NXDN Update Now Available!

[G7HID]

Whistler,

Do you test updates before you unleash them to the public?

Thank you.

Some of you folks might look at the Whistler firmware upgrade problems fiasco with horror, but to be fair to them it has become a sort of Whistler tradition, for laughs they first release a real lemon and then within a couple of days they release the real working version and everybody has a good laugh about it - Merry Christmas Whistler...

Mike

 

[sibbley]

I've had the same error after tweaking programming via the scanner menu both TRX-2 and TRX-2.

-Error Detected-
Please contact
Whistler Service
for assistance.
Code: 1-01

Plus, I had a "waiting for main unit" show on the screen of the TRX-2 after changing programming setting via the keypad. Only way to get back to proper working order was to pull the power cord for a few minutes.

I haven't heard one ounce of NXDN yet.

 

[mrkelso]

So basically my TRX-2 is a Brick right now. When i get some time i will have to trying it again just to get all my scan lists back. This update Sucked the big one and waisted my time.

 

[Haley]

So given the fact that none of the rebranded GRE radios have been able to work properly on x2 tdma Phase 2 I had little hope for this nxdn upgrade. I use a apx 7000 for everything except some VHF. The city I work news photography in uses nxdn for about a year now for the police and fire. It's a real pia to use the mounted laptop in the car with DSDplus to get the job done. When I heard about this nxdn upgrade on the ancient psr-800 with a keyboard I thought I would take a chance. I did the programming manually on the radio and the tags on EZ scan. To my utter amazement it works GREAT!!! Sounds terrific. Hopefully you will work on making the other modes you say you offer on this radio work like the nxdn. Fix the phase 2 problems and you will be the industry leader using radios that have been around for years now... thanks for making my job easier... Bob.

So am I reading your post correctly? You have a Whistler 1088 or GRE PSR 800, and you are receiving NXDN on it (them)?? Maybe I misread somewhere , I thought the TRX series were the only NXDN capable models. Seriously interested if true. Mike

 

[03msc]

So am I reading your post correctly? You have a Whistler 1088 or GRE PSR 800, and you are receiving NXDN on it (them)?? Maybe I misread somewhere , I thought the TRX series were the only NXDN capable models. Seriously interested if true. Mike

You are correct - Whistler stated the TRX- series would be the only one to get the NXDN upgrade. If you pay close attention to his post, he is calling a TRX-1 a "GRE PSR 800 with a keyboard". At least that's how I took it. Funny how people will try to be sly and clever to cut down a company with comments such as that but if you think about their post they are really praising the company for something working. I could go on about how (badly) it makes the person look but I think that's obvious so I won't.

I just don't see the point of that attitude. No one makes them buy the scanner and use it. :wink:

 

[trentbob]

You read my post incorrectly. I think it was clear that I was praising Whistler and thanking them. I have a TRX 1. It is a PSR 800 with a keyboard. I bought the radio because of the nxdn upgrade... I wouldn't use it otherwise because I have the apx 7000. The phase two issues are obvious to everyone unless you live in the right spot and don't use it on the go. How could you not see that post as a compliment to the fact that the radio works well on nxdn. All I have been seeing here is negative post. One of the reasons I never go on this site anymore after years and years of being active is post like yours,

 

[SOFA_KING]

OK...So we have bugs in the new firmware and a library that has a bunch of "RAN 0" instead of "All" that was said to be worked on (fixed) overnight and released this morning. I just did a check of all updates on my TRX-2 and the CPU went backwards from 4.0 to 3.0.0.0. I guess they are stopping anyone else from updating to NXDN. No new library update either.

FWIW, I tried some NXDN and liked what I heard once I was on frequency. The big problem I had with limit searching was the nonsense step size on UHF that took way long to scan through, and stopped on several incorrect frequencies prior to reaching the actual frequency, forcing me to manually advance to the correct frequency...then forcing me to manually advance past several more incorrect frequencies to get it searching again. NO OPERATOR STEP SIZE SELECTION FOR MANUAL LIMIT SEARCH? Why not?

That made manual searching almost useless. By the time you got it "on frequency", the traffic was done. You missed it. The I tried Service Search for Ham Radio and got bogged down wasting a whole lot of time stepping through 420 to 440 MHz for nothing. In fact, most of the ham ranges have way too much wasted time looking at frequencies that are not going to yield much of anything. And with no way to tailor the ranges and step size, you are stuck with poor search tools. Only one limit search range, no step size adjustment, and NO EZ-Scan support for searching is beyond comprehension for a "top of the line" scanner.

And to make matters worse, searching is THE ONLY WAY to hear all modes (including DMR and NXDN) on a frequency! I can't even create memory channels that can do that because of that stupid MODE selection barrier of AM, FM, NFM, DMR and NXDN. So if I want to search known Amateur Radio bandplans for any mode, or just for all "DIGITAL MODES", how can I do that? Seems like a simple request. I just want to look for all mode (or just all digital mode) reception on a memory channel, or list of memory channels. Can't do it!

Someone has to rethink the approach to interfacing with this "high end" scanner. Bugs? I can tolerate that knowing it will be fixed. But major limiting design issues like above??? No, there is no excuse for that. It's a major letdown on a great receiver with great sound. No joy on searching out new activity of ANY kind. I hope Whistler is listening to this (and yes, I did make suggestions to them using the official e-mail address) and fixes these shortcomings ASAP. Good hardware, but bad software!

Phil

 

[03msc]

My apologies. However, to call it a PSR 800 with a keyboard and somehow say that is a praise seems contradictory. Apparently you didn't mean it that way but to seemingly ignore additional innovation, etc., that has gone into the scanner (even if the case is basically the same) is a bit of a slap in the face of Whistler. Or so it seemed. Again, apologies.

If I had an APX7000 I would use it, too - certainly can't blame you there! I know they are far superior receiving those systems.

 

[kruser]

So basically my TRX-2 is a Brick right now. When i get some time i will have to trying it again just to get all my scan lists back. This update Sucked the big one and waisted my time.

You can use the manual CPU Updater to get back to version 3.2 or 3.3 if you have that versions installer.
That will fix your issues for now but you will lost NXDN support.

I did try and reset my TRX-2 back to defaults plus wipe ALL my programming and then applied CPU 4.0 again but the radio still gives to 1-00 or 1-01 error so it was not something in my scanlists causing the problem.

After I did all this defaulting stuff, I went ahead and updated by DB back to the latest and also left the newest PC App installed.
My TRX-2 is working fine once again but with CPU version 3.3.

Something in CPU 4.0 breaks things and I suspect it is the same bug for those experiencing the same issue after they upgraded the 1098 type radios yesterday with a new CPU version.

Hopefully Whistler is reading this and will get things sorted out quickly.

edit: One other thing, The manual CPU Updater tells you to hold the Menu button down when plugging in the USB cable to get into CPU upgrade mode.
That does NOT work! You must unplug the wall wart power from the back of the radio and then hold Power AND Menu buttons down while you plug the rear power cable back in. It should then startup in upgrade mode and will use the same serial port it uses when using the radio.
Then you can run the CPU Updater to downgrade the CPU version.

 

[SOFA_KING]

My error message happens when I start SCAN from the main menu. In almost all cases I was able to get it working again by holding the power key to power down, then holding the power key until it was ready. Scan could then begin as normal. Only one time did I have to unplug power, but that was when my USB cable was plugged in. So, no need to "downgrade" if you take these easy reset steps.

Phil

 

[DonS]

edit: One other thing, The manual CPU Updater tells you to hold the Menu button down when plugging in the USB cable to get into CPU upgrade mode.
That does NOT work! You must unplug the wall wart power from the back of the radio and then hold Power AND Menu buttons down while you plug the rear power cable back in. It should then startup in upgrade mode and will use the same serial port it uses when using the radio.
Then you can run the CPU Updater to downgrade the CPU version.

Maybe an easier method: power down and remove both the USB and rear-panel power cables. Then follow the instructions in the updater EXE (i.e. step 1: hold down MENU while plugging in the USB cable). Rear-panel power is not required for the CPU update EXE.

 

[kruser]

Maybe an easier method: power down and remove both the USB and rear-panel power cables. Then follow the instructions in the updater EXE (i.e. step 1: hold down MENU while plugging in the USB cable). Rear-panel power is not required for the CPU update EXE.

Thanks for that tip Don.
That is not a method I tried. I just recalled how I used to do it on the PSR600 (I think) and that did work with the TRX-2.

It looks like Whistler is all over this problem now so hopefully we will not need to do anything more than upgrade the CPU one more time with whatever code they put up!

 

[ME343]

Any one have a video of there scanner decoding NXDN? I want to see how it compares to DSD+ on decode quality.

 

[trentbob]

Thanks for your gracious reply Mark. We can agree to disagree on the TRX 1 is a PSR 800 with a keyboard. I acknowledge the upgrades but the TRX 1 doesn't handle phase II systems any better than the PSR 800. I don't see any difference between the two. They both don't work equally. The keyboard was an excellent development that should have been put on the PSR 800 in the first place. 3 systems I need to monitor are Phase 2 so we really needed to get the subscriber radios to do our job. I just don't have this loyalty to corporations like everyone else has. When I shell out the big bucks I want the radios to work as advertised. Uniden decodes phase 2 better and handles LSM better but is garbled and muffled. I remember the first digital radios in 2003 and the BC 250 was garbled and muffled then too but the GRE Pro 96 was crisp and clear as a bell. If Whistler could make upgrades to their radios and make Phase 2 work properly handling LSM issues it would be one hell of a good radio. Once again I want to let everyone know out there that the nxdn upgrade handles the trunked system in my city excellently. It sounds a hundred times better than DSD decoding. Have a good day Mark... Bob.

 

[buddrousa]

Hi Bob hope all is well enjoy the TRX and try it in your SIMULCAST WORLD and see if it is any better than the others you have tried.

 

[03msc]

LSM is certainly a difficulty but it seems to be across the board between both brands - some say Uniden works better in their environment while others say a Whistler model works better in theirs. I guess I deduce from those statements that it depends on the system and other factors (location of the scanner, etc.) which works best.

Many have reported the TRX- scanners do much better than previous GRE or Whistler models. Again, I think it is all subjective to location, system, etc. That's why those threads that get started where someone asks "which is better" are never resolved - people post "Uniden!" and another posts "Whistler!" and they are both right because for their particular system and location that one works best.

Some have noted before in other threads that no consumer grade scanner will ever conquer the LSM issues. That remains to be seen but since it is so difficult to handle I don't fault Uniden or Whistler for the difficulties their scanners have.

I'm not brand-loyal like some are - I use both Uniden and Whistler scanners daily.

 

[trentbob]

Hey Buddy how are you... yeah it's been a year since I've had the apx 7000, can you imagine, it seems like yesterday we were talking about it, needless to say I love it. Unfortunately the TRX 1 does not work on any of the p2 systems I monitor, it handles LSM just as bad as the PSR 800 but this nxdn upgrade is fantastic on the trunked system I monitor. Very impressed and satisfied. Now I can actually hear the cops away from the laptop in the car and at the crime scene LOL. Take care.

 

[buddrousa]

Cool glad it works for you they changed some of the filtering and I saw your post after I ask sorry. I just was looking for someone that could see a difference if there was one. Take care.

 

[troymail]

Some have noted before in other threads that no consumer grade scanner will ever conquer the LSM issues.

Let hope this isn't true.... I think it can be done - but we'll have to wait and see at what cost.... Supposedly, Unication claims to have done it with their "pager" but it's far too expensive for what it does (even with $200 instant discounts)...and really cannot serve as a scanner - best I can tell.

 

[WhistlerWendy]

New updates available at 3:30 CST/4:30 EST.

Happy Scanning!
WW