TRX-1: Very Dissatisfied with my TRX-1

[Anderegg]

A couple of days after I received my TRX-1 from Zip Scanners, I requested to return or replace it for manufacturers defect......they immediately told me to deal with Whistler directly, once they sell a product, apparently they wipe their hands of it. Guess it keeps their costs down to not offer support whatsoever...

Paul

 

[buddrousa]

Paul sounds like you need a better scanner dealer that thinks of their customers.

 

[joker303]

I totally agree. Although I am new to this radio world. I sit with an older gentleman that has been doing this for years. And he is so frustrated and that is why I am trying to figure it out for him. And it sucks.

 

[HOLEBILLY]

zip scanner send me a bad scanner with a messed up key pad and the next day after getting the scanner from zip scanner they blocked me from getting on there site. I called whistler and they had me send it to them. Zip scanner is a shady. Sounds like Jeff at ham station is the way to go.

 

[AA6IO]

I live right near HRO in Anaheim but often buy scanners from Jeff at Ham Station because he is a scanner enthusiast himself and always has treated me right. Good guy to deal with IMO.

 

[buddrousa]

I will 2nd Jeff at The Ham Station

 

[allend]

I 3rd to with Jeff from Ham Station. I have bought scanners from him before and only had great experiences.

Sometimes it just might be easier to spend just a tad bit more money and buy from Amazon.com.

The reason why is their return policy. No questions asked. They are a multi billion dollar corporation and its no sweat off their back. If you get a bad unit they will replace and never ask questions or give you problems.

I believe when you are spending over 500.00 dollars for scanners and want a great experience and not have to worry if you are going to get ripped off or have issues with their return policy or charge you for a re-stocking fee you just buy from big companies.

When you buy from these fly by night small companies they do not want to deal with returns. They want to turn and burn and make a profit and go missing into the jungle.

 

[djbrane]

frustrated

It seems I might be dealing with a bad radio too. It actually is a friends I have been trying help out get programmed. I am less than 7 miles from an IN SAFE-T tower and am getting nothing. I have programmed it using library preferred import, with all freq and then tried it with just CC's. I also used location based using my county, still nothing.
When you talk about dwell time, where is that in EZScan? I am not finding it.

I am also having issues with my computer not recognizing the scanner. I have to reboot my computer with the USB plugged in every single time.

 

[hiegtx]

When you talk about dwell time, where is that in EZScan? I am not finding it.

In EZ-Scan, click on the Trunked Systems tap.
Dwell is the last item on each line for trunked systems.

 

[djbrane]

In EZ-Scan, click on the Trunked Systems tap.
Dwell is the last item on each line for trunked systems.

Got it, thank you. Right in front of my face!

 

[hiegtx]

Got it, thank you. Right in front of my face!

Those always seem to be the hardest to find, as we're expecting them to be somewhere else.

 

[Ensnared]

Also Disappointed

Please let me layout why I am making that statement. I have owned the radio for about 3 months. I am not new to programming or using radios. I am a BSEE who has 30+years experience in RF, satellites, broadcasting, etc. I have been a radio hobbiest/amateur for 40+ years. So I believe I am accustomed to working with complex things and know how to do proper testing.

My dissatisfaction is with the DMR performance of the radio as that is the main reason I bought it. I did not expect the radio to perform well with P25 Ph II for all the known issues with either brand in that mode.

In DMR mode the radio has NEVER fully received on going transmissions. It will catch a few fragments of a conversation here and there. It has an annoying habit of seeming like it wants to decode something because it will make low level white noise from the speaker and thumps as if it is on a signal. When looking at the RSSI meter, it maybe as high as full scale, but still no audio from the speaker. (on a few occasions, when this occurs their seems to be audio recorded. This is known because I went back and reviewed the data in the radio.) It can sit there for hours receiving nothing while a $100 TYT MD-380 is unmuted and receiving comms. I have tried this with recording disabled or enabled. Same result

I have tried different antennae, outside antenna, portable antenna, mobile antenna. I have adjusted the DSP levels in the software.

About all it will seem to receive is NOAA WX radio. It does a so-so job on the county SMARTZONE system (Frankly, my old Uniden 785 does a better job of tracking the system).

I was very surprised since it seemed to have good reviews by others. Maybe I got a bad unit, but it was and is a waste of money since the radio sits on the table more then gets used due to the lack of performance.

I am sorry to hear that you are dissatisfied with your radio. As opposed to others, I was indeed expecting some improvement in linear simulcast distortion. Although my Uniden 436HP does not do "great" on this problem, it is far better at handling distortion where I reside. My PSR 500 was not cutting it.

Yes, I expected much more from Whistler, particularly the engineers who may have migrated over from GRE. I never read about how many actually transferred. I do believe that the case appears to be quite solid. I have always preferred GRE/Whistler branded products for this reason.

Initially, I hated the 436HP memory. No, I prefer "objects" and V-folders. However, after nearly two years of owning this radio, I finally get the memory.

Most of all, DMR not having a tracking function sucks! I would not buy this radio for this reason alone.

Maybe next time. I believe that the engineering team listens, but they need to implement some changes in design before this customer will return.

 

[BrianG61UK]

2nd update

I have heard more on this new unit in the past 24 hrs than I did in 3 months with the previous unit. There was clearly something wrong with that unit.

Thanks again to Jeff at THe Ham Station for making this right

jje64

There was a firmware update earlier int he year that made them a lot better at receiving DMR.

Before the update there must have been a major problem with DMR error correction.

Had you done the firmware updates (both CPU & DSP) on the "faulty" scanner?

 

[SCPD]

Paul sounds like you need a better scanner dealer that thinks of their customers.

I bought a scanner from Zip scanners .. never again.

 

[djbrane]

It seems I might be dealing with a bad radio too. It actually is a friends I have been trying help out get programmed. I am less than 7 miles from an IN SAFE-T tower and am getting nothing. I have programmed it using library preferred import, with all freq and then tried it with just CC's. I also used location based using my county, still nothing.
When you talk about dwell time, where is that in EZScan? I am not finding it.

I am also having issues with my computer not recognizing the scanner. I have to reboot my computer with the USB plugged in every single time.

John at Whistler has been great. E-mailing him back and forth about my TRX-1 issues. Ended up talking to him yesterday. Sending it back, something is wrong with reception. Telltale sign was when I hit the WX button and could only pick up one channel very poorly or nothing at all. My GRE 600 setting right next to it was picking up three WX channels strong.

 

[Ed6698]

I have posted several times about Zip Scanners. They copied my review that I made in 2014 for my WS1080, changed my name and the date. Review was word for word exactly and then posted it on their website. I only deal with Ham Station now.

 

[SCPD]

at least

I bought a scanner from Zip scanners .. never again.

At least you got yours,after Zip reassured me if I ordered I would have it the next day,feeling all fuzzy inside I waited and after 3 days I got an email saying it was out of stock and asked f I wanted to wait,I of course cancelled that order.The next day I ordered from HRO,never had any issue with them!

 

[SCPD]

At least you got yours,after Zip reassured me if I ordered I would have it the next day,feeling all fuzzy inside I waited and after 3 days I got an email saying it was out of stock and asked f I wanted to wait,I of course cancelled that order.The next day I ordered from HRO,never had any issue with them!

It was a nightmare ... the only reason I ordered from them is I am not in the US and no one would ship here. After the fact, Ham Station agreed to ship here, only cause Jeff knew who I was.

We have no dealers here .. so getting Whistler items was not that easy when I got my 1095. But .. in my testing of the TRX-1 it was not that bad at all. There are a lot worse scanners .. ie the 1095, which I would not want another one if it was free.

 

[SLScanner]

Looks like I am not the only one that is having trouble but you didn't get crucified for say so
SLScanner

 

[64larry]

Setting it in auto mode, have any of you found a way to make this scanner recieve the digital mode w/o already it being set....another words, having the frequency set, then using auto to determine which digital mode it is using?