far seems to be a keeper. The "play/pause" (scan/hold) button is a major improvement over the 3 button scan/hold system on the Unidens, so I can actually expect my news desk assignment editors to be able to one-touch stop on a transmission without calling me to wake me up in the middle of the day to ask me why their HP scanner is not receiving anything because they pressed department or something. The scan resume (right arrow) works very well, and when you press the left arrow, it converts the whole 4 way nav toggle into an old school and familiar PRO106 style system/channel direct selector. Turning scan lists on and off is lso very well, but not perfectly implemented. Once you press a number on the keypad, there is a noticeable delay before anything seems to happen, and if you turn all scan lists off, your stuck having to play in the menu for longer than you'd really desire to, but still an improvement over the Unidens where you have to press an additional ENTER key to launch that number selection.

Also, this thing really really really is sensitive to my WiFi home router.........constant tapping, popping on analog frequencies, similar to if you put your cell phone right next to your scanners antenna, but this thing will get the interference from 10 feet away. No other scanner I own has this problem. In fact, my base 800MHz antennas are located 2 feet from the same router antennas (PRO1097's) and do not get the interference.

So, now that I have found the user interface (damn you Whistler for not putting a volume knob on this!) to meet my requirements for quick and easy operation in a breaking news commercial/industrial environment, it will now be tested against my arch enemy..........the 100 foot AT&T cell phone tower which towers (no pun intended) directly overhead of my news cars parking spot at my station. Yes, someone had the brilliant idea of putting a cell phone tower 50 feet laterally of our assignment desk scanners in an 800MHz only county. :-|

This is where the amazing Whistler/GRE Global Attenuator feature will show it's worth. My Pro106 is the only scanner that works reliably under that tower, obviously, only with the ATT engaged. My 436HP when tested in it's place will not receive at all (trunked 800), and will just do that full signal bars brain dead thing. The 996XT's in the news car will similarly not receive. ATT will help a bit on the HP, but the XT's are still a choppy mess. The fact that you can not just ATT the entire scanner (Uniden) when passing within the RF range of a cell tower, which in hilly San Diego are everywhere, is and has been a SERIOUS issue for using their products for news gathering purposes. Will post some TRX-1 vs the cell tower updates later tonight.

Paul

Anderegg said:

That is the most retarded thing that could possibly have been done to a TRUNKING scanner.......seriously, W T F.

Click to expand...

It's only been like that for over 10 years....

That explains why GRE went out of business! :-D

Oh yeah........the TRX-1 takes 25-30 seconds to boot from power on to beginning to receive with only one scan list selected........ :-\

Anderegg said:

That explains why GRE went out of business! :-D

Oh yeah........the TRX-1 takes 25-30 seconds to boot from power on to beginning to receive with only one scan list selected........ :-\

Click to expand...

Yes... that's a pain. And if you get a larger capacity SD card, it'll take even longer.

It shouldn't hiss. Idk what's going on there. What does it sound like if you record the calls and play them back on the computer?

Anderegg said:

UM.................THAT IS NOT A VOLUME KNOB ON TOP OF THE RADIO, THAT IS A SQUELCH KNOB.

I have not so far been able to figure out how to adjust volume.........what kind of sadistic fracker designs a scanner with a volume knob that doesn't adjust the volume??????

Can anyone tell me how to make the knob change the volume? :-(

Paul

Click to expand...

I totally agree. Who needs to frequently adjust the squelch? The volume however is constantly needing to be adjusted. Very poor design. It needs to be changed!

I have a 32GB card on my TRX-1 and it takes about 45 seconds to boot up and start scanning versus the 15 seconds or so it takes on my BCD436. Wow, that's some 30 seconds I'm never going to get back in my life, LOL.

But the TRX with a 4 to 8 GB card is almost the same as the BCD436 in boot up times. (In my case, about 18 seconds average. Another few seconds I'm never getting back :roll: )

Again, nothing new. You guys are late to the party by 6+ years (not 10 like I said earlier).

The "hissing" sound ALSO nothing new.

Let me tell about another one that irks me on the GRE/Whistler radios but has been around for a while, a few VHF frequencies here and there don't always have the right step size.

I have had almost all the radios from both main brands and I can give you a laundry list for both.

All these observations have been discussed ad nauseam in these forums and Yahoo groups since years ago.

At least you have a choice for radios and thanks to that, the competition between manufacturers can only benefit us the consumer. And you can also do the research here before you buy. So why don't we stick to more constructive criticism?

afdscan said:

I totally agree. Who needs to frequently adjust the squelch? The volume however is constantly needing to be adjusted. Very poor design. It needs to be changed!

Click to expand...

Sometimes, many of us have to. Depending on what, where and when are you scanning, you might have to change it and what better squelch there is than a good old analog knob.

The other models with an all or nothing digital squelch sometimes are not adequate. They might make you feel like you have 15 "clicks" of choice but I think that's just for show. In reality for me it does the same whether I have it on 2 or 15.

But to each his own...

Ruh roh, I am a news photographer, is that a fire dispatch at a kitten factory........better turn up the volume so I can hear the address and respond.........WHOOPS, I hit the right arrow and that made the thing scan again.......

Obviously this is nothing other than a PSR800 with a keypad..........still sad it's easier to operate than the HP's.

Paul

Perhaps you need a cheap external speaker to solve your problem. Just wait till the buttons start getting worn out...

Anderegg said:

Ruh roh, I am a news photographer, is that a fire dispatch at a kitten factory........better turn up the volume so I can hear the address and respond.........WHOOPS, I hit the right arrow and that made the thing scan again.......

Obviously this is nothing other than a PSR800 with a keypad..........still sad it's easier to operate than the HP's.

Paul

Click to expand...

With better parts better audio with better front end overload protection with more receive options. Might not hurt to learn to use the scanner I switch between my 436 536 668 and TRX-2 with ease.

bud, part of my requirement for new Phase II scanners is that they will replace ALL the 996's at my news station, and turning on and off banks with single key presses is about all the assignment editors can be expected to be able to accomplish. So I have to choose a scanner that not only meets my personal preferences, but can be used by the novice scanner listeners, who need it as a tool more than an "experience". I've had my 436 and 536 scanners for a couple of years, yet they don't have more than an hour of "powered on" time between them, simply because they are too complicated to operate. Being able to operate a scanner while driving is not something that should take your attention of of the road. It ideally should be as simple as pressing a preset on your car stereo. Unfortunately, the new x36HP scanners fall short in this type of test, as well as the hand off to a novice test as well.

So......the keypad dimple switches will wear out on me? Ruh roh.......is that a simple fix, or are you referring to the writing on the keys wearing off? :-(

Paul

I find it just as easy to turn on and off banks on the 436 by memory just as fast as my 668 trx-2. But that is like using auto focus on a hi end camera. Learn to use the tools or find people smart enough to do the job.

No, I was talking about the switches. Mine is getting to the point that I have to be pretty deliberate when adjusting the volume. Usually I just need to go from mute to listening volume; but I record everything so I don't want to stop scanning when I need mute.

Email me sometime, I am interested in what would work best for journalism use of scanning.

Very useful input Paul.
I am looking for something that I can use at home and take in the car so ease of operation while mobile is important.
It sounds like you have a bunch of scanners for you and your team.
I have never owned a digital scanner.
If you have one of any description laying around doing nothing I would love to get some hands on time to help me make a more informed decision.

SS......I think you are missing the point, this is a first impressions post for someone using the TRX-1 for a specific purpose, not an attempt to validate or invalidate it as perfect or better "all around" for everyone than a competing model.

That being said, when you work at a company, and you are not management, you have to deal with things like not forcing people to take a class on operating a scanner. The 996's require the following knowledge. Volume control makes it louder or quieter. Pressing HOLD makes it keep listening to what you just heard, pressing scan makes it find more news. Pressing 1-0 keys activates or deactivates banks, each assignment editor has a list of what numbers should be shown along the bottom of the screen for each scanner. That's it, they don't even know there is a menu.

So, more surprises with the TRX-1. The volume sounding 50% level is accurate........when I say accurate, I mean it is actually and literally 50% of the maximum volume of my PRO106. Seriously, when I crank the volume KNOB on the PRO106 to around halfway, I get the same clean audio at the exact same decibel level of the TRX-1 at MAX volume. This makes being able to hear the scanner in the same car the 106 was in very difficult, and at many times impossible. On the 106, I would normally leave it at 50% volume then reach over and crank the knob when I heard something I needed to hear more on. This is not possible on the TRX-1, and every time I tried to adjust volume it ended up activating resume or browse.

Reception wise, not really seeing any difference between the TRX-1 and PRO106. They loose the T in the same spots, but because the TRX-1 doesn't show bars in scan, I can't figure out if it's hearing the control channel like my 996's. Digital decode is about the same. Not sure if the digital "sounds" better than the PRO106, because the volume is so low comparatively, the 106 sounds pretty good at very low volume too. They both have that damn HISSSS in the carrier, analog and digital.

So, I like the TRX-1 about the same as my 436HP, meaning it will never be put in service, and cannot serve a function in my workplace. For all intents and purposes for me, this scanner doesn't contain a speaker, and has no audio level controls..........for all intents and purposes for ME. That being said, I specifically bought this to test the GUTS, and the guts did very well. My tests have shown that the TRX-2 with dedicated volume KNOB, most accessed buttons on the far right, and external speaker jack, is the clear winner for mobile ease of use. The left side control knob, triple hold system, enter to select banks, and MegaBass audio of the 536HP put it in a class all it's own........that class being second class to the TRX-2.

Will post an update bashing the TRX-2 when I receive one.

Paul

Paul
OK thanks for your response. Sometimes I forget that a large percentage of these scanners are indeed used for commercial purposes like news, towing, etc. I do hope that you find something that meets your needs.
Regards
Steve AA6IO