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