Railfan Technology > NXDN Consumer Radio Status, 2016 edition, I forgot this.

When I posted my previous message I completely forgot about one product.  Connect Systems says they will have an NXDN product out "Sometime next year."  They wouldn't give any more detailed than that, other than the price range.  This is the good news and I don't know why I completely forgot about it until this evening.  The rep said it would be in the $250 range.  That's the good news.  Here's the not so good news.  Connect system announced two years ago that they would introduce a radio that was compatable with Yaesu's "System Fusion."  That hasn't happened.  Now they are saying they will produce the NXDN for $250-ish.  With no details and at the quoted price range, I suspect it will be a dedicated NXDN only radio.   Maybe FM but no DMR, P25, etc...  Until I see it, I'll just call if vaporware.  Maybe if the railroads take 5 years or more to go NXDN on the mains, then maybe we'll have a scanner or radio at a reasonable price.

John

They were saying that they would have an NXDN model in about a year--about a year ago.  I'm not holding my breath.

John- Thanks for your informative reports. As for listenting to public safety, I did that for 35 years at work. Not something I really get excited about...  I just bought a Yaesu FTR-400 that has the GPS and Fusion built in to it. Apparenty there's not many stations around Denver that accept that protocol and I'm good with analog on the 2 meter / 440 repeaters for my purposes.

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

I have the FTM-400.  There are a handful of people around town with System Fusion radios.  I went a week without hearing anyone using it after I got mine.  The digital sounds great, at least for a radio with a less than optimal size speaker.  That's always a weak point with most radios for portable or mobile use.

John

Several of my ham friends who attended Ham-Com in Irving this weekend are also interested in railroad.  One of the vendors had the latest Verizon of their digital scanners.
He said that it seemed to be well built, but kind of pr icy, especially for my retirement income.
There are probably many places to get the recently released scanner on line, but here is one:
 
http://www.scannermaster.com/Whistler_TRX_1_Digital_Handheld_Police_Scanner_p/55-501926.htm



 

I see nothing in the Whistler spec that indicated that the radio is NXDN-digital capable.  Lacking that, it is of no more use for railfanning than an analog radio.

I have a Kenwood NX-700H I picked up on ebay and have it programmed to scan the railroad channels (analog and nxdn). NXDN silent of course.

You can get a Kenwood NXDN portable radio for a decent price, you just have to remember you're working with a commercial radio that requires software and a cable to program. They also are more basic and have to be programmed NOT to transmit. You can get a radio that will do DMR, P25, and NXDN... you just are going to pay a lot for it.

I personally prefer the commercial radios; I've replaced all but one of my amateur mobiles with them. They are workhorses and have so much more functionality than the ham radios (minus the VFO)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/16 22:00 by myjbh1989.

Yep, I agree.  It's supposed to be upgradeable to NXDN.  Show me a working NXDN scanner and I will believe it.
I am still in the market for a NXDN handheld.

Pat
WA5VRO
Austin, TX

I have an Icom VHF, the NXDN board is $165 which Ive ordered, utlize the Icom for VHF monitoring of railroads, and other uses.  Ill give a report if I get near the Cumbres and Toltec, which does use NXDN.