TRX-1 and TRX-2 Discontinued ?

[Fast1eddie]

Just ordered a TRX-1. I have owned several Uniden products and Whistlers. Each has pros and cons, me not too crazy with Uniden due to the learning curver and additional cost for additional modes...Sorta like going to a restaurant for a burger and getting nickle and dimed for additional toppings. Would like to see Whistler incorporate a GPS; suspect the reason they have not may be to do with copyright issues. Never liked Uniden's rats nest of GPS cabling, looks cheap and I expect better.

Finally, Uniden's battery requirement of three AA batteries is somewhat insane, despite what may be a sound engineering decision.

Ford, Chevy, Dodge. Toyota, Nissan, leather cadillac.

Each to their own.

Happy scanning and 73,

Ed

 

[doctordialtone]

Finally, Uniden's battery requirement of three AA batteries is somewhat insane

Three batteries = Longer run time on battery.

 

[buddrousa]

Just ordered a TRX-1. I have owned several Uniden products and Whistlers. Each has pros and cons, me not too crazy with Uniden due to the learning curver and additional cost for additional modes...Sorta like going to a restaurant for a burger and getting nickle and dimed for additional toppings. Would like to see Whistler incorporate a GPS; suspect the reason they have not may be to do with copyright issues. Never liked Uniden's rats nest of GPS cabling, looks cheap and I expect better.

Finally, Uniden's battery requirement of three AA batteries is somewhat insane, despite what may be a sound engineering decision.

Ford, Chevy, Dodge. Toyota, Nissan, leather cadillac.

Each to their own.

Happy scanning and 73,

Ed

My 3 battery 436 last longer than my trx1
My 3 battery 436 true trunk tracks nxdn and dmr unlike my trx1 that only scans nxdn and dmr voice channels. You get what you pay for how is that trx100 and trx200 working on that's right they could not design one that works and they have milked the GRE design to the end.

 

[Fast1eddie]

Whatever, everyone has their preferences. I live in the Pittsburgh area and honestly, the TRX-1 is overkill here. Why??? 99.9% of the local police remain analog, including the city pd, fd and ems. Pgh School police has gone digital and Findlay Township only has one digital frequency while continuing to operate analog. Washington County remains analog low, vhf/uhf. Westmoreland County has gone digital. I seldom travel to those areas and the other digital reception modes are in use commercially. So if you want to monitor the Heinz plant as they make Heinz ketchup (I am a Hunt's man, myself. Cheaper.) then so be it. Three batteries longer run time???? Right. Once owned the predecessor to the TRX-1 and enjoyed solid 10-12 hour run times on high capacity NiMh's.

Like I said, each to their own.

 

[k5xs]

How does three batteries equate to longer runtime on batteries?

 

[buddrousa]

All I know is my 436 last longer scanning same systems using same brand batteries as does my 668 and Pro18 have shorter about 8 hours and I get almost 9 hours with my 436

 

[doctordialtone]

How does three batteries equate to longer runtime on batteries?

It's basic electronics. Think "Amp-hours".

 

[kruser]

How does three batteries equate to longer runtime on batteries?

If any circuit is designed properly for three batteries, it can run just as long as a circuit designed to run with four batteries.
I've had many of pagers that ran for 30+ days with nothing more than a single AA battery and some even used a single N battery. It's all in the circuit design.
I don't know about longer runtime though. That would take new components with a lower current consumption at the design voltage.

I still think the two or four AA cell designs were based on the fact that the standard AA and AAA cell packaging is in multiples of two cells.
It's too bad the hot dog bun and hot dog packagers don't follow this rule!

 

[GTR8000]

Three batteries = Longer run time on battery.

It's basic electronics. Think "Amp-hours".

Errr, no. If you're going to talk about "basic electronics", then perhaps you should familiarize yourself with the concept of series vs parallel when it comes to banks of multiple batteries. In a nutshell, the standard AA NiMH batteries used in most of these scanners are connected in series, which means the voltage of the batteries is multiplied by the amount of cells used, while the capacity remains the same.

In other words, 3 AA cells multiplied by a nominal 1.2 (NiMH) - 1.5 (alkaline) volts each = 3.6 - 4.5 total volts, which is the operating voltage range of the scanner. The runtime, aka capacity, is determined by the weakest cell used. So if you're using fresh 2,000 mAh batteries, it doesn't quite matter if you have 3 or 4 or 10 cells...the device is going to have roughly the same 2,000 mAh runtime regardless of amount of cells.

 

[doctordialtone]

Yeah...I gotcha.

I suppose they should just use 1.5 volt batteries in cars

 

[kruser]

Yeah...I gotcha.

I suppose they should just use 1.5 volt batteries in cars

They could if they were designed to run at 1.5 VDC.
It would be 2 VDC though as flooded cell batteries are 2 volts per cell.

 

[Ubbe]

I've had many of pagers that ran for 30+ days with nothing more than a single AA battery and some even used a single N battery. It's all in the circuit design.

There's no circuits that are designed to run on 1.5v. Pagers have an internal switching power supply that increases the voltage to 3.3v that the electronics are designed to use.

Pagers use intelligent battery save functions and only power on its receiver section a few millisecond long enough to be able to detect if its a carrier on the frequency. It then checks the first bytes which says what group are being paged. A pager number can be assigned to maybe eight different groups and if the decoded byte says that it is numbers in group1 that are sent, and the pager belongs to group6 and the transmission are timed to change group each 5 seconds, it switches off the receiver for 6*5 sec=30 sec and only then starts to check if its number are being paged. Then it has time synced and wait one full cycle of 8*5 sec before switching on the receiver again.

/Ubbe

 

[kruser]

There's no circuits that are designed to run on 1.5v. Pagers have an internal switching power supply that increases the voltage to 3.3v that the electronics are designed to use.

Pagers use intelligent battery save functions and only power on its receiver section a few millisecond long enough to be able to detect if its a carrier on the frequency.
/Ubbe

Ubbe, I am aware that most pagers do use some form of voltage doubling or like you said, a switching power supply to increase voltage.

Your description of how they attain the superb power savings sounds spot on but... does your excellent description cover Flex or Pocsag protocol? Your description sounds more like the Flex protocol.

I know the Flex protocol is pretty complex but I'm not up to speed on Pocsag.
I always assumed both protocols have similar power saving functions however.

 

[K9DAK]

Yeah, my TRX-1 just went about 17 hours on Eneloop 2000 mAH cells while monitoring a water rescue / recovery effort on the lake where I live... all good for me. Actually, so did my PRO-106.

Just ordered a TRX-1. I have owned several Uniden products and Whistlers. Each has pros and cons, me not too crazy with Uniden due to the learning curver and additional cost for additional modes...Sorta like going to a restaurant for a burger and getting nickle and dimed for additional toppings. Would like to see Whistler incorporate a GPS; suspect the reason they have not may be to do with copyright issues. Never liked Uniden's rats nest of GPS cabling, looks cheap and I expect better.

Finally, Uniden's battery requirement of three AA batteries is somewhat insane, despite what may be a sound engineering decision.

Ford, Chevy, Dodge. Toyota, Nissan, leather cadillac.

Each to their own.

Happy scanning and 73,

Ed

 

[k5xs]

It's basic electronics. Think "Amp-hours".

No. Four batteries will always yield more power than three batteries of the same type.

To be sure, some scanners/receivers or other devices might draw less energy than others, but four batteries will always store more energy than three of the same type.

THAT is basic electronics.

 

[beischel]

Just a few weeks until the Dayton Hamvention. The answer could very likely be sealed with their participation or no show.

Whistler has signed up and paid for the Hamvention. Looks like they will be there for sure. Cannot see them backing out now. Hopefully our questions will be answered.

 

[trentbob]

Whistler has signed up and paid for the Hamvention. Looks like they will be there for sure. Cannot see them backing out now. Hopefully our questions will be answered.

I wonder about that, I'm sure it'll be awkward but interesting.

 

[doctordialtone]

No. Four batteries will always yield more power than three batteries of the same type.

THAT is basic electronics.

Thank you. That is the point I was making, if you read my 1st post.

That "four batteries will always store more energy than three of the same type. "

Otherwise, why not one battery?

I'll just drop it...

 

[buddrousa]

But it is how the LOAD is designed that determines battery life. A 10 WATT load will not last as long as a 1/2 WATT LED.
That is what was taught back in 1979 when I was in electronics school. We built projects with different current draws and timed how long they lasted. I also remember OHMS LAW where it states as VOLTAGE INCREASES CURRENT DRAW GOES DOWN.
All I can tell you is the same setup in each scanner with the same volume level set with a sound meter using the same batteries charged in the same battery charger my 436 last longer than my TRX-1. It depends on how they are put together.
1 Battery = 1.2 volts @ 2500 mil
2 Batteries in series = 2.4 volts @ 2500 mil
2 Batteries in parallel = 1.2 volts @ 5000 mill
ENERGY = CURRENT and current is what does the work.

 

[k5xs]

But it is how the LOAD is designed that determines battery life. A 10 WATT load will not last as long as a 1/2 WATT LED.
That is what was taught back in 1979 when I was in electronics school. We built projects with different current draws and timed how long they lasted. I also remember OHMS LAW where it states as VOLTAGE INCREASES CURRENT DRAW GOES DOWN.
All I can tell you is the same setup in each scanner with the same volume level set with a sound meter using the same batteries charged in the same battery charger my 436 last longer than my TRX-1. It depends on how they are put together.
1 Battery = 1.2 volts @ 2500 mil
2 Batteries in series = 2.4 volts @ 2500 mil
2 Batteries in parallel = 1.2 volts @ 5000 mill
ENERGY = CURRENT and current is what does the work.

Not true. Energy does not equal current. Current is just half of the equation. Energy in a circuit is the product of current AND voltage.

Abundant current at low voltage represents far less energy than abundant current at high voltage.

The reason a device with three batteries may produce the same output over a longer time than a similar device with four identical batteries is because the three-battery device is more electrically efficient than the four-battery device device, not because three batteries contain more energy than four.