OK, here is the biggie that no one has mentioned (If someone knows a way please post it):
On every other radio I own, I can lock on the control channel with the squelch open and move the radio/antenna around to "tune" a distant system. The PRO-96 give a % reception, and if I can find the sweet spot with 75% + I'll be able to listen.
The only ways I can figure out to do this on the 800 are:
1. Use a limit search on the CC and lock it in and listen for a strong signal with 3+ bars. PITA and you need to know the CC. Not practical in the field
2. Program all the CCs as objects in a system and lock them out. In the field browse them one at a time until you find an active one. Very clumsy. It was a lot easier to just hit the MANUAL button!
The problem with this scanner is, when you are trying to listen to a TRS, there is no way to know if there is nothing being broadcast or the radio is not working or the antenna is bad or whatever. Absent stopping on a channel, there is no real indication that anything is out there.
Another issue is this:
My scanner works great at my house. I took it to work, about 8 miles away. Standing in the middle of a large parking lot, in a town with a few buildings that run up to 6 stories, and near a "big box" retail store, I could not receive either of the distant (one in each direction) trunking systems that I can get at home. I was 8 miles closer to one, 8 miles further from the other. HOWEVER, the problem is the scanner seemed to "stick" on the failed trunking systems, as I was not receiving much of anything on the local conventional channels. When I turned off the trunked systems and kept NYPD, the scanner never stopped chattering. Which it did not do with the unheard TRS enabled.
So my conclusions were:
1. Poor reception area
2. Too much time spent seeking on the trunking systems which also seemed to drain the battery.
A quick fix would be a simple way to determine that I was not able to "hear" the CCs, in which case I could stop wasting my time and turn off the trunked scanlists.
So, does anyone have a cure? Can a firmware update allow the unit to stop on a CC like other scanners do?
Thanks!