[PCR-1000] first experience with a PCR1000

Fri, 4 Oct 2002 14:32:52 -0700

Here Here !!!

Another soul touched by the devil in Radiocom.  Those who are tightly
tied to this reflector know that I rarely perk up, except when it comes
to charlatanism and software marketing.  Rough and tumble story.  Stay
away from Radiocom; back up your EEPROM on floppy, and query those who
have suffered ills, and were still financially able to keep their ISP
account afloat.

Personally, ScanStar Spectrum Explorer is a top end radio control
program that is by far the most professional radio app I have found (
with the exception of Spectrum Manager, an even higher end app, which I
recently upgraded to )  These programs are not inexpensive, however, I
feel they are worth the money.  Reliability, documentation, database
management, and a very professional user interface and flexibility are
important to me.  You can download a trial version of ScanStar Spectrum
Explorer at www.scanstar.com.  It is worth the time.  I am using a R8500
and two PCR-1000 radios in concert and have had no issues to be
concerned with.  But it really is what you want out of your user
interface to your radio.  After my most unfortunate experience with
Bonito, and what I paid for it, (thanks, Bob Grove, for the refund) I
told myself I want to be well above this level of overseas software
shenanigans.  Freeware programs like MixW, Hamscope and MMTTY are far
better than the smoke and mirrors of Bonito, and they work.  So many
awesome apps, written by those who know what they want to accomplish,
all are available on the internet as freeware, and all without the
bloated cost of a marketing effort aimed at bilking the unsuspecting
consumer.

AAAHHHH....   I feel much better now.

" Caveat Emptor "

 73 

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of hotmail
Sent: Friday, October 04, 2002 11:35 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [PCR-1000] first experience with a PCR1000

Hello,

just recieved my PCR1000 yesterday. Bought in Germany, far cheaper than
in France, no customs, no French VAT, thanks to EEC. (For some reasons,
in France, when a receiver is able to receive the FM band (88-107), the
VAT is 19.6%, instead of some 10%. go figure)

First thing I did was to backup the eeprom. Smart decision, as you'll
see.
The rig is bundled with Bonito radiocom 4.0. This software has to be
used with a Dongle, otherwise won't initialize.
I'm not impressed by Radiocom 4.0. Cumbersome to scan, poor
documentation etc. 
Tried PCR1K. Didn't work. Sure I had the bloody dongle still connected.
Wasn't impressed by PCR1K and by the PCR 1000. Noisy was my overall
impression.
Came back to Radiocom.( and the dongle). Not impressed by the
combination PCR Radiocom.
Unable to copy even the airband. (In Paris you can receive it quite
easily).
When in RTTY if I clicked twice in the tuning scope, I was getting a
fatal exception. Microsoft, or is it Bonito ....
This morning I tried TalkPCR. Same bad impression. 
I decided to take a look at the eeprom. Was corrupted!!! This bloody
dongle, when used with something else than Radiocom is corrupting it.
Can you beleive it.
When I reloaded the original eeprom, the rig started to behave as
expected. 
I find the combination TalkPCR and Mixw, far better (and cheaper) than
Bonito Radiocom.

Now my opinion on the PCR 1000 has greatly improved. Can be compared -
in HF-  with an old Icom R70 I still have.
I'm using a 2x6m dipole on the top of my roof and I'm receiving quite
correctly DX on the 21MHz. 

Conclusion:
Seems a good scanner to me with TalkPCR. Impressed by the scan and
spectrum analyser offered by TalkPCR.
Quite good in HF, better than I expected anyway. 
Stay away from Radiocom. IMO, companies using dongles (Great technology
in the 70) sucks.

Thanks for reading.

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