Here's an idea. Maybe one of you guys could just open a ticket w/ GRE and ask them. They have gladly given out information about this kind of stuff and I bet they would be able to tell you very quickly. Then it wouldn't matter what tests are done to show one thing or the other. Let's just ask the people who made the radio.
Submit a GRE ticket.
Well, I have answer categories for that - short and long.
The short answer is, well, at the risk of sounding facetious, ...what would be the fun in that!?;-)!
The long answer is a bit complicated and a bit more serious.
For starters, I personally, do not wish to rely entirely on what the manufacturers say regarding the technical specs of their equipment. Note that I said "entirely". I do use the official information certainly and scour the publicly available data with a vengeance when available. I use that information as a starting point. However, I have a technical background in RF design and testing and much prefer to run my own tests. I have the knowledge to do so but currently lack the required test equipment. Nevertheless, I enjoy thinking of ways to use what I have to perform tests of various kinds. For example, I wanted to know more about the internal frequency plan of the radio in question so I used my other communications receivers to "sniff" the local oscillator leakages over the course of various frequency ranges. What the specs say is very simplistic and incomplete regarding this data. I have found very interesting results doing this though I have far to go to complete it. It is very relevant to understanding the whys and wherefores regarding the various interference problems this scanner faces. This is very technical and I would take up considerable space describing it here. If you wish to know more you would be best advised to PM me directly.
Also, I find that sometimes certain information is considered "sensitive" by the manufactures on one level or another. Having the background that I do I do actually understand this. I am not sure but the question presented here regarding the NFM settings might be considered mildly sensitive depending on how well they (GRE) want to keep the internal operation of their scanner confidential. In addition, you might submit the ticket and get a response such as "setting of the mode to either FM or NFM is allowed in the "Expert" settings for the object you wish to program". Ok...we already know that BUT does it REALLY work in all cases?? They may or may not really want to say - especially if a future firmware update may change it to correct a known "bug" or if they would rather not say as it may reflect on certain design compromises that were utilized for cost cutting reasons (like cheaper filters with poor group delay thereby meaning compromises necessary for use in digital modes and/or simplistic interstage matching such that component variability will affect the filter's response differently unit to unit again requiring some compromises like forcing the unit to use the wider filter when in digital mode).
And there's more - but I think you get the idea. In any case, based on my own tests and the information from Wayne_h who I, personally, trust, I am convinced of how the unit functions in this case and do not need to submit a ticket to ask the question. I may consider a ticket to request it to be changed, however.
Sorry for the lengthy post!
-Mike
