PSR-800 Question

[petrol88]

I got PSR800 because I thought it would be more portable than the HomePatrol-1. It is, but as you say it requires a lot of fiddling. So, I use my HomePatrol-1 for traveling (just enter zip code is so easy when I hit the hotel room...and connecting to GPS in the car means no "impaired driving" to use it).

 

[OnePcDoc]

do either of the gre units 500 or 800 mute encription i live in yorktown va the system is very spotty due the that very rare to get full conversation i have a pro-96 that doesn't so i bought a uniden 996 but not very happy with it

 

[Russell]

The 500 does not; the 800 offers options: mute, soft tones, busy signal. Very cool way to handle the encrypted channels. Particularly, when you have some users encrypted and some in the clear on the same channel.

 

[Arizona_Scanner]

I do agree that the interface is clumsy at times. There is a little too much work to move around to where one wants to be, and that is a shame. I'ts not hard, just a bit irritating. As a long time 106 user, I can definitely relate to what you are saying Joey, I was just curious as to the exact nature of your problem.

There is a trade-off here for sure. I feel the 800 has better audio, some cool features, and is much more modern looking (for those who that matters for), but the trusty 500 (106) is a simple and reliable workhorse. Personally, the superior audio alone make the difference. My 106 has to be maxed nearly to work in a loud car situation. For myself, in given geographical areas, I pretty much leave one scan set active and occasionally take a scan list off of that scan set, or add one, so the whole interface is workable.

For sure the 800 is not a milair scanner! But then again neither is the 106, and that is why I keep a Pro-43 and a BC780 around to this very day. Some things were done best 15-20 years ago.

 

[Ed_Seedhouse]

Well of course it's horses for courses, isn't it? I carry my 800 around in my shirt pocket and travel by bus listening via headphones and it's no trouble at all to change scan lists. But if I were driving and had to pay attention to the road then definitely that would be a problem.

 

[JoeyC]

Hmmm. My 800's volume doesn't seem to be any louder than the 500 when maxed out (through the speaker). I use a powered speaker in the car to boost the audio, and the output volume on the 500s headphone jack is definately stronger than the 800s. When in the car with the 800 I have to have the volume at MAX when driving at freeway speeds or with a window down. With the 500, I rarely go past 75% volume. Somewhere I read about a mod that boosts headphone jack output volume. Has anyone heard of this or know where that might be?

 

[Arizona_Scanner]

I can agree for sure on the headphone jack output....it's pretty weak. I like to hook it into the AUX jack in my truck so that I can hear the sound through my audio system when on the road. I have to turn the output to about 25 and then still turn up the stereo pretty high to have decent sound levels.

 

[Ensnared]

Audio

I do agree that the interface is clumsy at times. There is a little too much work to move around to where one wants to be, and that is a shame. I'ts not hard, just a bit irritating. As a long time 106 user, I can definitely relate to what you are saying Joey, I was just curious as to the exact nature of your problem.

There is a trade-off here for sure. I feel the 800 has better audio, some cool features, and is much more modern looking (for those who that matters for), but the trusty 500 (106) is a simple and reliable workhorse. Personally, the superior audio alone make the difference. My 106 has to be maxed nearly to work in a loud car situation. For myself, in given geographical areas, I pretty much leave one scan set active and occasionally take a scan list off of that scan set, or add one, so the whole interface is workable.

For sure the 800 is not a milair scanner! But then again neither is the 106, and that is why I keep a Pro-43 and a BC780 around to this very day. Some things were done best 15-20 years ago.

From what I have learned over the years, RS has a tendency to tone down their volume. My PSR 500 is loud enough to hear in the automobile. I don't know if the Pro-106 and PSR 500 operate at the same volume levels.

At times, I have run the scanner through the MP3 input through the sound system.

I was quite surprised to hear that the 800 was not that loud. Some, have reported better quality audio.

 

[Ensnared]

Questioning 800

I have both a 500 and an 800 now. Gotta say I like the 500 WAAAAYY better. Why? Even though limited in capacity and has 10x fewer scanlists, the 500 has way more flexibility when it comes to channel arrangement in the scanner whereas in the 800 it is as it is - in numerical order only. When I inquired about a software revision to allow re-ordering of objects, their response was:

"With the way talkgroup object are stored, it is difficult to change the order of the objects in the scanner. This item is on the wish list however to be studied."

so you are stuck with talkgroups lined up in numeric order and if the channel names and usage are all over the place, you're stuck with browsing through the lists in a haphazard manner finding stuff you want manually.

I was unaware of the fewer scan lists feature of the PSR 800. I am not too happy to hear about the channel arrangement. For me, the main purpose of having the data already loaded in the radio is to save time on programming.

As for fingertip fatigue, it sounds like programming the 800 involves more digital manipulation, pun intended.

 

[Ensnared]

Aware of Differences

The 106/500 are HH radios. It's the 197/600 that are base/mobile. The main reason my 800 doesn't go mobile, is that I to change scanlists on the fly. It is easier to push one button than to take your eyes off the road to do the same on the 800. Keypad and Func key would make a world of difference for me
Larry

Yes, I own a PSR 500, but I was unaware of the differences between the 500 & 600 regarding other features.

 

[SCPD]

For sure the 800 is not a milair scanner! But then again neither is the 106, and that is why I keep a Pro-43 and a BC780 around to this very day. Some things were done best 15-20 years ago.

This should interest you ... it is not your scanner, it is the stock antenna that is USELESS at 200-300 MHz.

http://forums.radioreference.com/gre-scanners/222583-stock-gre-uniden-antennas-vswr.html

 

[Ed_Seedhouse]

This should interest you ... it is not your scanner, it is the stock antenna that is USELESS at 200-300 MHz.

Well first, the scanner and antennae come as a unit and it may be that the scanner is designed to compensate for that. Certainly no 4" ducky is going to be "efficient" at any frequency with a quarter wavelength under 4".

Personally I use mine most with a base antenna, and when I am on the road a third party flexible whip 8" high.

And not every area has much above 200mhz anyway. Where I live all the public utilities and police are well below 200mhz and the main public service systems has high power antenna farms on all the thousand foot bumps near town and I bet your gold filling would get five bars if you could attach it. About the only thing above 400 mhz I can find by scanning is on the "Family Band" or over on the mainland forty miles away. Port Angeles does have some action above 400 and that might as well be local here in Victoria.

The Hams hereabouts have some uhf repeaters but I rarely hear one come up (but when they do I hear them), it's mostly the two meter stations that get the action around my place.