1095 being shown at CES2015

[Hooligan]

One more thing to add. Obviously this should be considered preliminary data, and they need to proof-read & correct some stuff on this, for example the chart on the lower left states 453-467MHz is the VHF High Band, and that "public safety" spectrum leaves out the UHF T-Band too...

 

[INDY72]

There are those on RadioReference who mention that the GRE/Whistler radios are 2 years old. But we should not lose sight of the fact that GRE was first to the market with a scanner that could monitor Phase II. There is no other radio that is more modern that we can buy. Also, Uniden was late to the party and their radios do no more than the GRE/Whistlers are capable of doing and so all radios that monitor Phase II are two years old.

First to do true P25.. GRE with the Radio Shack PRO-96/2096... First to do P25 Phase 2... GRE again.... First to be able to do RRDDB,... GRE.... Whistler did a good thing with this buy.... As for the others whining about no NXDN/DMR... Check back in other threads, Whistler hinted at the next gen actually doing these formats. One of my old wishes for LTR Passport, I no longer really worry about since most LTR is converting over to DMR or NXDN.

The primary concerns for me are *Performance on P25 LSM systems, using the adaptive settings for the vocoder*, *simplicity of programming, especially on the fly*, *easily read display*, ***Clean Crisp Audio that GRE was famous for!***

 

[Michael-SATX]

WS1095 Data Sheet lists "a built-in Descriminator Output"

One more thing to add. Obviously this should be considered preliminary data, and they need to proof-read & correct some stuff on this, for example the chart on the lower left states 453-467MHz is the VHF High Band, and that "public safety" spectrum leaves out the UHF T-Band too...

Thanks Hooligan, that data sheet lQQks like the same sheet as the ones on the bottom shelf at CES.

"Built-In Discriminator Output - A built-in Discriminator Output provides raw discriminator signal to third
party signal decoding software without risky hardware modifications."

Hmm, so does one tap this at the headphone jack on the front of the 1/8" jack on the back of unit ?
I would think the D-Tap is indeed through the front headphone jack and the rear jack is for an ext spkr.

 

[RadioSquad]

I agree, I don't see Whistler investing much into R&D unless there scanner sales show a large profit and interest. Also the increase of encryption, MotoTrbo, NXDN etc will slow sale of $500 plus scanners. Whistler is consider a budget electronic company who normally produces afordable products comapred to major named items. When GRE shut down Whistler saw an opportunity to cash in on an existing market which involved no R&D cost. I can't think of the last time Whistler has been innovative on a new product. Most products are just consumer friendly version of something else. We stood a better chance of new innovation if GRE stayed in the game.

Examples:
Whistlier Radar Detectors -vs- Escort RD.
Whistler Action Camera DVR -vs- GoPro
Whistler Scanner (old GRE rebranded models, nothing new)

Well I am looking forward to the base model for sure. I love the WS-1065 radio but its a real basic radio. I love the digital decode on these radios for sure. I do agree to the above. Whistler is just looking to cash in on some profit without any R & D since we are not seeing anything new since GRE closed shop. I honestly do not believe where Uniden and Whistler want to take their scanner market. Lets just face it, scanner sales have tumbled compared to 10 to 20 years ago. Smart consumers are not really buying scanners except for us scanner hobbyist. It all comes down to the bottom line is that more and more cities and counties are using more and more encryption and the average person says screw it. I can't listen to my local PD offices then whats the point. People want to hear action. Photographers and the media are not buying radios like they use to anymore since more and more agencies are locking them out anyways.

If scanners were melting off the shelves and encryption was only used for certain operations then we would see alot of R & D because these scanners makers would have a path and see a great future for this industry. It's not there anymore and new P25 trunking systems are just adding the encryption.

But I will still buy this radio so I can have some new to play with and test it and use it.

 

[AA6IO]

I have to be fair. As far as clean crisp audio, as mentioned above by milf, I have to agree. GRE always has sounded better to me. To tell the truth, just from an audio listening experience, when the 1080 does decode well, I love listening to it. Same goes for the older GRE/RS vs Unidens. The audio is just more natural. So even without the IF feature, I will still probably buy the 1095.
I can't reveal the source, but I actually have been asked to test the 1095 out here in Los Angeles when available and compare it with the 536HP. I'll be as honest as I can. But I do assume the audio quality will be excellent, and for that reason alone, I have always had a mixture of Uniden/GRE/RS radios.
Steve AA6IO

 

[AA6IO]

Wait a minute!!! Someone above mentioned discriminator output? Is there or isn't there? Do the at the show have the right information? Guess I'll have to check the specs. That would be great.
Steve

 

[Eng74]

Well I am looking forward to the base model for sure. I love the WS-1065 radio but its a real basic radio. I love the digital decode on these radios for sure. I do agree to the above. Whistler is just looking to cash in on some profit without any R & D since we are not seeing anything new since GRE closed shop. I honestly do not believe where Uniden and Whistler want to take their scanner market. Lets just face it, scanner sales have tumbled compared to 10 to 20 years ago. Smart consumers are not really buying scanners except for us scanner hobbyist. It all comes down to the bottom line is that more and more cities and counties are using more and more encryption and the average person says screw it. I can't listen to my local PD offices then whats the point. People want to hear action. Photographers and the media are not buying radios like they use to anymore since more and more agencies are locking them out anyways.

If scanners were melting off the shelves and encryption was only used for certain operations then we would see alot of R & D because these scanners makers would have a path and see a great future for this industry. It's not there anymore and new P25 trunking systems are just adding the encryption.

But I will still buy this radio so I can have some new to play with and test it and use it.

I think one thing that has changed now is that upgrades to radios firmware can now be done. Things have been added to radios after the fact like displaying radio Id's were done by both GRE and Uniden after radios were out in the market. Little tweaks like this would have been all new radios in the past that were not much of change from what was out.

 

[mancow]

...
Sorry for this rant, but when I just read that there is no IF output on this new 1095, then except for the remote head feature, what is the big deal.
Steve AA6IO

The IF port is labeled there on the front. Where did you read that it doesn't operate similarly to the PSR800 types?

 

[TAbirdman]

As for the IF output - I checked with Whistler yesterday and they couldn't tell me much but after some poking I got them to say that there is NO IF discriminator output on the 1095.

 

[KevinC]

The IF port is labeled there on the front. Where did you read that it doesn't operate similarly to the PSR800 types?

In GRE/Whistler speak, PC/IF stands for Personal Computer InterFace. Just like on the PSR 500/600 the programming jack shows PC/IF.

 

[AA6IO]

The IF port is labeled there on the front. Where did you read that it doesn't operate similarly to the PSR800 types?

At least according to Hooligan post #34 and TAbirdman post #49, the Whistler reps at CES say there is no IF output on the 1095. I'm not talking about the PC/IF out that can be used for some programs like Unitrunker, I'm talking about raw discriminator output that can be used for DSD+ and other apps.
You will note that I have tapped a 536HP and 996XT, and I use these with my 1080 for IF discriminator output. I realize you can use the unfiltered audio from SDR Sharp with a FunCube or RTL. However, we have a quite a few NXDN and DMR stations here in Los Angeles. I don't find the scanner app for SDR Sharp all that useful, and my computer gets pretty cluttered up on the screen trying to run a scanner/trunking/digital decoder all at the same time with just software. Sure it can be done, but not very practical, at least at the moment.
So I use the scanning features of the 536HP, 996XT, and 1080, scan the desired frequencies as conventional channels, run the discriminator audio into DSD+, and that set up works well.
So what's the point you may ask that I am trying to make with the 1095? If indeed the reps are right and the 1095 does not have discriminator IF out, someone, so it seems to me, would have to go out of their way to remove it. That is an inherent feature of the PSR-800 and WS-1080. Presumably, its pretty much the same circuitry in the 1095. So why isn't the 1095 similarly tapped.
This question has also been asked about Uniden scanners, what would be so difficult about tapping the scanner as part of the feature set as sold. There are some of us out there (granted a minority) who would like to use these scanners in conjunction with some pretty fantastic software like DSD+ and other programs.
Seems to me that the scanners manufacturers may be getting pressure from other interested parties (commercially, maybe patent related) not to make it too easy to explore these other modes. (Sure a tap is pretty easy, but it will likely void your warranty). Think about it, in the case of the 1095, if indeed the disc out is missing, you would have to go out of your way to do it.
I do not foresee anytime in the future (ever) where Uniden or Whistler is going to make NXDN, DMR, or other modes available. Hope I am wrong. Fortunately, we have some other choices. Most will probably be in the SDR realm, which is where this whole thing is going anyway.
Steve AA6IO

 

[trido]

I also can confirm direct from Whistler NO IF disc output

As for the IF output - I checked with Whistler yesterday and they couldn't tell me much but after some poking I got them to say that there is NO IF discriminator output on the 1095.

 

[stingray327]

This 1095 is not a pre-programmable scanner like the 436/536 where you can enter zip code?

 

[stingray327]

Well I am looking forward to the base model for sure. I love the WS-1065 radio but its a real basic radio. I love the digital decode on these radios for sure. I do agree to the above. Whistler is just looking to cash in on some profit without any R & D since we are not seeing anything new since GRE closed shop. I honestly do not believe where Uniden and Whistler want to take their scanner market. Lets just face it, scanner sales have tumbled compared to 10 to 20 years ago. Smart consumers are not really buying scanners except for us scanner hobbyist. It all comes down to the bottom line is that more and more cities and counties are using more and more encryption and the average person says screw it. I can't listen to my local PD offices then whats the point. People want to hear action. Photographers and the media are not buying radios like they use to anymore since more and more agencies are locking them out anyways.

If scanners were melting off the shelves and encryption was only used for certain operations then we would see alot of R & D because these scanners makers would have a path and see a great future for this industry. It's not there anymore and new P25 trunking systems are just adding the encryption.

But I will still buy this radio so I can have some new to play with and test it and use it.

News Media still uses scanners.

 

[MK]

For the past few years news reporting services have been buying fewer scanners because the content received from cell phones is more useful to their daily operation. Traditionally, during a recession there is greater emphasis on crime, and scanner usage increases. But now with the recession long over and the impact of cell phone video news services have less reason to buy scanners.

Another forthcoming impact to the scanner market is the potential bankruptcy of RadioShack. What will it mean for Whistler (and Uniden) when a major distribution channel is greatly diminished or non-existent?

 

[troymail]

This 1095 is not a pre-programmable scanner like the 436/536 where you can enter zip code?

On the PSR800/WS1080, it is a user option via the menu. I suspect this will be the same.

As a matter of fact, my opinion is that the 800/1080 is much more programmable "on the fly" than the limited zip code option that the x36 radios provide.

 

[gesucks]

I live in a large metro area that has 2 large regional organizations, and a state that is very *big* into interoperability. One member of one of the organizations, shall we say the DC Fire Dept - I repeat, a fire dept.- wanted to start encrypting to prevent embarrassing intercepts for political reasons. That idea was roundly criticized by neighboring jurisdictions, citing the potential disastrous effect on daily mutual aid calls... The DC Fire Dept has backed down, at least for now....

Please do not spread false and wrong statements like this. No one in DCFD asked for wanted the encryption. They were ORDERED by the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and The Mayor to do it. They had no choice and the DCFD actively fought against it.

 

[maus92]

Please do not spread false and wrong statements like this. No one in DCFD asked for wanted the encryption. They were ORDERED by the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and The Mayor to do it. They had no choice and the DCFD actively fought against it.

I am not spreading anything that wasn't reported in the media - local news organization reported the the DCFD was moving forward with plans to encrypt:

"WASHINGTON -
The D.C. fire department is moving ahead with its plan to encrypt its radio channels. It is a decision being met with resistance by some Washington area fire chiefs who call the policy unsafe for first responders."

But it also reported that the the deputy mayor for public safety was behind the initiative:

"The deputy mayor for public safety, Paul Quander, initially floated the idea after the shooting at the Navy Yard and it was met with resistance by several members of the D.C. Council -- the chairman included."

DC fire department to encrypt its radio channels; local fire chi - DC News FOX 5 DC WTTG

 

[APX8000]

Keep it on topic please.

 

[APX8000]

Does anyone know what DVSI chip is in the 1095?