PSR-500 : Updated Review After Nearly 4 Months

It has been ~ 4 months since I wrote my first semi-review of the PSR-500. By no means did I [or will I] write a comprehensive review. But I’ll give readers a taste of what I think after having become familiar with the scanner and having relied upon it for a scanner feed for some time.

PERFORMANCE

The PSR-500 is extremely sensitive as compared to many other scanners I have owned [including a Uniden BCD396 and 996, a PRO-97 and a PRO-90]. To maintain some objectivity, I do my comparisons using the same antenna for both scanners – a RS 800 Mhz antenna. On all bands the sensitivity is significantly better than that of any of the scanners listed above. On 800 mhz I can often hear and reliably decode digital trunked traffic. Part of this is because the PSR-500 is so much better at decoding every digital signal I’ve run across than previous scanners I’ve used, but part of this is simply because it is more sensitive than other scanners. I cannot speak of the scanner’s performance on VHF-AIR, MILAIR, or VHF-LO because that is not where the signals are that I care to listen to. On VHF-HI, the scanner is extremely sensitive as well. [Read about the VHF-HI sensitivity caveat further down]

Digital decode on Astro Analog-Digital systems as well as P25 conventional frequencies is outstanding. On my 396/996 I would routinely experience the proverbial “motorboating.” For those of you who do not know what that is, that is the word used to describe the sound one years when the scanner is trying to decode digital audio but for whatever reason cannot – the resultant digital sounds interspersed throughout the decode session. On my PSR-500 I haven’t encountered a single occasion where I had an issue with motorboating – unless it was specifically due to interference from other equipment in the house or car that was mixing with the digital signal and causing decode problems. This is not the fault of the PSR’s decoder. On a clean signal the PSR-500’s digital performance is head and shoulders above any other scanner on the market… hands down… bar none – even if the signal isn’t very strong.

SENSITIVITY CAVEAT (OR NOT)

Due in part to the scanner’s great sensitivity and due in part to the lack of superior filtering circuitry [in any scanner below $1000], I have run across problems where strong signal overload from nearby VHF-HI stations (TV station, FM Radio station, Paging system, Amateur Radio repeater) can swamp the frontend [receiver] of the scanner. If you are in a high RF environment with a lot of strong signals on VHF, you may end up having to purchase a filter [such as a PAR Electronics filter] to filter out the offending signal. I had a TV station on CH 9 that was severely degrading VHF performance. With such a strong signal hitting the receiver [due to lack of necessary filtering], the receiver cannot cope and basically goes dead/silent. You end up having to turn on ATT [the attenuator] in order to attenuate the culprit signal enough so that the receiver functions properly – and of course when you do this, you are left with mediocre reception of VHF signals.

Of course this will not happen to everyone, and for those it does happen to it may or may not be a dealbreaker. If you are a casual VHF listener you likely won’t care about this. If you live in a rural area or an area with no strong local transmitters, you won’t suffer from this problem. Even if you do live in an area with strong RF, a PAR filter is definitely a reasonably cheap investment that can usually take care of a strong signal out of your listening band.

It is very important to note that strong signal overload is more likely on the PSR only because the PSR is more sensitive. Pretty much any scanner you buy under $1000 is going to have mediocre filtering in place to combat strong signal overload. There is a reason commercial radios cost thousands of dollars – and part of that cost is the extensive filtering in place to ward off strong signal overload.

DISCRIMINATOR DATA VIA PC-IF CABLE

The PSR-500 has a computer interface. The scanner comes with a PC-IF cable, which is a proprietary USB cable that interfaces with the PSR-500. For many trunked system listeners, they find it very useful to use programs like Unitrunker to monitor trunked systems. The PSR-500 and PSR-600 provide discriminator data over the PC-IF cable. Note that I did not say discriminiator audio. The discriminator data can be read and processed by Unitrunker (thanks to Rick). So for those people who do not want to open up a brand new scanner under warranty to install a discriminator tap, this is something you will love.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT

The folks at GRE are a very helpful bunch. They are also a very attentive bunch. By far the largest forum on the internet for scanner discussion is http://www.radioreference.com . The folks at GRE routinely read comments / concerns posted by their product consumers. You may not see any of them responding in official capacity on RR, but they are there waiting to hear what their customers are saying.

There have been multiple firmware updates released since the scanner was first put on the market. Each of these firmware updates was easy to perform and resulted in increased the functionality / performance or corrected bugs.

GRE has a support website that you do not have to jump through hoops to access. And you as a consumer can open a ticket regarding a scanner product in order to dialog with GRE about problems you are having. Again, they are very attentive to your concerns, are very helpful, and will bend over backwards to make sure you are a happy customer.

For a $500 wideband digital scanner, you are getting a helluva a bargain when you purchase a PSR-500. Great sensitivity, great performance, good flexibility in programming, great support. Go buy your GRE scanner today!