Uniden and GRE, pay attention to this--

[n4voxgill]

I can't effectively monitor all of the agencies that I want to hear with just one scanner. I have multiple scanners and multiple 2 meter or 2 meter/440 ham radios. I would miss more than I would ever hear by trying to put all of this in one unit. I agree with the above statement less is better.

 

[oregontreehugger]

That's a pretty neat idea... kinda like building a Dell. Customize it for your own needs.

 

[LarrySC]

Well I want a scanner with max features in the format of a laptop. Cover behind display would be antenna with jack for ext ant. Could use or install it in many locations. I think this day will come. Anything you can think of can be built. I hold my plastic in my hand, waiting.

 

[Universaldecoder]

The Next Great Scanner.....

Didn't see a thread like this anywhere so I thought I'd start one. If there is one already please pm me with the link and of course the moderator should and will probably delete this one....

Being such a nice day, and it being lunch. I started to daydream of the next Do-All scanner and the type of features I'd expect or at least wish it to have...

1. External memory card slot with cover. I really like SD cards, and it seems like almost all electronic media type devices have them now. Cell phones, MP3 players, handheld GPS units, and even some car audio head units...etc...
For a scanner, this could well be the next step in memory management. Imagine how many channels you could fit into a 32 gig SDHC card. Plus you would not need to haul out the laptop to program your mobile scanner....just pop out the SD card program it at your PC station, and then re-insert into the scanner

2. The utilization of GPS in the 996T is brilliant. How about going another step forward and incorporating the board directly in the unit.

3. For mobile units - how about corded recepticles instead of hard recepticles in back of the units.

4. For mobile units - removable faceplates for security - and they should be all DIN/ISO standards.

5. All units should have something like Priority DND, and Close Call DND

Any one got anymore wants?

 

[iMONITOR]

Some of those suggestions are nice, but would increase the cost of scanners substantially for those that do not need, or desire those extras.

External memory card slot? I can't imagine anyone needing more memory storage than the newest Unidens already provide. It would be convenient for programming.

The internal GPS feature would still require an external cable, and an antenna device just for that. Considering the low cost, and small size of these devices, I don't see an advantage to building it in.

Corded receptacles? What advantage?

Removable face plates? They're half way there with Uniden's new remote head option. I'd expect to see this on their next models. The setup they have now is redundant, and expensive.

DND?

 

[chief52ptfd]

"Nobody will ever need more than 640k RAM!" -- Bill Gates, 1981

 

[Universaldecoder]

The Next Great Scanner.....

Didn't see a thread like this anywhere so I thought I'd start one. If there is one already please pm me with the link and of course the moderator should and will probably delete this one....
Being such a nice day, and it being lunch. I started to daydream of the next Do-All scanner and the type of features I'd expect or at least wish it to have...
1. External memory card slot with cover. I really like SD cards, and it seems like almost all electronic media type devices have them now. Cell phones, MP3 players, handheld GPS units, and even some car audio head units...etc...
For a scanner, this could well be the next step in memory management. Imagine how many channels you could fit into a 32 gig SDHC card. Plus you would not need to haul out the laptop to program your mobile scanner....just pop out the SD card program it at your PC station, and then re-insert into the scanner
2. The utilization of GPS in the 996T is brilliant. How about going another step forward and incorporating the board directly in the unit. 3. For mobile units - how about corded recepticles instead of hard recepticles in back of the units. 4. For mobile units - removable faceplates for security - and they should be all DIN/ISO standards.
5. All units should have something like Priority DND, and Close Call DND
Any one got anymore wants?

Mod...delete please...thanks

 

[iMONITOR]

"Nobody will ever need more than 640k RAM!" -- Bill Gates, 1981

OK, you got me there!

 

[Dorpmuller]

How about one that's not junk with Motorola build quality with hearable audio for a change? That'd be fine by me...

 

[jpm]

Hopefully Uniden will fix the bugs the BCD996T has before they engineer another.

 

[pathalogical]

Uniden should scrap the NASCAR logo and replace it with a Motorola logo since we are able to track Motorola systems. Then make a flip open, super thin scanner, like a cell phone. Scrap the "huge" AA batteries and use lithium rechargables with the AC adaptor AND drop in charger base, included with purchase. Color screen ??? As mentioned above, memory cards might be good, but the new scanner would have much, much more memory than current models. And in keeping up with the trend of misspelled words that are all around us, I call this next generation of scanners.......a SCNR ! Hello Moto...

 

[gmclam]

WOW, you mean the Unidens have software bugs too? I thought that was a GRE (RS) trademark. Seriously. FIRST on my list is a scanner w/o those bugs. That means the operating code is in FLASH and can be updated.

Next, stop calling the feature "priority channel" if it is not. Just because the scanner checks back every 2 seconds under certain conditions does not make it a priority. In the GRE scanners, trunking is a priority. They need a separate "receiver" for the priority channel. This would also make it possible to have a talkgroup ID of a trunked system programmed as the priority channel.

I love the idea posted about FLASH memory for channel programming! That's a great one. It needn't be much capacity; or it should be partitioned. I'd like to be able to switch profiles while driving from one area into another. If I could pre-program all cities I plan to visit before a trip, then just switch profiles, it would be great.

The DELAY function needs to be TRULY programmable. Having zero or "2 seconds" does not cut it. It should be from near 0 to about 8 seconds in 500ms steps. And it should work on conventional channels or talkgroups the same. It should not switch to another conversation (unless from the priority channel) until that delay times out.

If we're adding memory, I'd like some user text or flags for each channel. I'd like to be able to press a button once I've heard a conversation on some specific frequency/talkgroup. Another option is some sort of logging (which I why I want the user memory).

Another variation is a counter which increments PER CHANNEL each time the scanner stops there.

Ability to alter the parameters of any system set up for trunking. Some agencies are being creative out there, such as using VHF, and we need to be able to tell the scanner how to receive these systems.

CTCSS/PL modes currently do not provide the ability to "exclude" a setting. For example, there is an agency close by with a specific tone I do not want to hear. But if anyone else transmits I want to hear them. The only way to do this currently is to enter each agency and their tone separately. Another option is to exclude any transmission which has NO tone (an "any tone" option).

 

[Universaldecoder]

A Sleep Timer function would be nice in software too.

 

[benjaminfs733]

1.) I would like a scanner that has 2 receivers. I believe there would be many, many benefits to this.

2.) Could a scanner be programmable to the users desires? For example, unless I have misunderstood, the only reason Open Sky, encryption, and different digital modes are not monitorable is because it would cost Uniden too much money and too few people want to use it. Therefor a scanner user who desires a certain lesser common ability (say Open Sky) could pay an extra 200 dollars for it and upgrade the scanner.

 

[jonny290]

"Nobody will ever need more than 640k RAM!" -- Bill Gates, 1981

The correct quote to attribute to Mr. Gates is:

"Nobody running DOS 3.3 will ever need more than 640k of RAM."

I challenge anybody to find fault with that statement.




I think the SD card stuff would be slick, but let's be honest - there aren't 32 gigs of frequency databases in the WORLD, and I'll be darned if I have to scroll through Alabama, Arkansas, California, enabling and disabling all of those systems.

What would catapult the next $600 Uniden into the next class:

-integrated GPS (I agree with you on this)
-Bluetooth audio transmission - goes to headsets or many new car audio systems, painlessly
-Ethernet interface on mobile/base models (TCP/IP webserver chips are about $3 and allow full security and computer control, if not audio piping)
-Removable faceplate or remote mount kit with a standard connector like an RJ45, (screw you Icom 208H).
-SEPARATE speaker and headphone out, or software selectable output type.
-FACTORY discriminator out.

 

[Don_Burke]

I would like to see a standard form factor that would allow the guts of the unit to fit in any of the following:

- dashboard
- full height 5.25 drive bay
- multibay rack that could be mounted in a remote location, mobile or base (with faceplate removed)

A standard interface that would allow that multibay rack to contain a combination of ham rigs, CB rigs, business band rigs, scanners, CD players, or other radios

Several different control head options for that rack.

A standard file format that any scanner loading software could read or write. (That could happen today.)

 

[Lodis]

All of the above and the following:

* polycarbonate case that is waterproof and tough like the VR-120 casing.

* it will be the same size as the Icom R5 or at least the option of one this size.

* you will be able to set up any step size you want similar to how you can on the AR8200 but even better.

* MPT1327 trunk tracking and Tetra (unencrypted) demodulation.

* Built in discirminator output access

* Built in inversion descrambler

 

[gcgrotz]

1.) I would like a scanner that has 2 receivers. I believe there would be many, many benefits to this.

2.) Could a scanner be programmable to the users desires? For example, unless I have misunderstood, the only reason Open Sky, encryption, and different digital modes are not monitorable is because it would cost Uniden too much money and too few people want to use it. Therefor a scanner user who desires a certain lesser common ability (say Open Sky) could pay an extra 200 dollars for it and upgrade the scanner.

Good ideas, but you can't listen to anything encrypted. First of all you'd have to know the encryption key. And I believe the Open Sky system uses an encrypted control channel which kills that idea. Even voice un-inversion is not legal in the US. (AOR makes a voice inversion board for the 8200/8600).

But 2 receivers, now that would be sweet. True priority channels!

 

[Universaldecoder]

Need more.....

Ok, maybe 32 gigs is a bit extreme. I've got 90% of SE Michigan on my 996T, and not even half of the MPSCS talk ID's. This translates to systems #1-73, and for the non-public safety systems #90-99. Yep, I can easily see myself límiting out the fixed memory. A weekend trip North or West to Chicago, or East to Toronto, and I can see myself stopping at a roadside rest stop to load Local and destination systems and groups.

(well...with Open Sky coming on line...here...it should clear about 1/3 of the current memory).

Memory is cheap these days. Heck a 2 gig SD card can be obtained for free via rebates now and then.

 

[N_Jay]

The correct quote to attribute to Mr. Gates is:

"Nobody running DOS 3.3 will ever need more than 640k of RAM."

I challenge anybody to find fault with that statement.

. . .

From: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bill_Gates

640K ought to be enough for anybody.

Often attributed to Gates in 1981.
Gates has repeatedly denied ever saying this:
I've said some stupid things and some wrong things, but not that. No one involved in computers would ever say that a certain amount of memory is enough for all time... I keep bumping into that silly quotation attributed to me that says 640K of memory is enough. There's never a citation; the quotation just floats like a rumor, repeated again and again.
Bloomberg Business News (19 January 1996); also WIRED (16 January 1997)
Do you realize the pain the industry went through while the IBM PC was limited to 640K? The machine was going to be 512K at one point, and we kept pushing it up. I never said that statement — I said the opposite of that.
U.S. News & World Report (20 August 2001)

1981 was when the PC and DOS 1 was released, DOS 3 did not exist until 1984.

Challenge accepted.
Challenger wins!:twisted: