Specifications

The PSR410 is in a case very similar to the PSR600, same size, layout etc, but with a darker faceplate color. Where the
PSR600 and the older PSR400 were a sort of silvery tan color, the PSR410 is a darker black color. The PSR410 display is all
new, slightly larger than prior GRE scanners with more dots and an easier to read (due to better contrast) white backlight.
The PSR410 shares the DIN case style as other GRE mobiles, including the PSR600 and PSR400, but does not include the
DIN mounting sleeve. These can be obtained from other sources, if you have one from a PSR600 it will work with the 410.
The speaker on the PSr410 remains on the bottom of the case and the rear panel layout is unchanged from prior models. The
rear panel has a power jack, external speaker jack and the BNC antenna connector. The power connector remains the same
GRE style connector as in the past.
The front panel of the PSR410 is very similar in appearance to the PSR600, with the basic layout and buttons the same. The
volume and squelch controls are on the upper right above the PC-IF and earphone jacks. There are separate volume and
squelch controls in a concentric pattern. This is more conventional and user-friendly than some of the scanners from Uniden
which combine multiple functions in one knob. Just to the left is the number keys, then the operations keys and finally the
multi-direction panel switch called the “5-Way Pad”. The display is the the far left, above the 3 soft function keys common to
the GRE/RS OOUI scanners.
While older GRE built radios (such as the PRO96) could use RS232 cables, the 310 and 410 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-310 available through
Scanner Master.
Before trying to connect the radio to the computer remember to install the drivers for the USB cable on your computer. After
you install the drivers and plug in the cable the computer will assign a Com Port and you will need that to enter into your
programming software so that it can find your radio. Some software packages, such as ARC310, will look for a radio and
assign the proper Com Port if you don’t already know it.
On the rear of the radio is 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.
Comparison to other radios
You can’t talk about this radio without discussing the competition from Uniden Bearcat. The Uniden BCT15X is the direct
competition to the PSR410. Many of the comparisons are pretty much the same amongst all of the GRE and Uniden scanners.
See the Comparison Section later in this article for more on how the PSR410 compares with the Uniden BCT15X.
How many Channels?
The first question many people ask about a scanner is: How many channels can you program? The answer with the PSR410 is
“Well, it depends.” Depends on what? Well, it depends on how you define channels and how you program your radio. The
PSR-410 uses GRE’s Object Oriented User Interface (OOUI) programming method. While older radios use defined channels
and banks, GRE’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. The type of object you program and how you use Text labels, and other parameters can affect this number. If you want
to see how much memory you have used or have left you can press “0” twice during the start-up screen.
Using the OOUI
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