Open Suggestion to GRE/Uniden

[Citywide173]

I thought I was on Firepics for a minute after reading that classic Ed style passive aggressive, woe is me, post. :twisted:

Only trying to help my co-workers, but the response is nothing but negativity, seems to breed the same.

Are you still a member?

 

[OCO]

I agree with the above post about a scanner with limited functions and simplified controls, but we all know that isn't going to happen anytime soon.

Well, ya never know - Uniden built the MR8100 (bad form factor, poor image rejection, but it was a step in the right direction)...

 

[gmclam]

USB not needed for this problem

The USB port would allow the flexibility of having a USB drive (or SD card) available in a supervisor's vehicle to immediately correct problems. In my case the other night, I would have pulled out my computer and fixed it,

If this was my fleet, and the goal is to restore scanner programming to some "gold standard", I'd carry around a scanner that I can use to CLONE the others from. Much easier than a laptop, much easier than a non-existent USB port and much more portable too. If my scanners were not able to be cloned, or not all the same, I'd change that quickly. Plenty are (all of mine are).

 

[rdale]

Ya know what? Forget I said anything. I identified an issue that is being experienced by my agency, and a fix for it

And I'm sure the scannermakers saw this post. So mission accomplished.

Responder safety is obviously not an issue

Uhh, what? Your responders are only safe because they have a properly programmed scanner? 1) Seems strange 2) I'd spend some time teaching them not to touch the scanner if they don't know what they are doing. Otherwise make it clear they could die.

And to rdale, thanks for the Firepics branded version of ScannerLive that you were supposed to deliver last year but never did. Good luck on your business.

There are other issues going on that prevented it, and I expected to clear those up but couldn't. Sorry it didn't work out, I was hoping I could get around them. You can still use ScannerLive.

Mods, please close this thread, and move my account status to "Banned for the greater good", as it's obvious that my views are wrong, and don't meet with Radio Reference's "greater good"

At first I thought you were just whining, but now I see where this is going! Nice call...

 

[UPMan]

What we did in our BCT15X / BCD996XT / BC346XT / BCD396XT is add a "user stupid" mode. Ok, we don't really call it that, it is actually called "Key Safe Mode." If you press/hold the main control knob while turning on the scanner, it toggles this mode on/off. When on, the user can turn on/off SQKs (like scan lists, but better), but cannot access the menu or permanently lock anything out (temporary lockout is allowed). Had this mode been activated, your issue would likely have not occurred (or at least it would have just been a matter of hitting the right SQKs to re-enable the desired systems set).

It also has the advantage of being available today and not at some dreamed of and distant future.

 

[DaveIN]

I like the "user stupid" mode offered in the Uniden XT series. I'm often overwriting memory, especially when in a hurry. Being able to clone from one radio to another is great if you have properly backed up your files. The latest series of radios actually geared toward the entry level user by design, the GRE/RadioShack iScan (EZ Scan) and Uniden HomePatrol give me the edge in being able to quickly update and replace large amounts of data on the fly and have a storage media I can use in a netbook PC, but I can see how those models are not real practical for a police cruiser. I think the idea of a way to read data from a standard USB port from the radio is a good one, or at least a front microSD port for a base/mobile operation. I suspect the GRE base/mobile version will have this reveal when announced, but time will tell if the scanner manufacturers are really looking into that as an end-user feature.