Viability of Uniden and Phase II scanner.

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dkf435

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With Uniden selling their Fort Worth warehouse and building and downsizing to a smaller office building, how is this going to affect Unidens ability to service radios and bring new products on line for our hobby??, or are they just one step behind GRE and going out the door of the scanner market??? How long can we depend on reliable updates and firmware for the HomePatrol or other radios that are quickly being pushed out the support door?

Office-warehouse complex south of D/FW airport is sold to sports distributor | Biz Beat Blog

Now I am seeing why they are refusing to sell parts for equipment and wanting to do service, but take forever to get it done for lack of people doing the work. Think the review on Glassdoor.com sums up what is happening at Uniden with the cuts and the outsourcing. So what got downsized and outsourced? The Uniden support site has no informationn posted for product repair or where to send items for repair??

Uniden - RIP Uniden? | Glassdoor

This may be interesting to see how this turns out.

David Kb7uns
 

dkf435

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Showed up ok in that link for contact us could not product repair to load earlier.



David Kb7uns

Still cannot get product repair page, contact us works though.
 
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lep

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Showed up ok in that link for contact us could not product repair to load earlier.



David Kb7uns

Still cannot get product repair page, contact us works though.

No problem here getting the various Tabs on the home page to work. Since you already know their servers were physically moved last weekend and that the reconfiguration took longer than estimated by their IT guys (doesn't it always?) why are you so concerned about the repair page loading?

I see no comparison with the GRE situation and Uniden. GRE is a rather small company compared to Uniden.
 

SCPD

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Say goodbye to Uniden scanners. They are the next one to go since scanning is becoming more difficult in certain areas of the country.
 

jcardani

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I really don't think Uniden is going anywhere and, I even think GRE will get back to development and production at some point.

But I'll play devil's advocate. Worst case scenario, if both Uniden and GRE stop producing scanners, we go underground, just like it was before scanners (when we used radio kits, mods, and converter boxes before the 70's). We make out own software defined scanners. We have enough smarts in our group to design and program this. Think about merging Unitrunker, parts of DSD, and DMR decode, to create a mega software defined scanner that can almost do it all! You can even use the DVSI USB-3000 P-25 (IMBE and AMBE) dongle to decode digital voice. Not only can we decode Mot 3600, EDACS Wide and Narrow, P-25, and LTR trunking formats, we can add Connect Plus, Capacity Plus, Nextedge, EDACS EA et all, Passport, Multi-Net, and some others. Also
not only P-25 PH 1 and 2, how about Provoice, DMR (MOTOTRBO), Nextedge/NXDN? And features can be added for our needs, not what makes corporate sense. I am sure we can do this now, but I think we just need the right incentive to get started!
 
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nosoup4u

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I have to agree with Joe on that one. I foresee the day when we have more advanced android/iphone apps that do more than stream, but act as real scanners that connect to a home server with 1 or 2 radios as receivers.
 

Wicked2007

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I have to agree with Joe on that one. I foresee the day when we have more advanced android/iphone apps that do more than stream, but act as real scanners that connect to a home server with 1 or 2 radios as receivers.

how affective will this be when you would then be tied to a cell providers service area. I am in the forest areas a lot and I use radios for communication because there is no cell service. Having an app that streams my home radio receivers would be a paper weight when in no service areas.

that said I am new to scanning and I just picked up a homepatrol unit - I would hate to see this thing become unsupported in the near future as it wasn't cheap to pick up...
 

UPMan

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We are still in business and stronger than ever. The recent changes were primarily related to outsourcing our warehouse and making a controlled exit of the cordless phone market. We are still committed to the scanner category...it is likely that I'll be in Japan for a few weeks this Summer (those of you who have been around a while should know what that means :) ).
 

UPMan

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Heh. That does bring up one other benefit of the new office that others might not appreciate. Our old offices were on what I think is called suspended flooring. Basically the floor flexed whenever anyone walked by, making things squeak/groan sometimes (walls, ceiling tiles, whiteboards, not employees). The sound was almost exactly the same sound my hotel room in Tokyo made during the many aftershocks after "the big one." For a month or so after returning, I'd find myself jumping a little whenever the squeaks happened.

New office, no more squeaking and groaning! (Except from employees. :) )
 

kayi4cle

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We are still in business and stronger than ever. The recent changes were primarily related to outsourcing our warehouse and making a controlled exit of the cordless phone market. We are still committed to the scanner category...it is likely that I'll be in Japan for a few weeks this Summer (those of you who have been around a while should know what that means :) ).

That's GREAT news (breathing a huge sigh of relief). Wishing you a safe and enjoyable trip! Can't wait to hear all about it. . . :)
 

Jay911

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Our old offices were on what I think is called suspended flooring.

The dispatch center I work in has a floor that's raised either 8 or 12 inches. Good for running cable, bad for people who don't want to feel like they're sitting on a trampoline every time somebody walks by.
 

DickH

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...it is likely that I'll be in Japan for a few weeks this Summer (those of you who have been around a while should know what that means :) ).

While you're there ask them why they claimed the PRO-433 and PRO-528 scanners could be re-bandable when they are not. False advertising? :)
 
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I really don't think Uniden is going anywhere and, I even think GRE will get back to development and production at some point.

But I'll play devil's advocate. Worst case scenario, if both Uniden and GRE stop producing scanners, we go underground, just like it was before scanners (when we used radio kits, mods, and converter boxes before the 70's). We make out own software defined scanners. We have enough smarts in our group to design and program this. Think about merging Unitrunker, parts of DSD, and DMR decode, to create a mega software defined scanner that can almost do it all! You can even use the DVSI USB-3000 P-25 (IMBE and AMBE) dongle to decode digital voice. Not only can we decode Mot 3600, EDACS Wide and Narrow, P-25, and LTR trunking formats, we can add Connect Plus, Capacity Plus, Nextedge, EDACS EA et all, Passport, Multi-Net, and some others. Also
not only P-25 PH 1 and 2, how about Provoice, DMR (MOTOTRBO), Nextedge/NXDN? And features can be added for our needs, not what makes corporate sense. I am sure we can do this now, but I think we just need the right incentive to get started!


I will say cheers to that..
With the availability of SDR at low cost now,and the above mentioned unitrunker and DSD..
Scanning is about to go hog wild as soon as the skillsets catch up to the imagination.Hate to play along side devils advocate be we may even begin seeing encryption fall to the wayside like inverted signals and PL codes..
Its amazing what can be acquired -Off the Shelf- over the net and where the well known handheld will maybe be less common,we will see a sharp increase in handheld -Devices- ability to process and will soon rival IPADS and even notebook/desktop PCs..

Its a new day and to stay n topic ill say this,
I was thinking of this exact thing this morning,random thoughts while doing 0530 dog training.
GRE,for now is done in the scanner market.So when will uniden be showing us a model that compares?
simple question,but no answer. after reading that uniiden May,and i say may very loosly be going down the same road,im not that concerned. maybe selfishly because ive got the 800 and a few others..but im not because JC is right,the underground will find a way,because we are usually a few steps ahead,for the tech savvy (which im not,i can just read other smart peoples ideas and understand them) we will be
A-O-K !
 

GTR8000

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While you're there ask them why they claimed the PRO-433 and PRO-528 scanners could be re-bandable when they are not. False advertising? :)

#1 - Those are Radio Shack branded scanners, not Uniden. The fact that they were Uniden Japan designed scanners is irrelevant, RS bore the responsibility to have the firmware changed, not Uniden.

#2 - Those two models were replaced with the Pro-160 and Pro-162, which are capable of custom rebanding tables. Why should RS support models that were discontinued and superseded with more recent models?

#3 - The 433 and 528 are over 7 years old at this point, so to say the horse is dead regarding them being made reband capable is putting it lightly. Never going to happen, so let's drop the issue and return to the actual topic of this thread, which had absolutely nothing to do with RS branded scanners.
 

KevinC

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While you're there ask them why they claimed the PRO-433 and PRO-528 scanners could be re-bandable when they are not. False advertising? :)

I would think you would have to ask that question to Radio Shack...but I could be wrong.
 
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