New user - looking for advice on TRX-1 yea or nay?

[KC1UHU]

All,

I am a new user, or should say looking to be a new user with three questions:

I have programmed a Baofeng UV-82 using Chirp for local police and fire. This worked well for a while, but I now need more!

1. I live in Rhode Island, specifically Kent County, and I am interested in the TRX-1 but I am not sure if this is the right one based on traffic in my area. Thoughts?

2. Where should I purchase from? I am aware of Zipscanner, Amazon, Scannermaster - any others to consider?

3. Should I wait for the new TRX-100 - will it be worth the wait?

Thanks for taking the time to read my basic inquiries.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Hi & welcome to RR:
Question #1 may be best answered on the Rhode Island forums where you may find users who are familiar with monitoring in Kent County, RI.
Question #2: Personally I've purchased most of my radios (amateur & scanner) from Ham Radio Outlet. Prices are reasonable, they have good sales every so often and good customer service
Question #3, you might want to check out the Whistler Scanners forum here for input. Personally I am a Uniden fan, the user interface just works better for me. But I've owned GRE/Whistlers in the past and they're not bad little radios.

Good luck with whatever you decide to purchase!

 

[KC1UHU]

There is a Ham Radio Outlet less than a two hour drive from me...sounds like it will be work the trip!

Thanks for your reply.

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

There is a Ham Radio Outlet less than a two hour drive from me...sounds like it will be work the trip!

Thanks for your reply.

Also, if you don’t need NXDN, you can look for older models. I don’t need it so I picked up some WS1095 and WS1098 and their portable counterparts.

 

[TailGator911]

I hope you found the answer (s) you were looking for. I'll chime in here and tell you that you can't go wrong with the TRX-1 - except except - if you are trying to monitor a digital P25 Phase 1/2 simulcast system. Does not handle LSM at times. I use one for just about everything else, especially DMR. The TRX-1 does great on DMR. Milair,. Vhf/uhf. Very nice radio. Gets my vote - yea.

JD
kf4anc

 

[KC1UHU]

I hope you found the answer (s) you were looking for. I'll chime in here and tell you that you can't go wrong with the TRX-1 - except except - if you are trying to monitor a digital P25 Phase 1/2 simulcast system. Does not handle LSM at times. I use one for just about everything else, especially DMR. The TRX-1 does great on DMR. Milair,. Vhf/uhf. Very nice radio. Gets my vote - yea.

JD
kf4anc

Thanks for the reply TailGator911...I am pretty new and not really sure what "digital P25 Phase 1/2 simulcast system" is. Would you mind providing some further details or directing me to a link?

By the way, I lived in Fairborn for 7 years while in the Air Force. I bet a lot has changed since 1987!

 

[TailGator911]

Thanks for the reply TailGator911...I am pretty new and not really sure what "digital P25 Phase 1/2 simulcast system" is. Would you mind providing some further details or directing me to a link?

By the way, I lived in Fairborn for 7 years while in the Air Force. I bet a lot has changed since 1987!

Hey rijoe! Yes, a lot has changed since then. My wife is a supervisor at the base hospital at an annex there, so I get full DOD pass privileges there which is pretty nice. We can shop at the stores, etc. I have made friends with a couple of the base cops at the hospital, which is a nice opportunity for inside info on their communications system - not. lol They do not give me any tips or pointers on their encrypted system.

'digital P25 Phase 1/2 simulcast system' is the new norm for digital communications systems. Multiple sites, multiple talk groups, complex systems engineered to make their communications as private as possible. I would suggest Googling 'digital P25 radio' and browse the available links to learn the specifics. Lots of information comes up when I google it. Once you find out what your targeted system is, you can search here for the appropriate scanners that will decode the system. Searching the system, look for the acronym 'DE' under the mode, which stands for 'digital encryption' and there is no scanner on the market that will decipher the encryption codes.

Hope that helps some! Feel free to ask any more questions and I will do my best to answer them for you.

JD
kf4anc

 

[trentbob]

To the o p... JD is correct, the trx-1 is a nice scanner unless you need to monitor simulcast Phase 1 or Phase 2.

You will need a radio that can pick up RISCON... that is an 800 megahertz 3 site phase 1 simulcast system that reportedly is problematic.

If I could recommend before you spend a lot of money, you may want to go to the Rhode Island forum and ask the guys there what they recommend.

With difficult simulcast systems that are affected by linear simulcast modulation some scanners work better than others and some not at all. There is consumer products and Commercial products, It can get expensive.

Try to talk to somebody in your area either on the forums or maybe stop by the firehouse and ask some of the guys there.

With difficult systems you often have certain talk groups re broadcasted on VHF high frequencies for convenience of First Responders and pagers.

Just wanted to warn you to do your homework first... good luck.

 

[KC1UHU]

To the o p... JD is correct, the trx-1 is a nice scanner unless you need to monitor simulcast Phase 1 or Phase 2.

You will need a radio that can pick up RISCON... that is an 800 megahertz 3 site phase 1 simulcast system that reportedly is problematic.

If I could recommend before you spend a lot of money, you may want to go to the Rhode Island forum and ask the guys there what they recommend.

With difficult simulcast systems that are affected by linear simulcast modulation some scanners work better than others and some not at all. There is consumer products and Commercial products, It can get expensive.

Try to talk to somebody in your area either on the forums or maybe stop by the firehouse and ask some of the guys there.

With difficult systems you often have certain talk groups re broadcasted on VHF high frequencies for convenience of First Responders and pagers.

Just wanted to warn you to do your homework first... good luck.

Trentbob, thanks for the information. I was aware of RISCON but not that it had some issues. I do not mind doing my homework so I will take your advice and research. I do not mind spending my money on the right equipment but like everyone else, I work too hard to just throw my hard earned money away.