GRE PSR-500 Post Release Thread

[troymail]

If I read your above correctly, the GRE radio also has the "T" so when it is camped on a CC the user can tell the difference between a strong but possibly noisy signal (5-bars) vs a good signal ("T" is displayed).

Yes - that is my understanding and it appears that is the way it is working on my unit. Seems to hold a "solid" T while sampling the CC on a given system and then you can see what looks like a "blik" of the T when it jumps to the next CC it is supposed to check...

While it is receiving a voice channel on my primary TRS/system (Anne Arundel, MD), the T blinks at a very high rate but is still visible (I'm thinking this is for the "priority scan/interupt" feature of the radio). I do have a couple of TGs on this system set to PRIORITY but priority is currently tuned off.

For the Baltimore City system, when a voice channel is active, the T goes away completely.

I think they're both 36oo baud systems but Baltimore City is digital and AA County is mostly analog.

For one of the systems I'm having problems with, I get 5 bars of strength for the control channel but the T doesn't remain as constant as I believe it should suggesting to me that the radio is locking in and then losing the lock (it seems to fade in and out).

 

[SCPD]

Yes - that is my understanding and it appears that is the way it is working on my unit. Seems to hold a "solid" T while sampling the CC on a given system and then you can see what looks like a "blik" of the T when it jumps to the next CC it is supposed to check...

While it is receiving a voice channel on my primary TRS/system (Anne Arundel, MD), the T blinks at a very high rate but is still visible (I'm thinking this is for the "priority scan/interupt" feature of the radio). I do have a couple of TGs on this system set to PRIORITY but priority is currently tuned off.

For the Baltimore City system, when a voice channel is active, the T goes away completely.

I think they're both 36oo baud systems but Baltimore City is digital and AA County is mostly analog.

For one of the systems I'm having problems with, I get 5 bars of strength for the control channel but the T doesn't remain as constant as I believe it should suggesting to me that the radio is locking in and then losing the lock (it seems to fade in and out).

I think the "T" will also follow the subaudio data on an analog voice channel so you may see it blink at the cadence of the data rate.

I think some of the concern on the thread is related to the "T" and signal bars! It seems that maybe the radio provides some good real-time information and there is some adjustment and learning for us to do, to know how to intrepret this newly available real-time data?

 

[kikito]

it has 100 main groups and 10 sub groups...for a total of 1000 unique groups.

Ooops, I stand corrected on that.

....but i just wish that the subgroup system would be combined with the new gre system

And when it comes to that, that's also a "double-edge" sword. I don't know how many times I want to quickly zoom into only monitoring one system or group for a particular event and having to disable a whole bunch of those just to get to the one you want gets to be a pain too.

 

[troymail]

I think the "T" will also follow the subaudio data on an analog voice channel so you may see it blink at the cadence of the data rate.

I think some of the concern on the thread is related to the "T" and signal bars! It seems that maybe the radio provides some good real-time information and there is some adjustment and learning for us to do, to know how to intrepret this newly available real-time data?

I agree - the first indicator that we now have that wasn't available before is the LED on the PSR500... if we missed a conversation in the past, unless we were watching the display closely, we probably never noticed it. With the LED lighting up the room, you can't help but notice now...

Also having that "T" flashing is something a bit new.... the rough equivilent to the "T" on the BC-396 is watching the frequency display -- if you see the control channel frequency displayed on the 396, the radio is locking in on the signal... If not, the signal is too weak or experiencing interference - same concept.

 

[SCPD]

I agree - the first indicator that we now have that wasn't available before is the LED on the PSR500... if we missed a conversation in the past, unless we were watching the display closely, we probably never noticed it. With the LED lighting up the room, you can't help but notice now....

Yes the tri-color LED seems to alert us to the moment a voice channel becomes active, even if there is no voice available (a momentary transmission, or maybe the end of a previous transmission). Before we had to look at the LCD display to see if the radio was trunking to a voice channel.

 

[kikito]

I'm not sure what you mean. I have well over 10 banks (systems) programmed(probably about 50), and they are accessable with the quick keys. Then within the systems, I usually have a police group and a fire group.

Edit: This is on the 996. The 396 is not able to be programmed like this?

Yeah, you can program the 396 just the same and that's sort of how I have it. Two of the limitations I already mentioned earlier, duplicating TGs and zooming in to just one system.

Another limitation of the 396 is not having direct access to a channel just like in the past format of banks. This is what the PSR-500 brought back by letting us punch in an Object ID and go directly there. Of course, you'll probably be able to remember but a few of those so that's where the other neat feature of the 500 comes in, do a search for the talkgroup, frequency or tag. That's another limitation of the 396, especially when you get to have 50, 60 or more systems with sub-groups on each: finding what you're looking for, especially if it's stuff you haven't monitored in a while, there's a lot of "knob flicking" going on!

LOL! It's obvious that the more we dig into it, the more we can see how both have their pros and cons. So it's going to make it a lot harder for some people to decide which to get. It's still a little early but I think the PSR-500 is going to suit my needs better. The 20 scanlists will be sufficient for me but with better planning I'll make even better use of it. That coupled with the 21 V-folders, I'll do pretty good. YMMV

 

[troymail]

Yeah, you can program the 396 just the same and that's sort of how I have it. Two of the limitations I already mentioned earlier, duplicating TGs and zooming in to just one system.

Another limitation of the 396 is not having direct access to a channel just like in the past format of banks. This is what the PSR-500 brought back by letting us punch in an Object ID and go directly there. Of course, you'll probably be able to remember but a few of those so that's where the other neat feature of the 500 comes in, do a search for the talkgroup, frequency or tag. That's another limitation of the 396, especially when you get to have 50, 60 or more systems with sub-groups on each: finding what you're looking for, especially if it's stuff you haven't monitored in a while, there's a lot of "knob flicking" going on!

LOL! It's obvious that the more we dig into it, the more we can see how both have their pros and cons. So it's going to make it a lot harder for some people to decide which to get. It's still a little early but I think the PSR-500 is going to suit my needs better. The 20 scanlists will be sufficient for me but with better planning I'll make even better use of it. That coupled with the 21 V-folders, I'll do pretty good. YMMV

I suppose in time I'd start remembering the OBJECT IDs but that seems a bit backwards to me... My first TRS capable was the BC-235... it only gave you a display of the talk-group ID (like "16"). The whole purpose of the alpha tags was so you didn't have to remember that talkgroup 16 was "Fire dispatch", etc. but now I need to remember seemingly random object IDs (or use the search function as you mention - which I used today for the first time -- worked great . . just takes a bit of time to go through the steps).

The older radios gave the ability to enter a TG ID while scanning a specific bank/system (like 16) and go right to that talkgroup. It would be nice to have that back but it would be tough given that you can now have more than one TRS system in a "scanlist" on the PSR500...

...... and yes, if people thought is was hard to decide which was better for them before, it's even harder now...

I've seen some online sites offering programming services for the scanners they sell... these are starting to get so complicated that I may open my own online business to do the same...:lol:

 

[kikito]

I suppose in time I'd start remembering the OBJECT IDs but that seems a bit backwards to me...

Well, it depends on how you look at it. I was looking at it this way, on current Unidens, if you want to go to a favorite/specific conventional frequency or talkgroup, you'll have to start "knob flicking". On the current GRE, if you remember the Object ID, just punch it in and you're there. I guess it's just more of the "some people will prefer one way over the other" kind of thing.

BTW, on the GRE as you may know, you can use the arrows to go through your scanlists and objects too. Left or right goes through the scanlists. Up or down goes through the objects.

 

[LEH]

Somewhere in the closet, I have an old Regency 1500 scanner. It had 55 channels that were direct access. All one had to do was punch the two digit channel and you would either lock or unlock the channel.

It was difficult enough to remember 55 channels, say nothing to the possible 1800 one can have here.

Now let's not get off onto channels and objects being different. Each is an individual value that would require you to remember what it is for your direct access.

Also, with the 1500, I could access channels while scanning.

 

[kevins669]

Wildcard in MAN mode

Got the 500 in today...

I do not remember if this has been addressed in the previous 300 posts and the search turned up nothing...

So if I have a system that I only want to have a wildcard group search added to it... and I do NOT want to add it to a scan list... and I want to go to MAN mode, sit on the wildcard, and listen to all of the groups... And say I get on the water department. How do I search for some other group? The manual does not address this directly.

For instance, I have a system I would never really listen to, thus, I have absolutely no need for it in a scan list. Say it is the power company (Entergy). One night my power may go out, and I want to find out what is going on. I go to the Entergy TSYS, and my wildcard group object. It could get stuck on a group, and I want to search for the one I want to hear. On the 96, you could just keep hitting scan, then pause to hold on the group you wanted.

Any clues??

 

[troymail]

Got the 500 in today...

I do not remember if this has been addressed in the previous 300 posts and the search turned up nothing...

So if I have a system that I only want to have a wildcard group search added to it... and I do NOT want to add it to a scan list... and I want to go to MAN mode, sit on the wildcard, and listen to all of the groups... And say I get on the water department. How do I search for some other group? The manual does not address this directly.

For instance, I have a system I would never really listen to, thus, I have absolutely no need for it in a scan list. Say it is the power company (Entergy). One night my power may go out, and I want to find out what is going on. I go to the Entergy TSYS, and my wildcard group object. It could get stuck on a group, and I want to search for the one I want to hear. On the 96, you could just keep hitting scan, then pause to hold on the group you wanted.

Any clues??

I'm pretty sure it has to be in at least one of the 21 (+1) scanlists (+1 being FAV)...

You could always put it in and then lock it out....

 

[jpryor]

I'm setting up some of my object IDs with somewhat meaningful numbers that correlate with the zone and channel numbers from my local trunking system. For example Object 0101 is programmed as Zone 01 (Sheriff Ops) Channel 01 (Home Dispatch) and so on down the line. I've accomplished this via some proactive planning and manual manipulations using the PSRedit software.

The one thing I do like with the the 396 is that it will allow one to easily assign multiple groups to each quick key, but I seldom assigned more than 10 or 20 keys overall. So the 20 scan lists don't sound too limiting for my uses, but no easy way to lock out entire subgroups. But with the temporary lockout feature, I'll probably use that feature in place of locking out entire groups or systems.

 

[ajl442]

Have you tried it on the LATIE system yet? If so does it properly decode the system? How well does it compare to the 96?

Got the 500 in today...

I do not remember if this has been addressed in the previous 300 posts and the search turned up nothing...

So if I have a system that I only want to have a wildcard group search added to it... and I do NOT want to add it to a scan list... and I want to go to MAN mode, sit on the wildcard, and listen to all of the groups... And say I get on the water department. How do I search for some other group? The manual does not address this directly.

For instance, I have a system I would never really listen to, thus, I have absolutely no need for it in a scan list. Say it is the power company (Entergy). One night my power may go out, and I want to find out what is going on. I go to the Entergy TSYS, and my wildcard group object. It could get stuck on a group, and I want to search for the one I want to hear. On the 96, you could just keep hitting scan, then pause to hold on the group you wanted.

Any clues??

 

[troymail]

I'm setting up some of my object IDs with somewhat meaningful numbers that correlate with the zone and channel numbers from my local trunking system. For example Object 0101 is programmed as Zone 01 (Sheriff Ops) Channel 01 (Home Dispatch) and so on down the line. I've accomplished this via some proactive planning and manual manipulations using the PSRedit software.

I spend w-a-a-a-a-y too much time on this hobby already so I don't think I'll be going to that extreme -- however, I'm an curious how you are doing this -- can you explain a bit more?

 

[jpryor]

I spend w-a-a-a-a-y too much time on this hobby already so I don't think I'll be going to that extreme -- however, I'm an curious how you are doing this -- can you explain a bit more?

Each object takes up a specific number of Object ID "blocks":

CONV - 1 block
TGRP - 1 block
TSYS - MOT/P25 10 blocks, EDACS 4 blocks, LTR 4 blocks
SRCH - 2 blocks
SWPR - 2 blocks

I started with creating about 50 conventional objects for IDs 0000 to 0050. Then I added a handful trunking systems (Object 0051, 0061, 0071, 0081, 0091). Then I included some wildcard group and private IDs for the preceding systems to pad the Object ID counter up to 0100, then my next Object ID of 0101 is the Zone 01 / Channel 01 talkgroup for my main county trunking system (and then 0102 to 0116 for the rest of the zone one channels). I've added random groups of conventional frequencies and talkgroups for other systems between Object IDs 0117 and 0200. The I start with objects 0201 to 0216 for the Zone 02 (Channels 01-16) for my main trunking system. And then so on down the line. I've only got the first two zones setup this way at this point, but I'm hoping I have enough room and objects to pad this out to about Zone 15.

The plan is that I can rapidly and consistently recall at least the zone and channel numbers for the main system that I'll be listening to. If I hear a reference of turn to Zone 7, Channel 2--I can easily hit MAN, then type in 0702, and ENT and I'm there.

 

[RoninJoliet]

Today, all day i compared the PSR500 to my PRO96,2096 and especially the 396...On the ILL-Starcom System the PRO96,2096, and 396 all hear on three different towers,113,101,125- 90% of talk groups while as others have mentioned the PSR500 has a flickering "T" with a 5 bar signal but NO modulation...As mentioned by one poster its specs may be too tight...On my CM5094A outside antenna with 9913 coax where the 2096 and 396 are flawless it was the same, no difference...Its a "fantastic" scanner=great sensativity,audio,programming is not hard....Excellent light display...#s keys pretty small,would rather have groups like Uniden396 rather than one big dump of IDs, hard to keep track of where they are like the PRO92....Changing antennas made no difference on ID drop-outs, when it wants to talk it talks...The SNFM 7.5 audio is pretty "low" until you use the "Audio-Blast-6%"....My personal opinion is its a keeper but its gonna need a adjustment on hearing these Starcom towers just a little better however, at least my wife is not screamming at me about that god-awful machine-gunning....Thirty five years in the hobby, just my OPINION, thanks for reading....

 

[kikito]

The one thing I do like with the the 396 is that it will allow one to easily assign multiple groups to each quick key, but I seldom assigned more than 10 or 20 keys overall.

You can do the same with the 500, assign multiple groups to each scanlist. Unless I'm not understanding what you mean....

 

[mancow]

Just for info I did hear back from GRE and am in communication with them. They have been very responsive to the issue and are doing all they can to help me though things here.

I'm confident they will make things right if it ends up being something other than a stupid mistake on my part.

 

[TES]

Each object takes up a specific number of Object ID "blocks":

CONV - 1 block
TGRP - 1 block
TSYS - MOT/P25 10 blocks, EDACS 5 blocks, LTR 5 blocks
SRCH - 2 blocks
SWPR - 2 blocks

I started with creating about 50 conventional objects for IDs 0000 to 0050. Then I added a handful trunking systems (Object 0051, 0061, 0071, 0081, 0091). Then I included some wildcard group and private IDs for the preceding systems to pad the Object ID counter up to 0100, the my next Object ID of 0101 is the Zone 01 / Channel 01 talkgroup for my main county trunking system (and then 0102 to 0116 for the rest of the zone one channels). I've added random groups of conventional frequencies and talkgroups for other systems between Object IDs 0117 and 0200. The I start with objects 0201 to 0216 for the Zone 02 (Channels 01-16) for my main trunking system. And then so on down the line. I've only got the first two zones setup this way at this point, but I'm hoping I have enough room and objects to pad this about to about Zone 15.

The plan is that I can rapidly and consistently recall at least the zone and channel numbers for the main system that I'll be listening to. If I hear a reference of turn to Zone 7, Channel 2--I can easily hit MAN, then type in 0702, and ENT and I'm there.

Sounds like a lot of work. The latest release of Win 500 allows me to manipulate and assign Object ID's at will.

 

[jpryor]

You can do the same with the 500, assign multiple groups to each scanlist. Unless I'm not understanding what you mean....

Multiple groups from the stand point of having separate Fire, EMS and Police systems all assigned to Quick Key 1. I can lock out the entire Police group at once on the 396. With the 500, I need to lock out each police frequency individually. There is not an easy way to turn off a group of channels in a scan list quickly, they can only be locked out one object at a time. But at least with the temporary lock out, I can limit the amount of Police traffic pretty easily (and not have to forget about turning it back on later).

I was also used to having many local business trunking systems assigned to one Quick Key on the 396, and was used to being able to easily turn systems on and off within one key. Again with the 500 I can still keep them all on one key, but can really only lock out individual talkgroups and not entire systems all at once.

Overall it is still better off that the traditional banks and channels of the 96/97, but just does not have the sub-grouping capability of the 396. With the added flexibility of being able to assign one object to multiple scan lists and the temporary lock out, (and v-scanners when needed), it will still work out ok with the 500, just have to get used to the differences.