I have been scanning for upwards of 15 years. I bought the GRE handheld preamp for about 50 bucks a year or so ago and found it wasn't much use in a metropolitan city like OKC. But spending the summer in rural Montana, in a valley of only 100K people, I find that my reception is very limited without the preamp. Opening it up and examining the circuitry inside this little box shows that it's basically a 2" x 1" circuit board and a 9V battery. There's an on/off switch, an LED, and a knob to adjust gain from 0-20 db.
Here's what I'd like to see. I'd like to see the next GRE scanner have this circuit (their own GRE preamp) built in. As small as it is and for the difference it makes, it's a necessity outside a metro area. And when you're paying upwards of $500 for a scanner, this little ciruit works magic for reception. You'd have to try it to see the difference it makes. At least it could be a special option when you order the newest model, to add the preamp for an extra 25-50 bucks.
The whole circuit is so small that you could eliminate both BNC connectors (since it's internally inline w/ the antenna), make the on/off (bypass) switch a setting in the scanner (like the attenuator), and make the gain adjustable w/ either a setting in the radio or (not as likely) w/ a small knob on top of the radio. You could tie it to the squelch knob (personally I hate having squelch as a knob at all - who ever uses it anyway?) but the menu option is better.
The biggest annoyance of using this preamp externally is the bulkiness on top of the radio and having to constantly connect and disconnect it to the radio w/ the antenna. It is entirely possibly to move the whole circuit inside the scanner and use the batteries inside to power it if the user chooses to.
So who thinks it would be a good idea for the next GRE scanner to have an internal preamp?
Here's what I'd like to see. I'd like to see the next GRE scanner have this circuit (their own GRE preamp) built in. As small as it is and for the difference it makes, it's a necessity outside a metro area. And when you're paying upwards of $500 for a scanner, this little ciruit works magic for reception. You'd have to try it to see the difference it makes. At least it could be a special option when you order the newest model, to add the preamp for an extra 25-50 bucks.
The whole circuit is so small that you could eliminate both BNC connectors (since it's internally inline w/ the antenna), make the on/off (bypass) switch a setting in the scanner (like the attenuator), and make the gain adjustable w/ either a setting in the radio or (not as likely) w/ a small knob on top of the radio. You could tie it to the squelch knob (personally I hate having squelch as a knob at all - who ever uses it anyway?) but the menu option is better.
The biggest annoyance of using this preamp externally is the bulkiness on top of the radio and having to constantly connect and disconnect it to the radio w/ the antenna. It is entirely possibly to move the whole circuit inside the scanner and use the batteries inside to power it if the user chooses to.
So who thinks it would be a good idea for the next GRE scanner to have an internal preamp?