Introduction:
My name is Mathew Yeske, I have been a radio hobbyist “full time” since May 2007. All of my life I have been extremely interested in radio and communications. From the time I was a young lad I was pulling apart my RadioShack walkie talkies and my dad’s shortwave radio. (Doh!) Just so I could understand how they work. I don’t claim to know everything about radio or the science behind them; however I, being one of the first 1000 people to own a PSR-500 think its only right to review and give others my thoughts on it. Don’t expect a lot of technical mumbo jumbo! This review is from the point of a novice /amateur scanner hobbyist and is meant to give those out there a feel for the radio on the same technical level as I have experienced it. My main reason for reviewing this radio is to help people with little to no experience with radios, make there decision on this radio or possibly a competitor’s model. I hope you enjoy this simple look at the PSR-500. Please keep in mind I have no real bias to a brand or type or radio. The radios in my collection include ICOM, RS, GRE and UNIDEN. This review is being done only 4 days after I have had my new PSR-500, however in saying that I have not put this radio down for the past 2 days and have probably run and used this radio a total of 20 hours since I came into contact with it. So with out further adue here is my simple review. Oh and please don’t mind my spelling, I am writing this in haste at work! Hehehe 
Rating system:
*- Poor, **- Acceptable, ***- Good, ****-Awesome, *****-Outstanding.
Topics:
• Asthetics
• Accessories
• Durability
• Functionality: (Digital, Conventional analog, Sensitivity, Button layout, Object database/programming.)
• Battery
• Extras: ( Computer programming / RR / Win500 )
• Final thoughts
Asthetics
Being a simple “Meat and Potatoes” type man I enjoy a nice clean look to all of my electronics. I tend to go with black, gray or silver gadgets that do not attract a lot of attention while in use. I tend to find that most radio companies try to adhere to the simple yet tough look to there radios. My first approach to the PSR-500 was that it looked like my old Pro-97. Now there is nothing wrong with this. The charcoal and silver approach makes the radio look clean and well… like a radio should look. I would not complain if the radio was entirely black but can understand why GRE decided to go with the silver highlights. The screen placement in my opinion is way better then its predecessors Having the speaker above the screen seems to project sound better when I’m on the road or just have it sitting table top. Button layout is intuitive and they have coated the buttons in what I can only explain as a hard shell plastic. This makes the buttons tactile response very easy. Ie: You know when you have depressed a button. Gre have gone with a new volume / squelch knob (thank the lord) which allows you to independently adjust the volume and the squelch without effecting one of the other (a common problem with pro series radios from radio shack). Lastly the little LED that changes colors! For a lot of people this may seem a bit annoying or flashy but I find this is the icing on the ascetic cake. Having this light has already helped me avoid accidents on the road (we will get to this more in-depth later) and in a pure ascetic value… ITS JUST PLAIN COOL. Over all you have a very simple looking radio maybe even a bit stealthy but all around it’s a very pleasing radio to look at. The only change I would have made is added the multi color changing LED to the screens led’s as well as the indicator. Instead of that old boring orange back light, again my personal change others might say that this would get annoying.
**** 4/5 Stars.
Accessories
Holy heck, what can I say about this topic! GRECOM was bang on with this radio. Included in the box was a power adapter, both yellow and black battery holders (Yellow has a charging circuit in it). Software based manual and *drum roll* a USB CABLE! Thank the heavens! When using the USB based cable to upload a full 20 scan list + 300 objects it took around 6 seconds. None of my other radios had all these accessories in the box, leaving me to go shopping at RadioShack for C-type adapters and third party cables. The psr-500 left nothing to desire for base accessories for the radio. The only thing that some people may find important to upgrade or change is the stock antenna. I find this antenna works like a dream for the area that I am in. city of 1,000,000 people. Some however may want a specialized antenna for air, 800 MHz systems ect… I also chose to add a screen protector and a Lilkase to my radio. I wanted to protect my near $600 investment.
***** 5/5 Stars.
Durability
Like any responsible electronics owner I love to keep my gadgets in pristine order, Id rather have something last me years then have to re buy it in a few months. Unfortunately at the end of the day most companies build there electronics with about a 1cm drop allowance. Screens that scratch, paint that chips, buttons that wear. These are all just a part of where our valued electronic companies have gone to save a few extra bucks.
The Psr-500 is built out of “High tensile plastic” this allows the radio to be stuffed in a bag or put on a belt with no real concern for a broken radio. I have not seen many other radio’s with the exception of HAM radios that are built much differently. Bottom line if you drop it enough it’s going to break, but that goes for anything so I can’t rate it on drops. The screen seems to be pretty scratch proof, I added a screen protector just for good measure. The buttons are much nicer then most radios I have met. The hard plastic coating ensures that after years of sweaty fingers and outdoor use will not cause the numbers and letters to wear off. Overall I can only suggest just like any other radio, you buy a case for it if you want to protect it. I have yet to see a hard case for this unit and my soft case from lilkase is on the way. If I had it my way I would have used some metal on a radio like this, even at this cost, however I could see it adding weight turning some users off.
*** 3.5/5 Stars. (did not know how to make a half a star on a keyboard lol)
Functionality
With more features and options then I can shake a stick at I don’t even know where to begin. This radio does pretty much anything you would want a scanner to do. With the exception of the hardcore fan boys of the illegal side of things Ie: cell phones and decrypting encryption.
Keep in mind folks there is a lot of radio between 0 – 1300 mhz! Sure there are steps but who wants to listen to half a cell phone conversation or an FM radio station on there 600$ piece of equipment. From what I understand most of you are looking to listen to HAM, PUBLIC SAFTEY, AIR (Military and otherwise) and COMMERTIAL.
These are what I see most people talking about on the forums and this is what I spend most of my time listening to. For that reason I will try to break down functionally on a simple level and explain what I have found. Warning: I will not be getting into the technical aspect of how these bands work, nor will I argue that one things works better then the other. By now we should all know there are a million different add on’s and antennas that do different things to make signals sound and work well. I am solely looking at the functionality of the radio in these situations. Note as well that this is my opinion in my city; this may change in a smaller or larger setting.
Digital Trucking: (PUBLIC SAFTY / SOME COMERTIAL): I would say this was 90% of the reason I bought this radio. I had been putting around in the analog world for a long time. I was Limited to EMS and FIRE public safety on a 800mhz Motorola type II hybrid system. I was also limited to conventional and analog based commercial systems. Let me tell you something folks I am confident in saying this is the best sounding radio I have personally ever heard decode a digital system! Expect for a few minor signal quarks and blips, I can clearly understand what a dispatcher or unit is saying from 15 – 20 feet away. Over the weekend I was driving in a reasonably loud 1989 Camery windows down and my radio in the cup holder. I could hear every nuance of radio with no problems and that was only using the speaker provided in the unit. Even my girlfriend who has been a back seat listener to my hobby commented on the quality of sound compared even to my analog pro-97. I have listened to 996’s and 396’s and found the sound to be tinny or at best compressed, like talking through a mason jar. This radio seems to be very concise and clear even some bass tones make it out of that tiny speaker. Color me impressed, if you want digital action this radio functions like a dream. The other half of functionality is the programming and use of this system. That’s where Object orientated programming comes in…
Object programming: At first I was hesitant to even think on this level. WHAT?! No banks!, just a bunch of objects floating around in a tank? How is the radio going to know what to do? Well that’s the thing! Scan lists are there to help! If you throw in lets say a 800mhz trucking system MOT II you program all aspects of this system as objects, even the trunk system itself is an object. You can then address the objects ether by the object itself in a manual fashion or by using scan lists, (a nice way of saying banks.) So what’s the benefit you ask? If you have a system that you wish to split up say you have a digital system with FIRE, EMS and POLICE in it. You only have to put in one System and tell the objects which scan lists to adhere too. EX.
My radio is programmed as such (this is my first attempt at programming It seems to work great for me)
Scan lists 1-20
Calgary digital – all of the Calgary digital system.
Calgary police- all of the districts and police channels only.
Calgary ems- All ems Chan only.
Calgary fire- All fire Chan only.
Airport authority- Only airport digital chan
Enmax- Only digital Enmax (our city power company)
Courts- Only digital Courts
Traffic Police- Only traffic chan
Special Police- Only special channels
Dist 1 – Police
Dist 2
Dist 3
Dist 4
Dist 5
Dist 6
Dist 7
RCMP – Conventional FM
ATCO – Convention FM
Simplex – Convention simplex chan for public safety.
See post 2.
My name is Mathew Yeske, I have been a radio hobbyist “full time” since May 2007. All of my life I have been extremely interested in radio and communications. From the time I was a young lad I was pulling apart my RadioShack walkie talkies and my dad’s shortwave radio. (Doh!) Just so I could understand how they work. I don’t claim to know everything about radio or the science behind them; however I, being one of the first 1000 people to own a PSR-500 think its only right to review and give others my thoughts on it. Don’t expect a lot of technical mumbo jumbo! This review is from the point of a novice /amateur scanner hobbyist and is meant to give those out there a feel for the radio on the same technical level as I have experienced it. My main reason for reviewing this radio is to help people with little to no experience with radios, make there decision on this radio or possibly a competitor’s model. I hope you enjoy this simple look at the PSR-500. Please keep in mind I have no real bias to a brand or type or radio. The radios in my collection include ICOM, RS, GRE and UNIDEN. This review is being done only 4 days after I have had my new PSR-500, however in saying that I have not put this radio down for the past 2 days and have probably run and used this radio a total of 20 hours since I came into contact with it. So with out further adue here is my simple review. Oh and please don’t mind my spelling, I am writing this in haste at work! Hehehe 
Rating system:
*- Poor, **- Acceptable, ***- Good, ****-Awesome, *****-Outstanding.
Topics:
• Asthetics
• Accessories
• Durability
• Functionality: (Digital, Conventional analog, Sensitivity, Button layout, Object database/programming.)
• Battery
• Extras: ( Computer programming / RR / Win500 )
• Final thoughts
Asthetics
Being a simple “Meat and Potatoes” type man I enjoy a nice clean look to all of my electronics. I tend to go with black, gray or silver gadgets that do not attract a lot of attention while in use. I tend to find that most radio companies try to adhere to the simple yet tough look to there radios. My first approach to the PSR-500 was that it looked like my old Pro-97. Now there is nothing wrong with this. The charcoal and silver approach makes the radio look clean and well… like a radio should look. I would not complain if the radio was entirely black but can understand why GRE decided to go with the silver highlights. The screen placement in my opinion is way better then its predecessors Having the speaker above the screen seems to project sound better when I’m on the road or just have it sitting table top. Button layout is intuitive and they have coated the buttons in what I can only explain as a hard shell plastic. This makes the buttons tactile response very easy. Ie: You know when you have depressed a button. Gre have gone with a new volume / squelch knob (thank the lord) which allows you to independently adjust the volume and the squelch without effecting one of the other (a common problem with pro series radios from radio shack). Lastly the little LED that changes colors! For a lot of people this may seem a bit annoying or flashy but I find this is the icing on the ascetic cake. Having this light has already helped me avoid accidents on the road (we will get to this more in-depth later) and in a pure ascetic value… ITS JUST PLAIN COOL. Over all you have a very simple looking radio maybe even a bit stealthy but all around it’s a very pleasing radio to look at. The only change I would have made is added the multi color changing LED to the screens led’s as well as the indicator. Instead of that old boring orange back light, again my personal change others might say that this would get annoying.
**** 4/5 Stars.
Accessories
Holy heck, what can I say about this topic! GRECOM was bang on with this radio. Included in the box was a power adapter, both yellow and black battery holders (Yellow has a charging circuit in it). Software based manual and *drum roll* a USB CABLE! Thank the heavens! When using the USB based cable to upload a full 20 scan list + 300 objects it took around 6 seconds. None of my other radios had all these accessories in the box, leaving me to go shopping at RadioShack for C-type adapters and third party cables. The psr-500 left nothing to desire for base accessories for the radio. The only thing that some people may find important to upgrade or change is the stock antenna. I find this antenna works like a dream for the area that I am in. city of 1,000,000 people. Some however may want a specialized antenna for air, 800 MHz systems ect… I also chose to add a screen protector and a Lilkase to my radio. I wanted to protect my near $600 investment.
***** 5/5 Stars.
Durability
Like any responsible electronics owner I love to keep my gadgets in pristine order, Id rather have something last me years then have to re buy it in a few months. Unfortunately at the end of the day most companies build there electronics with about a 1cm drop allowance. Screens that scratch, paint that chips, buttons that wear. These are all just a part of where our valued electronic companies have gone to save a few extra bucks.
The Psr-500 is built out of “High tensile plastic” this allows the radio to be stuffed in a bag or put on a belt with no real concern for a broken radio. I have not seen many other radio’s with the exception of HAM radios that are built much differently. Bottom line if you drop it enough it’s going to break, but that goes for anything so I can’t rate it on drops. The screen seems to be pretty scratch proof, I added a screen protector just for good measure. The buttons are much nicer then most radios I have met. The hard plastic coating ensures that after years of sweaty fingers and outdoor use will not cause the numbers and letters to wear off. Overall I can only suggest just like any other radio, you buy a case for it if you want to protect it. I have yet to see a hard case for this unit and my soft case from lilkase is on the way. If I had it my way I would have used some metal on a radio like this, even at this cost, however I could see it adding weight turning some users off.
*** 3.5/5 Stars. (did not know how to make a half a star on a keyboard lol)
Functionality
With more features and options then I can shake a stick at I don’t even know where to begin. This radio does pretty much anything you would want a scanner to do. With the exception of the hardcore fan boys of the illegal side of things Ie: cell phones and decrypting encryption.
Keep in mind folks there is a lot of radio between 0 – 1300 mhz! Sure there are steps but who wants to listen to half a cell phone conversation or an FM radio station on there 600$ piece of equipment. From what I understand most of you are looking to listen to HAM, PUBLIC SAFTEY, AIR (Military and otherwise) and COMMERTIAL.
These are what I see most people talking about on the forums and this is what I spend most of my time listening to. For that reason I will try to break down functionally on a simple level and explain what I have found. Warning: I will not be getting into the technical aspect of how these bands work, nor will I argue that one things works better then the other. By now we should all know there are a million different add on’s and antennas that do different things to make signals sound and work well. I am solely looking at the functionality of the radio in these situations. Note as well that this is my opinion in my city; this may change in a smaller or larger setting.
Digital Trucking: (PUBLIC SAFTY / SOME COMERTIAL): I would say this was 90% of the reason I bought this radio. I had been putting around in the analog world for a long time. I was Limited to EMS and FIRE public safety on a 800mhz Motorola type II hybrid system. I was also limited to conventional and analog based commercial systems. Let me tell you something folks I am confident in saying this is the best sounding radio I have personally ever heard decode a digital system! Expect for a few minor signal quarks and blips, I can clearly understand what a dispatcher or unit is saying from 15 – 20 feet away. Over the weekend I was driving in a reasonably loud 1989 Camery windows down and my radio in the cup holder. I could hear every nuance of radio with no problems and that was only using the speaker provided in the unit. Even my girlfriend who has been a back seat listener to my hobby commented on the quality of sound compared even to my analog pro-97. I have listened to 996’s and 396’s and found the sound to be tinny or at best compressed, like talking through a mason jar. This radio seems to be very concise and clear even some bass tones make it out of that tiny speaker. Color me impressed, if you want digital action this radio functions like a dream. The other half of functionality is the programming and use of this system. That’s where Object orientated programming comes in…
Object programming: At first I was hesitant to even think on this level. WHAT?! No banks!, just a bunch of objects floating around in a tank? How is the radio going to know what to do? Well that’s the thing! Scan lists are there to help! If you throw in lets say a 800mhz trucking system MOT II you program all aspects of this system as objects, even the trunk system itself is an object. You can then address the objects ether by the object itself in a manual fashion or by using scan lists, (a nice way of saying banks.) So what’s the benefit you ask? If you have a system that you wish to split up say you have a digital system with FIRE, EMS and POLICE in it. You only have to put in one System and tell the objects which scan lists to adhere too. EX.
My radio is programmed as such (this is my first attempt at programming It seems to work great for me)
Scan lists 1-20
Calgary digital – all of the Calgary digital system.
Calgary police- all of the districts and police channels only.
Calgary ems- All ems Chan only.
Calgary fire- All fire Chan only.
Airport authority- Only airport digital chan
Enmax- Only digital Enmax (our city power company)
Courts- Only digital Courts
Traffic Police- Only traffic chan
Special Police- Only special channels
Dist 1 – Police
Dist 2
Dist 3
Dist 4
Dist 5
Dist 6
Dist 7
RCMP – Conventional FM
ATCO – Convention FM
Simplex – Convention simplex chan for public safety.
See post 2.
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