TRX-1 REVIEW (AKA I hate my radio)

[Icerider518]

Here is a nonexhuastive numbered list of problems with this radio:

#1: This model radio, and I have had 3 of them (2 of them were returned becuase they totally froze within the return window) is plagued with errors and it never really just works. It consistently needs to be rebooted and reprogrammed. It is super buggy, super slow, and bottom line, it is just unreliable.

#2: The technology is at least 10 years old. The problem with that is the operating system and all your files are run from a SD micro card. You cannot use a modern high speed, high capacity SD micro card becuase they are not compatible with the 10 year old board in the radio. Scan speeds are unacceptable.

#3: The construction is super chintzy. The thin plastic is super light duty and the radio simply very fragile. Forget about taking it out into the field.

#4: The USB cord will not charge the batteries to full capacity. In order to get a full charge, you have to take the batterries out and put them on a charger. Using the USB, the charge will be about half full, which will last you around 2 to 4 hours depending on what kind of scanning is being done. Again, forget about field use.

#5: There is no search and store functionality. The advertisements tout the spectrum sweeper capability. "Spectrum Sweeper allows you to watch for near-field activity on selected frequency bands . . . Once an active frequency is found, the transmission is played through your scanner’s speaker, and you can quickly store it in any of your scanner’s memory locations." What they are not touting is the fact that the user has to sit there and listen for the traffic and then manually (and you better be quick) store the frequency. In most scanners (e.g. Uniden) the frequencies that are found will automatically and seamlessly be stored to a chosen location so the radio can by run independently with no human interaction for days (or longer) and then the discovered frequencies can be inspected at the convenience of the operator.

In summary, this radio is a waste of money. Even if it was not buggy, (which it is) it would be WAY to expensive for what you get. There is a litany of other problems that I won't bore you with. I'll give it 2 stars out if 5 becuase it does have a great reciever. It is super sensitive and gets good reception. And it is capable of monitoring a wide array of transmition types.

I am still waiting for a company to make a super scanner. Which to me, would have all the functionality if the latest top of the line Uniden, but come in a case similar to a Motorola XTS or Mototurbo or at least a high end marine radio (durable and water resistant) and have the same sort of battery and charing cradle.

 

[RaleighGuy]

Here is a nonexhuastive numbered list of problems with this radio:

#1: This model radio, and I have had 3 of them (2 of them were returned becuase they totally froze within the return window) is plagued with errors and it never really just works. It consistently needs to be rebooted and reprogrammed. It is super buggy, super slow, and bottom line, it is just unreliable.

I've had mine for almost 7 years and haven't experienced any of the problems you mentioned above. If I had I sure wouldn't have tried three different ones, I would have given up early on.

I am still waiting for a company to make a super scanner. Which to me, would have all the functionality if the latest top of the line Uniden, but come in a case similar to a Motorola XTS or Mototurbo or at least a high end marine radio (durable and water resistant) and have the same sort of battery and charing cradle.

Good luck with that, maybe someday it will happen, but I don't see enough people willing to pay the high cost it would take to convince a manufacturer to make it.

 

[Ubbe]

#1. I haven't noticed any of those kinds of issues.

#2. I have tried many different SD cards and all works for me in a TRX-1. It scans 75ch/s which is better than a SDS100/200's 45ch/s. During search it does 80steps/s.

#4. It doesn't check battery voltage during charging, the same as a Uniden 436. You only set a time how long it should charge, up to 99 hours can be set.

#5. There's a special setting in Advance/Audio to tick for Search Record: Enable. Then you can at any time review and listen to the recordings that have been done during a search. The Spectrum Sweeper are like Unidens Close Call, not done at full sensitivity and are intended to find strong local users that transmit close to you.

If you load the TRX-1E firmware and use the E version of EZ-Scan you can still set it to use US bandplan and then you have a delay time up to 25sec you can set for search mode. You then also have a selection of different search bands you can use and not only the limit search's single range. What you loose with the E version are the function of the US database library. You can easily install both EZ-Scan versions and then program and use the firmware you prefer to use at that moment.

/Ubbe

 

[radionx]

I'm using my TRX 1 in the field...and I am very happy.

An excellent device...sadly lacking dPMR and DCDM. Otherwise, I like it a lot.

Charging time for batteries can be configured. Also the record parameters...

But maybe you'd be better off with a Surface Go 3 and DSD+?

 

[Icerider518]

Shills.

 

[trentbob]

Here is a nonexhuastive numbered list of problems with this radio:

#1: This model radio, and I have had 3 of them (2 of them were returned becuase they totally froze within the return window) is plagued with errors and it never really just works. It consistently needs to be rebooted and reprogrammed. It is super buggy, super slow, and bottom line, it is just unreliable.

#2: The technology is at least 10 years old. The problem with that is the operating system and all your files are run from a SD micro card. You cannot use a modern high speed, high capacity SD micro card becuase they are not compatible with the 10 year old board in the radio. Scan speeds are unacceptable.

#3: The construction is super chintzy. The thin plastic is super light duty and the radio simply very fragile. Forget about taking it out into the field.

#4: The USB cord will not charge the batteries to full capacity. In order to get a full charge, you have to take the batterries out and put them on a charger. Using the USB, the charge will be about half full, which will last you around 2 to 4 hours depending on what kind of scanning is being done. Again, forget about field use.

#5: There is no search and store functionality. The advertisements tout the spectrum sweeper capability. "Spectrum Sweeper allows you to watch for near-field activity on selected frequency bands . . . Once an active frequency is found, the transmission is played through your scanner’s speaker, and you can quickly store it in any of your scanner’s memory locations." What they are not touting is the fact that the user has to sit there and listen for the traffic and then manually (and you better be quick) store the frequency. In most scanners (e.g. Uniden) the frequencies that are found will automatically and seamlessly be stored to a chosen location so the radio can by run independently with no human interaction for days (or longer) and then the discovered frequencies can be inspected at the convenience of the operator.

In summary, this radio is a waste of money. Even if it was not buggy, (which it is) it would be WAY to expensive for what you get. There is a litany of other problems that I won't bore you with. I'll give it 2 stars out if 5 becuase it does have a great reciever. It is super sensitive and gets good reception. And it is capable of monitoring a wide array of transmition types.

I am still waiting for a company to make a super scanner. Which to me, would have all the functionality if the latest top of the line Uniden, but come in a case similar to a Motorola XTS or Mototurbo or at least a high end marine radio (durable and water resistant) and have the same sort of battery and charing cradle.

Interesting post, I see you joined radio reference today and this is your only post. I'm curious what your background is and knowledge of scanners in general, unless you were a member of RR under another username what has been your resource or interaction with the scanning hobby, how did you research the trx-1 before purchasing to identify its shortcomings?

Do you know that the TRX 1 is an offshoot of the GRE PSR 800 developed by GRE around 2011? Whistler radar detector company bought GRE Lock Stock and Barrel and adopted the GRE line of scanners making cosmetic and firmware upgrades.

I guess you know that there are only two consumer companies that make trunking scanners now. There are lots of superior consumer receivers out there but don't trunk track.

I've had a few disappointments with my TRX1 that I have had for about 7 years and you never mentioned them.

Whistler had the help of a very skilled and qualified radio technician in the beginning. A keyboard was added to the psr800 and it was given a firmware update that made it Phase 2 capable. My issue was that in my area everything was turning to tdma P2 simulcast systems and unfortunately Whistler scanners just were not able to overcome the simulcast distortion in my area which was a real shame because ..

I liked the design of the trx-1, it was very sturdy with the rubber spare tire so-called case around it which I removed first day I had the radio and it never went back on again. I used to use a nylon Radio Shack Pro 106 case and slide a piece of cardboard cut to the same size as the radio behind it and it was a perfect fit but it made the package thicker. I also cut out the plastic window with an exacto knife.

I also noticed that you never mentioned the nxdn or DMR performance. The radio was touted as these options coming with the radio at no extra cost. At that time the city I worked in had a nxdn 48 trunked radio system and unfortunately the trx1 did not work with many missed transmissions because it didn't trunktrack the control channels as it wasn't licensed.

These are the two problems that I have with the radio but quite honestly I've always liked the design of it being small and compact, after removing the spare tire, fairly solid, keyboard addition was great and I must say I always enjoyed that display all the way back to the PSR 800. Just a bright easy to read display but it didn't always work with polarized sunglasses. I enjoyed the programming also.

All the way back when we had Motorola type ll smart Zone systems the performance was excellent and the audio always blew the doors off of unidens x36 radios.

Uniden radios had, for an extra cost, licensed nxdn that worked like a charm on my cities nxdn48 trunked system. Of course that was until my city went encrypted.

That brings us to your desire for a super scanner, don't hold your breath haha, with police going encrypted across the country at lightning speed nobody's going to want to buy the kind of scanner you're talking about which would cost $1,000s and $1,000s of dollars but in ever-growing parts of the country it would not be a "police" scanner.😉

Welcome to radio reference, it's a great forum.

 

[KevinC]

Shills.

Why? Because they don't agree with you?

 

[trentbob]

Shills.

I know that you wrote this before you read my post as you will experience a delay in posting as you are being moderated for a handful of posts as a newbie.

You can rest assure that anyone who knows me, knows that I am not a shill for Whistler LOL. I gave my fair assessment of the radio and identified the good and bad points, unfortunately the two issues that I have you never even mentioned. These are common problems shared by others.

If you were able to research the radio before purchasing it you would have read about issues numerous times.

You can't deny though it's a good looking radio, I happen to like it better without the spare tire rubber case, it has a good display and keyboard and again when Motorola type ll smart Zone systems were common the audio was always better than the x36s.

I am still curious about your background with scanning and different brands of radios, wish lists for new scanners has always been discussed here on this forum. What has been your exposure to the scanning hobby, if not radio reference? Just curious.

 

[YoShep69]

Troll

 

[n4jri]

Whatever its issues with P25 & simulcasting, I find the TRX-1 to be a perfect companion in every other way. Am not sure why so many people find a steep learning curve, since it can be programmed in a way that mimics more traditional scanners.
I do a lot of searching for things, including military, and the TRX-1 has been great. Have installed 2 of them in my car to act as my mobile and am loving it. It go into work and do my thing while they just sit there and recorded whatever I'm interested in to be recovered later.

I also have complaints, though:
The PSR-800 on which the TRX's are based was conceived as a version of the Home Patrol that users could operate like an iPod. Whistler took a decent radio with a useless use interface and gave it much greater utility.

The PSR-500 and its associated radios that Whistler now owns, were a power user's dream. I was one of the beta testers and was absolutely thrilled. Unfortunately, the 800/TRX missed out on a few things:
1 - The ability to set a search or sweeper range as a scannable object. This allowed us to stack multiple, specific search banks, and created an amazing radio for sniffing out new stuff.
2 - The lack of soft keys sharply limits how nimble the TRX can be. So many functions that were so easily accessible on the PSR500 & similar, are buried deeper in the TRX's menu system and take more time to activate.
3 - You can't fileshare the codeplugs. This was a modification added in order to license the RadioReference database--which is great for consumer use, but not much fun for hardcore entthusiasts
4 - You can't quickly reconfigure search and sweeper parameters, and they are more limited in what you can configure even if you have the time and patience. Again--the shift to a more consumer-type product which was GRE's definite intention.
HOWEVER - I've arrived at enough workarounds with the TRX-1 that if I can only have one radio with me, it's the one I choose. Having 200 scanlists per V-Scanner makes a lot of options available, and the ability to record the audio with metadata is fabulous. And with 200 V-Scanners, you can have a lot of personalities for the radio--each very easy to load. And unlike the current Unidens, you CAN enter a new frequency in the field, put it whatever lists you like, and the radio will record it if you wish. If you switch your default scanlist to 201 (SKYWARN), you can quickly make the scanner drop whatever else it's doing and just concentrate on our new finds.
And the case seems sturdy, even without the rubber outer shell.
73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[kmartin]

I wish it had the tune feature that shows the percentage of signal it is receiving like the 1065 does

 

[KevinC]

So far we have shills and trolls. I wonder what's next?

 

[trentbob]

So far we have shills and trolls. I wonder what's next?

I have a feeling we won't hear from the op again, at least on this thread anyway.

 

[jaspence]

I have two of these radios made previous to Whistler producing them. With the upgrade from Whistler, I have had very good results, including simulcast reception, which is usually the biggest issue. I also have a SDS100 that works well, and it is possibly the last of anything new in this category due to cost of development and future changes in encryption. No sympathy for a rant instead of a truereview.

 

[n4jri]

I wish it had the tune feature that shows the percentage of signal it is receiving like the 1065 does

Just restoring the PSR500/1065 feature set would be a great improvement to the TRX's. There was some wacky Japanese vs. American culture clash in developing the PSR500, and the idea of having a scanner you operated like an iPod may have come out of that dynamic.

 

[eyes00only]

#1. I haven't noticed any of those kinds of issues.

#2. I have tried many different SD cards and all works for me in a TRX-1. It scans 75ch/s which is better than a SDS100/200's 45ch/s. During search it does 80steps/s.

#4. It doesn't check battery voltage during charging, the same as a Uniden 436. You only set a time how long it should charge, up to 99 hours can be set.

#5. There's a special setting in Advance/Audio to tick for Search Record: Enable. Then you can at any time review and listen to the recordings that have been done during a search. The Spectrum Sweeper are like Unidens Close Call, not done at full sensitivity and are intended to find strong local users that transmit close to you.

If you load the TRX-1E firmware and use the E version of EZ-Scan you can still set it to use US bandplan and then you have a delay time up to 25sec you can set for search mode. You then also have a selection of different search bands you can use and not only the limit search's single range. What you loose with the E version are the function of the US database library. You can easily install both EZ-Scan versions and then program and use the firmware you prefer to use at that moment.

/Ubbe

I admit I haven't spent a lot of time on this but I'm trying to search for DMR only and don't see anything in the online manual. I see that lots of ranges are used, 150's - 450's & 800's. I tried setting up a folder like the attachment but I don't think it's working. When you click a box like Filter DMR are you turning it on or off? Do you want Zeromatic etc. on or off. I admit I'm really rusty on using my scanner.

 

[n4jri]

I admit I haven't spent a lot of time on this but I'm trying to search for DMR only and don't see anything in the online manual. I see that lots of ranges are used, 150's - 450's & 800's. I tried setting up a folder like the attachment but I don't think it's working. When you click a box like Filter DMR are you turning it on or off? Do you want Zeromatic etc. on or off. I admit I'm really rusty on using my scanner.

If you check the box in EZ Scan, or put on check mark (as opposed to a box) in the Search menu, you are filtering the mode OUT.
This is admittedly very confusing. I had to actually experiment with it myself in order to believe it!

73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[KevinC]

If you check the box in EZ Scan, or put on check mark (as opposed to a box) in the Search menu, you are filtering the mode OUT.
This is admittedly very confusing. I had to actually experiment with it myself in order to believe it!

73/Allen (N4JRI)

Interesting, In my upgraded PSR-800 if you check it you ONLY receive that mode. Seems odd that they would change that, but who knows.

 

[kmartin]

I've had mine for almost 7 years and haven't experienced any of the problems you mentioned above. If I had I sure wouldn't have tried three different ones, I would have given up early on.


Good luck with that, maybe someday it will happen, but I don't see enough people willing to pay the high cost it would take to convince a manufacturer to make it.

It's funny that they can make a low cost dongle to do trunking and other frequencies and types of monitoring but can't make an inexpensive scanner to work like a professional radio like a Motorola !
Technology just can't get-er done !

 

[eyes00only]

If you check the box in EZ Scan, or put on check mark (as opposed to a box) in the Search menu, you are filtering the mode OUT.
This is admittedly very confusing. I had to actually experiment with it myself in order to believe it!

73/Allen (N4JRI)

Thanks