Whistler website back online - 10th February 2025

trentbob

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I wander if they got the 1 year of data from the TRX100 TRX200 failed projects.
After the leak of a simulcast capable radio from Uniden... for whatever reason, Whistler announced that they were also working on the same thing.> excitement amongst scanner enthusiast> a radio reference poster came up with the name TRX 100 and 200, not Whistler, but they adopted it > a very long wait> quite a long time after the initial announcement Whistler asked if there was any wish list for the new radio> uh-oh!> an announcement approximately a year after announcement that Whistler was not able to produce a radio that worked well enough to sell on the market.

I don't think there's any documentation to be found on what happened but I think that pretty well covers it. Again it probably took them about 10 minutes to realize they would need to build their own chassis which they have never done to get the job done


Who can blame them for a marketing ploy in a very tight consumer market. Who were we to tell them how to run their business.

I think if they were capable and had the financing to build a new chassis from the ground up with everything involved in that and produce a SDR Radio, who knows what the market would look today.
 
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wb4sqi

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I think if they were capable and had the financing to build a new chassis from the ground up with everything involved in that and produce a SDR Radio, who knows what the market would look today.
I have to wonder if investing in an SDS100/200 competitive radio is a wise marketing decision with so many areas going encrypted?
 

Hit_Factor

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I have to wonder if investing in an SDS100/200 competitive radio is a wise marketing decision with so many areas going encrypted?
Ride the wave as long as you can. When your area goes encrypted, sell it off. The second hand market will exist for awhile.
 

a727469

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No, I already wasted too much time reading all this.
Last thing I want to do is waste more time wondering/debating/betting on what might happen in the "new Whistler's" future .
Agreed, but don’t take it too seriously 😉🙂
 

a727469

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Define "reasonable". 6 months? a year? 18 months? 2 years?
(this is where a so-called expert consumer will chime in saying it's "trivial" to design and build modern consumer electronics)

And again, the new proprietors purchased the Whistler IP, and that's all. They didn't get whatever staff was there, some of whom have surely gone on to other jobs since apparently Arkansas is not Ohio. It takes time, even having something to work with to design, prototype, test, etc.
All bets are off🫤😀. As stated, by the time they might actually do something, the market for scanners will have changed and even now it is a somewhat limited market compared to other electronics.
 

nhicks6608

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Anybody having any luck contacting Whistler? My Trx-2 just lost all volume... tried everything. Emailed twice, nothing. Called twice, busy signal. Sucks looking at a $500 paperweight.
 

KevinC

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Anybody having any luck contacting Whistler? My Trx-2 just lost all volume... tried everything. Emailed twice, nothing. Called twice, busy signal. Sucks looking at a $500 paperweight.
I don't see a number listed for the new Whistler Group. Where did you get it from?

And I don't believe they've announced any plans for service yet, I'd imagine that would take at least several months to set up.
 

nhicks6608

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I don't see a number listed for the new Whistler Group. Where did you get it from?

And I don't believe they've announced any plans for service yet, I'd imagine that would take at least several months to set up.
The numbers I found were on the back of the TRX2 manual.

Customer Service (866) 923-8719
Corp. HQ (800) 531-0004

I tried them, just got busy signals. Just wanted to ask about this, seeing 2 days ago it was fine, and yesterday, no sound.
 

KevinC

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The numbers I found were on the back of the TRX2 manual.

Customer Service (866) 923-8719
Corp. HQ (800) 531-0004

I tried them, just got busy signals. Just wanted to ask about this, seeing 2 days ago it was fine, and yesterday, no sound.
That was the now defunct Whistler Group. The new ownership hasn't announced any phone numbers yet.

I would try either a new SD card or a reset to default and see what happens, but please take the troubleshooting to a new thread if you want to continue a discussion about it.
 

wolfhart67jr

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I mean really work. I do remember being very upset when I purchased a trx1 that didn't pick up my counties simulcast Phase 2 system

The TRX1/2 most definitely work on P25 phase 2 systems. What they struggle severely on is P25 simulcast, whether FDMA or TDMA.
My county went to TDMA P25 Phase 2 and boy it struggles bad on that. The neighboring county to me it does a bit better because it was done in 2015 and RR just lists it Digital P25 Phase 2 but its still simulcast and it still was pretty bad so for me it was kinda a bust getting a TRX 1 for here although it did work very well when my county was all analog. I moved on to the SDS 100 but i always enjoyed the whistler TRX 1 just wished it worked better on the newer simulcast systems
 

a727469

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All they have to do is stick a SDR dongle on a small display. How hard can that be? C'mon guys.
That’s already being done. It’s called the sds100😵‍💫. We don’t need another one.👎 In all seriousness, anything from Whistler would really have to offer significant new features at a competitive price.
Who knows, maybe they have been working secretly for the last few years from the time they failed to produce the promised new products🤫🤫🤫🤫
 

trentbob

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That’s already being done. It’s called the sds100😵‍💫. We don’t need another one.👎 In all seriousness, anything from Whistler would really have to offer significant new features at a competitive price.
Who knows, maybe they have been working secretly for the last few years from the time they failed to produce the promised new products🤫🤫🤫🤫
You're giving the old Whistler way too much credit LOL.. let's see them get things back to where they were before, before the blackout. I assume people were still buying the radios from the reputable vendors.

The service department might be tricky as they need to do an inventory of the units waiting for repair, that they may or may not even possess, secondary to one media report.. but we assume they'll make that right.

Kevin said at the beginning of this thread, give it time.

Everybody got their updates? Let's see if they can get operations back to where they were before and then go from there. That's a realistic start.
 

a727469

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Agreed 100%. I do think that unfortunately they have lost most credibility and time may be running out. Maybe getting repair/service going will be helpful and a good start, but without new products, service eventually will not be profitable or needed.
While all this sounds negative, in a perfect world I would like nothing more than to have a viable alternative and choice for scanners so I wish them luck and truly hope they prove my pessimism wrong.
 

wb4sqi

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Nobody can answer that question for you but you.
I think you misunderstood my question. As a manufacturer how would you justify the R&D to develop an SDS type competitive product from a purely good business standpoint. Would the shrinking market support a new competitor? Can you recover your R&D investment? I have noticed on RR Classifieds the quantity of pre-owned SDS products available due to encryption seems to be growing although I recognize the sample size is likely too small to be of significance.
 

buddrousa

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I just think you did not get the answer you wanted.
1.So is not being smart enough to operate the scanner but that does not give a reason to not make scanners.
2.As has been posted by so many others there are still things to listen to.
3.Why should new Ham Radios be built when it is being pushed by the to lazy to learn that buy hot spots and use a cellphone. By the way that is not skill or knowledge.
 

trentbob

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I think you misunderstood my question. As a manufacturer how would you justify the R&D to develop an SDS type competitive product from a purely good business standpoint. Would the shrinking market support a new competitor? Can you recover your R&D investment? I have noticed on RR Classifieds the quantity of pre-owned SDS products available due to encryption seems to be growing although I recognize the sample size is likely too small to be of significance.
That's a question only Whistler can answer..

For people to buy scanners even though you can monitor a lot of things.. I do.. people do want to hear the police.

There's no validity in denying that even though some people do because there's so much else to listen to and for whatever reason are not interested in the police barking dog calls.. cops in my area don't handle barking dogs, the ACO does, my police are busy in a fairly high crime environment and I miss that situational awareness of what's going on in my neighborhood. I've been listening to the police everyday since I was a kid.

Whistler probably couldn't put an SDR chip in the chassis of the radios they inherited from GRE, they would need to make a new radio which they have never done before and it's a big investment.

It boils down to consumers and manufacturers to weigh the options and make a choice.
 

wb4sqi

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No, apparently not.

1. End user intelligence has nothing to do with my statement, Purely from a business standpoint would you invest the millions required to develop an SDS type scanner for a shrinking market?

2. Yes, still plenty to listen to, just like on HF shortwave but is it worth the development and engineering costs?

3. Ya got me there, I don't see how Yaesu can justify all the new product they introduce but I'm sure they see the true global market, not just the U.S. Whistler however only has the U.S. market unless they develop a handheld clone of the AOR DV10 that also has trunked systems support.

My comments have zero to do with end users, it's just about good business sense from the new owners. What are their market expectations?
If it is only support of outdated products then I applaud their effort and hope they are successful. I live about 2 miles from their Cincinnati location and plan to visit soon.
 
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