DMR hopes for the PSR-800

[ka1air]

PSR-800/WS1080 eror message

Finally figured it out.
Now to program some DMR Freq. and see what unfolds.

Thanks

 

[ot0tot]

Currently running the 1080 firmware on my PSR-800. I noticed when scanning the "T" icon that indicates scanning a trunking system occasionally changes to an "S" icon. It's not the same S that indicates the squelch is open, it's in the same spot as the trunking T and has the same light letter on dark background icon.

I can't find anything in the PSR-800 or WS1080 manuals indicating what this means. Any ideas?

 

[AE6QE]

All,

Looks like all the links are dead. I would really appreciate it if someone sent the FW. Thank you!

 

[rhaasjr]

Would someone be so kind to PM the 3.8 firmware file, please.

I have a couple of PSR800 that I'm dying to try this on, but cannot access any of the file sharing sites from work

 

[milcom_chaser]

Currently running the 1080 firmware on my PSR-800. I noticed when scanning the "T" icon that indicates scanning a trunking system occasionally changes to an "S" icon. It's not the same S that indicates the squelch is open, it's in the same spot as the trunking T and has the same light letter on dark background icon.



I can't find anything in the PSR-800 or WS1080 manuals indicating what this means. Any ideas?

Call Whistler, let us know what they say.

 

[adcockfred]

T is Gre S is whistler. Control channel. Just put new S d card and start over and everything will be S

 

[milcom_chaser]

T is Gre S is whistler. Control channel. Just put new S d card and start over and everything will be S

He's talking about the little "s" that appears in the same black box as the T (trunking indicator)...

 

[adcockfred]

I have found that both firmwares now pretty much support 32 fat so no need to optizime or re formatt. As long as ahear to the systems need for memory. Meaning you don't need a 64,000 g b card.

 

[Jake68111]

You might find a little insight here:
http://forums.radioreference.com/whistler-scanners/334681-1080-dmr-squelch-setting.html

 

[adcockfred]

Cool you kept me from growing old today. I learned. I thought the problem was when I went back to gre on the fresh card.

 

[ot0tot]

You might find a little insight here:
http://forums.radioreference.com/whistler-scanners/334681-1080-dmr-squelch-setting.html

Thanks Jake, I just came across that link as well.

However, I am seeing the "inverted s" even when scanning only non-DMR systems. Does the "inverted s" apply to all trunking systems? My current scanlist only contains a Mototola Type II system, I don't have any DMR systems active.

I guess this was something new in the Whistler firmware that I haven't seen before coming from the GRE firmware?

Thanks again for the info.

 

[milcom_chaser]

Thanks Jake, I just came across that link as well.



However, I am seeing the "inverted s" even when scanning only non-DMR systems. Does the "inverted s" apply to all trunking systems? My current scanlist only contains a Mototola Type II system, I don't have any DMR systems active.



I guess this was something new in the Whistler firmware that I haven't seen before coming from the GRE firmware?



Thanks again for the info.

I've noticed it does happens on P25/II during trunking...

 

[kruser]

Hello,

There are hardware differences in the charging circuit between the PSR-800 and the WS-1080. It does not matter to me, since I turned off charging. It does seem to work otherwise, but I cannot be 100% sure.

73 Eric

The only difference I found in the charging between a real WS1080 and a 'fixed' PSR800 is the 800 will charge when the 800 is scanning or searching and not landed on an active frequency or sitting with an open squelch. Both conditions do shut down charging while squelch is open or on an active channel but charging will resume as soon as squelch closes or the active channels goes quiet. When the charging timer hits its user selectable time limit, all charging also ceases.

When in a muted state or scanning or searching inactive channels, the charge indicator icon goes active showing a charge plus you do see a charge voltage across the cells as well. When an active signal appears or you open the squelch, you do see the charge circuit icon switch to external power only and charging shuts off as monitored with a meter. I'd guess the stock power supply probably can't handle both current amounts at the same time. The power icon changes to a non charging icon and charging voltage is removed from the cells as can be seen with a fluke meter.
I think the PSR 800 needs pretty much the full amount of current the standard USB spec is rated for which is only 500mA. If the radio had high current external power supply detection, they could probably do both with a charger capable of 1 amp (1,000mA).

Even when charging is enabled and the radio is toggling between charging and not charging, the user set max charge length time is still valid and honored.
So if you have charging set to say 2 hours, the 800 will stop any charging after two hours regardless if it picked up any signals or not. If you power cycle the 800, then the charge timer is reset again but that is also how the real PSR800 also worked.
So yes, the charging circuit does indeed still work and possibly even better than it did before being 'fixed' with a FW update!

I still don't feel comfortable charging cells in the radios for all the various reasons users have figured out after melting down radios so my testing was limited to just that, a test.

I did test this a few times though using a 1 hour charge time limit and it did remain consistent and shutdown any charging after 1 hour each time so it seems that it could be used safely for keeping a set of NiMH cells topped off while using the radio with external power applied as long as one does not power cycle the radio often.
I also ran a test with the radio set to conventional and no squelch tones and squelch set to open and the 800 never tried to charge for that test duration.
I also tested for high current external power supply detection like some models can use for allowing charge while operating but that makes no difference on the PSR800 before or after 'fixing' it. I think it was one of the Uniden models that allowed for charging and operating at the same time if a high current power adapter was detected. Possibly the original Home Patrol 1.
One other charging test I did was watching for excessive charging voltages across the cells but everything was exactly the same as an unfixed PSR800 measured.

I do not know if a real WS1080 allows for charging between reception periods or closed squelch periods but it is kind of neat watching the icon change from charging to just the external power icon when plugged into a usb power source! And the fact that it does still honor your total charge time makes the charging circuit actually work in a neat fashion with the 'fixed' edition!

As a rule, I usually just use a set of charged cells brought up to full with a MaHa or one of the other high quality external chargers that monitor each cell individually during charge but it is nice knowing I can use the 800s internal charging circuit set to a short time limit and still charge the radio's cells should I forget to turn off the charging timer in the 800s menu.

Charging does work just fine in the fixed 800 and maybe even better than ever but I'd still recommend a short 1 hour charge time limit along with a charged set of cells from an external charger.
A 1 hour time limit should prevent meltdown even with a fully charged set of cells installed unless you power cycle the radio often in which case I'd make sure and set the charge timer to zero.
I did let a fully charged set of Eneloops charge for a 1 hour period with no antenna attached so it stayed charging the entire hour and the 800 shut down all charging after an hour plus the set of Eneloop's barely generated any heat. Just a tad above ambient room temp and the total voltage was still well within spec for a set of NiMH cells.

The only bad thing I could find in any model is the fact that a shorted cell will allow the other cells to overcharge but that was always an issue before being 'fixed' with new firmware. That in itself is just how the manufacturers designed these things for both GRE and Uniden models thanks to California law. It is a shame they did not at least install voltage tap points for monitoring each cell individually so charging can be shut down if a bad cell is detected regardless of California law but not much one can do about that.
Even monitoring each cells voltage would not catch all problems like a good external charger can but it would still be much safer then just blindly charging the entire set at once. I don't know if any of the manufacturers measure the cell or compartment temp and shut down charging but I suspect not after seeing some of the melted down radio pictures posted in various threads around here!
It would have been pretty simple for them to include a compartment temp sensor along with an ambient temp sensor that shuts down charging on detection of excessive heat buildup in the battery compartment.
That along with individual cell voltage monitoring would have probably saved almost all the melted down models we have seen pictures of!

I do not know if the RadioShack brother behaves the same as the PSR800 as I don't own one so owner beware. What was it, the radioshack Pro17 or 18 I think that was basically the same as the PSR800 but I think the radioshack model was also lacking some other parts if memory is correct.

I'm not sure if anyone else posted these findings but figured I'd throw it out there in case it has not been tested and posted.

I personally think each CPU or DSP update should turn off the charge timer with a note that the owner needs to turn the timer back on if they use that feature. The original value could have been stored in the menu item where you set it so users knew where it was before they did any FW updates.

It was kind of odd when I first noticed the charge icon turning on/off after I first fixed my PSR800 with new FW! Then I ran the tests above and figured out exactly what was going on and what the radio was doing with the batteries!

The PSR800 has a physical switch for Alkaline or Rechargeable cells but I guess that is a good safety feature to make sure charging is turned off for those that definitely don't want to risk internal charging. They could have also added a software item in the settings menu to also alter that setting as long as the physical switch is in the rechargeable position. If the FW detects the switch is in the Alkaline position, those FW items would be visible but unselectable.
I assume the radioshack version of the PSR800 also has a hardware switch. I know the Uniden portable versions like the BCD396XT also have a hardware cell type switch and I'd imagine whatever the 15X was called in a portable also had a hardware based cell type switch.
Not a bad idea by any means but an option to set the values via software would have also been nice as long as the physical switch was set to rechargeable or enabled or something.
Of course the cell type switch also alters the total cell voltage for the low voltage monitoring feature as Alkaline cells run at 1.5 volts per cell unlike rechargeable cells which are 1.2 volts per cell. If you leave that switch in the alkaline position but use rechargeable cells, your radios will go into low battery mode pretty fast if not immediately as they will be looking for 0.9 more volts in the Uniden's and 1.2 more in the GRE based models. If they don't see the threshold voltage pretty fast, they will start telling you that your batteries are weak and may even shut down to prevent card corruption in the SD card based models.

 

[Mikejo]

Looking for PSR800 fw 3.8 also, and other files too, could someone PM me the files? Please and thank you.

 

[Mikejo]

I Do have the following files "GREFwToolWin0.1.0.2", and"WS1080Install_2.17.0.460".

I've tried all the links in this thread, they're all dead at this point.

I'm thinking all that I need now are the Firmware 3.8 and DSP 3.0?

I would really appreciate it, if someone might be so kind so as to PM these two files, please?

 

[milcom_chaser]

I Do have the following files "GREFwToolWin0.1.0.2", and"WS1080Install_2.17.0.460".



I've tried all the links in this thread, they're all dead at this point.



I'm thinking all that I need now are the Firmware 3.8 and DSP 3.0?



I would really appreciate it, if someone might be so kind so as to PM these two files, please?

Check your PM...

 

[trp2525]

...I'm thinking all that I need now are the Firmware 3.8 and DSP 3.0?...

The DSP firmware version 3.0 is downloaded/updated directly from Whistler's server by using the Whistler EZ Scan PC application software program for the Whistler WS1080.

 

[Mikejo]

Thanks, I'll get it after I install the Whistler EZ scan. (Does it play well with the Gre EZ Scan software?) Can I have both installed at the same time?

 

[Mikejo]

Just checked my e-mail, got them !

 

[Thunderknight]

When scanning a conventional DMR channel, is there a way to show the active conventional talk group when it lands on a transmission?