Update From Whistler / Goliad Products LLC - March 6, 2025

kc2asb

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I think it's a long road to a new Whistler scanner, and there's also a marketing issue where so many users are police/fire buffs and so many agencies are encrypting as they modernize. It's not a great incentive to work tirelessly on solving P25 simulcast.
^^^^ This is exactly why seeing a new scanner from Whistler (and even Uniden) is doubtful. Listening to public safety departments has always been the primary driver of scanner sales.
 

Nascar18

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I think Goliad has no other choice but to match the Uniden SDS scanner. Why would they buy a company with dead end scanners, makes no sense. It's really GRE scanners with a new nameplate. It would be nice to see Goliad hookup with GRE engineers and make a great scanner. What would the cost be and will scanner enthusiast make the purchase.

What is the last we heard from Kip Sullivan from Uniden and the engineers from Cobra to build a new scanner, nothing yet.

 

n4jri

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But they added quick selection keys, that still have two unused, that allows a quicker way to reach functions deeper in the menu system. Make a suggestion to them for those two free keys to the functions you want and we will see what effort they are willing to devote to it.


/Ubbe
I love the function keys, but the PSR500's soft keys were extremely versatile. What I'd REALLY like them to do with the current model is to let us toggle scan sets in and out just like we do the scan lists. We do the scan lists with 1-3 digit commands up to 201. What if we could enter something like 301 for Scan SET #1, 302 for Scan SET #2, etc.?
 

Ubbe

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What I'd REALLY like them to do with the current model
Send them a suggestion. Companies always need new ideas from customers as they often get stuck and if they don't have any creative thinkers with visions like an Upman or Whistler_Wendy they will not know what to do next. Of course the board of directors will look at what investments of time and money that are involved and if there's a profit to be made or just an increased good reputation as a company that listens to its customers and are willing to make an effort to please them or ignores them and are stuck in their tracks.

scannersuggestions@whistlergroup.com

/Ubbe
 

n4jri

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Send them a suggestion. Companies always need new ideas from customers as they often get stuck and if they don't have any creative thinkers with visions like an Upman or Whistler_Wendy they will not know what to do next. Of course the board of directors will look at what investments of time and money that are involved and if there's a profit to be made or just an increased good reputation as a company that listens to its customers and are willing to make an effort to please them or ignores them and are stuck in their tracks.

scannersuggestions@whistlergroup.com

/Ubbe
I sent them an email after they announced the takeover telling them how much I enjoy my TRX-1's and outlining the same suggestions that I presented here. I will make a try again concerning the Scan Set thing, which would seem to be doable with their existing architecture. Perhaps they could also make the sweeper configurable in the radio, since it can already be done in EZ Scan.

However, I can't think of much for the unused Function keys to address, because the PSR500 Soft Keys had a myriad of different functions--bringing immediate choices for all sorts of different functions that would otherwise require a lot of menu scrolling. I guess that we'll just have to hope that this new company has some enthusiasts in their ranks, and that this was their motivation for taking over the product line. In GRE's case, it was the independent programmers who were the enthusiasts and who sold the company on creating a much more esoteric product than its executives could likely conceive.
 

K9KLC

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^^^^ This is exactly why seeing a new scanner from Whistler (and even Uniden) is doubtful. Listening to public safety departments has always been the primary driver of scanner sales.
Exactly. While I'd still monitor some stuff, I didn't get 2 Unication G5s to monitor anything but public service. For the most part in my area at least we're still in the clear on most of it and I'm thankful for that.
 

RCjim

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Let's be real, Whistler v1 wasn't doing much of anything other than reselling GRE's designs after acquiring them. Little to no actual innovation, except to maybe add a keypad to one or two models iirc? So yeah, comparing their "failed attempt" at the actual work Uniden and Paul Opitz put into designing, engineering, and bringing the SDS models to life is apples and frankfurters. Many of us believe that Whistler's announcement of an SDR based scanner in the works was a lame and failed plot to take away from Uniden's rollout of the SDS series.

Anyway, let's see what (if anything) Whistler v2 brings to the table, or if this is just another rehash of Whistler v1 where they're going to do nothing but continue to sell 20 year old GRE designs as long as it's profitable. There are quite a lot of GRE fanboys who will continue to spend too much money on largely outdated designs, so I'm sure they'll have no trouble moving inventory.
Agreed when Whistler bought out GRE they terminated every engineer so there was no one left to developer anything new! They milked the line for all it was worth. The scanner line was fine but became dated, I know some say they have no problem listening to Simulcast.
 

kc2asb

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Agreed when Whistler bought out GRE they terminated every engineer so there was no one left to developer anything new! They milked the line for all it was worth. The scanner line was fine but became dated, I know some say they have no problem listening to Simulcast.
Typical short-sighted decision making at the boardroom level. Wonder where those GRE engineers are now.
 

KevinC

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Agreed when Whistler bought out GRE they terminated every engineer so there was no one left to developer anything new! They milked the line for all it was worth. The scanner line was fine but became dated, I know some say they have no problem listening to Simulcast.
I must have missed that announcement, do you have a link to it?
 

KevinC

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I would refer anyone that thinks all Whistler did was rebadge GRE scanners to the 2 posts below...

GRE let the product lapse and as a result, several of the key components went into EOL. Drop in replacements were not readily available causing several circuits to be re-engineered before it could be built.

Not a single tool was recoverable from the GRE purchase and as a result Whistler had to tool all the housings and brackets from the original drawings.

The PSR-900 you refer to may have looked the part but it was far from complete both in hardware and software not to mention the issues stated above.

To state that Whistler took a year to rebuild scanners that were already being built is not a fair representation of what actually occurred.

GRE: repackage a PSR-800 and call it a PSR-900
Whistler: make the thing work and call it a WS1095

More time was spent by Whistler getting the WS1095 to actually work than was spent by GRE creating the PSR-900 in the first place.
 

marcotor

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I would refer anyone that thinks all Whistler did was rebadge GRE scanners to the 2 posts below...
But.. but.. the RR brigade of experts KNOW IT ALL. Speculation, innuendo, and opinion become fact (in their minds).

They are EXPERTS in design, manufacturing, marketing, sales, and logistics. Without having spent ONE day on any kind of manufacturing line they have told us all it's EASY to start a new line. It's TRIVIAL to manufacture. And since Goliad has now owned the IP for WEEKS they should be announcing new models, including the long-rumored waffle maker that UP dropped.
 

KevinC

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But.. but.. the RR brigade of experts KNOW IT ALL. Speculation, innuendo, and opinion become fact (in their minds).

They are EXPERTS in design, manufacturing, marketing, sales, and logistics. Without having spent ONE day on any kind of manufacturing line they have told us all it's EASY to start a new line. It's TRIVIAL to manufacture. And since Goliad has now owned the IP for WEEKS they should be announcing new models, including the long-rumored waffle maker that UP dropped.
I know. I apologize for offending them. :(
 

kc2asb

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Well, it's Wikipedia. :)


In January, 2014, Whistler Group took over production of GRE's scanner line. Due to several of GRE's engineers working with Whistler, the products produced by the overtaking company are very similar to that of GRE's at the time of operation cessation. Whistler later began selling radio scanners formerly produced for Radio Shack with separate product numbers but identical hardware
 

CycleSycho

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.


:( Great news, yes BUT there are some who has hardware that was sent in/repaired somewhere, that never made it to the new Whistler owners. I'm not in that category but fully understand their frustrations about their equipment. Surely, someone knows where all the equipment went (?), AND?OR if it is in a box stashed somewhere? Those records should be immortalized in emails/order forms, like tracked shipping and delivered hardware.. Please excuse this 'Q' if this is already being worked on/settled. :(


.
 

marcotor

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:( Great news, yes BUT there are some who has hardware that was sent in/repaired somewhere, that never made it to the new Whistler owners.
Since we aren't privy to the details of the acquisition, including what was excluded or included, it would be impossible to know.

If Whistler went through a C7 liquidation, those with hardware in the warehouse for repair or upgrade may be creditors. Perhaps the public corporate record in Arkansas holds details. Sucks for anyone left empty-handed.

Also, wasn't there some sort of a weather-related calamity at Whistler HQ? Who knows what damage happened, and what their insurance (or lack of) was. Unfortunately, what is consumer friendly and the "right thing to do" doesn't match up with what happens all the time.
 

spacellamaman

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I would refer anyone that thinks all Whistler did was rebadge GRE scanners to the 2 posts below...


So I can't remember the timeline sequence here, but the early Radio Shack PRO-668's, of which I have one, in its original state, no upgrades, have some peculiarities in the way it receives in signal stalker mode, with what should be an identically configured PSR800.

I have always wondered if there might be different circuits/components in the two different branded scanners.
 
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