N9EWO PSR800 Review

Status
Not open for further replies.

msradell

Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2003
Messages
183
Location
Louisville, KY
I find this review very hard to follow and overall quite confusing! I've certainly read more concise reviews that provided better information. Also some of the facts seem to be missing or twisted. Isn't the list price for both the PSR-800 and the PRO-18 $499? I realize that the street price for the GRE is cheaper but not the list price.
 

DaveIN

Founders Curmudgen
Database Admin
Joined
Jan 5, 2003
Messages
6,515
Location
West Michigan
What is it you find confusing other than the price? Is there another review we should also read?
 

rwier

Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Messages
1,914
Location
Phoenix, AZ
I find this review very hard to follow and overall quite confusing! .......................................

I believe that the author of the review was unaware that his time and effort would not be suitably appreciated, and thereby constructed a long, and somewhat rambling review. Such a long and rambling review is probably beyond the capacity of some readers' ability to read AND comprehend. I hereby offer a more "easier to read" review of the GRE 800.


Review:

After a few months of use, I purchased a second! 'Nuff said, lol!
 
Last edited:

Swipesy

Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2003
Messages
2,055
Location
Northern Ohio
The reviewer is wrong in his statement that the first programmable scanner was the Electra Bearcat BC 1000. The first programmable scanner was the Tennelec Memoryscan in 1974. I had one of the first ones and still have it and it still works. It was made in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It was the cats meow back then to not have to use crystals. It was programmed by entering a series 0 and 1 (sixteen per frequency). Just a little history for the youngsters, lol.

Tennelec - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Last edited:

SCPD

QRT
Joined
Feb 24, 2001
Messages
0
Location
Virginia
Sorry but I don't think I can sit through all of that. Text is too small and zooming makes it longer to read.
 

Ed_Seedhouse

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jul 10, 2010
Messages
570
Location
Victoria B.C. Canada
I find this review very hard to follow and overall quite confusing! I've certainly read more concise reviews that provided better information. Also some of the facts seem to be missing or twisted. Isn't the list price for both the PSR-800 and the PRO-18 $499? I realize that the street price for the GRE is cheaper but not the list price.

I read it a week ago as the result of a web search, and found it a good read and that it agreed pretty well with my own experience of the unit. I didn't find any difficulty reading it at all.
 

barovelli

Member
Feed Provider
Joined
May 3, 2006
Messages
10
Location
Monterey Bay, California
De-lurking here. Review is about right on to me. An aftermarket antenna beats the stubby OEM, the key panel's flat-clear coating appears to be an afterthought (I have renderd my '800 glossy and like it), audio pops, etc. It also looks more professional radio like. I like that it don't look like a typical scanner.

Reviewer has a thing about paper though. I'm all for letting the user choose to have a hardcopy or not. Still hate it when pdf manuals print out a full page with a 6x9 block of text in the middle. Worse still are companies that send two manuals covering 4 languages. I vote for no paper manuals.

Re: Adaptors. I did leave it on to record for a day using a 5vdc charger for a Droid cellphone for power and got a slight hum in the recordings. Using a computer USB port for power all day/night gave clean audio.

The totally new concept of operating a scanner with a D-pad and few buttons was the great unknown to me. I can operate just about any mass produced scanner out there with no instruction. Manual channel select, scan, enter a freq, set a search etc. Bearcat, Uniden, RadioShack don't matter.

I had one of those Sony ICFC1PC radios when they blew out for $99. Darned if I could not memorize the function of that thing. I still need to think and convert the steps to get either the Icom mobile rig or Yaesu VX7 to scan, and scan a selected bank. Brain, it's wired to 1976 when I got my first Bearcat 210.

Yet I quickly caught on to the nested menus in a Zen MP3 player, the clickwheel of an iPod Photo and the CCWitness. If you ever operated one of those (or dealt with DOS directories) the '800 is a cinch.

The Scanlist/Scanset stuff took a few days to comprehend. Being able to block the noisy low band on service search is a plus. Overall, very happy with the radio, sorry that I waited so long to buy it. Scanning is fun again to me.

David K6AYB

BTW Swipesy, the reviewer said the BC100 was the first handheld programmable scanner. Think he's right.
 
Last edited:

lep

Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2002
Messages
948
I don't find the PSR800 an easy to use scanner. However, I don't find the Review confusing, just the scanner itself to be difficult.
 

barovelli

Member
Feed Provider
Joined
May 3, 2006
Messages
10
Location
Monterey Bay, California
I don't find the PSR800 an easy to use scanner. However, I don't find the Review confusing, just the scanner itself to be difficult.

What's the most difficult? I was slightly intimidated by it at first, but that's over. Best thing going for me is that there's notta lotta trunk systems here. It's all conventional here baby.

I was thinking about making some kind of PSR800 beginner guide for seasoned scanner users.
 

ka3jjz

Wiki Admin Emeritus
Joined
Jul 22, 2002
Messages
25,361
Location
Bowie, Md.
I suspect a beginner guide, oriented toward newcomers, would be a much more useful document. Even seasoned folks would find it useful since I'm sure there are concepts that would be presented in such a document that might be new to them.

We have a start to answering some questions in our wiki already documented in the PC oriented scanner FAQ (anything in blue is a link) but it's nowhere near complete....

GRE/RS PC Object Oriented FAQ - The RadioReference Wiki

In addition we have LOTS of user guides and programming FAQs there too - perhaps some of these would suggest a way to structure your guide...

Category:programming FAQs and Tips - The RadioReference Wiki

ARC500 User Guide - The RadioReference Wiki

FreeScan User Guide - The RadioReference Wiki

If you decide to put it in the wiki and need some help don't hesitate to contact me, bezking or W9RXR

best regards...Mike
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top