I currently own a SDS200 and two BCD536HP scanners and all is well. I've been considering purchasing Uniden's DMR & NXDN upgrades for just one of my scanners. I can't decide if I should upgrade the SDS200 or one of the BCD536HP's. After considering the cost up the upgrades it got me to thinking if I should try a Whistler TRX-2 as it comes with both DMR & NXDN. I can get a new TRX-2 for a tad over $400. The Uniden upgrades along would cost me about $100. For about $300 more I can get the TRX-2 instead and have an additional scanner at the same time!
Is there any Pro's & Con's for running DMR/NXDN on a TRX-2 vs Uniden's scanners? I seem to recall the TRX-2 doesn't do trunking in DMR mode? Anything else to consider?
Thanks!
The Whistler scanners, including the TRX-1 7 TRX-2, do not trunk track the systems, so trying to 'hold' on a specific talkgroup is not always user friendly. For the DMR & NXDN systems that I do monitor (2 NXDN & 1 DMR public safety trunked systems, plus a large regional medevac provider is on a multi site DMR system), I use the Uniden scanners so that I can track the talkgroups accurately.
As budd's already noted, if it's a lightly loaded DMR or NXDN system, the TRX series may do an acceptable job of monitoring the system, Too much traffic, and you may miss something you would have been interested in.
What I do find useful is to use my TRX-1 when trying to identify a new system. With the TRX, I can create a 'dummy' system with the suspected frequencies (those on the license), and add a wildcard. With the Whistler scanners, I can set that wildcard so that any activity captured will be recorded. (With the Uniden scanners, you can run ID Search, but you cannot only record new found TGIDs. You can do that in a discovery session, but only after you have documented the LCNs in use.)
I let the TRX-1 scan, collecting recordings of whatever it hears on the suspected system. Then, putting the SD card in a reader, I can sort the recordings using the Audio tab on EZ-Scan. I sort them by TGID, then select all of those for one TGID at one time. That gives me a series of audio clips, in sequential order, that I can listen to. Having a number of clips in one string, I find it easier to determine what that talkgroup is used for. I can then add, then lockout, identified talkgroups, so that running the scanner again will only capture TGIDs that have not yet been documented. This also gives me a better view of which frequencies, and Color (or RAN) Code are used. For most of the Uhf frequencies in my area that are used for DMR, there are multiple users, so being able to narrow the search to the user in question is helpful.
