A few communities near me and on cape cod actually went back to conventional
because of all the problems with the trunking systems.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Gammon" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, August 16, 2014 1:37 PM
Subject: Comments on trunked systems
>I think that in general, counties and states have been sold a
> pipe dream when it comes to the new digital trunked systems.
> They are very complex. A few years ago, I heard Richmond CA's
> trunked system go down and in a few hours when it became evident
> that there were some serious issues, the county sheriff folks
> came out with a truck load of handheld radios for the local cops
> to use while they were fixing the Edacs trunked system. More
> recently, Oakland's problem-ridden trunked system went down when
> the POTUS was in town and I think Oakland has recently decided to
> scrap their hugely expensive system and join the EBRCS system
> used by Alameda and Contra Costa County that has come online over
> the past couple years. In all fairness, that EBRCS p25
> system seems to work alright but for the kind of garbled sound
> you sometimes hear but maybe that's just on kind of cheap
> scanners. Actually one of the reasons for trunking namely
> sharing frequencies, is a very sound one when you think of say a
> conventional frequency used by a fire department that may only be
> used a few times each hour, but my opinion still hasn't changed
> about the hype and complexity that has gone into the new systems.
> I really do hope that many agencies hold on to their old
> conventional frequencies for a long time. I could go on about
> this but will not. Jim WA6EKS
>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: Butch Bussen <[log in to unmask]
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>Date sent: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 07:38:05 -0700
>>Subject: Re: Programming a PSR500?
>
>>THis is I think their third attempt. When I first moved there,
> the
>>state blew 20 million or so on a vhf system fro motorola and had
> to
>>scrap that one as they weren't licensed. Of course, the guy who
> was in
>>charge of that had just retired. hmmmmm. They then spent
> another twenty
>>mil on something else which didn't work, and now they're messing
> with
>>this desert sky system. When I left in 2010, one of the main
> techs was
>>in our ham club and he said it wasn't any good. Audio sounded
> like you
>>were blowing bubbles througha straw.
>>73
>>Butch
>>WA0VJR
>>Node 3148
>>Wallace, ks.
>
>
>>On Fri, 15 Aug 2014, Ron Miller
>>wrote:
>
>>> Hi Butch,
>>> Yes, LV has gone to Open Sky (called desert sky for their
> system) but are
>>> extremely dissatisfied with it. They proposed switching to a
> P25 system but
>>> have not yet done so. I suspect budget constraints are holding
> them back.
>>> The article I read indicated they invested a lot in the desert
> sky system.
>
>>> Ron Miller
>
>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: For blind ham radio operators
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>>> On Behalf Of Butch Bussen
>>> Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2014 11:00 PM
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: Re: Programming a PSR500?
>
>>> I have a rat shack pro 433 and a hand held 528, take the same
> programming
>>> software. This software doesn't talk at all. I did get it
> programmed when
>>> I lived in Vegas, I subscribed to some data base and finally
> figured how to
>>> have it download the file to the scanner, but it wasn't very
> speech friendly
>>> either, and I haven't even unpacked the thing since I moved back
> to Kansas.
>>> I think h p has gone trunking and some cities have gone to some
> sort of
>>> digital that can't be received by any scanner. I'm told Vegas
> has since
>>> gone to blue sky or something like that which can't be monitored
> either.
>>> 73
>>> Butch
>>> WA0VJR
>>> Node 3148
>>> Wallace, ks.
>
>
>>> On Thu, 14 Aug 2014, Jim
>>> Gammon wrote:
>
>>>> Colin, have you been able to manually program a PSR500? You have
> much
>>>> more knowledge or patience than I do. Jim WA6EKS
>
>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>> From: Colin McDonald <[log in to unmask]
>>>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>>> Date sent: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 19:13:10 -0600
>>>>> Subject: Re: accessible scanners
>
>>>>> that is a pretty subjective question...
>>>>> It really depends on how familiar you are with programming
> logic,
>>>> and how
>>>>> trunked systems are programmed, or if you use radio reference
> and
>>>> that sort
>>>>> of thing.
>>>>> These days, using radio reference to program your scanner makes
>>>> them nearly
>>>>> plug and play devices...but for those of us who have used
>>>> scanners for many
>>>>> years had to deal with manual programming on radios that didn't
>>>> offer any
>>>>> sort of real accessible feedback...but were also all
> programmable
>>>> via the
>>>>> keypad...so as long as you can work out a key chart for a
>>>> particular
>>>>> scanner, most of them are usable, though not to the point where
>>>> you can
>>>>> always be sure of a particular state, IE, which banks or groups
>>>> are turned
>>>>> on or off at any given point etc, or what the display shows and
>>>> so on.
>>>>> Anyway, out of the box, with a little learning, you should be
>>>> fine.
>>>>> The manuals are online and the best way to learn any new piece
> of
>>>> gear is
>>>>> through trial and error...you really can't screw anything up
>>>> beyond what a
>>>>> reset can fix.
>>>>> I usually learn the programming by entering a system in a few
>>>> times and
>>>>> resetting so I can get the hang of it before entering a whole
>>>> bunch of
>>>>> systems and frequencies in, just to find out after that I did
>>>> something
>>>>> wrong.
>>>>> Plugging into radio reference will program the scanner for you
>>>> and set
>>>>> everything up in a nice easy to use manner...but I believe there
>>>> is a
>>>>> fee...but it works well if you travel or go between counties or
>>>> cities where
>>>>> there are allot of systems.
>>>>> Upgrade to the psr800 and you get an SD card that you can load
>>>> all your
>>>>> systems on to, and record scanner audio as well.
>
>>>>> 73
>>>>> Colin, V A6BKX
>>>>> --------------------------------------------------
>>>>> From: "Matthew Chao" <[log in to unmask]
>>>>> Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2014 6:20 PM
>>>>> To: <[log in to unmask]
>>>>> Subject: Re: accessible scanners
>
>>>>>> How easy is it to program out of the box?--Matt, N1IBB.
>
>>>>>> At 05:23 PM 8/14/2014, you wrote:
>>>>>>> I highly recommend the PSR-500...on tests with very high end
> test
>>>>>>> equipment the GRE PSR-500 has measurably better receiver
>>>>>>> sensativity.
>>>>>>> The audio is excellent as well and very easy to hear even in
>>>> noisy
>>>>>>> environments.
>
>>>>>>> 73
>>>>>>> Colin, V A6BKX
>>>>>>> --------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>> From: "Matthew Chao" <[log in to unmask]
>>>>>>> Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2014 2:43 PM
>>>>>>> To: <[log in to unmask]
>>>>>>> Subject: Re: accessible scanners
>
>>>>>>>> Which one would you guys recommend: the bcd396, or this
>>>> one?--Matt,
>>>>>>>> N1IBB.
>
>>>>>>>> At 02:33 PM 8/14/2014, you wrote:
>>>>>>>>> Russ, It's a handheld scanner. Jim WA6EKS
>
>>>>>>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>>>>>>> From: Russ Kiehne <[log in to unmask]
>>>>>>>>>> To: [log in to unmask] Date sent: Thu, 14 Aug 2014
>>>>>>>>>> 08:37:24 -0700
>>>>>>>>>> Subject: Re: accessible scanners
>
>>>>>>>>>> Is the psr500 a base or handheld scanner?
>
>>>>>>>>>> On 8/14/2014 8:27 AM, Ron Miller wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>> Hi ,
>>>>>>>>>>> Yes it does decode P25.
>
>>>>>>>>>>> Also, Jim, I am most definitely not saying that we should
>>>>>>>>> discourage Whistle=
>>>>>>>>>>> r from designing accessibility features into their scanner
>>>>>>>>> receivers. Quite t=
>>>>>>>>>>> he contrary, I am all for it. In fact, I had begun a dialog
>>>>>>>>> with the folks a=
>>>>>>>>>>> t GRE America on this very subject.
>
>>>>>>>>>>> The intent of my post was simply to respond to a previous
>>>>>>>>> message about Whis=
>>>>>>>>>>> tler's current scanner line and to say that I'm successfully
>>>>>>>>> using the PSR-5=
>>>>>>>>>>> 00 along with PSREdit and the Whistler version of this scanner
>>>>>>>>> should be equ=
>>>>>>>>>>> ally usable.
>
>>>>>>>>>>> BTW, Russ, if we can work out a time, I would be glad to chat
>>>>>>>>> with you about=
>>>>>>>>>>> how I use PSREdit.
>
>>>>>>>>>>> 73,
>
>>>>>>>>>>> Ron Miller
>>>>>>>>>>> N6MSA
>
>>>>>>>>>>> Ron Miller
>
>>>>>>>>>>>> On Aug 14, 2014, at 10:11 AM, Russ Kiehne <[log in to unmask]
>>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>> =20
>>>>>>>>>>>> Does the psr500 do p25?
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