PSR-800: PSR-800 vs BCD436HP

[Blackswan73]

Ahhh. I get it now. (I think)

That was a feature addition in the 1080.

Yep, only the 1080, not the 668, or 800. That is the main reason I bought the 1080, even though I already have the 668. Like both, but the nod goes to the 1080

 

[Ensnared]

Dichotomous Thinking

I own a 436HP & PSR 500. Hence, I know the behavior of both radios.

I bought the 436HP for dealing with a linear simulcast distortion issue in the city where I live. The 436 nailed this problem.

I recently sent my PSR 500 off for repair. The person who repaired my radio discovered a faulty RF amplifier which was replaced. I thought to myself, "I wonder if the malfunctioning RF amplifier might have lowered the threshold to receive P25 trunking. Nope. It did not make a bit of difference in the PSR 500's performance on a system with known linear simulcast distortion.

Bottom line: PSR 500 has far superior reception of VHF/UHF analog when compared with the 436, not on conventional digital. Furthermore, the PSR 500 delivers significantly louder audio with a more natural-sounding voice reproduction.

I wish someone made a Whistler that did better on linear simulcast distortion because I would likely buy one. The Whistler representative recently told me that no hardware changes were made on the 1080 over the PSR 800. That dog don't hunt.

 

[Ed6698]

If the hardware between the PSR 800 and Whistler 1080 is the same. Could the 'enter frequency' be added to the 800 by firmware update? DonS might be able to shed some light on this.

 

[detroit780]

PSR-800 single frequency

You can enter a frequency go to search make the start and stop frequency the same save and search it. Not very difficult. No PC required.

I use my psr800 for the 800 system to record new talk groups. I use 436 to listen around the house when not in bedroom can't carry the 536 around. Yea the 800 you can't program any freq when you are out of a computer reach

 

[fourthhorseman]

Yeah,,but its still...Menu,Search,Scroll up first digit,second digit,,third...4th,5th,,6th,,7th....enter...

versus..

123.4567 enter......Sure you can,,but its the ease and rapid-fire sense of punching it up on the fly.

Im not dumping on the 800..RX was great..Display was nice..I got it when it came out-my former cities system was going P2..Lotsof memory

But someone mentioned that EZScan was great,,Unless you want to copy out of it..It felt a lil clunky for my tastes..Even when I had my 800 the key gripe was the lack of a full feature keypad..as with may others..It was all we had for phase2..now the market is opening up..there are now 4 or 5 p2 radios..

 

[kc5igh]

For what it's worth, I think your satisfaction with the BCD436HP or PSR-800 (or any scanner, for that matter) will depend a lot on your listening environment when it comes to their rf performance (sensitivity, selectivity, simulcast distortion, etc.) and your personal preferences when it comes to what I'll call their ergonomics (size, weight, keyboard [or no keyboard], display, etc.).

I own and operate both radios (have 'em running side-by-side as I write this), plus many others, in a rural, mountainous environment where sensitivity is a much more important factor than selectivity, strong-signal overload, or simulcast distortion. In this environment, the PSR-800 and its GRE-made brethren (PSR-500 and PRO-106) perform much more effectively than the BCD436HP with analog and digital signals.

In an urban environment filled with strong signals and simulcast issues, the 436 seems to behave better than the GRE radios. Having said that, I remain very disappointed in the 436's apparent lack of sensitivity on VHF-hi signals, especially when compared to its Uniden brothers (BCD396T and BCD396XT). There's been some discussion elsewhere in the Uniden forum here about whether or not internally generated noise in the VHF-hi range in the 436 is interfering with its ability to demodulate "real" signals there, especially with a rubber-duck antenna directly connected to the body.

Regarding "ergonomics," I really like the full keyboard on the 436 and the extra information in the LCD display (unless you're trying to read it while driving--not a good idea).

Hope this helps.

-Johnnie

 

[BeerNutz]

Amazon reviews as of 3/5/2015. 436 has 3.7 stars. 1080 has 4.8 stars. That is a big difference.

Didn't know there were so many disgruntled 436/536 owners until I read the reviews at Amazon. You can prolly dismiss 10% of internet reviews for many reasons but when the 1 star reviews start to pile up, something is wrong.

Almost didn't buy my 800, 4 years ago as there was so little activity on the GRE forum. After owning this radio for 4 years, I know why. They just work, so there is not a lot of reason to go to the internet for help.

 

[Voyager]

There are a few issues Uniden is taking care of. Still, that doesn't change the complaints even after the issue is resolved.

 

[buddrousa]

I think most complaints about most of the newer scanners comes from the owner not knowing how to operate the new scanner. In the tech industry you still have people that do not know how to operate the computer they own. With todays newer scanners users have to have a lot of tech savvy about them or read and understand the user manuals.

 

[SCPD]

The 3 biggest issues for me on the 436HP ... poor build quality (mostly the terrible microSD card holder), the really tiny RadioID text and the need to memorize all those numbers (12.2.2 bla bla).

The PSR800 / 1080 and the same items ... great build quality (it is not just a blob of plastic), the text is very very readable, no need to remember anything .. just pick it from the list.

So .. in my mind, the 436 though the performance was fine .. it is the other things that made the scanner a failure for me. Thus .. it had to go.

 

[Voyager]

If you plan your Quick Keys, they are not hard to memorize.

Yes, the card holder is a bit on the flimsy side, but how often do you remove your card?

 

[SCPD]

If you plan your Quick Keys, they are not hard to memorize.

Yes, the card holder is a bit on the flimsy side, but how often do you remove your card?

The point being .. on my PSR800, I do not have to worry about any of these issues. That = better scanner to me. Your mileage may vary and I am ok with that but for me it is only GRE / Whistler.

 

[BeerNutz]

One odd thing I don't like about the 436 is the 3 batteries. My solar charger on my backpack will not charge odd numbers. Don't know what battery life users are getting but 3 just doesn't sound like enough. Guess you could have extra batteries but with the 800/1080 you don't have to.

 

[Voyager]

If your charger will not charge single cells, you should replace it because it's not properly charging the cells. The short version is that once one of the pairs of cells reaches a peak, both cells stop charging.

Proper charging always involves only single cells. That way, charging is stopped when that cell reaches full charge, not when a different one does.

 

[Ed6698]

I take my SD card quite often, due to being so simple, I change it when ever I do updates, I put my updated card in then update the card I take out, I use a USB 3.0 card reader. I also do not like the 3 battery thing with the 436, I rotate my rechargeables and having 3 just puts another twist into the rotation that I did not want.

 

[scosgt]

The nicest feature of the 800 is the V scanners.
When I travel from NY area down to Valley Forge PA, is it easy to change the folder on the fly and have all the local frequencies programmed in that I want to hear. I know you could do that with different button assignments, but it is so easy to just menu down to the V folders and pick the one you want.

 

[Triangulum]

I have been trying to educate myself on some of these comparisons lately and will eventually get around to personally testing both manufacturers again. But are the statements of kc5igh fairly accurate? For a while I thought it was mostly a myth....but I have seen numerous posts on here claim that Whistler/GRE tend to be more sensitive, while Uniden tend to be more selective.

Can anyone elaborate more on this or talk about their experience?

I own and operate both radios (have 'em running side-by-side as I write this), plus many others, in a rural, mountainous environment where sensitivity is a much more important factor than selectivity, strong-signal overload, or simulcast distortion. In this environment, the PSR-800 and its GRE-made brethren (PSR-500 and PRO-106) perform much more effectively than the BCD436HP with analog and digital signals.

In an urban environment filled with strong signals and simulcast issues, the 436 seems to behave better than the GRE radios. Having said that, I remain very disappointed in the 436's apparent lack of sensitivity on VHF-hi signals

 

[Voyager]

I liked the V-folders of the PSR-500, too, but I ended up having to duplicate channels that I wanted to scan all the time. I found having the entire memory to pick-n-choose from to be much better for ease of use and especially for ease of updating the data (which had to be done in each V-folder when it was duplicated)

 

[Voyager]

I have been trying to educate myself on some of these comparisons lately and will eventually get around to personally testing both manufacturers again. But are the statements of kc5igh fairly accurate? For a while I thought it was mostly a myth....but I have seen numerous posts on here claim that Whistler/GRE tend to be more sensitive, while Uniden tend to be more selective.

Can anyone elaborate more on this or talk about their experience?

It's not a tendency - it's provable. The sensitivity of the GRE units usually better which results in better reception in rural areas than Uniden units. But, when you travel into urban areas (or areas with lots of RF), they overload easier which only makes sense with a more sensitive receiver. The result is that you hear less.

Selectivity has little to do with the issue. The overload can be from sources many MHz away.

Here is a real world example: I can be 25 miles from a transmitter and hear it on the same antenna (via multicoupler) on a GRE, but not on a Uniden. Then, I traveled toward that area which is more urban. At some point, both receive the signal equally. When I'm near the city,and only 5 miles from that transmitter, that same transmitter that I heard on the GRE and not the Uniden can be heard on the Uniden, but not on the GRE (even with open squelch). This test was using a VHF Police dispatch repeater frequency.

A friend of mine had a GRE that he could not hear a transmitter for which he was (literally) looking at the antenna a few hills away.

That's why I laugh when people ask which is better. It all depends on where you are.

 

[Ed6698]

I have yet to encounter overload on either my 500 or 1080. I live in a area with very high RF, 17 different pd/fd channels in this county alone, cell towers, hospitals and a ton of other stuff, I live not very far from Chicago either. My local pd/fd department is 2 miles away, I never have any problem hearing them, even on repeater.