The death of whistler scanner's ?
- Thread starter scannersnstuff
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I have found ALOT of these radio's for sale example : Whistler WS1040 Digital Handheld Scanner - Black for sale online | eBay
Amazon do a google search.
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- Jul 23, 2017
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I've got a TRX-1 which performed horribly on my local P25 Phase 1 LSM system. Got ahold of support a couple years ago and they had me make some adjustments to DSP which improved things a bit but not perfect. Over the course of the next couple years it became worse.
Just got done working through the issue with them again. They had me do some test and when I gave them the results of the test they told me I needed an adjustment and to send it in which I did.
Not expecting to see the scanner back for a couple weeks and unsure if they are going to charge me to fix or not. I am happy that they recognized there was an LSM issue.
Just got done working through the issue with them again. They had me do some test and when I gave them the results of the test they told me I needed an adjustment and to send it in which I did.
Not expecting to see the scanner back for a couple weeks and unsure if they are going to charge me to fix or not. I am happy that they recognized there was an LSM issue.
red8
Member
I bought a TRX 1
Back in July.
Ubbe
Member
It seems that Whistlers scanners need to be spot on in its frequency to be able to somewhat handle simulcast. My TRX-2 where 1KHz off right out of the box, and no PPM tolerance are specified in the manual, but probably needs to be more accurate than that and the frequency needs to be calibrated in service mode that no one have yet found out or revealed how it is done, if even possible by the user.
/Ubbe
Are they charging you for this? I bought a brand new TRX-2 a few years ago, and it is completely unusable on LSM systems...completely unusable. My WS1098's receive these systems without glitching at all. I contacted Whistler years ago, asked them if they could maybe send me a loaner TRX2 to see if the one I bought was faulty, or if this was just "Whistler performace", but they would not assist. The scanner has been on a shelf since then collecting dust for years. I would like to be able to get it working so I can at least sell it...I don't fee right selling in on eBay lmowing it has a problem receiving, even if that problem isn't acknoledged and exists in all the new TRX's.
Paul
Sell it but make the listing clearly state it does not work well on some LSM systems. That way you may not feel guilty as you are at least disclosing the radio's downside.
I'd bet your TRX-2 is probably fine and it's just the random nature of problems caused by LSM systems causing it's issues.
Run some tests on standard analog conventional and non simulcast P25 trunked and conventional (if you have any!) signals in your area so you can say those work fine in your listing.
I'd try and find a buyer that seems to understand the downside of LSM though otherwise they may cause headaches for you when their new TRX-2 does not work on their LSM system even though you stated that in the listing.
Or, keep it and find something you would enjoy monitoring in your area and dedicate the TRX-2 to that. I do that a lot with my older scanners. Railroad, Aviation etc. One is set to the analog interop channels and another scans the common GMRS, FRS, MURS frequencies only. You'd be surprised what they may turn up when scanning a seldom used range of frequencies like those analog interops. FRS will probably just annoy you with all the kids on it plus all the darn musical tones they transmit. MURS is not too bad to monitor for activity though. Some interesting stuff comes up here on the MURS frequencies.
I prefer the Uniden products, however also feel that competition is very heathy. Sadly, I do not see a lot of optimism in the statement put out by "Whistler_Support". Notice that the statement say "Whistler is not going away", not that scanner development is not going away. Additionally, it says "None of the scanners are being discontinued". That just means that none of the current models are going away. I don't see anything in this statement that indicates Whistler is looking into the future of scanners at all. Again, competition is very healthy, therefore I do hope I am wrong.
I would LOVE to see Unication formally get into the "scanner" business! Their "pagers", such as the G5, do phenomenal on simulcast systems, in my opinion!
As opposed to Uniden that is posting messages here every day.
Touché, point well taken. I think there is a difference with Uniden. We all know the loss of Paul at Uniden has had a devastating impact. I'm still giving Uniden the benefit of the doubt and I have hopes they're working behind the scenes to replace their resources and rebuild customer confidence eventually. Perhaps they will announce a grand comeback with a new scanner in the near future!
Whistler just kind of faded out of the picture with no explanation. Inventories declined. Currently they're showing "Out-Of-Stock" on 4 out of 6 scanner models. Support has slowed to a crawl followed by the loss of their RR liaison Wendy.
N8IAA
Member
I know that there is a percentage of Uniden followers who really WANT to believe that something will magically appear. But, it's been a year since Paul passed, and no new updates/upgrades from Uniden.
Why would Uniden put out a new scanner? The SDS was/is the ultimate manufactured, according to the Uniden faithful. I own three Uniden scanners, and five GRE/Whistler scanners. I'd have four Unidens if I had bought a 996P2.
Whistler saw the writing on the wall. Encryption is the silent killer of future scanners. No ifs ands, or buts. The new blue tooth scanner sells for, a bit, over 1/3rd the cost of a Uniden. Granted, it's not a full fledged receiver, but it blows the SDS out of the water. And, it's open source. Don't forget SDR receivers that cost fraction of the SDS series. Again open source.
I find that I have no need for any new scanners. Maybe, sometime in the future, a communication receiver.
So, iMonitor and the rest of the faithful, good luck for any new scanner development from Whistler and Uniden.
The SDS series scanners are SDR receivers. SDS = Software Defined Scanners!
N8IAA
Member
Wow. Thought never occurred to me.
But, the SDS series doesn't work like an actual SDR connected to a computer. More software that decodes more digital modes. Similar, not the same......
Now that Microsoft Surface Pro with USB stick and Antenna sure makes a nice handheld and it works out cheaper $100 than a SDS100 and has about the same run time.
Wow. Thought never occurred to me.
But, the SDS series doesn't work like an actual SDR connected to a computer. More software that decodes more digital modes. Similar, not the same......
You're correct. I'm thinking that could have been coming down the road so to speak had Paul stayed with us. Possibly using the mysterious USB-A port or the RJ45 network port on the front panel may have allowed for some remote access/interaction for PC based SDR software.
I recently contacted @UnidenSupport regarding Hytera XPT systems and received a response within a few days. The response indicated they would "pass this [my question] along to our Developmental Dept. for further review! " I am hopeful this is a good sign.
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