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I'm disappointed with the performance of my Whistler TRX-2 scanner in a mobile installation with the reception of WSP's P25 vhf system. I'm considering getting a separate P25 radio to program for receive just for WSP. It seems like a radio designed for just that should work better than a scanner. I'm considering the Motorola XTS3000 handheld. It wouldn't take much room up front in my car and I wouldn't have to find a way to mount it like a mobile. With a convertaccom arrangement, I could set it on the floor and provide power, amplified speaker, and an external antenna connection without having to remove the duck. Anyone have experience or suggestions on this rig or another that wouldn't be too pricey or difficult to set up? Does the XTS3000 allow scan groups like a scanner does that can be locked out or unlocked as you go from one district to another?

Care to elaborate? I would start with your deduction on why the TRX-2 performance has been "disappointing..."

Well, one example is how I can be driving past a trooper on the side of the road and hear him just fine, but 2-3 miles later I hear dispatch talking to him but nothing from his transmission is heard. This is on a flat stretch of I-5 where I should be able to hear him for at least 5 miles.

Can't speak to the performance of the Whistler products, as I don't own any.

The XTS3000 is a good receiver, albeit, a bit dated. I own a good number of those, and also some FPP XTS5000 units as well. Not nearly as dynamic as a modern day scanner radios in terms of features and functionality, but each are a very solid receivers because they are a tuned single band design.

The CPS ( programing software ) is also a bit dated, indeed cumbersome, but workable. Sorry, on the XTS3000 you won't be able to do any user level frequency programing via the keypad. You can however with the FPP option on the XTS500 series versions, if you can find any.

If you should become independently wealthy someday, then look at the APX series. Oh, I should also mention that the CPS for that series is whole new adventure there.

The current ( VHF Phase 1 ) WSP system networks are not simulcast, but rather instead they are geo-specific. Yes, an external mobile antenna arrangement would serve you better.

What is your setup like? Antenna? Sounds like you have some kind of configuration issue, IMHO.

PS. A Motorola portable XTS5000 VHF (APX ideally) is the way to go but if you go down that rabbit hole you better understand what you need to make it work. It's not as "cheap" as it may seem. I would stay away from the XTS3000. I'm not even sure if it's supported by CPS in the later versions.

The R5.03 is the latest version CPS ( early ASTRO series ) for the XTS3000 and you can still download if from Motorola MOL. Although similar in use to the XTS5000 series, it is an entirely different CPS program than that of the XTS5000 series.

Learning curve for the ASTRO CPS is about three hours.

Learning curve for the APX CPS is about three weeks.

I am using the TRX-2 in the remote head arrangement with a dual band vhf/uhf antenna. If there is a configuration issue then it is knowing the right software settings to make the P25 audio decode better. That's why I want to use an actual P25 radio since it is tuned specifically for that band, unlike a scanner, and will know what to do when it receives a signal.

You lost me. How does the scanner come into play here? You said you can hear the dispatcher fine but then you don't hear the trooper. I guess the scanner is working well then, eh? Try a different antenna. WSP is on VHF so a dual-band is not the ideal configuration. Try a VHF 1/4 whip or a scanner antenna. Are you using a magnet mount?

I've had the opposite results.

Do not, however, get me started on the silly TRBO CPS. It feels like I'm programming a 49mhz Space Ranger walkie talkie when I use that.

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President-in-Exile, Seattle Area Radio Communications And Scanner Traffic Intercept Crew (SARCASTIC)
Don't feel bad if you can't use your STD100/200; there are still people using Digital Frequency Search!
Bunnery definition for the under-fives

And he hasn't roamed onto IWN?

_________________
President-in-Exile, Seattle Area Radio Communications And Scanner Traffic Intercept Crew (SARCASTIC)
Don't feel bad if you can't use your STD100/200; there are still people using Digital Frequency Search!
Bunnery definition for the under-fives

I agree with Craig.. APX took me a bit.

On TRBO have you put it in "Expert" mode? TRBO CPS works much like some of the other commercial offerings from Motorola in the past 10 years or so. It seems to be a carry over in some ways.

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"A well regulated breakfast, being necessary to the healthy start of the day, the right of the people to keep and eat food shall not be infringed."

Disappointed with the receiver or the choice of options the WSP uses to transmit with are two different things but could end up being similar. The users have issues with it as well.




In areas that have the 700 MHz trunk system I can monitor via multi casted signal on vhf using M equipment when the trunk signal disappears, but conventional P25 such as Dist 5 is very much line of sight and not always multicast on IWIN.

If the OP has a location from where they are monitoring from we might be able to pin it down to how that district is configured.

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"I was installing un-programmed radios"

Ditto, . . . the WSP networks themselves are still being refined yet.

EXAMPLE: Skykomish ( east division ) operates on 154.755 NAC D71, but the mobiles there are not mutlicast on 155.655 NAC D70. Just the Sno County WSP dispatcher is.

At 17:00 hours on Monday Dec 10, I did also observe their Electronic Services tech on 155.655 conducting signal tests with both the trunked ( 700 or IWN ?) and their legacy VHF FB2 systems.

I felt that using a dual band vhf/uhf antenna with at least twice the gain of a shorter, vhf/uhf/900 mhz scanner antenna was a better choice. It is not a magnet mount. I could hear dispatch because I was close to the Kalama and Rainier transmit sites, not that that is a big factor because I can usually hear them all around Cowlitz county. The trooper was behind me a few miles on a flat section of freeway and a 50 watt mobile should be heard further than that. The scanner is designed to pick up frequencies from CB to 1300 mhz, not focused on just P25 vhf like an actual Motorola radio. I had the IWN frequencies locked out because they were inconsistent and transmitting signals from outside of my area, even with the desired talkgroups programmed in. Regardless of the advertised specifications, the TRX-2 does not scan as fast as my Uniden 796D, but the remote head feature makes it fit better in the front of my car.

Dist 5 is mostly remote base dispatched without repeaters except Vancouver/Goldendale and analog C/C and “Toutle “ repeater. Not sure if you can improve on what you have much with a commercial install by a few miles.

I was traveling 1-5 to Portland last Saturday and will do the same this weekend. I heard on Kelso area a traffic stop on 432 while around Todd Rd with a Astro Spectra with a 5/8 wave fender mount.

It may help with your dilemma but you still have to optimize with coax /antenna and have a commercial radio programmed. My experience with GRE/ Whistler is that the front ends are pretty hot.

50 watts on P25 is not as great as it would seem especially since their antenna is lower gain 1/4 wave

I would say the local 154.77 and IWIN is what the rest of us are stuck with in your particular area.

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"I was installing un-programmed radios"