rdale
Completely Banned for the Greater Good
RoninJoliet said:
Specs were just a rough draft, as stated it will trunktrack 700 systems.
PSR-500 and PSR-600 Pre Release
- Thread starter KD4YGG
- Start date
- Status
Specs were just a rough draft, as stated it will trunktrack 700 systems.
rdale said:
Rob are you getting some of these new GRE's to evaluate?
PeterGV
K1PGV
Nice evolution of the existing Pro96.
I'll probably buy one when it comes out.... but I'm not nearly as excited as most of the folks who seem to be posting. I was hoping for REVOLUTION not EVOLUTION. I was hoping for dual-receive (for TG prioritization for one system or receiving two separate channels simultaneously), MUCH smaller form factor for the handheld along with waterproof construction, and MUCH larger display and detachable faceplate for the mobile. And we don't really know about either the sensitivity or (just as important) the selectivity, do we?
If you ask me, the scanner folks need to start thinking outside the "scanner" box, look at what's going on in the ham xceiver markets (AT LEAST), and get with some serious innovative engineering.
One plus... better than no new radio. But... ho hum for me... What is it that I'm missing?
de Peter K1PGV
I'll probably buy one when it comes out.... but I'm not nearly as excited as most of the folks who seem to be posting. I was hoping for REVOLUTION not EVOLUTION. I was hoping for dual-receive (for TG prioritization for one system or receiving two separate channels simultaneously), MUCH smaller form factor for the handheld along with waterproof construction, and MUCH larger display and detachable faceplate for the mobile. And we don't really know about either the sensitivity or (just as important) the selectivity, do we?
If you ask me, the scanner folks need to start thinking outside the "scanner" box, look at what's going on in the ham xceiver markets (AT LEAST), and get with some serious innovative engineering.
One plus... better than no new radio. But... ho hum for me... What is it that I'm missing?
de Peter K1PGV
If the control channel/trunked formats are to be outputed on the PC/IF port you won't need one, or a slicer circuit if the software calls for it. All you need is the USB cable and the software coded to correctly identify the streams.bc780l said:
Lets hope they decide to keep it.
windigofer
Member
bc780l said:
Unless one is needing a discriminator out for stuff like monitoring paging systems or ACARS or railroad ATCS systems (the first is probably Not Quite Legal, the second and third I'll grant you on :3) you may be in luck there.
Specifically, according to previous reports, data for all of the trunktracking formats the PSR-500/PSR-600 cover (including Motorola analogue, APCO-25, EDACS, and LTR) will actually be available via the data interface (much as the APCO-25 9600bps data is available with PRO96COM now)--meaning that pretty much to use a computer trunktracking monitor, all you need to do is write a program to read the data.
In other words, no discriminator tap needed--you can actually get the data from the data port itself, and from there feed the data directly to a program (like PRO96COM or its successor, or even something like Unitrunker or the Win32 ports of Trunker) as the USB cable reads as a serial port device in Windows anyways. (Heck, if you wanted to be truly adventurous, you could write such things for Macintoshen or Linux boxen as long as you had an appropriate driver for the USB-to-radio cable--if you know what specific chip is being used for the USB-to-serial bits, there may actually *be* a driver in the wild for it.)
Now, if you're running ATCS monitoring programs, you may still need the tap :3 But if the buzz is true, you *won't* need it for trackable trunked systems. (You are still SOL on AEGIS, ProVoice, and OpenSky, but *everybody* including the scanner manufacturers are SOL on that. Blame the DMCA :3)
EVOLUTION isn't so bad...
Here's one argument against revolution (vs. evolution): Potentially high consumer costs!
First and foremost, I would like to have the following PRO96 deficiencies (if you can really call them that) corrected:
1 - No LTR. check
2 - No 'Signal Stalker'. check
3 - No 700 or 380 trunking. check
4 - No NAC search or decode. ???? (is this the same as WACN?)
5 - Not enough V-folders for all my adventures. check
6 - Weak military air performance. check?
7 - Room for only six trunking tables per system. check? (rebanding still looms)
Those enhancements alone would be fantastic, and add the flexible memory organization (which reduces the need for V-folders) to a larger number of larger V-folders, and I think you've got something to really bust at the seams about.
The PRO96 as it is, is a far more powerful radio than any of its predecessors. The search options alone blow away most of its ancestors. (I'm talking GRE, not other brands like AOR) At 700/380 trunking & signal stalker and I only need one radio with me instead of two. Add NAC read/decode, and you have an incredibly powerful tool to help you sort out the morass of digitial signals that we have in many areas. These are truly powerful enhancements.
One other improvement to consider. Is there a better way to to package scanners (perhaps looking less like a walkie-talkie) that would make them attract less attention in public?
73/Allen (N4JRI)
Here's one argument against revolution (vs. evolution): Potentially high consumer costs!
First and foremost, I would like to have the following PRO96 deficiencies (if you can really call them that) corrected:
1 - No LTR. check
2 - No 'Signal Stalker'. check
3 - No 700 or 380 trunking. check
4 - No NAC search or decode. ???? (is this the same as WACN?)
5 - Not enough V-folders for all my adventures. check
6 - Weak military air performance. check?
7 - Room for only six trunking tables per system. check? (rebanding still looms)
Those enhancements alone would be fantastic, and add the flexible memory organization (which reduces the need for V-folders) to a larger number of larger V-folders, and I think you've got something to really bust at the seams about.
The PRO96 as it is, is a far more powerful radio than any of its predecessors. The search options alone blow away most of its ancestors. (I'm talking GRE, not other brands like AOR) At 700/380 trunking & signal stalker and I only need one radio with me instead of two. Add NAC read/decode, and you have an incredibly powerful tool to help you sort out the morass of digitial signals that we have in many areas. These are truly powerful enhancements.
One other improvement to consider. Is there a better way to to package scanners (perhaps looking less like a walkie-talkie) that would make them attract less attention in public?
73/Allen (N4JRI)
Last edited:
scosgt
Member
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2004
- Messages
- 1,295
Actually, with a flexible memory system similar to Unidens, you don't need V-folders, you just program in everything you will ever need, then lock out those you don't need right now.
In my 396, I have NJSP North, South and Central, but I almost never use anything but North. If I venture further south, I just enable those systems. I also have PA, when I go in that direction, I just turn it on. No need for v-folders, everything just lives in the radio and is turned on/off as needed.
In my 396, I have NJSP North, South and Central, but I almost never use anything but North. If I venture further south, I just enable those systems. I also have PA, when I go in that direction, I just turn it on. No need for v-folders, everything just lives in the radio and is turned on/off as needed.
rdale
Completely Banned for the Greater Good
scosgt - I'm not sure how you're addressing these scanners... It appears GRE will combine something similar (although sounds better) to the Uniden virtual memory AND the V-Scanner. You make like one or the other - but having BOTH options is even better.
windigofer
Member
scosgt said:
Even with the flexible system used by the Uniden scanners, I can still see how a V-Folder would be quite useful.
In my own case, there are a few systems I get to monitor around twice to four times a year (namely, Sullivan/Washington Co, TN and Bristol TN/VA's systems, and NASCAR frequencies) where (in a Uniden setup) they'd be wasting space most of the year but (in a V-Scanner/flex-bank setup such as GRE is proposing) I can keep a V-scanner of the Bristol and NASCAR stuff to "swap out" with my regular set of frequencies when I go down to the races.
Same goes for air shows--I keep a dedicated V-Scanner now for the local airport frequencies and airshow frequencies from Monitoring Times that gets used in its entirety maybe a few times a year (Thunder over Louisville's airshow and the Dayton Airshow for the most part) and I can swap out V-Scanner banks to listen to the planes then "swap back" for local stuff.
I think that combining both tactics is frankly a heck of an idea :3
I do a fair amount of V-folder juggling, even in my home area--and often my second radio functions as a scanning IPOD to give me all the V-folders I need when traveling from home.
I'd love to have the memory options of the 396T AND be able to store 21 additional programmings. Yikes! You could take a long trip with something like that...
73/Allen (N4JRI)
I'd love to have the memory options of the 396T AND be able to store 21 additional programmings. Yikes! You could take a long trip with something like that...
73/Allen (N4JRI)
windigofer said:
I have a friend who uses V-Scanners to save handheld/mobile (duck antenna) vs home (discone antenna) setups. The home/discone has pager interference on some frequencies so in this setup the problem freqs are all set with attenuator on while leaving the Att off on the other freqs. So with a few keystrokes the radio reconfigures itself to a completely different environment and antenna.
noooooo, only one knob for volume and squelch. That is one thing I do not like on the 97 vs my pro 96
Tom-H
Member
Skud said:
Agreed! Honestly, does it really cost THAT much more to include separate volume/squelch pots? The single, piggyback knob just screams cheap to me.
Other than that flaw, these look to be excellent scanners when released.
n4voxgill
Silent Key
some posts say I like the new one because it is the size of the Pro97 and the Pro96 is too big. Then you read posts that say I want two knobs on top. You can't have small and two. The same is true on the mobile. The 2096 has no room for a seperate squelch nob. You could make it bigger and then it would never fit in a din. It wouldn't surprise me if the single knob with two functions doesn't cost more than two single function knobs. Manufactuers can't win.
windigofer
Member
n4voxgill said:
Myself, I'm not so worried as to the size of the thing (I used to carry a Pro-2067 to racetracks in a generously sized fanny pack!) but you *do* bring up a point--realistically, if they're going to go for the same form factor as a Pro-97, they really almost *have* to do integrated squelch/volume switches. (If you look at the top of it, there really isn't room for two Pro-96 style dials plus headphone jack on the PSR-500.)
I'm not so aghast at the combined switch as a lot of folks seem to be--whilst I've not *owned* a radio with those, my sister's old Uniden handheld seems to do well enough with squelch and volume on the same dial. (For that matter, a lot of little ham radio HTs and CB radios have had stuff like that for years now.)
And you're also right in that the cost for the combination squelch/volume control is probably cheaper than getting two separate controls (not just in price, but--just as important--in board space).
windigofer
Member
rfmobile said:
OK, let me get this straight...in P25 systems (and does this also include APCO-25 conventional?) we have NAC where analogue systems have PL/DPL tones, yes?
So (at least in theory) if sites (like, say, Kentucky State Police's conventional APCO-25 nontrunked system) use different NAC codes I should be able to (in theory) get these NAC codes and do filtering based on these (much like I'd filter by PL or DPL code if I wanted to hear one particular agency using the fire frequencies now, which tend to be used by upwards of 100+ agencies in my area)?
If so, this makes the scanner even more droolworthy :3
- Status
Similar threads
