Newbie, just ordered the PSR-500

[PeachesAndDiesel]

I didn't see a forum for new users so I am taking my chances here. Sorry of this is the wrong place.

I just orderd the PSR-500 today. I am brand new to scanners. I don't know anything at all about them or the systems they scan. I have always been interested in getting into this hobby. I finally made the plunge today after reading this message board for a few weeks now.

Is there any place on this message board to help newbies get their feet wet without drowning? I really want to be able to understand all of this stuff and enjoy my new hobby.

I am considered a gadget guru and computer geek by my peers. I am hoping this will help me in the learning curve.

Anyway, I am happy to be here.

-PeachesAndDiesel

PS, my username comes from an old Eric Clapton song with that title.

 

[DaveIN]

You really need to read the forums and the Wiki: http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/PSR-500

Also the December Popular Communications Magazine has an article on programming the 500.
http://www.popular-communications.com/PC Dec 07 Highlights.html

 

[jimg]

I see you are up and running.

 

[PeachesAndDiesel]

You really need to read the forums and the Wiki: http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/PSR-500

Also the December Popular Communications Magazine has an article on programming the 500.
http://www.popular-communications.com/PC Dec 07 Highlights.html

Will do.

P&D

 

[PeachesAndDiesel]

I see you are up and running.

Yep! I am glad to be here.

I put a rush on the shipping when I ordered the unit. I hope they have them in stock.

P&D

 

[troymail]

If you are planning on listening to a trunk radio system, the easiest way to get up and running on a single system is (a) look up the control channel frequencies on RadioReference for the system you want to listen to (b) turn on the radio (c) slowly and carefully follow the on-screen prompts for programming (d) hit scan.

Watch the "talkgroup IDs" pop-up on the display and match them to the TGIDs listed on the RR website...

You can get a whole lot more fancy and save alot of time by (a) getting a premium account with RR which allows you to donwload the entire system (including "alpha tags" or labels for each talkgroup) and put them directly into your radio using one of two programs - Win500 (http://www.starrsoft.com/software/win500/default.asp) or PSREdit (www.psredit.com) [both come with a trial window that allows you to try them before you buy them].

 

[k5xs]

So have you received it yet? Can you give us some first impressions?

I am about ready to take the plunge myself and would appreciate your "out of the box" comments.

Thanks.

 

[PeachesAndDiesel]

So have you received it yet? Can you give us some first impressions?

I am about ready to take the plunge myself and would appreciate your "out of the box" comments.

Thanks.

Yes, I received it via UPS yesterday.

My first impressions being a newbie is, "Wow!", this thing is complicated!
I then downloaded PSREDIT and also became a premium subscriber to Radioreference.com. I have sucessfully programed my scanner to pick up all the conventional and trunked systems I wanted to monitor in my area.

The radio sounds crystal clear! I have a lot to learn though.
"jimg" is a good friend of mine here on this site, and I know he will help me out, won't you Jim?

P&D

PSR-500

 

[ka3jjz]

Welcome P&D...

One thing that you will likely need to become familiar with - even if it's just the basics- is trunking. Essentially, this is the ability of a system to support multiple users that share frequencies in a network. We have a wiki article devoted to several links with FAQs, and most important, the basics...anything that's in blue is a link of one kind or another...

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Trunking

We also have articles on antennas and much more. Our main page in the wiki indexes just about everything we have. Take your time - there's lots to explore here. 800+ articles is not absorbed in a night, hi.

73s and happy reading....Mike

 

[jimg]

Yes, I received it via UPS yesterday.

My first impressions being a newbie is, "Wow!", this thing is complicated!
I then downloaded PSREDIT and also became a premium subscriber to Radioreference.com. I have sucessfully programed my scanner to pick up all the conventional and trunked systems I wanted to monitor in my area.

The radio sounds crystal clear! I have a lot to learn though.
"jimg" is a good friend of mine here on this site, and I know he will help me out, won't you Jim?

P&D

PSR-500

I am looking forward to comparing my 396 side-by-side with your 500, especially in monitoring Metro Nashville, to see if I want to do the trade with Grove for the 500.

 

[krbprogrammer]

I too am a newbie and freaking out....

Hello to all,

I just received my 500 yesterday and didn't wanna sleep! I spent the better part of today trying to get it to do something. I registered with RR and paid for the downloads...for my area. Now, I really do not get much and I am disappointed. Not in the 500, but rather my lack of knowledge in being able to get this working correctly. I am a computer programmer of 10 years - so I am not a complete(?) idiot - but I will say that this little radio is very intimidating and has me scratching my head!! I have tried all day to "scan" all the lists I have programmed - it does ok then stops and hangs on a single frequency and will not move. Then after pressing the dwn arrow to scan further - it stops, picks up a signal...then moves on to get stuck at static. I even read other posts about getting the RadioShack 800 antenna for better reception. I tried it at home and drove 15 miles out of town - no better reception than the stock ducky. I will say I am sure it is NOT the radio, but my lack of intellect with scanning. I am determined though...happy scanning!!

Lastly, with the 2 mentioned software utils - is there not one that actually has a working help file system? They want you to pay for the product but neither one comes with HELP!! Are we all suppose to know what 'Global Flag Track' setting is? I don't. Or a Talkgroup priority setting? Again, I don't. Is there any software for DUMMIES like me? I just wanted to listen to the various public service dept whizzing by my house everyday - thats all. Yet I cannot

 

[Swipesy]

Getting Started

I am not a newbie to digital scanners so I did not have much of a problem getting going with the PSR500 but I would suggest you try this.

Load one of the VFolders (anyone) into active memory. Download the VFolder onto your PC using either PSREdit or WIN500 and look how the scanner is programmed (Only TSYS systems are on the provided VFolders). If you study how one of these programs the radio you should easiesly be able to program your area in.

Convention programing is rather straight forward.

That's how I got up and running in 15 minutes.