Hey UPMAN WHAT'S NEXT?

[KE5TLF]

Going by their current track record nothing will be done for at least 9 more months. It really is pitiful the lack of anything positive happening to such a high end piece of equipment in over 2 years and the way they drag their feet in response to glaring problems that have been reported across the board over that same period of time......

 

[MetalCarnage]

Ok, so I guess my reply was a bit flip (but Petrol's reply made Dr. Pepper squirt out my nose).

Seriously, there are several reasons we don't normally pre-announce new features, updates, etc:

1) The firmware isn't fully tested and final until it is fully tested and final. Until that happens, we could decide to remove, add, change, or otherwise modify from our original plan for the final release. I don't want to ever promise something then not deliver...and regret greatly those times when we have.

2) I don't want our competition to have the benefit of knowing what we are going to do a month, two months, or 6 months from now. It is apparent from their pre-announcements that they feel the same way about me.

On point number 2....

maybe here is an idea to mess with the competition and make them panic.....announce that you are coming out with a scanner with ProVoice capability in 5 months.....but let us all know in advance so we dont get all excited

 

[MetalCarnage]

Going by their current track record nothing will be done for at least 9 more months. It really is pitiful the lack of anything positive happening to such a high end piece of equipment in over 2 years and the way they drag their feet in response to glaring problems that have been reported across the board over that same period of time......

Well thats a little negative sounding, lol

 

[Don_Burke]

I suggest ...

suggestion ignored

 

[beischel]

But at least GRE releases updates often, and they fix problems and even add new features. (Like radio ID)

Uniden still does not have a firmware that decodes digital in acceptable manner to many users and sounds decent. And they've been taking away tweaking abilities from users; GRE is adding them.

With that I say look at the track records and buy accordingly. And the last announcement from Uniden promised wonderful things, and it was by no means premature. In fact I think it was long overdue. Though there was delay to fix a missed problem. And so coming soon meant a wait of two additional weeks.

My 996 is going to my nephew. Maybe it will work better at his house where there are no other radio towers near him. I found reception on the 996 to be a hit or miss and the audio quality was not very good plus the annoying tick at the end of each trunking transmission.

But I bought a GRE PSR-500 at Dayton this year and WOW! Sound is 100% better, it does not suffer near as badly from the other nearby radio towers and it scans so much faster. I liked it so much a week later I ordered and received the PSR-600 meant to replace the year old 996. The 996 has just been a complete disappointment and fixes to the firmware have taken too long to come out.

The new GREs have converted a formerly solid Uniden guy into a solid GRE guy.

 

[af5rn]

Annoying tick? Are you sure it isn't the system you are monitoring? I don't hear any tick here on my 996s.

 

[kb9hgi]

How could he announce any updates when Uniden does not have any. I did not see where the last 2 did anything. I must have lost my mind when I bought this 996 for 500.00

 

[beischel]

Annoying tick? Are you sure it isn't the system you are monitoring? I don't hear any tick here on my 996s.

Yes, since it happens with three trunking systems - both digital and non-digital - but does not occur on standard analog channels and only started happening after the 2.X firmware versions were installed including the current beta. Uniden acknowledged it is an issue, but apparently it is not a priority to fix.

 

[beischel]

How could he announce any updates when Uniden does not have any. I did not see where the last 2 did anything. I must have lost my mind when I bought this 996 for 500.00

That's how I feel. Consider selling it and picking up the GRE PSR-600.

 

[yaesumofo]

What other "NEW" "features" if any are in the current Beta versin?..
Yaesumofo

Yes, since it happens with three trunking systems - both digital and non-digital - but does not occur on standard analog channels and only started happening after the 2.X firmware versions were installed including the current beta. Uniden acknowledged it is an issue, but apparently it is not a priority to fix.

 

[jerk]

What other "NEW" "features" if any are in the current Beta versin?..
Yaesumofo

It's jsut to fix the digital decoding problems that cropped up with th release of the new firmware.

I don't have it, because I'm wary of it, but all it does is allow you to adjust the digital decode rate, which the current firmware removed making it automatic and unadjustable for the user.

My opinion is don't look for anything new or different... There still trying to get a "good" voice sound decode on their current scanners.
Even allowing tone search to be enabled while still passing digital voice would be a stretch. Let alone something useful like NAC decoding for those that live in conventional digital areas.

 

[W4KRR]

Yes, since it happens with three trunking systems - both digital and non-digital - but does not occur on standard analog channels and only started happening after the 2.X firmware versions were installed including the current beta. Uniden acknowledged it is an issue, but apparently it is not a priority to fix.

I guess no two people scan under the exact same set of circumstances. Depending on where you are, there's different signal strength levels, antenna elevation, obstructions, interference, weather conditions, the system being monitored, etc. How else can it be explained that some people have no issues with their digital reception, and other people condemn it as the worst sounding noise to ever come out of a speaker?

I have both the BCD396 and BCD996, and have no issues with either. And my Motorola XTS3000, in digital mode, sounds no better or worse than the scanners do. In fact, sometimes the scanners sound better than the XTS does. YMMV.

 

[scosgt]

Actually, there is an interesting application for Radio ID.
TalkPCR does trunked radio ID's with the ICOM PCR 100 and above.

If you monitor, for example, NJSP, you can tag the radio ID when you hear the call letters from the car, and that in the future transmissions tells you what zone or patrol area is talking.
Remember, in a conventional system, the car number tells you where the car is. On a trunked system, the TG only tells you which subsytem you are listening to. The Radio ID also tells you which area you are receiveing. For example, on NJSP there is a talkgroup for NJ Turnpike. But if you tag the radio ID, you then get a visual of WHICH PART of the NJSP the call is from. Makes it very interesting!

 

[b52hbuff]

Going by their current track record nothing will be done for at least 9 more months. It really is pitiful the lack of anything positive happening to such a high end piece of equipment in over 2 years and the way they drag their feet in response to glaring problems that have been reported across the board over that same period of time......

I don't want to pick on you, but I think this is representative of many opinions on the board. I admit to being a fan of Uniden radios, but I'd like to think that I'm realistic about their strengths and weaknesses.

Anyway, we should consider ourselves fortunate to simply be debating this topic. The Pro-96 owners (and I am one) don't have any 'option' of considering a reasonable path towards any feature updates.

I'd love to see some new features. Heck, I'd like to sign an NDA with UPMan and have a chat about what kind of automation features I'd like to see in an upcoming release. But as it stands now, I'm reasonably happy with my radio and it's performance in my application...

 

[KB8UYC]

2) I don't want our competition to have the benefit of knowing what we are going to do a month, two months, or 6 months from now. It is apparent from their pre-announcements that they feel the same way about me.

Uniden has Competition??? Where? Who??? Somebody needs to wake up, GRE pushed Uniden off the face of the earth, and with the latest updates, blew Uniden into outer space!!

UPman, I am not attacking you, but I must say that Uniden as left folks behind, I use to be a Uniden man, but since the Pro96 I have been radio shack, and since the GRE, now GRE and NEVER looking back. A lot of folks love the features of the Unidens, I do to, but for Uniden to not have perfected the digital decode as of yet is in my eyes completely unacceptable. Radio Shack did it. GRE did it, whats Uniden's excuse?

I wrote out Uniden a long time ago, so have many other people and soon more people will.

Its ashame, because Uniden makes great products, but their support of their products SUCKS.

Sorry but when you said that I just wondered who the competition was....now I know...Nobody.

 

[slicerwizard]

for Uniden to not have perfected the digital decode as of yet is in my eyes completely unacceptable. Radio Shack did it. GRE did it, whats Uniden's excuse?

Radio Shack doesn't make scanners. You really think they made your 96?

 

[KB8UYC]

Radio Shack doesn't make scanners. You really think they made your 96?

And I never said that they did. I said Radio Shack got it right, GRE got it right....so again, what is Uniden's excuse? There is not one.

 

[AK9R]

I said Radio Shack got it right, GRE got it right....so again, what is Uniden's excuse? There is not one.

In my opinion, Uniden got it right, too.

I have tested a GRE PSR-600 and a Uniden BCD996T side-by-side with the same antenna. I couldn't see enough of a performance difference between the two to overcome GRE's comparitive susceptability to RF overload and what I see as limitations in GRE's memory structure.

Uniden may not have gotten it right for some users. Likewise, GRE hasn't gotten it right for everybody, either. Some of this choice between GRE and Uniden does come down to personal preference.

 

[b52hbuff]

Uniden may not have gotten it right for some users. Likewise, GRE hasn't gotten it right for everybody, either. Some of this choice between GRE and Uniden does come down to personal preference.

A very balanced response!

Many times folks have said they'd like the RF performance of a GRE, and the firmware features of the Uniden. I do have to give GRE the tip of the hat when it comes to digital decode performance. But I think Uniden *is* closing the gap.

What kind of firmware/programmability/automation has GRE incorporated to move them closer to Uniden? Does GRE have search and store for conventional searches, trs searches, and close call? Does GRE signal stalker support storing the CTCSS?

Both companies have features in their favor...

 

[slicerwizard]

And I never said that they did. I said Radio Shack got it right, GRE got it right

How did Radio Shack get it right when they didn't do anything?