TRX-1: TRX-1 Review

[trentbob]

My first GRE radio was in 1969 and was a VHF High tunable monitor made for Radio Shack. I have many GRE Whistler radios and they're all in the closet and not being used anymore.

I'm not a hater, I just live in an area that's all P2 simulcast now and no Whistler radio works on the systems I want to hear but my Motorola gear and SDSs do. The rebranded GREs made by Whistler were great radios in their day.

If you're in an area that still uses a 500 megahertz type II smartzone system then the radios will work good for you unless you're in a large Inner City where the front end just gets totally overloaded.

There are people out there that like the radios and it picks up what they want to hear.

As time goes on and P2 simulcast increases in the country there will be less and less people the whistlers work for.

 

[gmclam]

I'm not a hater, I just live in an area that's all P2 simulcast now and no Whistler radio works on the systems I want to hear but my Motorola gear and SDSs do. The rebranded GREs made by Whistler were great radios in their day.

The rebranded radios are the GRE design so of course they work (although not P2 nor perhaps simulcast). It's ironic that the audio is low on the TRX-1 for analog systems that in does a good job in receiving, but very good on the digital systems it can't receive well.

I am not a hater either. I tried to write this review putting the best light on the TRX-1. It was clear to me a few days after I made the purchase how horrible this thing is, but wanted to wait until after I test drove it on many systems on the west coast to see what gives. The words I want to use to describe thing are best not said in this forum. The reality is that I am pissed that this thing is sold with such a high MSRP that has so MANY problems. But, I do see it can work "perfectly" for some people.

If you're in an area that still uses a 500 megahertz type II smartzone system then the radios will work good for you unless you're in a large Inner City where the front end just gets totally overloaded.

The PSR-500, etc does great; the TRX-1 sucks. The only time I experience an overloading issue is when I am next to a cell tower. It's not a problem at home even though I use a wideband antenna feeding an amplified multi-coupler and there is a cell site about 1/4 mile away. The first issue with the TRX-1 is this situation is LOW AUDIO. Next, I am receiving a Phase I multisite system about 80 miles away. PSR-500 does just fine, TRX-1 is deaf. Next issue I can't see what the decode rate is on the TRX-1 because it apparently doesn't have that function. Ironic since EZ Scan has settings for multi-site to aid in switching towers.

As time goes on and P2 simulcast increases in the country there will be less and less people the whistlers work for.

I tried monitoring several sites in the Pacific Northwest that are P2 simulcast and compared them with the BCD996P2 (and PSR-500). Interestingly not all TGs on those systems were P2 and the PSR-500 would pick them up. The TRX-1 picked up a FRACTION of what the BCD996P2 was hearing. Again, no way to check decode rate nor drive it to the best tower.

 

[trentbob]

Yep, everybody has different opinions and for those that these radios work for they enjoy them... I just go for what works for my needs.

I was disappointed that my PSR 800, 1095 and TXR 1 were called p2 capable but didn't work on my systems after trying all attempts at settings, Yagi's, positioning etc.... I use rooftop antennas and got a lot of bleed over too.

They would be sweet radios if they did work for my needs.

.

 

[crazyretrotech]

The TRX-1 is a radio you can both hate, or love. Yes have tons of issues out of the box. Once you learn it flaws and spend hours working around them. It pretty good receiver. I using a outdoor antenna as well and don't have bleed over issues and overload issue as others have. The SDS100 on lower bands has tons of bleed over and over load with below 60 RSSI, now did test environment and used filters to resolve most the SDS100 issues. On same pre-amp and antenna I find the TRX-1 pulls in way more on lower bands and etc. Love listen to tow trucks and malls and other business in area, the SDS100 can't pick most that stuff up and misses it, or if analog not clear and hear noise floor, where the TRX-1 is pretty clear for the most part. The SDS100 handles better on the lake country simulcast system and where it shines as zero distortion. The TRX-1 work on most talk-groups but sometimes distorts on other usually first couple of seconds and clear up and sometimes not at all and works well. Now the TRX-1 on other Phase 2 system works flawlessly.

If you want to hear LSM systems go SDS100 as no other scanner will handle that system well before SDS100.

 

[TAbirdman]

GMclam - thanks for the write up, That took some time. Just a few suggestions if you write another review on a scanner/PC programs: List the version number of the Firmware or the release # of the software right up front. This way there is no confusion. I thought you were commenting on the latest EZScan version ( V3.32) until I got half way through and noticed you were commenting on an older version of software. A good portion of your issues with the software appears to have been addressed in the latest version.

 

[gmclam]

Yeah I meant to put the version at the head, but I also have another list of issues I should have included. It was already taking too long to complete and I decided to go with it as I had it. When I started the review I was using v3.26 and by the end I was using v3.29.

You might wonder why leave in the issue of not being able to import LED settings (for example), knowing it was resolved in v3.29. It's not a complete solution. For example there is still no means to tune the color balance. This product has been on the market what 3 years now and we're just getting to this. Come one. There are significant limitations in the following (even with v3.32):
- Can't paste in more than one site frequency of a trunked system at a time
- No means provided to import trunking settings other than talkgroups
- The user can not change the order of conventional channels or talkgroups (and I don't mean scan order or what's seen on the PC)