Raff
Member
Dave: How did you do it? Is that in the PSR-800. Thanx.
Update to GRE PSR-800
- Thread starter WhistlerWendy
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Dave: How did you do it? Is that in the PSR-800. Thanx.
Tracker
Member
A couple of guesrions
1. Will there be any physical changes to the radio? (Case, name, model)
2. Will it scan P2?
3. Will you include a new memory card?
Tracker
Member
Well........................ONE of my PSR-800 was dropped off at the Post Office yesterday for it's trip to Arkansas
I know it says two weeks, but I was wondering if you've heard back from Whistler, (call, email, letter, upgraded scanner)?
I just found out this was available n am goin to be sending mine in tomorrow for the upgrade..
I haven't used it in over a year since my local PD went to P25 n I haven't been able to upgrade the firmware..
Also, I upgraded to windows 10 n my scanner stopped communicating with the PC..
Am very happy today!!
Thank you Whisrler for not leaving the GRE n RS folks hanging ....finally!
Tracker
Member
I went ahead n purchased the upgrade n boxed my scanner......will be sending it out tomorrow via UPS!
Am exited as it's a $400 plus piece of hardware that was assentially a paper weight for me.....
Am exited as it's a $400 plus piece of hardware that was assentially a paper weight for me.....
Eng74
Member
The 800 received P25 and phase 2 already.
Tracker
Member
I never got to update it n use it by the time GRE sold to Whistler..in 13'
I have been pissed all these years .....to the point that I had not bought another scanner....
Imagine if you paid a reputable company $400 plus n they go out of business n you are left with n unupgradable scanner......which was the reason you had bought it in the first place....
Well I didn't need to imagine.....it is exactly what happened to me...
An just glad that Whistler finally did the right thing.....
Am certain that Radio Shack was not pleased....
Not sure what " Does it properly follow the control channel / rest channel the right way like a real Motorola radio? Or does it conventionally scan and search through all the frequencies to look for talk groups?" means but ANY trunked radio / scanner watches the control channel for talkgroups to go active then it shifts to the frequency assigned by the trunking controller and opens the audio circuit. The only time it should conventionally scan is when it first acquires a system in which you have several control channels programmed in. If the system stays on one CC then you could drop the other frequencies from your system / site list.
If you are locked on one system,the scanner will find the CC and stay there until told to move to a working / talking channel.
If you are locked on one system,the scanner will find the CC and stay there until told to move to a working / talking channel.
Spitfire8520
Might be slightly less clueless! =)
Your PSR-800 should support Phase 2 just fine if you have the latest firmware. The latest firmware was released after the end of GRE and has always been available through the PSR-800 EZ Scan software.
Whistler went with a non-control channel design for scanning trunked DMR systems. It checks the voice data for every frequency to see if a desired talkgroup is active. It still does the job for trying to monitor a trunked DMR system, but some users describe this as not true trunking and inefficient.
Tracker
Member
After my upgrade to Windows 10, my PC would no longer communicate with my 800...
I even tried some fixes suggested by other 800 owners here on this forum, having a similar problem, but to no avail.....
Apparently they had updated their 800's firmware prior to upgrading to windows 10
UPS should be en route to whistler with my 800 as I type this ...👍🏻
sibbley
Member
It's strange. I've had more trouble communicating with the PSR-800 on a Windows 7 machine than I've had with Windows 8 or 10. I will have issues once and a while with Windows 10 if I have more than 1 programming cable plugged in at a time. If I have just the PSR-800 cable plugged in to the computer, it works without fail every time.
But it won't work on Phase 2 if the system is simulcast. You will miss a lot of transmission, and the ones you do get will often be garbled or broken up.
And conventionally scanning DMR trunking frequencies and trying to search and guess where the talk groups are is not proper trunktracking. If you're holding on a talk group and its a busy system, the time it takes the scanner to search for the next transmission will cause you to miss calls if the system is busy enough. Why can't they have made it just do the damn proper rest channel / control channel following, dangit.
And conventionally scanning DMR trunking frequencies and trying to search and guess where the talk groups are is not proper trunktracking. If you're holding on a talk group and its a busy system, the time it takes the scanner to search for the next transmission will cause you to miss calls if the system is busy enough. Why can't they have made it just do the damn proper rest channel / control channel following, dangit.
IowaGuy1603
Member
You are still going to have to get your computer to communicate with your scanner.
The procedure listed in other threads works on both of my Win 10 machines................it's just that after every "upgrade" it reverts to what windows wants you to do and you have to "reboot with the unsigned driver"
I got a couple emails from Whistler in between . Once when it got to Arkansas ------once when it was shipped back (with tracking link) and once when the sent me the procedures to re-boot the scanner when it arrived
Well........................ONE of my PSR-800 was dropped off at the Post Office yesterday for it's trip to Arkansas
Sent off 6/4/17
Returned to me 6/14/17
It now DOES monitor my local prison which as a Tier III DMR system
I am happy
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IowaGuy1603
Member
That is simply not true......................I have very little trouble with a Phase 2 Simulcast system near me.
a Yagi pointed at one particular tower & a 3dB Attenuator in line gives me nearly 90% clear transmissions
When I am mobile I use a 900mHz antenna and a 4 dB attenuator.............and depending on exact location I get nearly 100% clear transmisions.
Yes it is true, because yagi's don't always work depending each person's situation. And you shouldn't even need a yagi in the first place.
IowaGuy1603
Member
Does it really matter if you can make it work?
My $500 scanner isn't a $6K Harris Unity or a $3K Motorola APX radio----I don't expect it to perform like one.
I experiment and find a work around that DOES work.
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tumegpc
Member
I find that using the Radio Shack 20-288 Stubby Race antenna helps reduce simulcast distortion on my 668 and Whistler scanners.
IowaGuy1603
Member
Yes, there are numerous ways of attenuating the signal so the processor can lock on a single signal.
It's not an optimal situation but it works if you really want to monitor that system without buying a new "state of the art" scanner
RunnerFL
Member
I just found out, too late I guess, that my local PD switch over to FDMA last week. Will this upgrade get me FDMA?
Septa3371CSX1
Member
FDMA is P25 Phase 1 - so yes it should be able to receive it (provided it isn't encrypted).
RunnerFL
Member
Ok, thanks. I guess I just need to wait for someone to update the database.
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