When will Uniden show the Radio ID like GRE ?

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SCPD

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Well now that the GRE models are showing the "Radio Id" with a trunking transmission, I have to wonder when Uniden will step up and give us what they are already doing ?

I asked for this feature from Paul Opitz a long time ago .. and he didn't know what i was talking about. Well maybe now that GRE has it, Uniden will wake up and do it themselves. He gave me some story about the cost of doing the change vs the amount of people that would want the feature. I can see his point but this is a simple thing as the control channel has the info there for the taking. This is true for both Motorola and Edacs systems .. so why can't we have it.

Anyone that has used Trunker, Etrunker or Unitrunker knows what the radio id is .. and with some memory we can even put in "Alias Info" like the real radios (and the GRE models) , though the radio id part would be nice to have.

So here is our chance guys .. lets tell Uniden that we want the same type of features that GRE are offering already.
 

n4yek

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This is not a flame by any means, just my opinion.

What good does the radio ID do for me? Lets me know the radio ID, that to me is useless information. I don't need the ID's of every radio on a trunk system, nor would I want to see it.
My purpose of having a scanner is to listen to and keep up with current events taking place in my area.
I don't care if 'John Doe' (alias 'K9-Cop) responds, or someone else, to a dispatch; just that the intended call was taken care of properly.

If there is anything I would like to see, it would be NAC decode. Whether this is software or not I don't know, but I think this feature would be more useful than radio ID's.
 

WX4JCW

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The Only thing i can think of the use for the ID is if there was a structure fire and the traffic was noisy you would know who is transmitting, however to have the radio ID's in the scanner itself might open a pandoras box as far as law enforcement paranoia is concerned, and i have to concur, trunker is fine if you want to keep up. and not to flame, but i think Uniden should have it's own unique features, if you want to have the features of a GRE scanner, then get a GRE scanner
 

af5rn

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I find radio IDs useful when I am actually a user of a system. It's cool to know who it is that sat on their microphone and is now broadcasting their opinion of the mayor, city council, and chief to everyone listening at the time. It actually saved me one time when I looked down at the display and saw it was my own partner whose mic was locked open (pressing against the seatbelt). Good thing I caught it before we said something stupid!

I don't see a lot of application for it for scannists, really. Unless you somehow personally know who has what radios, and that assignment remains constant, it's just extraneous information on your screen. But yeah, a lot of people are listening to small systems with limited personnel, so it could be interesting to associate radios with users. There are a lot of techno-geeks in scanning who are always looking for that extra little bit of technorati to fascinate them, and there's nothing wrong with that. If it's a cheap trick then hey, why not?

But seriously, before they start adding insignificant minutiae like that, I'd really prefer them to focus on more significant issues like digital decoding quality, Passport trunking, priority function, scan speed, ergonomics of the controls, and simplifying the programming process. It's way past time to simplify the radios, not further complicate them.
 
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DaveNF2G

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On systems with affiliate-on-power-up, I find having RIDs tagged very interesting at shift change (for police) and after a fire call is dispatched. I think its cool watching the trucks firing up to go on the assignment.

Of course, that's not the kind of info that is being displayed on the GRE scanners. No scanners show the aff/de-aff/page data, and there is no reason for them to do so.
 

Eng74

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I find radio IDs useful when I am actually a user of a system. It's cool to know who it is that sat on their microphone and is now broadcasting their opinion of the mayor, city council, and chief to everyone listening at the time. It actually saved me one time when I looked down at the display and saw it was my own partner whose mic was locked open (pressing against the seatbelt). Good thing I caught it before we said something stupid!

I had something like that happen. I had my scanner on and I start hearing guys I know talking. Well I call the station fast and hear the phone ring over the scanner. All I had to say was you got a hot mike and it got quite. Next time we went out to lunch I didn't have to pay. I would like to be able to tag the radio id's so I can tell which engine, patrol, or ht it is. Our dispatchers have this and it is not even a trunked system. It might be something that a lot of scanner users will not want or need just like fire tone out. I love the fire tone out since it works with my radio system. If we can get it great if not no big deal. I remeber when I didn't think I needed PL/DPL on a scanner. Now I would not buy I radio that does not have it.
 

slicerwizard

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I don't see a lot of application for it for scannists, really.

No scanners show the aff/de-aff/page data, and there is no reason for them to do so.
Oh boy. Some of you guys are seriously lacking imagination or something. Displaying aliasable radio ID's and events like affiliations, deaffiliations, pages and so on could be very useful for some users. Imagine having an option for each talkgroup to show (and optionally sound an alert) when an event (like an affiliation) related to that group takes place. It'd be a great heads up that some little-used (but interesting) group may get busy soon.

With aliasable radio ID's I could see (and be alerted) when the dispatchers are using their backup radios instead of their consoles. Perhaps I'd like to be alerted when Car 1 (the FD head honcho) fires up his radios. I have plenty of aliased radio ID's in my TRUNK88 files and that tells me that I could use those same aliases in my scanners.

I'm sure that others have their own reasons for wanting features like this. And c'mon, GRE included RID display functionality because they know what users want. They don't waste development time on stuff nobody wants.
 

KC2GVX

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This is all new to me, sorry for sounding basic. I just got a PSR 400 at Dayton, will that show the radio ID's? If it will, how does one do it and where is it displayed. If not, don't worry about it.. haha.
 
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DaveNF2G

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Oh boy. Some of you guys are seriously lacking imagination or something. Displaying aliasable radio ID's and events like affiliations, deaffiliations, pages and so on could be very useful for some users.

I have a very good imagination, thank you. I also know something about business sense.

Yes, there is a relatively tiny subset of scanner users who might be able to make use of such a feature. Is it worth the development time to the manufacturers? Probably not. It would make a scanner more expensive, and people are already *****ing about the prices of new scanners.

The vast majority of buyers have no clue about trunking. A lot of them barely understand radio. Just wander the forums and read the questions asked. A special expert feature is not going to show up unless either it can be done inexpensively or there is a large enough market segment to earn back the R&D investment.
 

SCPD

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I have a very good imagination, thank you. I also know something about business sense.

Yes, there is a relatively tiny subset of scanner users who might be able to make use of such a feature. Is it worth the development time to the manufacturers? Probably not. It would make a scanner more expensive, and people are already *****ing about the prices of new scanners.

The vast majority of buyers have no clue about trunking. A lot of them barely understand radio. Just wander the forums and read the questions asked. A special expert feature is not going to show up unless either it can be done inexpensively or there is a large enough market segment to earn back the R&D investment.

OMG .. it is this narrow type of thinking that is causing GRE to surge ahead with innovative features and Uniden will be left behind.

Uniden can send me the source .. and i will do it for them for free. The information is in the control channel just waiting for someone to use it ... the R&D is virtually NIL. If you go to the GRE forum you will find that people are LOVING this feature. It is not something for a small segment of the scanner community. Once people see the usefulness they will too love what it does offer.

I do agree that alot of people don't know about trunking, but does that mean they need to make them for these people. I should hope not .. or else we will have no new features in our scanners.
 

RADIOGUY2002

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GRE RID-Okay, I'm not fimilar with this particular scanner. However, correct if I'm not getting this right. The display is deocding speicffic radio id's of users on a tunked system correct. So like, Officer A (ID 1515) is taking in a call at 123 fake street and is on talkgroup 358 (358 Police North Sector), so the display shows 358 (Text Mode North sector) and then shows 1515. Is that my understanding? If thats the case then I want uniden to do it to. I'm big fan of mdc1200 and fleetsync so I guess thats why. It kinda a cool feature to have so you can listen to certain pieces of equipment directily such as tower 1 at a working fire. Amongest serverl other units.

I to had that that prolbem of an open key, when I was training someone. I love having my audio be rebroadcasted only to be told to check my key and partners key on a different channel. Thank god for ch2.
 

SCPD

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Yes .. it is something you can turn on or off on the GRE radios. (well the 500 model at least), I don't know about the others.

I think it would be great to be able to alpha-tag both the talk group and the radio id. You can assign an 'Alias' on the GRE radio where you would show the USER of the radio rather than the radio number. So it is your option if you want to see the alpha-tag or the radio id.
 

PeterGV

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Whether seeing the radio ID (on a TRS) or the radio ID on a conventional channel (via MDC1200 decode) is helpful or not depends on how I'm scanning.

If I'm just listening to the traffic that goes by... whatever. I don't care much about which unit (or radio) I'm hearing.

On the other hand, when there are a couple of incidents going on, and I start paying close attention to what's happening on my scanner, it can be VERY interesting and helpful. Not everybody always maintains perfect radio protocol during the heat of an incident. While it might be perfectly clear to the officers on the scene who just said "He's now on MY side of the building... over here...", it's not always clear if you're listening in. Having the radio ID can make things easier... You see it's ID 8024, you say to yourself "Ah, that's Charlie 3"...

Peter
K1PGV
 

MetalCarnage

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I don't see a lot of application for it for scannists, really. Unless you somehow personally know who has what radios, and that assignment remains constant, it's just extraneous information on your screen. But yeah, a lot of people are listening to small systems with limited personnel, so it could be interesting to associate radios with users. There are a lot of techno-geeks in scanning who are always looking for that extra little bit of technorati to fascinate them, and there's nothing wrong with that. If it's a cheap trick then hey, why not?

But seriously, before they start adding insignificant minutiae like that, I'd really prefer them to focus on more significant issues like digital decoding quality, Passport trunking, priority function, scan speed, ergonomics of the controls, and simplifying the programming process. It's way past time to simplify the radios, not further complicate them.


Agreed on the lack of application, i know enough about trunking systems and such to get me by, but i think i represent the average scannists who does it as a hobby for something to listen to while they drive around in the car or to tune into local fire when they hear ten sirens out there window.

I personally dont want to pay extra for features that i am never going to use or have a use for. No offence meant to those who do, but i have things like making a living and such and dont have the time to sit and record radio ID's for the Fleetnet system in my area since there is probably thousands upon thousand of radios being used on the system, i just want to know whats happening, i could care less who exactly is responding and such.

Besides, i would think more scannists are listening to large metropolitan systems where there are mass amounts of users on the system as opposed to small rural networks.

I live just outside Toronto, the thought of listening to Toronto Police (even just one division) and trying to follow radio ID's scares me..

Uniden, just make scanners that work, basics first, then, if u have perfected that, then work on features (that wont cost a lot more money) to make it a little more special.

Just my view, or two cents, or whatever you want to call it
 

rdale

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The radio ID upgrade cost a grand total of: $0.00 for GRE owners. Some people don't like the GPS features of Uniden radios -- but do you know how much those raised the price of the 996T? $0.00
 
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slicerwizard

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Agreed on the lack of application, i know enough about trunking systems and such to get me by, but i think i represent the average scannists who does it as a hobby for something to listen to while they drive around in the car or to tune into local fire when they hear ten sirens out there window.
Maybe you should tell GRE about that. They seem to have other ideas.


i have things like making a living and such and dont have the time to sit and record radio ID's for the Fleetnet system
I doubt you have time to sit and record talkgroup ID's either, yet somehow they're in your scanner. Using a false dichotomy doesn't help your case.


Besides, i would think more scannists are listening to large metropolitan systems where there are mass amounts of users on the system as opposed to small rural networks.
I thought it was explained fairly clearly that not every radio is of interest.


I live just outside Toronto, the thought of listening to Toronto Police (even just one division) and trying to follow radio ID's scares me..
When things get really interesting, that's exactly what the old lady and I do. I'm sure we're not alone.
 

SCPD

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The radio ID upgrade cost a grand total of: $0.00 for GRE owners.

I totally agree .. the cost (to the scanner user) of adding a radio display is just that .. nothing. It is a simple firmware update (sure it cost GRE to have someone code it, but it is not a major issue as it is all there on the control channel just like the talkgroup info).

So for some to say it is something that will up the price of scanners .. i don't buy it.

You can display it if you like ... or not if you find no use for it. As on the GRE, it should be able to be turned on or off.

But let those of us that want it .. to take advantage of it. But don't limit us from using what the product is really capable of, because really what is the purpose of being able to make firmware updates if not to allow new and innovative features. But then in Uniden's case .. it is to fix poor performance. :(

This is why my next scanner will be a GRE .. :lol:, and this after being a true Uniden fan.
 

Don_Burke

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When will Uniden show the Radio ID like GRE?.
As soon as they determine enough people want it.

There are finite limits to the resources available. The code would have to take up some space. Running the code would take clock pulses. As stated before, someone has to write the code.

Adding that feature would not earn Uniden a dime from me, although some would buy a radio for that.
 
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