Scanner Master GRE PSR600 User manual

Special Report
The GRE PSR600 Digital Scanner
Features, Operation and Competition
A Scanner Master Ultimate Review
Copyright 2009, Richard Carlson/Scanner Master Corporation
Introduction
GRE has produced scanners for the US market for decades, but they are a new name in the industry here.
How’s that? Well, remember the Radio Shack PRO2004, PRO2005 or PRO2006? How about the PRO96 or
its mobile brother PRO2096? These were all built by GRE and sold by Radio Shack. While some scanners
sold by Radio Shack were built by Uniden, most of the big sellers were GRE built.
At the 2007 Dayton Hamvention GRE snuck in a couple of their rumored new line of scanners for direct
sales in the USA. A privileged few (including the author) got to check them out for a few minutes each. It
was apparent immediately that GRE had produced a winner, or better yet, several winners.
What GRE did was introduce three lines of scanners, each line consisting of a handheld and a base/mobile
version. Radios within each line are electronically identical, even to the extent that they can clone to each
other.
After the GRE line of scanners were unveiled to the public and readied for sale Radio Shack announced a
new line of scanners that mysteriously mirrored the specs of some of the GRE’s. The Radio Shack PRO106
turned out to be a GRE PSR500 with a rearranged front panel. The Radio Shack PRO197 was a clone of the
PSR600 base/mobile. The PSR300 and 400 radios are closely related to Radio Shacks PRO97, 2055, 163
and 164 scanners.
The three lines are:
Basic GRE PSR100 Handheld and PSR200 Desktop
Advanced GRE PSR300 Handheld and PSR400 Base/Mobile,
Radio Shack PRO164 Handhelds and PRO163 Base/Mobiles
Digital GRE PSR500 Handheld and PSR600 Base/Mobile
Radio Shack PRO106 Handheld and PRO197 Base/Mobile
While the Radio Shack and GRE versions of the various scanners are visually and electronically similar in
most respects there is one difference that one must remember, and that is that the firmware updates are not
interchangeable between Radio Shack and GRE versions. Programming files are interchangeable, which
makes sharing files easier.
While the Basic and Advanced lines use conventional programming methods such as defined banks and
channel arrangements, the Digital line uses an entirely different structure called “Object Oriented User
Interface” or more succinctly, “Scannable Objects”. Basically what this means is that you program things
(Objects) into your radio and then select the things you want to scan (Scannable Objects). These Scannable
Objects could be regular frequencies, talkgroups on a trunked system or one of several types of searches.
The Advanced line of scanners are fine for many areas if you do not need to monitor digital
communications but want more memory and features than the Basic line provides. The Basic Line is fine if
you only need to monitor a few conventional channels such as aircraft, railroads or local public safety
channels and don’t need any advanced features of the Advanced or Digital lines.
Both the Advanced and Digital lines provide large channel capacity, support for several methods of
trunking and PL/DPL capability. Both lines support the 800 MHz Rebanding.
(You can read a great deal more about Rebanding elsewhere on the web but, in short, in order to separate
certain NEXTEL/cellular radio channels from public safety channels as a means to limit interference

between the two, many public safety agencies operating on 800 MHz radio systems are being compensated
to move to new 700/800 MHz frequencies. For Motorola trunking radio systems this requires a change to
the data structure of the system and therefore newer trunking scanners require a firmware upgrade to be
able to continue to properly “trunk.” Older trunking scanners, such as the Bearcat 780XLT and many
RadioShack models, are not upgradeable and therefore need to be replaced.)
GRE PSR600 Base/Mobile Digital Scanner
The PSR600 digital scanner provides the user with up to 1800 Scannable Objects that can be scanned. The
radio features the “V-Scanner” system that allows the user to store 20 additional sets of scanner memories.
While only one V-Scanner can be used at a time, with 1800 memory locations, you should be able to
monitor all the local action without much trouble. If you travel or share the radio between work and home
for example, you can load multiple V-Scanners as needed.
The PSR600 comes with several accessories, including an AC adaptor, DC power cable, bracket and
hardware as well as a telescoping antenna. Also included with the PSR600 is a USB programming cable.
This can be used with several different programming applications, such as Butel’s ARC-500. (Note that the
RadioShack PRO197 does not include the programming cable, it can be purchased for about $35.) Also
included is a CD-ROM with the Owner’s Manual. You might want to print it for use away from the
computer. You can also download updated versions of the manual from GRE’s website
(http://www.greamerica.com/support/)
Although the PSR600 is a “Din” sized radio it does not come with a DIN sleeve or insertion keys, if you
want to mount the scanner in this fashion you will have to purchase that separately.
The PSR600 has the speaker at the bottom of the case. The front panel’s top right corner has a pair of
concentric rotary controls, the inner knob for volume and the outer for squelch. This is more conventional
and user-friendly than the arrangement used on current Unidens. Also on the front panel of the radio you’ll
find the headphone and PC/IF jacks.
The rear of the radio has the power connector, external speaker and BNC antenna jack. The PSR600 uses a
standard BNC connector and includes a BNC telescoping antenna. There is no “record jack” provided.
On the front panel of the radio is a jack for the computer programming cable. While older GRE built radios
(such as the PRO96) could use RS232 cables, the Digital Line radios are only capable of working with the
GRE or Radio Shack USB programming cables. This cable allows you to read and write programming files
to the radio and to control the radio with a computer with, again, the proper software such as Butel’s ARC-
500 available through Scanner Master. You can also use a cloning cable thru this jack and clone the radio
to and from other GRE digital scanners as well as the Radio Shack counterparts.
The placement of the PC/IF jack on the front panel is a nod to the DIN mounting ability. If you mount this
radio into a dashboard it is hard to get at the rear panel, so by placing the PC/IF jack on the front makes it
easier to program or clone the radio while mounted in a vehicle.
Before trying to connect the radio to the computer remember to install the drivers for the USB cable on
your computer, which are found on the included CD-ROM (or download them from the Internet). After you
install the drivers and plug in the cable the computer will assign a Comm Port and you will need that to
enter into your programming software so that it can find your radio. Some software packages will look for a
radio and assign the proper Comm Port if you don’t already know it.
The USB cable can also be used to retrieve special data signals from certain trunked systems to be decoded
by programs like the fascinating (and free!) PRO96Com application. When set up to do so the radio sends
decoded data to a computer that tells all kind of interesting details about the system such as frequencies
used, talkgroup and radio ID’s and other information. Until the introduction of Uniden’s XT line, only
certain GRE built radios provided this data, the PSR600 continues the ability to retrieve this information.

The rear of the radio has the required warning label and serial number. Write the serial number down
someplace safe so that if the radio is stolen it can be entered into police databases. This will help return the
radio to you if it is recovered by the police.
Also included in the box is the USB cable, telescopic antenna, a disk with the owner’s manual and some
demo applications. The PSR-600 also comes with a listing of the preloaded files in the V-Scanner
memories.
Comparison to the BCD996T and XT
You can’t talk about this radio without discussing the competition from Uniden Bearcat. The Uniden
BCD996XT is the direct competition to the PSR600. Many of the comparisons are pretty much the same
amongst all of the GRE and Uniden scanners.
On the Uniden one uses modifier keys and a multi-function knob for programming while the GRE uses the
keypad much more intensely. The Uniden takes more effort to operate the radio because with fewer keys
you have to remember what many consider to be difficult key combinations. The GRE has more keys so
it’s easier to operate.
While both radios use forms of dynamic memory architecture, they go about it differently. The Uniden is a
bit more conventional in that you create Systems instead of Banks and turn them on or off while the GRE
has you enter the objects once and let’s you create multiple scan lists (unfortunately only up to 20) to
choose the items you want to scan.
The Uniden has many features that some might want while others may not need. These include the ability
to connect to a GPS unit and use that to control what you want to listen to (a fantastic feature for mobile
use that is described elsewhere on Scanner Master’s site). In addition, the Uniden has Fire Tone Out, the
ability to use Remote Heads and other fun to use and explore features.
The GRE is well regarded as having better audio, especially on digital signals. While the Uniden XT series
has improved the digital decoding over its predecessors, the PSR600 is still superior.
I will discuss the comparison of the two radios in more detail later in this article.
How many Channels
The first question many people ask about a scanner is: How many channels can you program? The answer
with the PSR600 is “Well, it depends.” Depends on what? Well, it depends on how you define channels and
how you program your radio. The PSR-600 uses GRE’s Object Oriented User Interface (OOUI)
programming method. While older radios use defined channels and banks, the PSR-600’s OOUI has the
user enter channels into memory along with trunked system parameters (including Talkgroups) and various
types of searches. The user then creates up to 20 Scan Lists that point to the various channels, talkgroups
and searches. This allows you to select what you want to listen to at the time. Scan Lists can include any of
the programmed operations, and any of the programmed operations may be included in multiple Scan Lists.
This is somewhat similar to Uniden’s Quick Key system of enabling different sets of channels, search
ranges, service searches, etc.
GRE advertises the radio as “Over 1800” Scannable Objects. This basically means that you can scan
around 1800 objects at a time. This number can be affected by the type of object you program and how you
use Text labels, and other parameters. With the 21 available V-Scanners this works out to over 37,000
available memories. Will you be able to program 37,000 channels? Probably not, but you might if you try
hard enough!
If you want to see how much memory you have used or have left you can press “0” twice during the start-
up screen.
V-Scanners

The GRE digital radios (as well as some Radio Shack digital scanners made by GRE) have a feature called
V-Scanners. These are basically 21 sets of scanner memories available to be loaded into your scanner.
Imagine it like having 21 different scanners in one, but you can only listen to one at a time. This is useful
for people that travel often between several locales or have multiple scanning targets. You can also use this
to back up variations in your programming so that if you really mess something up you can restore the
radio to a prior configuration. Think of this idea as sort of a manually saved Restore Point.
While it takes a couple minutes for the V-Scanners to load it is not difficult to do. When you Save to a V-
Scanner the entire radio contents are saved, including frequencies, talkgroups and searches, any startup
configurations and settings as well as anything else you have in the radio.
To use the V-Scanner feature press the FUNC then PGM buttons. From there you can load, store or erase
V-Scanners.
Banks & Channels, Nuh uh!
On older scanners with defined banks the user entered channels into the banks. If your radio has 10 banks
of 100 channels each (for a total of 1000 channels) and you only used 10 channels in a specific bank the
extra 90 channels would be wasted. You could lose use of a great deal of the available memories this way.
In addition, most older radios were limited to 10 banks. This normally limited you to up to 10 trunked
systems or sites, with further limitations on programming methods since you could usually only have a
single trunked system per bank. If a trunked system only had 5 or 6 frequencies the other channels in the
bank were probably wasted. While most recent scanners allow you to program in conventional channels to
use up some of the wasted channel space in banks with trunked systems, in practice this was not often done.
Once you set up the trunked frequencies you would then program in trunked talkgroups. While these would
not take away from regular channel memory, there was usually a strict limit to the amount of talkgroups
allowed in scan lists.
GRE’s OOUI allows you to program many more trunked systems into the radio, and, with proper use of the
Scan Lists you can pick and choose the channels or talkgroups you want, in many different combinations.
With the 10 bank limit of older scanners you had few choices of how to scan, with the GRE method the
choice is almost limitless.
GRE’s method is different than Uniden’s in that GRE’s Scan Lists point to various channels, talkgroups or
searches programmed into a single pool of memories. Uniden has the user program separate Systems that
contain either conventional or trunked systems and you switch Systems on or off (enable/disable). While
Uniden scanners have more available channel memory, the GRE method allows you to share a single
frequency or talkgroup among multiple Scan Lists.
Sadly, however the GRE limits one to 20 Scan Lists. While this is sufficient for most users, power users
may want the ability to program in more Scan Lists than this. In this way the Uniden is far more flexible.
Search & Scan
With older radios, searches were almost always exclusive to scanning. You could scan or you could search,
but not both at the same time. The PSR-600 allows you to add not only conventional channels and trunked
talkgroups but also several types of searches to your scan lists so you can monitor all of these at the same
time.
Some of the Search Options include limit searches (checking each frequency between an upper and lower
limit), Service Searches or Spectrum Sweeper. You can add any of these search types to a Scan List and run
the searches while scanning other channels or talkgroups. As far as the radio is concerned it is just another
Scannable Object, it really doesn’t care what type of Object it is.
Keyboard
The Keyboard of the radio is how you program the radio manually and control most of its actions. While
most users will eventually use a computer to do most of the programming (almost a requirement these days

of scanners with thousands of memories and complicated architectures) the ability to program your radio
from the keyboard is essential. You will not always have access to a computer with the programming
software and a programming cable so you need to know how to do it on the fly.
The PSR600 keyboard has 34 different buttons. The buttons are organized 4 groups:
The 5 Way Pad allows one to navigate the curser around the screen in 4 directions (up, down, left and
right) and the center Select key completes the action.
Three Soft Keys (F1, F2 and F3) are used to select menu items on the bottom line of the display, directly
above these keys. In some modes the arrow keys from the 5 Way Pad can be used to scroll thru selections
available on these Soft Keys.
Operation Keys along the right side of the keyboard provide specific or modified commands to the scanner.
These include standard scanner keys like Scan, Manual, Priority, etc. as well as some unique-to-GRE keys
like Tune, FAV and PSE.
The Numeric Keypad allows you to enter specific frequencies or talkgroups and other programming
commands to the radio.
The entire keyboard is well backlit and the same light illuminates the display. Press the DIM key and the
backlight scrolls thru 3 levels of brightness (Hi, Lo and off).
Display
The PSR600’s display is roughly the same height as the Uniden BC996XT but slightly wider. On the GRE
radios the portable’s display is identical to that of the corresponding mobiles, the Uniden mobile scanner
displays are wider than their portables. The GRE display has 4 text lines plus the top line, which is reserved
for specific symbols like signal strength, feature status and other items.
The display uses a dot-matrix LCD display, each character is up to 7 dots high and 5 wide, and there are 16
characters per line.
During scanning operations the text lines display the pertinent information about the operation, such as the
frequency, talkgroup ID, Tone Code, Scan List, Mode and other information. What information is listed
where depends on the operational mode currently in place on the radio. The bottom line is often given over
to display the current selections available on the Soft Keys (F1 thru F3).
On the front panel, above the 5 Way Pad is a multi-colored LED light. Remarkably bright, this may be used
to indicate many things, like the use of a specific channel or group of channels, a search hit or almost
anything else. Set it to white and you can just about use it to replace a broken headlight. Used in
conjunction with audible alerts and you can pretty much have any type of activity set to a different alert and
tell at a quick glance what the radio is doing.
Frequency Ranges
The PSR600 receives all of the contemporary scanner bands, from 25 to 54, 108 thru 174, 216 thru 512,
764 thru 960 and 1240 thru 1300 MHz. The cellular frequencies are of course blocked. What the PSR600
does not pick up are some non-traditional bands, such as the FM Broadcast band and the occasionally
interesting 72-76 MHz band. It also does not pick up most of the frequencies assigned to domestic
television broadcast. Even though the new Digital TV mode can not be decoded on any scanners, there are
many wireless mics and occasionally other unusual operations found here.
The PSR600 can hear communications in the AM, FM, NFM and P25 modes as well as decode PL
(CTCSS), DPL (DCS) and NAC (Network Access Codes, used on P25 digital channels). The ability to
swap between FM and NFM will become more important over the next few years, the FCC has mandated
that most communications in the various UHF and UHF scanner bands switch over to narrowband soon.

One very nice feature of the PSR600 which the Uniden scanners cannot match is the ability to decode
CTCSS/DCS and P25 during searches at the same time. With the Uniden it’s one or the other, but not both.
Trunking
Like all digital scanners these days, the PSR600 can monitor several types of trunking. The most common
are Motorola (3600 baud data channels), APCO25 (9600 baud data channels), EDACS Wide and EDACS
Narrow and LTR.
Many wide are statewide and regional systems are coming online that use either the APCO P25 protocol or
variants of the analog Motorola trunking format. These systems have several to hundreds of cells (called
“Sites”) that are all interconnected and share the same Talkgroup and user lists. While on Uniden radios
you would program each Site separately as part of a larger System, the GRE takes a different tack. You
program in the known Control Channels in “MultiSite Roam” mode and the radio will lock onto strong
signals. When the decode quality is reduced to a certain level the radio will automatically rescan to look for
stronger signals. In contrast the Uniden method has users program individual sites and allows one to turn
on and off each Site, either manually, by Quick Keys or GPS.
The GRE method of MultiSite Trunking requires no user intervention, just the active control channels need
to be programmed into the radio. If you want to you can still program different sites into separate trunked
systems. You are however limited to a maximum of 28 channels for the system, if there are more than that
you need to decide what channels to use or duplicate the system with the additional channels. The Uniden
method requires extra programming steps but allows you to program Site names so you can tell what site is
active.
The GRE also supports several flavors of standard Motorola and EDACS trunking as well as LTR.
Motorola modes (in addition to multi-site SmartZone and P25 systems described above) include older Type
I, Type II and Type IIi modes (both with analog or digital modulation). Both the Wide and Narrow modes
of EDACS systems are supported. No scanner can decode EDACS Provoice or Aegis used in selected areas
such as San Antonio and some others.
LTR, very popular on UHF and 800 business systems, is supported along with a neat feature called LTR
Home Repeater AutoMove. While the name is clunky, the feature is not. LTR systems are difficult to
program since they rely on knowing the channel order or position within the system. LTR Home Repeater
AutoMove, when enabled, allows you to program in the system’s frequencies without regard as to the order
and the radio automatically determines the proper positioning.
The basic method of programming a Trunked radio system in the GRE radio is pretty simple. Following the
instructions in the manual, enter the frequencies and other parameters as a TSYS (Trunked System). Then
program in Talkgroups pointing to the TSYS as part of Scan Lists. You can also program in a search of a
TSYS by use of the “Wild Card” option. This works in a similar fashion to Uniden’s Trunked Search
feature in that it allows one to listen to all active Talkgroups instead of just the ones in a Scan List. You can
lockout talkgroups as they become active and you no longer wish to monitor them.
When programming various types of trunked systems you need to know some of the basic information
about these systems. This information varies somewhat depending on the type of system. For many
Motorola and P25 systems all you really need are the Control Channels and system type. For rebanded 800,
most UHF and VHF systems as well as some odd 800 and 900 Motorola or P25 systems you may also need
further parameters, such as base channels, offsets or other technical details. For EDACS and LTR systems
each of the frequencies used as well as the order in which they are programmed are needed.
Most of the information needed for individual trunked systems is freely available on the
RadioReference.com website, paid members can even program the systems directly into their radios using
software such as ARC500. Thus, if you are not a scanner expert capable of figuring out technical details of
complex trunked radio systems you can share in the work of the rest of the scanner community to program
your radio.

Conventional Scanning
Remember the old days when you could enter in the local police and fire channels into your scanner, hit the
scan button and enjoy listening? While those days still exist in some areas, the new generation of scanners
are more complicated to program, even for the Plain-Jane conventional channels still used by many
agencies.
“Conventional Channels” mean voice channels that do not use some sort of trunking. Mostly you just need
to know the frequency in use and you can monitor the action. These days however even these need a bit
more knowledge or at least trial and error. Things such as CTCSS, DCS and the modulation Mode make
programming even conventional channels a challenge sometimes.
If you just want to listen to these basic analog channels then high-end models such as the PSR600 are not
for you. It’s like buying a Ferrari to drive two streets to pick up milk. It’s far too complicated and costly
when a simple low-cost model will work equally as well for basic channels. In much of the country
nowadays though you must have the Ferrari or otherwise you can’t listen any longer. There’s no such thing
as a simple (and low-cost) scanner that can monitor advanced radio systems.
FM vs. NFM vs. WFM
When you program in a conventional channel you need to know the proper Modulation Mode. If you are
listening to aircraft in the 108-136 or 225 thru 400 MHz. bands then AM is the proper mode. Beyond that
most communications are either regular FM or Narrow FM (NFM). Since the PSR600 does not include the
FM broadcast band it also does not include the WFM mode.
Over the last few years, and continuing until 2013, most conventional channels have been or will be
converted from what scanners usually call “FM” to a narrower format called Narrow FM. This allows
additional channels to be squeezed into the same amount of spectrum.
Until recently most VHF High Band (150 to 162 MHz) channels have been 15 KHz. apart, for example, the
next frequency used after 155.250 was 155.265, then 155.280. With the Narrowband initiative the channels
are now closer together, 7.5 KHz. apart. 155.250 is followed by 155.2575, then 155.265, then 155.2725 and
followed by 155.280. All users of the new channels in-between older channels must use NFM, and users of
the existing older channels must convert to NFM by 2013.
UHF is affected the same way, but some of the rules are different. Originally regular channels were 25
KHz. apart, for example, 460.275 was followed by 460.300 and then 460.325. The in-between channels
(called “Interstitials”) 12.5 KHz. apart from the main channels (460.275, 460.2875, 460.3000, 460.3125,
460.325) were restricted to low power use only. With the new rules these “12.5 KHz. Channels” or
Interstitials were allowed to use the same power levels as the original main channels (subject to certain
rules of course) and new 6.25 KHz. offset channels were allowed for use at low power.
In many areas the available pool of original VHF and UHF channels were used up and this method of
refarming the available spectrum allows more channels to be squeezed in. It is not without precedent, the
same thing has been done several times in the past, when VHF channels were changed to 15 KHz.
separation from 30, and 60 was the norm before that.
How will I know whether to use FM or NFM?
While the new channels are almost always going to be using the NFM mode, older channels could use
either, at least for now. Unless you know for sure you may have to try both methods and see which works
best. If you select FM now, your local agency might switch over any time, requiring you to adjust your
programming. If you chose the wrong mode you will still hear the communication, but at a reduced volume
or with distortion. If the volume is low, compared to other nearby stations, then you are likely programmed
to FM on a NFM channel. If the conversation sounds distorted or over-driven (like many CB operations)
then you may have a channel programmed in narrow mode still using regular FM.

Since many channels are shared among many users, some may have switched over to NFM while others
have not, at least not yet. If listening to both NFM and FM users on the same scanner channel is not
working for you then you could use the CTCSS or DCS feature and program in a separate channel for each.
PL, DPL, CTCSS, DCS, NAC, etc.
Years ago radio manufactures hit on a great idea. Transmit a low level tone on a radio channel so that
radios equipped with a special decoder would only hear radios transmitting that tone. This way users would
not have to listen to all the rest of the users of the channel, either local or when “Skip” comes in. Eventually
dozens of different tones were developed by manufacturers and 38 of them were more or less standardized.
The various manufacturers had different trade names for this feature, Motorola’s “PL” (Private Line) was
the most used. It kind of became a generic name for the feature even though it was offered by GE,
Kenwood and many other vendors, much like Kleenex has become a generic name for facial tissue. Since
Motorola owns the trade name however, the scanner manufacturers call the feature by it’s technical name
of Continuous Tone Coded Signal Squelch, or more succinctly, CTCSS. These are expressed in Hz., with
one digit right of the decimal point, ranging from 67.0 to 254.1 Hz.
CTCSS served the industry well, and eventually scanner users wanted this feature on their scanners.
Eventually it became a standard feature on higher end scanners.
As the radio bands became more crowded the few dozen CTCSS tones became inadequate and a new
method of achieving the same results was developed. Motorola called it Digital PL (DPL) and the industry
name was called DCS for Digital Coded Squelch. These are continuous digital words transmitted in a
similar fashion to CTCSS. They are expressed in a three digit number, and there are about 100 codes in
common use. Some references express DCS codes as Dxxx (D023, D251 etc.) but the GRE only displays
the 3 numbers.
When P25 was introduced it was not compatible with CTCSS or DCS codes so a new format was devised,
called Network Access Codes (NAC). NAC’s work the same as CTCSS and DCS codes do, and newer
GRE digital scanners, such as the PSR600, can display or decode them. As mentioned earlier, a great thing
is that the PSR600 will display any one of these three codes (CTCSS, DCS or NAC) when the channel is
active during a Search Event.
What can you use CTCSS, DCS or NAC codes for? Well, pretty much the same reasons they are used in
the field. The most common use is to screen out unwanted radio traffic, either on repeaters or on simplex
(non-repeater) channels. Is the same fire frequency in your area also used in the next county? Figure out the
code used by your local agency and program it in to your scanner to exclude the other unwanted users of
the same frequency.
Some agencies also use multiple codes to separate traffic on multi-site repeater systems to avoid
interference and expensive steering equipment systems while only needing a single channel. On one system
in my area, there is one code used for operations and another used only to contact emergency services, so
the 9-1-1 Center does not need to listen to the day-to-day operations. You need help, you use the
emergency code. This allows a single channel to be used but keeps the 9-1-1 center from having to pick out
emergency requests from the routine communications.
How do I find these codes?
OK, you have convinced me to use a CTCSS, DCS or NAC code. How do I figure out what codes are used
in my area? Well, there are a couple ways. You can find them yourself by using the Tone Search feature on
your scanner, you could look them up on RadioReference or another source, or you could ask the users if
they could tell you. Chances are the third option would be laughed at by the local users, if they had any idea
what you were talking about so the first two options are more realistic.
To have the radio decode the code for you program the Squelch type to “Search”. Once you find the correct
tone change the type to CTCSS, DCS or P25 as appropriate and enter in the proper code.

RadioReference.com and other websites will often already have the proper codes listed so a little research
may be all you need.
Searching and Sweeping
All scanners allow you to search between a set of frequencies in order to find new (to you at least)
channels. Some, including the PSR600, also have preset search protocols, called Service Search, which
scan thru a set of commonly used channels for specific types. The PSR600 has a limited set of Service
Searches that include a generic “Public Safety” group, Aircraft, Marine, Ham Radio, CB and a group of
miscellaneous radio channels called FRS/GMRS/MURS/DOT. This last group is often used by families,
small businesses and others for low power local communications.
Surprisingly GRE did not include any type of Service Search for racing operations, race fans are among the
biggest buyers of scanners. The generic nature of the Public Safety Service Search reflects the modern use
of many of these channels by different types of agencies. Gone are the days of segregated Police, Fire,
Conservation, Highway and Special Emergency allocations, now all the frequencies are in a single pool that
has reduced the segregation of use. Uniden has a more extensive list of service search options.
Service Searches (“SRVC”) are entered into a Scan List just like any other Scannable Object. The Service
Search frequencies themselves are not editable by the user but you can lock out freqs when scanning a
Service Search.
The GRE also has the standard Limit Search that allows you to search all channels between a pair of
frequencies. You can also lock out frequencies in Limit Searches.
Spectrum Sweeper is a nearfield frequency detector that allows you to find nearby transmitters. There are a
couple different modes. All-Band allows you to search all frequencies the radio is capable of while the
Public Safety Mode allows you to concentrate your search on the bands commonly assigned to police, fire
etc. These bands are parts of the Low and High VHF bands, part of the UHF band and part of the 800 band.
The ZeroMatic option allows you to set the radio to look for the actual frequency used by the transmitter
instead of stopping on the first valid hit it finds. Let’s say there is a strong transmitter on 155.4750 in your
area. A strong signal might cause a hit on 155.470 and the radio would stop there with the hit. ZeroMatic
checks to see if the same signal is actually on a nearby or adjacent frequency and causes the radio to go to
the actual frequency.
The PSR600 also displays any received CTCSS, DCS or NAC code received during a Search Event.
Let there be Light (and it was pretty cool…)
The PSR600 has an LED on the upper center of the front panel that is visible from above or in front. In fact
it is really visible from the next county. This is actually 3 LED’s (red, green and blue) that sit behind a
single prism, These LED’s combined can make almost any color light, depending on your settings. At its
maximum brightness you can just about use it to read by.
Combined with an audible alert tone you can create innumerable combinations to advise you of different
activities. For example, you can set the LED to flash red when a CloseCall hit is found and green if your
favorite channel comes up. You can even set it to stay on indefinitely after activation, so if a rarely used
channel pops up you will know that it was active, even if you weren’t around to hear it.
There are so many settings for the Alert System (LED and audible) that as you use the radio you can add
different combinations as you learn the radio. While it seems daunting at first, it can come in handy
eventually. Like so many other advanced features this might never be useful for some but indispensable for
others.
Power

On the rear of the radio is a center pin coaxial power connector so you can plug in an external power source
to run the radio. The external power should be 13.8 VDC, with at least 600 mA. The PSR600 comes with
an AC power supply and a DC cable.
The radio does not come with a cigar cord, the included power cable has tinned ends that you can connect
to a cigar lighter plug if you want.
It all starts at the antenna…
The most important part of a scanner is the antenna. This determines how well the scanner will perform.
While in many instances the included antenna will work just fine, if you are doing any type of serious
monitoring from a building or vehicle an external antenna is required. While there are dozens of available
scanner or two-way antennas that will work fine, the antenna that works best for you depends on many
factors. This includes the frequencies you want to monitor, the distances and power levels involved, you
location and elevation and more. Entire books have been written to help you decide what works best. See
Scanner’s Master’s antenna section for a variety of excellent options.
The PSR600 comes with a standard BNC telescoping antenna. It connects onto the BNC connector on the
rear of the radio. You can also use this to connect another antenna, either directly or with coaxial cable.
You can use an antenna geared toward a specific band or one more generalized over the range of
frequencies.
…and continues with the radio…:
With like antennas the PSR600 and it’s competition, the Uniden BCD996XT, perform similarly as far as
sensitivity is concerned. If you read the Yahoo, RadioReference and other user groups and web sites online
you’ll find a spirited debate over which radio is the better receiver. It seems as though it depends on the
environment you’re in (urban, suburban, rural), how close you are to nearby unwanted transmitters
(cellular, paging, broadcast and the like), among other factors. There is no definitive answer on this. I
personally did get a bit more intermod type interference from the PSR600 when comparing them in a high
RF environment (in a city or when you’re close by the aforementioned types of transmitter sites). I have
also heard of cases where in a high RF environment, when you connect an outdoor/base station antenna, the
GRE will tend to become overloaded but you can remedy this by enabling attenuation. The problem with
this is that it lessens the impact of the time, money and effort you put into putting up an outdoor antenna in
an effort to receive distant signals. Now suddenly you’re attenuating them. All radios are subject to this
problem to some degree but the Uniden less so than the GRE.
Your results may vary, and results can vary from radio to radio.
… and ends up at the speaker.
The GRE provides about 1.8 watts of audio into a built-in speaker. This provides pretty good audio punch
for a mobile scanner and the audio sounds good across the board. The GRE really shines over the
competition when listening to digital P25 signals, the digital decoder circuits (called a vocoder) handle
digital audio well and cements GRE’s reputation as superior for digital decoding. While Uniden has
improved with the XT line, the GRE still wins out.
The PSR600 has an earphone jack that provides limited audio power so as not to blast your eardrums. If
you want to use an external speaker then you should plug it into the rear External Speaker jack. The
earphone jack works fine with iPod style earbuds or other standard earphones and devices.
Programming
If you have never programmed a scanner before you will want to take time to read the manual thoroughly.
This is a complicated radio and there are a lot of things to learn. That said, it isn’t really hard to learn if you
have patience and are willing to take the time. The same goes for the Uniden scanners. There’s a learning
curve with these radios and if you’re not up for spending some quality time with the manual and, if you’re
not an experienced radio hobbyist or professional, also prepare yourself for some quality time with web
sites and forums which explain and provide information on trunking and other types of radio systems. If
you’d rather not go through this process, a process which will help you understand and make better use of