I am reading this thread with some certain interest, but until now, I have not felt the need to comment. It has been alluded to a few pages ago, but I will write up my little piece.
First and foremost, I am a certifiable radio nut. 10's of thousands of dollars wrapped up in ham radios, antennas, towers, computers,ETC. As of last year, I have really been embracing the scanning side. Primarily digital scanning. I have outfitted my vehicles and home with most of the wares from GRE and Uniden (NOT the HP-1) and Motorola.
One thing that has continually bothered me about GRE and Uniden is their complete lack of handling a multi site, simulcast system. Here in Wyoming, we have our statewide linked system. From town, I am LOS of several very high level sites, all simulcast, and all VERY close in frequency, and all on top of the VHF paging band. This is a VHF digital scanning nightmare.
The general convention is to attenuate your scanner and try to prevent the overload. I actually use an 800 MHz antenna on VHF, PLUS the attenuator, while I am in town. If not, it is futile to listen to the system. But the other problem comes when I leave town. I have to completely shut off the attenuator AND put on a proper VHF antenna.
I certainly wish BOTH big digital scanner companies would send some test units to Wyoming or a place like Wyoming, where you are fighting massive intermod/multipath issues on a very large simulcast system while also fighting extreme distances between towns.
I also struggle with the physical build quality of these products. Poorly made plastic cases. Volume and squelch knobs which do not tolerate extreme cold or hot temps. Displays which do not handle the temp extremes as well. I understand there are limitations to the LCD properties as well as the knobs. Uniden holds a SLIGHT edge over GRE when it comes to cold weather functionality.
I guess the point of this rambling post (if there is a point) is, who actually tests these things and in what environments (RF and physical)?
WM
