GRE 800 -- I am Back!

[KT7L]

For the few of you that might have noticed I haven't been posting for many a moon, I had gotten tired of limping along with radios 'not quite' handling reband.

So, yesterday, I received a new PSR-800. Life is good! I can now get my arms around UCAN, and quickly change to TG's of interest. It's no HomePatrol -- you can build everything you wish using the computer software -- but still carry the Nationwide RR database inside the rig in case you travel to a city/area you wouldn't normally program.

If any of you have any questions/comments about the radio -- fire away!

73, Bob
KT7L
Park City

 

[kc7rhw]

psr 800

i am glad you like the radio i was thinking about getting, but had not talked to any that used it yet.
i was woundering if you could help out with win7 and uintrunker if you had any exprice with those programs.
how due you like the i pad controls verse the full keypad and programing freq in like the old way

 

[KT7L]

I really can't help with Unitrunker yet, as I haven't played with it for a while -- I think it's about 10 versions ahead of my installed one! That said, I would like to try the current version with the 800, as the radio has a IF-Out setting to feed Unitrunker. Still, with a wildcard TG per site, 16 char. Alpha Tags, and Radio ID, Unitrunker seems only valuable for looking for Trunking changes/additions.

On the i pad controls.... If the 800 were to be my stay-at-home radio, I might not own it. But for traveling? No question! Out of the box, turn it own, drill down through the library, select UCAN, and the whole thing installs and starts running -- So, the real issue is doing custom and entering Conventional.... From the PC program, I find it very easy -- I could even use Clipboard to go between UT VHF Society to the GRE program to load all the state's ham repeaters.

What I couldn't do with any other radio, was bust UCAN apart into many different viewing options -- not worrying about running out of Scanlists! (If you think 200 is too limiting, you can make 20 different Librarys on the SD card, and swap them out when you travel)

I think I might miss the keyboard if I were on the road w/o my laptop, and wanted to add several Conventionals not in the RR Database. But for RR data, there's just no need.

 

[kf7yn]

Congrats! Please let us know your overall impressions after you've used it awhile.

I had the Pro-107 analog cousin of the PSR-800, it had very weak audio. In the car it was useless unless I plugged it into my car stereo's Aux input. Does the 800 have louder audio? How is battery consumption?

 

[KT7L]

Jon.... I have been using the radio for about a month now. The audio is better than any previous GRE HT. Quite good, actually -- Substantial volume if you want it. Batt. life depends.... Many people, including me, have trouble reading the screen unless there is some amount of backlight. I have mine programmed as 'always on' at the lowest setting. With this on, I probably get about 6-7 hours continous with NiMh batts. Several owners report up to 12 hours with the backlight off.

There are two common complaints about the PSR-800. One, the device is not dust proof, and dust gets in behind the display glass. I put smartphone screen saver stuff on mine when I got it, but I am not sure that solves the problem -- Personally, I have no dust. Second, ALL user grade scanners have issues of handling Trunk CC handoffs. Some lock on to the strongest, and won't release. The 800 has logic to switch based on signal strength -- this is great -- except that it effects transmissions where there is a momentary fade, and the radio drops the audio for a few seconds. side-by-side with my BC246, the BC holds the audio. I understand there is a User adjustment to CC settings that may correct this, but I haven't played with it.

The free software for your computer is actually quite good. It needs to be, as you wouldn't want to do much customization using the radio's limited keyset. Unlike other GRE's, one can have 200 scanlists to play with -- very helpful in dissecting UCAN into manageable service types by transmitter location -- then, unique to the device, are "ScanSets" where you can group all your scanlists for a particular scan. You must use both Lists and Sets to have any output. What's nice is you can do Set selection from the radio w/o much fuss. To me, this is the best part of the package.

DB loads from RR work as advertised, and if one wants to get crazy with big customizations, You are allowed 20 different complete databases on your computer which can be swapped out with eachother by linking with the radio. I found it nice to pick up Trunk Systems when traveling out of state -- and it can be done from the radio when necessary (always the complete system when adding from the SD card in the radio)

Firmware updates work identical to host software updates -- no issues for me --

Conventionals must be added from the PC -- unless we are doing search mode on the radio -- and regardless of when updates are made to the 'real' RR DB, GRE collects and builds a new server library every weekend.

The radio can switch the headphone jack for UNITrunker, but I haven't tried that yet.

Any other questions?

 

[kc7rhw]

psr 800

thanks for your repli it sound like u realy enjoy the radio and u think it was worth the big bucks
so i think i will save my money up and get one. by the way are u good with soldering pc boards.

 

[KT7L]

Yeah, the radio costs are large -- partly because we must all pay for the digital codec on every radio...But with this one, you don't need to buy any 3rd party software -- nor will there be any available.

Yes, I can solder PC boards as long as we aren't talking about small SM stuff. You know I live in Park City?

 

[kf7yn]

Thanks for the review Bob. I just spent quite a bit of $ upgrading my ham station so my PSR-500 will have to suffice for awhile.