Any PSR-500s in the central Maryland Area?

[troymail]

Okay, we're getting warmer. Let me pose a hypothetical situation to try to get to a specific action with the scanner..
You're using your PSR-500 to listen to an Anne Arundel TRS police talkgroup. You hear them say the MD Transportation Authority Police are going to pick up the car chase you're currently following. You've already entered that conventional MDTA freq somewhere in your scanner. How do you switch to it? I'm trying to get at what, specifically, the "object ID" is and how you currently select it in that radio to get to the new freq. Or, alternately, how do you go directly to that conventional freq you want to listen to?

Assuming you know the objectID assigned to the MDTA freq in your radio, according to the user's manual, you hit MAN then <objectID> then ENT and it takes you right to the MDTA object/freq.

BTW - the manual is online if you'd like to look at it: http://www.greamerica.com/download/manuals/PSR-500V1.9_Manual.pdf

but I'm happy to help if you have any other questions....

 

[TinEar]

Assuming you know the objectID assigned to the MDTA freq in your radio, according to the user's manual, you hit MAN then <objectID> then ENT and it takes you right to the MDTA object/freq.

BTW - the manual is online if you'd like to look at it: http://www.greamerica.com/download/manuals/PSR-500V1.9_Manual.pdf

but I'm happy to help if you have any other questions....

I tried the manual but without having the radio or the basic concept of how it works in front of me, my brain became quickly fried trying that method. I'm assuming at this stage we don't know what the "object ID" is or looks like or whether it's a number or a string of characters or a Boolean number set. However, the method you describe certainly sounds simple enough and identical to what we've always done to get from one place to another in the radio - until Uniden screwed that up in their new scanners.

I appreciate your time Troy. Thanks very much for the responses. I believe you've given me hope that it's a radio I can look forward to trying once the base model becomes available along with Butel's software. How well it performs versus other radios I use will be part of the fun of buying new equipment and "kicking the tires." Thanks again.

 

[troymail]

BTW - an object ID is a four digit NUMBER (0000-1800)

I understand about the manual -- I'm not big on "reading" for reading's sake... I'm more of a hands-on guy which is why I decided not to wait to get one... just looking at the more than 21-22 pages on "post release" info in that thread is hard to follow unless you have one.

One thing that could help - download the starrsoft.com psredit.com software .. just looking at that will help you understand a bit more. Also, if you'd like - I'll even send you my win500 or psredit files ... it should make ALOT more sense after that.

 

[TinEar]

BTW - an object ID is a four digit NUMBER (0000-1800)

I understand about the manual -- I'm not big on "reading" for reading's sake... I'm more of a hands-on guy which is why I decided not to wait to get one... just looking at the more than 21-22 pages on "post release" info in that thread is hard to follow unless you have one.

One thing that could help - download the starrsoft.com psredit.com software .. just looking at that will help you understand a bit more. Also, if you'd like - I'll even send you my win500 or psredit files ... it should make ALOT more sense after that.

Okay...now you've gone and done it. You gave me the precise answer I was looking for - the makeup of the "object ID." so...it's "MAN, 4-digit number, ENT" and I'm there. And, like with any other radio, you soon get used to approximately where a specific channel is located and can get right to it or fairly close to it in a hurry. That specific ability, or lack thereof, is what has kept me from buying any of the new Unidens once I tried the 996 and had to dump it. I may just take you up on the offer for the files once the release gets closer for the PSR-600 model. Thank you very much Troy.

Alan

 

[baybum]

If I read the manual correctly, you can also do a "find" based on the text tag. That sound really cool to me.
Troy, can you post that psr-500 file?

Mike

 

[troymail]

Mike -

Yeah the find works pretty well ... I sent you a PM.

If I read the manual correctly, you can also do a "find" based on the text tag. That sound really cool to me.
Troy, can you post that psr-500 file?

Mike

 

[ScanManQSL]

Troy, Can you also send me your PSR-500 file?

Many Thanks

 

[ScanManQSL]

Message received... Many thanks again

 

[troymail]

Received mine yesterday from R&R Communications in Delaware. This is the 1st time I've dealt with them and they provided excellent service. Now, if I could just figure out how to use the PSREDIT software. I guess I'm too use to using the ARC programs since all of my previous radios have been Unidens.

Hey Don - check your PMs

 

[troymail]

Hey folks -- I REALLY would like to exchange info with someone who has a PSR500 in the local area... I'm interested in comparing how TWO different radios are performing against the same TRS systems... I'm trying to determine if the problem(s) I'm seeing are in the radio itself, the firmware, or somewhere else. If you radio does the same exact thing mine does, then I know it won't help to send it back for a replacement.. hopefully that makes sense.

 

[TinEar]

Hey folks -- I REALLY would like to exchange info with someone who has a PSR500 in the local area... I'm interested in comparing how TWO different radios are performing against the same TRS systems... I'm trying to determine if the problem(s) I'm seeing are in the radio itself, the firmware, or somewhere else. If you radio does the same exact thing mine does, then I know it won't help to send it back for a replacement.. hopefully that makes sense.

Troy, what are the problems you're seeing? Earlier you said...

It's doing great on the Fort Meade 380 system....

If the 396 had the same reception and digital decoding/voice quality as the PSR500, I'd be really happy....

I took that to mean digital TRS signals were working great - or was it just the close by Ft. Meade system that's great?

I'd be interested to hear your impressions for different type trunked/conventional signals.

 

[troymail]

Troy, what are the problems you're seeing? Earlier you said...



I took that to mean digital TRS signals were working great - or was it just the close by Ft. Meade system that's great?

I'd be interested to hear your impressions for different type trunked/conventional signals.

I think I'm seeing what many others are seeing -- the radio works great for MOST systems - including pulling in signals from distant TRS systems including DC, Harford County, Upper Shore, Montgomery, etc.

The Ft. Meade P25 systems is working just fine... no problems noted...

However, in some sort of nearly complete contrast - Howard County and the BWI system just don't want to cooperate. For Howard County, the radio tracks the control channel just fine but 8 out of 10 times, the voice channel (which is displayed properly on the screen) is just not there (or fades in and out).

For the BWI system, the radio seems to be having problems tracking even the control channel -- sometimes it's working and sometimes it's not. When it does get the CC and turns t the proper voice frequency, it fades in and out. Essentially, most times, the BWI system is just unreable.

I've tried moving into the areas in question (driving around Howard and all around the airport) - getting closer does nothing to correct the problem - I can't imagine why it would since I can get the more distant systems - in some cases better than the more local systems.. very odd. Obviously some "slight" difference in these TRS systems is not being accounted for in the radio.

I'm hoping that some future firmware upgrade will fix these but the question is when might that happen - if at all.

I'd like to get someone else with a ready to sit side-by-side to do a comparsion to so if it's just this radio....

 

[doctordave]

Troy,

From where in AACO are you pulling in the UES system? I can no longer pull in UES from Northern Balt Co on my Unidens (well....I can barely get them). If the 500 has just 20% more range in grabbing 800 systems than, say a 396 or 996, I'm going to be in great shape.

 

[troymail]

Troy,

From where in AACO are you pulling in the UES system? I can no longer pull in UES from Northern Balt Co on my Unidens (well....I can barely get them). If the 500 has just 20% more range in grabbing 800 systems than, say a 396 or 996, I'm going to be in great shape.

The 500 is definately able to receive more distant systems than the 396. For both of my Unidens (296 and 396), I generally needed to go to the 2nd floor or my house and stand in a window to get AYNTHING out hte UES system. That isn't the case with the 500.

I'm a few miles directly south of BWI airport.

 

[Ronin18]

Im thinking about purchasing one of these for scanning both BCPD and BCOPD freq.. By reading about this scanner it seems to be a Ferrari among scanners.. Just wanna make sure tho with picking up city and county that it works as good as it reads for this simple task.

And im new to this scanning thing, just wanna make sure it works with the system..

 

[troymail]

Im thinking about purchasing one of these for scanning both BCPD and BCOPD freq.. By reading about this scanner it seems to be a Ferrari among scanners.. Just wanna make sure tho with picking up city and county that it works as good as it reads for this simple task.

And im new to this scanning thing, just wanna make sure it works with the system..

Works great for B City - Police, fire.. etc... I've listened a bit to B County - mostly fire which sounds fine... and since they are analog, I wouldn't expect any problems at all with others on that system (i.e. police).

 

[don333]

Im thinking about purchasing one of these for scanning both BCPD and BCOPD freq.. By reading about this scanner it seems to be a Ferrari among scanners.. Just wanna make sure tho with picking up city and county that it works as good as it reads for this simple task.

And im new to this scanning thing, just wanna make sure it works with the system..

I've had my 500 for 2 weeks and I listen to Baltimore City and County FD and PD exclusively. I previously had a Uniden 296 and IMHO the 500 beats it "hands down". I can pick up Baltimore City in places I couldn't with the 396. I also like the way it sounds much better.

 

[troymail]

So to update those who might be following along and/or otherwise interested, GRE released a firmware (CPU and DSP) update yesterday and that has solved the problems I had previously reported with the Howard County and MAA/BWI reception....

All is working well at this time...
:lol:

 

[troymail]

Assuming you know the objectID assigned to the MDTA freq in your radio, according to the user's manual, you hit MAN then <objectID> then ENT and it takes you right to the MDTA object/freq.

BTW - the manual is online if you'd like to look at it: http://www.greamerica.com/download/manuals/PSR-500V1.9_Manual.pdf

but I'm happy to help if you have any other questions....

For anyone interested --- this works as advertised.... I keep Anne Arundel Fire Dispatch in OBJECT #1 and Anne Arundel Western District Police in OBJECT#30.... I keep police locked out pretty much all of the time but when something is going on in my area, I punch up MAN 30 ENT and go directly to Western....

 

[TinEar]

For anyone interested --- this works as advertised.... I keep Anne Arundel Fire Dispatch in OBJECT #1 and Anne Arundel Western District Police in OBJECT#30.... I keep police locked out pretty much all of the time but when something is going on in my area, I punch up MAN 30 ENT and go directly to Western....

That's great to know Troy. Thanks. That's something we couldn't even do with the older bank/channel scanners to get to a specific talkgroup within a trunked system. You could get to a conventional channel that way but not talkgroups. Fantastic! PSR-600 here I come.

Is there any way to get to a list of the Object numbers within the radio? Or do you have to note them as they're created and make your own list?