Racing Electronics RE2000Alpha

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Racing Electronics, a company which caters to racing enthusiasts, has a new radio for their customers. Take a RELM HS200 handheld, add the computer interface, software and alpha-tags of the RELM MS200 mobile, throw in a squelch-controlled backlight, cloning capability, mix well and there you have it! And let's not forget that it comes in your choice of black or racy red! My thanks to Bruce Silver, President of Racing Electronics, for quickly supplying a review unit complete with batteries and the computer interface kit. Without his assistance, it is doubtful I would have had a radio this quickly to be able to provide such a timely review. What follows are my personal impressions regarding the features and performance of this radio. This, in no way, should be viewed as an endorsement to purchase this radio nor is it intended to discourage anyone from buying it. I have no personal or business relations with Racing Electronics, RELM Communications, Inc. or Yupiteru Industries Company. These are simply thoughts offered to my fellow hobbyists who may be interested in purchasing this particular radio. I simply ask that this information be kept intact. A lot of hard work and effort has gone into the testing and writing of this review. I would appreciate it if every effort is made to keep this document whole with me as the original author. And if you want to share your thoughts about this review with me or have further questions, feel free to send e-mail. Thank you and enjoy! Rich Wells N2MCA Strong Signals web site

What you get

RE2000Alpha

Antenna, 6", rubber

Belt-clip

AC adapter

Earphone

Hand strap

User's Manual

Model tested

Serial #: 855-A806002xx

Model # : HS200RE

FCC Id : ARUSHS200

Basic Specs

Channels	200
Banks	10
Coverage	26 - 54, 118 - 174, 406 - 520, 806 - 824.0375, 848.9750 - 869.0375, 893.975 - 960 MHz
Scan	40 < speed < 100 channels/second
Search	100 freqs/second
Steps	5 kHz : 26 - 54, 137 - 174 MHz 12.5 kHz : 400 - 520, 806 - 960 MHz 25kHz : 118 - 137 MHz
Modes	AM : 26 - 28.995, 118 - 137 MHz FM : 29 - 54, 137.005 - 174, 406 - 520, 806 - 960 MHz
Sensitivity	As listed in the manual : AM : 0.7uv FM : 0.5uv
Conversion	Double
IFs	1=280.2 MHz? 2=0.450 MHz?
Priority	10 channels
Search limits	1
Search skip	100
Auto-store	No
S-meter	Yes
Delay	Yes
Lockout	Yes
Attenuator	No
Lock	Yes
Tone codes	CTCSS & DCS
Computer intf	Yes (program only)
Rotary control	Yes
Channel count	No
Data skip	No
Clock	No
Timers	No
Weather	Yes
Weather Alert	No
Light	Display & Keypad
Power	6V - 12V DC
Audio	300 (batteries) & 450 (AC) mW
Size	2.5" W x 6.7" H x 1.5" D
Weight	18 ounces
Memory	non-volatile

Statistics show that about 80 percent of you will not look at this manual until after you've already taken the scanner out of the box, tried to assemble it, played around with it, and at some point came up with something you didn't understand.
...
Even if you are reading this before operating your scanner, you're still not planning on reading all the instructions before you try to listen to your scanner, are you?

To make sure you don't accidently (sic) break your scanner, read the directions carefully.

The Specifications page is a nice reference but it would be nice to see a few more 'hardcore' specs like those typically found in the GRE-made Radio Shack manuals.

Like the HS200 manual, there are two nice tables which list the supported CTCSS and DCS codes. There are even sections devoted to Definitions And Acronyms as well as Rechargeable Battery Information which gives some good tips on how to keep your NiCd cells healthy.

I did notice two mistakes. One is the specified UHF starting frequency of 406 MHz. My RE2000Alpha tunes down to 400 MHz. The other is that the section on searching indicates that 136 - 137 MHz range uses 5 kHz steps while it really uses the 25 kHz since it is in the AM aircraft band. This was caught, in part, by Jeff Goldman who pointed out to me that the HS200 erroneously searched this area in FM mode using 5 kHz steps. And this probably explains where this error came from.

Pictures

Siblings

Antenna

Construction and Physical
Like the "sports oriented" Uniden Sportcats, the RE2000Alphas come in your choice of two colors; red or black. For this review, I was furnished with a red model. And what a red it is, as you can tell by looking at the color photograph supplied by Racing Electronics.

The entire case is molded of red plastic and lends quite the contrast to the other parts which are all molded in black. This includes the volume, squelch and rotary controls, antenna, DC power jack and belt clip. Most of the lettering is in black as well.

Anyone familiar with the very popular RELM HS handhelds will recognize this radio right off. It represents a collaborative effort between this US company and Yupiteru Industries of Japan. The early RELM units were made in Japan by Yupiteru as well but word is that this was later moved to the Philippines. This radio is clearly marked 'MADE IN JAPAN' on the back. One can only wonder if this radio will follow suit once production of the initial runs is completed.

Hold it in your hand and you can easily sense how solid and well made it is. And it is none too small either. The case itself is just over six inches tall. The volume control, situated atop the squelch, adds another 3/4 inches to this. With the antenna attached, it stands a mighty 12.5 inches.

Luckily, the width and depth are about average at 2.5" and 1.5" respectively. Overall, it is on the larger side so don't plan to be discreet when carrying this one around; especially if you opt for the red model!

Starting our tour on the front panel, we have the LCD located at the top with the keypad underneath, followed by the speaker grill. Between the keypad and speaker is the RE2000Alpha logo while below the speaker is the RACING ELECTRONICS logo.

The keypad consists of five rows by four columns of white keys with two smaller black keys below which control the keylock, backlight and CTCSS/DCS tones. While the white keys are lettered in black for easy visibility, the second function text lettered above each key is printed in light gray! Get this radio more than one foot from your face and it becomes nearly invisible in anything other than direct sunlight. This is probably about the poorest choice I have seen in color schemes. The black model appears much nicer from the picture I have seen since it looks like light blue lettering.

And it's curious as the rest of the lettering on this red radio's top and side panels is all done in black which provides great contrast and easy readability. Lettering on the white keys is black and easily readable. The one exception is the ENT key which is colored orange and thus a bit more difficult to read.

Moving to the right panel we see the embedded metal anchor for the supplied hand strap, monaural earphone jack (which doubles as the data interface) and DC power jack (12 volts, 200mA, positive tipped). It's easy to see that the earphone jack is metal, unlike the HS200's plastic style, which is probably because this jack is used for the computer interface and radio cloning features.

Over on the left panel, at the very bottom, we see the same battery compartment cover that was used on the HS200. Sliding it down unlatches it, allowing it to swing upward and the battery cell holder to slide out. It is a rather flimsy design and doesn't fit in with what I consider to be a well designed and solid radio.

Moving to the top panel, we see the BNC antenna jack, squelch control with volume control mounted atop it and the rotary control. Like the HS200, the volume and squelch controls have no colored stripes to help indicate how they are set. Squelch action is modeled after the present day Uniden models which probably descends from the earlier Regency models. To open the squelch, you must rotate the control clockwise which is contrary to what is found on models made by AOR, iCOM, Radio Shack, Sony, Welz and Yupiteru.

The HS200s were first supplied with rotary controls that were prone to wear which caused them to fall off easily after enough normal use. RELM fixed this in later batches with a metal insert and allowed users of early models to upgrade free of charge, which is great customer support.

This RE2000Alpha was supplied with this updated rotary control but it feels more "wobbly" than my HS200 which is a very early unit without the modified rotary control. Other than this, the rotary control has a great feel to it. Not too light and not too heavy, with the clicking action giving very positive feedback.

This leaves the back panel to cover. Fortunately, the supplied belt clip is the same metal version we've seen on the HS200. Very sturdy and it should provide a lifetime of dependable service. The only other thing back here is the id sticker. Funny that the FCC ID is the same as the HS200 while the model number indicates the HS200 with the 'RE' suffix.

According to Dave Raley at the Frequency Fan Club (who just received their first shipment of these from Racing Electronics), the color scheme of this first production run is not correct. If you look at the top panel, most of it is formed by a cap which houses all the controls and is colored the same as the body. Problem is that the red radios are supposed to have a black cap while the black models should have red caps. These radios are all red or all black! (See the Q & A section toward the end for more details.)

Antenna
When it comes to antennas, the HS200 had a jaded history. Having been made by Yupiteru, word was that the HS200 was originally supplied with the same antenna found on their MVT-9000. Once tested, this antenna was found to be pretty, well, crappy. My testing found the same thing in my Handheld Antenna review.

To fix it, RELM quickly swapped them for units supplied from GRE which bear a striking resemblance to those supplied GRE made units supplied to Radio Shack for many of their PRO-30 series. I noted in my HS200 review that my stock HS200 antenna looked identical to the one on my PRO-34. This antenna is a great performer but a bit weird looking and nearly eight inches in length.

Jeff Goldman says these were then replaced by Centurion antennas and finally by an updated model manufactured by Yupiteru. Looking at the RE2000Alpha antenna, it definitely looks and feels like a Yupiteru model. But it is unique due to the chrome ring found near the base.

To see how it well it performed, I put it up against an "average" model which happens to be the Radio Shack A0337 and was supplied with their popular PRO-43, PRO-60 and PRO-62 models. Using a Yupiteru MVT-7100, I proceeded to test them back-to-back on a set of frequencies between 30 and 940 MHz.

The stock antenna has a slight edge on lower VHF-lo while they are nearly identical on mid and upper VHF-lo. By VHF-hi, the A0337 takes a decisive lead. On lower UHF, the stock antenna is ahead but by 450 MHz they are again even. Going on up to 800 Mhz, the A0337 is quite a bit better in the 850 - 870 range. They are again tied up through 900 Mhz where the A0337 again begins to pull ahead and deliver much better reception on 930 Mhz and above.

Since I rated the A0337 as an overall average antenna, the stock unit supplied with the RE2000Alpha would be classed similarly but still be a notch or two back. As with most models, if you are serious about good reception, one of the first tasks is to find a better antenna.

Features
We'll start with the display which, on first glance, appears to be identical to the HS200. On power up, the radio scrolls 'Racing Electronics' which takes about 7 seconds and can not be disabled. Probably not a big deal to the racing enthusiast who only uses this radio a few times a year.

To be able to support alpha-tags, the display had to be changed accordingly. While the actual display characters are larger, they are harder to read since they consist of thinner LCD elements. This is the same scheme used on the recent RELM MS200 and was a common complaint of its users.

Alpha-tags are programmable via the keypad and rotary control as well as the computer interface. They are used to label any of the 200 memory channels and each consists of up to seven characters. These characters include the ten digits, all 26 upper case letters, 13 lower case letters (a, b, c, d, e, h, i, m, n, o, r, t and u), space and 14 special symbols (-. ?, =, *, /, \, , , ', $, up arrow, down arrow, and some funky thing that looks like an asterisk with a box around it).

Using the user's manual's "LCD display details" figure as a guide (which doesn't properly portray the alpha-tag or channel # characters), we can see all the details which are available. Surprisingly, they're the same as the HS200 and include receive mode, scan/search mode, priority operation, low battery condition, scan bank numbers, hold/delay, tone and lockout status, keypad lock, and finally, the S-meter.

The S-meter consists of a busy indicator along with five segments. The only difference from the HS200 being that the busy indicator contains the characters 'BZ' instead of 'BUSY'

Overall, the display is easily read from any angle. To help read it at night or in dimly lit environments, it comes with a green backlight. It does a decent job using two LEDs located along the left edge but it does a bit dim toward the middle which doesn't make reading the alpha-tags any easier.

And not only is the display lighted, so is the keypad, just like the HS200. This is a great feature and is sorely missing from all other handheld scanners available in the US with the exceptions being the high-end units made by Alinco, AOR and iCOM. With the keys being a translucent milky white, it is easy to read their black lettering with the backlight on. My complaint here is that on the red model, the lighting is so bright that they tend to shine through the case in and around the keys themselves. Would be nice to see an opaque mask of some sort used to block this 'gaudy' condition.

Like the HS200, the light is based on a three second timer which is reset when a key is pressed. Problem here is that this is not tied into the rotary control so using it to scroll through memory, alter a search frequency or program an alpha-tag in the dark is more of a pain. The alternative, as Dave Raley of Frequency Fan Club points out, is to turn down the volume, make sure tones are disabled and open the squelch manually which will turn the light on and keep it there while you do your thing.

A unique feature of the RE2000Alpha is Nite Scan which ties the backlight into the squelch control. Whenever the squelch opens, the backlight is turned on allowing hands-free operation! Quite nice and a feature I've been wanting for a while. It is found on some ham transceivers and I hope starts to make its entry into the scanner realm.

My problems with this feature are twofold. One, it is always on. While it is a boon for dim/dark monitoring, it's also on for those of us who might be primarily daytime users. And with the light on, the subsequent battery drain is right there with it! Secondly, this light is not on the three second timer...as long as the squelch stays open, the light stays on. Suck, suck, suck those batteries dry! I do understand that this radio was designed to cater to those fans who attend night races, but it could have been made more flexible to help cater to usage at daytime races, as well as to the normal scanning crowd.

While I'm on a rant, I might as well also mention that this feature (Nite Scan) isn't mentioned in the manual that I have found.

My wish list would include keypads tricks, at the very least, that would allow this feature to be toggled off, as well as setting the light duration to be tied to the squelch status or use the default three second timer.

Thanks to Jeff Goldman, we have a hidden keypad trick used to clear the entire contents of memory. Hold down the MAN, SCN, PRI and SRCH keys while turning it on. The display will show CLRING for about ten seconds while it does its thing. After this, the contents of memory will be empty and the search limits reset to their factory defaults.

As far as the keypad itself, it is well done. The keys are decently sized and spaced. Feedback is roughly average while each press is accompanied by the typical beeper confirmation. It's not tied into the volume so its constant which can be a problem for inconspicuous monitoring. Most keys and actions result in a 'beep' while errors and disabling some features results in a 'boop' sound.

Like the HS200, audio power is abundant and high quality. Tones are crisp but not so much as to be harsh. Does help to bring out the hiss of weaker signals but, at the same time, allows it to cut through background noise for better clarity and more effective listening.

Using AA power, the audio is rated at 300mW while using AC power results in a hefty 450mW! The volume control can be turned up to about 80% on most signals before distortion sets in. The RE2000Alpha also has little-to-no squelch tail on received signals. Squelch hysteresis seems well done; not too loose nor too tight.

Hooking up an earphone/headphone to the earphone jack, it is clear that it is not a stereo plug and that full power is available at this jack and not current limited like some models. This is important for using this radio in noisy environments (like the race tracks where this radio was intended) but care must be taken to protect your hearing.

Using an earphone, there is an ever present hiss heard while scanning or searching. As the radio switches back and forth across VHF and UHF frequencies while scanning, there is also an incessant clicking noise.

Hooking up the RE2000Alpha to the digital voltmeter shows readings that are spot on with the HS200. During scanning, both use about 85 milliamps (mA) while searching uses 90mA (most likely due to the extra display activity). While receiving a signal with the volume turned to minimum shows a 140mA drain on the RE2000Alpha (remember, the light is on). The same measurement on the HS200 shows 80mA but when the backlight is turned on, it jumps to 140mA, too.

What this means is that you can expect 30% or so less runtime with the same batteries since the RE2000Alpha has the ever-present backlight drain. Using alkalines, I got about 7 to 8 hours of typical use from the HS200 without using its light. With the RE2000Alpha, 5 to 6 hours will be a maximum and even less if you use high capacity NiMH (1300 - 1500mAh). If you use NiCds, be sure to get the highest rating you can (about 1100mA these days). And of course, make sure to bring along a backup set. If you do use it at the races, these numbers may be even less if you keep the volume turned way up.

While still hooked to the meter, leaving the radio in manual mode sitting on a channel with no activity, it's easy to see the battery save engage. It only takes about 2 seconds of non-activity for it to start and once done, it goes into a duty cycle of roughly 50% over the course of one second. It will 'wake up' briefly to check for a signal and the power drain jumps to about 75mA. It then goes to 'sleep' to conserve the batteries with about 30mA drain.

To help keep rechargeable cells ready to go, the RE2000Alpha comes equipped to charge them using an AC adapter. For this reason, you can NEVER use alkalines in the radio when connected to an AC power supply. A future enhancement of great use would be a switch in the battery compartment that would allow this charging feature to be disabled. Or, at the minimum, a second jack which is used for power only.

A great feature found on the HS200 was power-on resume. Luckily for us, this has been carried over to the RE2000Alpha. Simply stated, it allows the radio on power-up to continue what it was doing when turned off. Regardless of what it was doing when turned off, either scanning, searching or in manual mode, it will continue to do so when powered back on. This is a great feature and a cut above the mindless mentality of simply reverting to scanning whenever the radio is switched on.

One difference between these two radios is how a power-on search is resumed. On the HS200, it would enter pause mode at the lower limit frequency thereby requiring SRCH to be pressed to actually start searching. On the RE2000Alpha, it starts searching immediately from the lower limit frequency. Dave Raley of Frequency Fan Club points out that this is an added feature of how the search is performed; not any update of the power-on resume feature.

The RE2000Alpha comes weather channel programmed which is accessed via the WX key. Pressing it starts a scan of the 8 programmed frequencies (7 US and 1 Canadian). Any detected activity will stop the scan, show the active frequency and let you listen to the associated broadcast.

There is also a handy keypad lock used to prevent accidental activations. The small black lock key is held down for about three seconds. Three beeps will sound and the key icon will appear in the display. While this locks out the keypad, it does not effect the rotary control. If the radio is scanning or searching and the rotary turned, it will put the radio in manual mode. The rotary may then be used to scroll through the memory channels and select the desired one. Personally, I would have preferred the rotary to be locked out as well.

Programming
Programming the memory channels of the RE2000Alpha is pretty straight forward. If you use the computer interface, it's almost a no-brainer. For those times when a computer might not be handy, you better learn the methods needed.

To program a channel with a frequency, you simply start in manual mode, enter the frequency followed by the ENT key, enter the channel number and press ENT. It's a little backward when compared to most radios but easy enough to get use to. The biggest annoyance is having to manually look up what's in the channel to make sure you aren't overwriting something.

Another nit is that the bank associated with the chosen channel is not displayed. This is found on competing models and helps verify proper entry. Luckily, the channel number belonging to each bank are displayed above the respective key on the front panel.

To correct a mistake during entry, simply press the CLR button and start over. Clicking the rotary control one notch aborts the entire programming sequence. Any input frequency which is not within one of the receive ranges is automatically rounded up to the nearest valid value.

When entering frequencies, if there are three digits before the decimal point then there is no need to press the decimal key as it is automatically entered by the radio. Additionally, if entering a frequency which is in a range using 12.5 kHz steps, the radio will automatically enter the last two digits for you.

If a frequency is entered which is already programmed into another memory channel, the channel number display will show this channel number rather than a blank entry while waiting for your input. If a channel is displayed, then the frequency already exists in memory and pressing the MAN key will take you right to it!

To clear a memory channel, go into manual mode and go to that channel. The CLR key is pressed followed by ENT for confirmation. Empty channels can not be viewed in manual mode nor are they scanned.

Programming a tone code involves displaying the desired memory channel followed by a press of the ENT key. This will display the currently programmed tone for this channel and allow a new tone to be entered. To do so, a programming code between 1 and 154 (see the manual for how these map onto the CTCSS/DCS codes) can be keyed in, or the rotary control used to slew through the list of choices. Once selected, the ENT key is pressed to finish entry.

Any time after this, the ENT key can be pushed when viewing a channel to see if any tone has been programmed. While the tone decode feature of this radio will be a blessing to many, it would have been nice to have seen some form of tone search option, thus making it easy to find unknown tones.

A new feature of the RE2000Alpha is the ability to tag each of the 200 memory channels with an alphanumeric identification tag of up to seven characters. The pool of characters to pick from consists of 39 letters, 10 numbers, 14 symbols and a space.

To enter a tag, select the desired channel and then press the DISP key until four tones are heard (beep, boop, boop-boop). If a tag has already been set, it will be displayed, otherwise the display will be blank. The blinking item will show which character position can be changed. This is done using the rotary control. Turn it clockwise to select any of the characters or counterclockwise to select one of the ten digits. Press DISP to edit the next character in sequence, ENT to accept the tag, and CLR to abort entry.

Manual Mode
With memory programmed, you can press MAN to enter manual mode. In this mode, the radio simply sits and monitors the frequency of the displayed memory channel. If there is no activity detected within two seconds, the radio puts itself into battery saver mode to conserve energy.

To view the contents of other memory channels, several methods are available. Pressing MAN simply advances to the next programmed channel. Keying in a channel number followed by MAN jumps right to that channel (if it has been programmed). The most efficient method is to use the rotary control to slew up and down through all the program channels. When either end of memory is reached it simply wraps around to the opposite end and continues.

Keep in mind that empty channels are not displayed.

It's also possible to enable and disable CTCSS/DCS tone decoding by simply pressing the black TN/MN key. When in tone decoding mode, the TN indicator is displayed on the LCD and only active frequencies with matching tones will be allowed to break the squelch to receive the signal.

While in manual mode, the DISP key is used to switch between displaying the programmed frequency or the alpha-tags. If in alpha-tag mode and a channel has no alpha-tag programmed, it simply displays the frequency.

Whatever display method is chosen will also be used to display data when scan mode is entered and it stops on an active channel.

If it known ahead of time, channels can be locked out in this mode to prevent them from being scanned. Pressing the LOCK key toggles the lockout setting for a channel while the L/O indicator indicates a channel is locked out.

Scanning
To start the radio scanning, a simple press of the SCN key does the trick. The display shows 'SCAN' while not receiving any activity. The numbers at the top of the display show which banks are being scanned for activity. What is annoying is that these numbers are also displayed regardless of what the radio is in.

To enable and disable which banks are scanned, the respective digits on the keypad are pressed which is the method used by most radios these days. And it's not possible to enable a bank which is empty or has all of its channels locked out (which can't be done on Radio Shack and Uniden models).

Once activity is detected, the radio stops the scan on that channel and displays the channel number as well as the frequency or alpha-tag depending on the mode the radio was put in while in manual mode. Unlike most radios, the bank numbers remain at the top of the display but in no way indicate which bank the currently displayed channel belongs to.

Once the frequency activity stops, there is a delay of 1/2 second before the scan resumes. This type of forced delay is a typical Yupiteru method and indicative of the radios that come out of Japan. They are not well suited for use here in the US where trunked systems frequency hop and some systems have dispatchers and mobile units on differing frequencies. Such a delay means a higher probability of missing some or all of a reply on another channel.

For usage where a delay is necessary, a global 2 second delay can be enabled. Unlike most radios these days, this can not be done on a channel by channel basis and is also too limiting in my opinion for the multitude of different systems that can be monitored. Some users might prefer an all-or-nothing approach based on the type of systems they monitor, but I personally would like the option to do it on an individual channel basis.

If scanning stops on an undesired channel for whatever reason, it can be locked out by simply pressing the LOCK key. The channel is effectively locked out and scanning continues. To remove the lockout, it is necessary to go into manual mode, find the channel and press LOCK.

Using the frequencies stored in my radio, which consist of frequencies ranging from 42 to 861 MHz and not in numeric sequence, I timed the scan rate at roughly 40 channels per second. Even in a best case scenario, it's hard to see this radio approaching the specified 100 chan/sec maximum. For me, however, 40 is enough.

Some HS200 users reported that they encountered a 'fake scanning' bug where the radio indicated it was scanning but, in fact, was not doing so. Jeff Goldman says this was caused by entering scan mode while the radio was in its battery saver sleep cycle.

Without a second receiver handy to verify this, it will be hard to know when it is actually occurring. Jeff Goldman has indicated that to get out of this mode, the radio must be put into manual mode and then return to scanning. We can only hope this will not seen on this radio.

As a last note for this mode, tone decoding can be enabled and disabled at will by simply pressing the TN/MN key. When decoding has been enabled, the TN indicator appears on the LCD.

Searching
The RE2000Alpha comes with one pair of limits use to perform frequency searches. Once the 'Lo' and 'Hi' limits have been set, the SRCH key is pressed to put it into action. Be sure that the lower limit is numerically less than the upper limit or you'll get an 'Error' when you try to search.

A disappointment here is that you can not receive activity on the frequencies in the lower or upper limits themselves (that is, as soon as you program them). I find this ability quite useful on most Radio Shack models since I can use these two resources as pseudo-VFOs. That is, I can punch in a frequency to test it out without having to program up a memory channel for just a quick listen.

If activity is detected, the search pauses to listen in on the signal and the resultant frequency is displayed. What happens next depends on the state of the delay/hold setting. Using the DL/HL key, this mode can be set to delay or hold. When in delay mode, DELAY is indicated in the display and searching resumes after a paused frequency activity disappears. In hold mode, HOLD is displayed and searching stops when frequency activity is detected. I personally enjoy using this hold feature and wish more radios came with it.

If paused on an active frequency, the search can be forced to resume by simply pressing the SRCH key. Alternatively, you can force the search to stop on the current frequency by clicking the rotary control. You can then use the rotary to slew through the search range at will and receive the currently displayed frequency.

While displaying a search frequency, it is possible to write it to a memory channel, by pressing ENT, keying in the channel number and pressing ENT again.

The biggest drawback of this radio's search feature is the inability to reverse the search direction. With the rotary control used to pause the search at the current frequency and there being no arrow keys on the keypad, there is no means to accomplish this often used functionality.

This deficiency is made up partly by the ability to lock out up to 100 frequencies during a search. If the search pauses on an active frequency that is undesirable, it can be locked out of the search sequence by simply pressing the LOCK key. The search resumes and will no longer by troubled by activity on that frequency.

If all 100 frequencies are used and an attempt is made to lock out another frequency, the display will show 'FuLL' and not allow the action. And this list is cleared of all frequencies whenever a new frequency limit is entered.

I did discover a bug while playing around with the search feature. I was testing the ability to program a search frequency into a memory channel. When presented by the display to enter the channel number, I pressed CLR and was rewarded with an alpha-tag editing display. Say what? Okay, no biggy. Let me just get back to a known mode, so I pressed MAN. Then I pressed SRCH to resume my search where I left off. Instead of resuming the search I had been doing, the radio decided to load one of the memory channel frequencies and start searching from there! In some cases I didn't even need to press SRCH. Just pressing MAN put me back into search mode with the erroneous frequency.

Regardless, in order to restore the valid search limits, I had to press the LO/HI key as though I were entering new search limits, then press the SRCH key. This seems to reload the limits with the proper frequencies. With this said, I think Mr. Firmware Engineer should take another look at the state sequence diagram and prevent state changes between the search, alpha-tag editing and manual modes.

Priority
One place where the RE2000Alpha clearly shows its Regency/Uniden heritage is in the priority scheme used. It consists of ten channels, one for each bank. And they are ordered by a hierarchy where the lower the channel number, the higher its priority is.

The worst part of this design is that the priority channel defaults to the first channel in each bank and can not be changed. The good news is that the priority feature can be engaged whether in scanning, search, manual or weather mode!

With such a scheme, it dictates that if you want to use it, you must leave each priority channel empty or shuffle frequencies around as your needs or situations change. I'm sure some will have no problem with it but I personally find it a bit inflexible.

To enable priority sampling, the PRI key is pressed which also displays the PRI indicator on the LCD. Now, the priority channels which are tested for activity are those contained in the banks enabled in scan mode. Luckily for us, the active banks are known to us in any mode by those bank numbers at the top of the LCD.

Once enabled, priority samples all active channels every two seconds for activity. If a signal is detected, it is monitored until it disappears. After a two second delay, the previous mode is resumed. To keep one of the priority channels from being tested, it can be locked out; except for channel 1.

The hierarchy scheme comes into play when activity occurs on one of the priority channels. If a signal is being monitored on the fourth priority channel (61) and it lasts longer than the priority sampling rate of two seconds, all enabled priority channels of higher priority (numerically lower) will be sampled for activity. If any activity is detected on these, the current priority channel signal will be preempted to monitor this.

For this example of channel 61, after two seconds of monitoring an active transmission on it, channels 1, 21 and 41 would be tested (if banks 1, 2 and 3 were enabled). If channel 21 became active, the radio would leave 61 to monitor it. While monitoring 21, channel 1 would be sampled every two seconds for activity since it has higher priority. Any activity on it would preempt that on channel 21.

If listening to an active frequency, it's fairly easy to detect when the priority does it sampling due to the dropout of the audio. Even with only one priority channel active it is fairly intrusive. I don't have to tell you how annoying it is if five or more are active; each channel to be checked adds to the length of time the audio drops out.

One note of interest here is that while scanning, if priority is enabled, not only does the PRI indicator appear but 'SCAN' is changed to 'PSCAN' to indicate priority scanning.

Computer Interface
A new feature for this HS200 predecessor is the computer interface. For $30, you can buy a cable and software that allow the upload and download of data from a personal computer.

The cable plugs into the earphone jack of the radio and connects to a 9-pin D-shell serial port of the computer. The cable is 44 inches long and I could detect no components for voltage level shifting in either end.

The software comes on a 3.5" diskette and runs on Windows 3.1, 95 or 98. Installation is a breeze and in no time you're up and running. And it was just so shocking to see it looked identical to the MS200 software!

The main item of interest is the large Scanner list allowing channels to be assigned frequencies, labels and tones. Unfortunately, the ability to set the lockout status is still missing.

Once programmed, you simply click on the download button to send this data to the radio. A pop-up window appears showing the download progress while the radio displays 'LOADING'. It only takes about ten seconds for the transfer to complete. Uploading is just as simple and efficient.

Along with the radio data display are two lists; one is used to select frequencies while the other is for tone codes. Using the frequency list, you simply find the desired frequency and then double-click on it to transfer it to the currently highlighted channel in the scanner list. The list consists of every tunable frequency. To find the desired frequency faster, there are five sublists that break down the coverage into smaller ranges. You can also define a custom sublist as well.

The tone list is used to support selection of a CTCSS or DCS tone. Simply click on the desired entry and it is copied to the scanner list. Unfortunately, all the entries are labeled from 000 to 154 (the radio's internal representation, which is listed in the manual) instead of the actual CTCSS tone or DCS code. I find this to be a serious drawback when using a computer which is designed to make such tasks simpler. Instead, we are forced to keep the user's manual handy to perform the lookup ourselves.

Comparing it to the MS200 software, Don Stegner was dutiful in pointing out it contained both the numbered entries as well as the corresponding CTCSS and DCS tones. Thanks Don!

To help manage all your frequencies, 'groups' can be used. Think of these as simply a copy of the scanner list. Multiple groups can be defined with each representing a different radio 'personality'. With such groups defined, one can then be picked and copied into the Scanner list where it can then be downloaded to give the radio that 'personality'.

The scanner and group list files are simple ASCII text files so it is little problem to use an editor on them or dump your current frequency database into a format which can then be massaged into the proper format.

Since I was traveling with this radio when I first got it, I installed the software on my laptop computer. The serial port is defined as COM1 and I had no problem using the software. Once at home, I installed the software on my desktop to try and use there as well. On this machine, COM1 is taken up by the factory-installed modem so COM2 is used to access the serial port which is what I use for all my computer controlled radios such as the PRO-2035, PRO-2042 and BC895XLT.

Using the software, I tried to change the COM port to 2 so that the software would 'talk' to the proper port. No such luck. Looking at the dialog, it is clear to see that COM1, COM3 and COM4 have been disabled so they can not be selected. This makes it seem obvious that the program knows that COM2 is to be used for communications. Problem is that COM1 is selected by default. But since this option has been disabled in the interface, there is no way for me to manually select COM2 thereby deselecting COM1! As a result, I am unable to use this software on my desktop machine unless I want to go into the Windows Device Manager, disable the modem, and temporarily change the serial port to COM1.

Radio Cloning
The RE2000Alpha also has the capability to clone itself like some of the high end units by Alinco, AOR and iCOM. The RE2000-CC Cloning Kit is ordered which simply consists of a cable and instructions.

More than likely, the cable is used to connect together two radios via the earphone plug. Powering up the radio while using the CLON key allows one radio to be the MASTER and the other the SLAVE. With a connection thus established, the contents of the MASTER are simply transferred to the SLAVE much like the software interface download operation.

This kit was not available at the time of the review so further details can't be offered. But is easy to see how such a radio, designed for the racing enthusiast, can be set up by dealers at the track and configured for all the proper frequencies, alpha-tags and PL tones, or perhaps even the frequencies for preferred one or more drivers.

VHF/UHF Performance
The HS200 was noted for being well built, not only by that which can be seen and felt, but internally as well. Shielding of the radio by a large metal enclosure helps to keep the radio from reacting to interference generated by its own circuitry during normal operations. Such interference is referred to as birdies. Each individual frequency which is generated by the radio itself and picked up as a valid signal is called a birdie.

I performed a birdie check on the RE2000Alpha and came up with only 20 such interference frequencies! Testing of my HS200 had shown 26 on it. Nice to see the RE2000Alpha continuing the fine results set by its ancestor. For a look at the type of internal shielding that results in this kind of performance, check out these shots courtesy of Frequency Fan Club

Its next test was too see what kind of interference it received while monitoring at the home front. Using the stock antenna, I swept its entire receive range and found no images or interference. I then replaced the antenna with a 19" telescoping whip and repeated the test only to find the same results! Even though it's a double conversion receiver, the RE2000Alpha shows the same great filtering as the HS200.

We then took a little trip to a certain part of town that is chock full of nasty signals from lots of local transmitters. If a radio has any shortcomings in regards to filtering, this level of ambient RF activity will find it in no time at all.

Using the stock antenna, I searched from 26 to 960 MHz for interference. The first of which came in the 450s from a TV image. Another was found in the 820s. Cell images were heard in 807 - 818, 896 - 912 and 950 MHz ranges. Swapping the antenna for the 19" whip, the results were quite the same with just a bit more interference frequencies. Outstanding! This receiver held up exceptionally well and provided results which were better than many of the more expensive triple conversion radios I have tested.

Back at the ranch, I put the RE2000Alpha up against the new radio from Sony which it will definitely be competing with. I tested them back-to-back on a number of frequencies between 42 and 940 MHz using identical antennas to try and keep the playing field level.

In the results table below, for each frequency, I ranked the radios from 1st place to last. If a radio did not receive the test signal, a 0 was registered.

Ranking

Here's the ranking criteria

Things I Like

Audio quality and power

4 AA battery option

Sensitivity

Rotary control

CTCSS/DCS

100 search lockouts

All mode priority use

Scan/Search speed

Computer interface

Sturdy metal belt clip

S-meter

Power-on resume

Backlit keypad

Squelch-controlled backlight

Frequency center tuning during scan/search

Things I Would Change

Add option to disable squelch-controlled backlight

Change red model's gray keypad lettering to black and use an opaque mask to prevent backlight from shining through the case

Ability to reverse search direction

Remove half second fixed delay

Add switch in battery compartment for alkaline/rechargeable

Add channel lockout status to software controlled data

Put back CTCSS/DCS codes in software listing

Add tone search capability

Smaller size definitely wouldn't hurt

Summary
Hard to go wrong with a radio like this. When I reviewed the HS200 back in December of '96 I was stunned by this package and predicted it would be a very popular offering with the mainstream monitoring crowd.

While Racing Electronics might have meant it for racing fans, the fact that it is based on a highly popular receiver will endear it to those outside the automotive competition circles. Adding alpha-tags and a computer interface will only help to ensure its success.

This is not only a sensitive receiver but it does a great job at keeping out both internal and external interference. It also does CTCSS and DCS which is not found on many radios these days...and it's the only handheld scanner that does!

Throw in AA battery flexibility, S-meter, rotary control, backlit keypad, metal belt clip, power-on resume, 100 search lockout, alpha-tags and a computer interface. That's some amount of power to hold in the palm of your hand!

Recommendations
The RE2000Alpha is a limited edition radio which is priced at $300. At this time, it is only available from two places: Racing Electronics and Frequency Fan Club. At this price, it's just a bit more than the HS200 was priced when it first hit the streets back in late '96.

Consider all of its features and then compare what it offers to what's available from Radio Shack or Uniden which sell the lion's share of radios these days. Considering some of Radio Shack's past pricing, this radio is a great deal for all that you get.

The RE2000Alpha's competition will be the Radio Shack PRO-74, since it is also touted as a 'race scanner', and the new Sony receivers which hover around the same price and offer a similar package.

The PRO-74 is really no competition when compared to this radio. The main reason it will sell is either due to the visibility of the Radio Shack name or the fact that it is priced at the $200 range.

As for the Sonys, the new ICF-SC1PC is a similar offering priced at the $320 mark. I think the decision here will come down to the fact that the Sony offers full coverage with support of wide-FM receiver and computer control as well as programmability. The RE2000Alpha just can't match it on these points. And those who are willing to forego the computer interface can get the ICF-SC1 for around $260. Just keep in mind that the Sony radios are a bit quirky to use and slower at scanning and searching.

Others will pick the RE2000Alpha primarily because of CTCSS/DCS with the rotary control, alpha-tags, metal belt clip, backlit keypad and S-meter helping to close the deal.

Were it not for the HS200 being priced well below $200 these days, it might have had to compete with its kin as well. For the price and the longer battery operating life, this will definitely be tempting to some.

I doubt few people will have any regrets picking up this radio. It's everything we've come to love about the RELM with a few new twists to help it weather the receiver market for a few more years.

So the question won't be whether or not to get one, but in what color? Go with the tried and true, but boring black or do you dare spice up the collection with a little color? Personally, I think the red will make a fine addition to the collection in my shack.

Q & A With Bruce Silver
It seems the color 'snafu' was detected immediately and RELM offered to take the radios back and rework them. Bruce decided it wasn't worth the effort and I'll agree. It makes an already unique radio even more so.

Bruce did understand my concerns with the gray lettering and said he would take it up with RELM to see if future units could be changed to use black instead.

Racing Electronics and Frequency Fan Club will be the only dealers to carry these radios initially. Bruce did mention that he was trying to contact some west coast dealers for further exposure but there are no more details at this time.

Bruce said the cloning kits will sell for $10. If both a cloning kit and computer interface are purchased together, the price will be $34.

Bruce mentioned that this radio wasn't furnished with a stubby race antenna since the use of PL tones by the teams keep out unwanted communications from outside the race environment, and the supplied 6" antenna will allow the radio to be used as a public safety/weather scanner when not at the races.

Thanks
My thanks first go to Bruce Silver, president of Racing Electronics, for his help in providing a radio to be reviewed as well the time he spent on the phone with me to help answer my questions. From talking to him as well as some of his customers, I'll just say they are a quality business that cares about their customers. They've also done a great service to help introduce to the hobby a radio which will 'fit the bill' for a number of users; not just the racing fans for which it was intended.

Next, I would like to thank Dave Raley of Frequency Fan Club for his comments and insight while on a conference call which Jeff Goldman set up. Dave, and his father Mike, should be proud of this fine radio they have helped to introduce.

And last, but not least (sort of), I would like to thank Jeff Goldman for his efforts in bringing this radio to our attention and his nagging, pain in the backside comments after reading a first pass of this review. One might think he was my editor...he certainly seems to think so!

August 31, 1998

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Copyright © 2010 by Richard J. Wells