Ron, how do you deal with the scanner when the display says
nothing enabled? I really think they could do a better job, even
with the beeps. I have owned a PSR500 scanner since 2010, and,
while I can work it, I have never figured out how to use PSR Edit
to program it, even when a friend sends me files of frequencies I
want. I can upload that file which works great, and can set the
scanner on a given talk group, but there is much that I wish I
could do. Given that Whistler is developing new scanners, why
should we discourage them from making them more accessible then
they are which is not much at all in my opinion. Jim WA6EKS
> ----- Original Message -----
>From: Ron Miller <[log in to unmask]
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Date sent: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 22:34:26 -0400
>Subject: Re: accessible scanners
>Hello,
>Check out the Whistler models available. I own and very
successfully use the
>GRE PSR-500, the original version of the current Whistler
handheld. I use
>the PSR500 Edit software and the scanner's included USB cable. I
can program
>the scanner and configure it exactly the way I want it to be. I
can then use
>it very well in the field. I find it very accessible, even
though it does
>not have speech output. Speech is not the only way to
successfully use a
>piece of comm. gear, so don't let the lack of speech detour you.
>73
>Ron Miller
>-----Original Message-----
>From: For blind ham radio operators
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>On Behalf Of Matthew Chao
>Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2014 10:29 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: accessible scanners
>Hi, Martin. I'm looking for an accessible scanner; any current
ideas? And
>what about using USB interfaces instead of serial ones, as many
systems no
>longer come with serial ports, and the USB-TO-serial adapters can
be a
>little sketcy.--Matt, N1IBB.
>At 10:14 AM 8/13/2014, you wrote:
>> Another useful feature is when one can communicate with
a
>>scanner or transceiver via serial interface. I have two Uniden
>>scanners. One is now eleven years old and has a rather turse
command
>>set that one can access via a terminal program much the way you
can
>>access one of the old telephone dial-up modems. All the
characters must
>>be upper case and all the replies are also in upper case but you
can
>>read the display, setup trunking systems, etc. The only problem
is that
>>the Motorola SmartZone trunking is now unusable since the new
rebanded
>>frequency plans can not be fed in to the scanner as a flash
upgrade
>>since the
>>bc780 does not have that capability.
>> It is, however, accessible since the command set and
responses
>>are all plain ASCII text.
>> That sort of access is much appreciated. I also have
another
>>Uniden which was made around 2008. It does P25 and the new
rebanded
>>Motorola trunking just fine.
>> It also has an ASCII command set and is potentially
totally
>>accessible but one needs to either be running one of the Windows
>>programs that talk to your scanner or you must be willing to
write your
>>own communications program in C or perl. I am a Linux user so
that is
>>kind of par for the course.
>> For the BCD996 and the BCD396, the commands and
responses are
>>still ASCII but they use CSV or Comma-Separated Variable strings.
These
>>are sometimes hugely long lines of text in which each field is
>>separated from it's neighbors by a , so a string for input or
output
>>might look like 1,01453500,1,,,3,2,7,K5SRC Stillwater
Repeater,14,0,9
>> That is not a valid entry anywhere, but it is an example
of
>>what a CSV string looks like. You see them all the time in
business
>>applications that may be used with spread sheets and tables.
>> One of my next home projects is to take the C program I
wrote
>>for the BCD996 and try to re-do it in perl as I may get it to do
more
>>than it presently does.
>> I would sure like to see more radios that have some sort
of
>>electronic input and output like the Kenwoods and several others.
To
>>me, that is almost as good as having speech boards in the radio
which,
>>of course, is the holy grail but may not have as much mass appeal
as
>>being able to interface with a serial port on a computer or maybe
a web
>>interface.
>> Let's hope that this period of totally inaccessible
technology
>>is ending and we just might be able to really use some of this
stuff
>>again.
>> I remember the first truly inaccessible piece of amateur
radio
>>gear I encountered. It was in the mid seventies and was a
two-meter
>>transceiver that had an Up and Down button pair for frequency, no
>>direct entry and no way to get to a known state except for that
stupid
>>little LED display. If you could even get it to start at 144.000
MHZ,
>>do you really want to count in 5 KHZ steps up to say, 147.925 and
hope
>>there were no key bounces or missed presses?
>> The guy in the store said, I don't think there is any
way you
>>can use that and he was absolutely right. Don't you just hate
that?
>>73 Martin McCormick WB5AGZ
>>Jim Gammon writes:
>>> John, I have been corresponding with the Whistler group
>>> regarding there trunked scanners. Thought you would like to
read
>>> the latest. Jim
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