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GRE PSR-800 · Volume 3

GRE PSR-800 — Vol 3: Programming

P25 EZ Scan handheld with the RadioReference library on microSD (2011)

3.1 About this volume

This volume covers the PC side of the PSR-800: GRE’s PC application, getting its unsigned USB driver onto current Windows, how the radio presents itself over USB, the layout and formatting of the microSD card, backing the card up, recovering a corrupted card, and the state of RadioReference Library updates today. Operating the radio from its keypad is in Vol 2. Firmware updates, the Whistler Official Upgrade and the community firmware tool are in Vol 5.

The short version for a prospective owner: the PSR-800 has exactly one programming application, GRE’s own, and GRE no longer exists to run its servers. The radio still programs from the Library already on its card. Keeping that Library current, or rebuilding a card from nothing, is where the difficulties are. The single most valuable habit with this radio is a complete copy of a working card.

3.2 The PSR-800 PC Application (EZ Scan)

GRE shipped the software on the CD in the box under the name PSR-800 EZ Scan-SD Digital Handheld Trunking Scanner PC Application. Owners and later documentation call it EZ Scan or EZScanDG. The installer puts the application in the chosen folder and the Library database in EZScan\DB under the user’s My Documents folder, wherever the application itself goes. It does the following:

  • edits the radio’s programming and adds custom objects (conventional channels and talkgroups not in the Library);
  • names and configures Scanlists and Scan Sets, and changes settings;
  • creates, manages and copies V-Scanner II configurations — the only place V-Scanner folders can be created or deleted;
  • backs up configurations;
  • formats cards correctly (“Prepare Scanner Memory/SD Card For Use”);
  • checks for Library updates and CPU/DSP firmware updates (Vol 5);
  • sets the radio’s clock over USB and can reset the power-on password;
  • plays and manages recordings copied from the card.

GRE’s manual notes that the radio is fully functional without the application, but “strongly” recommends installing it to back up stored configurations. Detailed documentation lives in the application’s Help system rather than the owner’s manual.

Versions. The GRE installer in circulation is EZScanDGInstall_v1.08. It updated itself in-app to 1.9 Build 301, the last GRE build cited in the RadioReference installation guide. GRE’s January 2013 firmware U1.8 was released alongside application 1.08 build 286, which added an audio tab for recordings; that detail comes from forum reports. GRE listed Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7 as supported.

Where to get it. GRE’s website is gone. The RadioReference forums point to an Internet Archive copy of the v1.08 installer from greamerica.com; that copy was not verified for this volume. Whistler’s current downloads page, now run by Goliad Products, lists EZ Scan only for the WS1080. That package is the right one for a PSR-800 that has had the Whistler Official Upgrade, which turns it into a WS1080 (Vol 5). It is not documented for an unupgraded PSR-800.

3.3 Installing on Windows 10 and 11

The application runs on current Windows, but the radio’s USB serial driver is unsigned, and Windows 10 will not load it without a one-time override. The RadioReference wiki’s procedure:

  1. Uninstall any old copy of EZ Scan, rename its folder under My Documents, and reboot.
  2. Unzip EZScanDGInstall_v1.08.
  3. Disable driver signature enforcement for one boot. Shift+Restart, or run shutdown.exe /r /o /f /t 00, then Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart, and press 7 (F7).
  4. Install EZ Scan and let it update to 1.9 Build 301.
  5. Connect the radio, powered off, and let Windows install its default driver. The card appears in File Explorer.
  6. In Device Manager, open the scanner’s USB communications port → Update driver → Browse my computer → Let me pick → GRECOM PSR-800 Serial Device. The file is C:\Windows\Inf\GRECOM_PSR-800.inf. Accept the unsigned-driver warning.
  7. Repeat step 6 for every physical USB port the radio will ever be plugged into. Windows binds the driver per port.
  8. Confirm the device under Ports (COM & LPT).

Whistler’s FAQ gives the same unsigned-driver steps for its models. Its EZ Scan FAQ adds two points. First, install and update the application before first connecting the radio, or Windows may bind the wrong driver. Second, if the link will not come up, connect the cable while holding MENU. That combination also puts the radio into CPU update mode, so treat it as a recovery step rather than a routine one (Vol 5). No PSR-800-specific Windows 11 report was found; the same procedure is expected to apply.

A radio upgraded by Whistler is a WS1080 to the PC. After the Whistler Official Upgrade it needs the WS1080 driver and the WS1080 EZ Scan. A June 2026 forum report describes a freshly upgraded PSR-800 showing “no removable drives found” in GRE’s software until WS1080 EZ Scan was used.

3.4 Connecting the radio

The USB port on the side, under a snap cover, is a composite device. It has two halves:

  • USB Mass Storage exposes the microSD card as a drive.
  • A serial (CDC) port carries clock setting, firmware transfer, and the ASCII control-channel dump described in Vol 2.

The same jack is the radio’s external power input (Vol 1).

Card access needs the radio powered off. Uniden’s SD scanners work the other way round. When the PSR-800 is on, it takes sole access to its card, and computer access is disabled to prevent corruption. Error 03-07 (“mass storage mode is active”) appears when the two collide. The routine is:

  1. Turn the radio off from the front panel.
  2. Connect the USB cable; the card mounts.
  3. Work in the application, or copy files.
  4. Eject the drive in Windows before unplugging.
  5. Unplug, then power on.

GRE also notes that a microSD reader transfers faster than the radio’s own USB link. With the card out of the radio, a reader is the preferred way to do Library copies and backups.

3.5 Editing in the application

The application edits the same model the radio uses: objects mapped to Scanlists, Scanlists grouped into Scan Sets, and whole configurations stored as V-Scanner II folders (Vol 2). Typical PC-side jobs:

  • Custom objects. A conventional frequency or a trunked talkgroup that is missing from the Library, or that has changed since the card’s Library snapshot, is added by hand. It is then mapped to Scanlists like any imported object.
  • Bulk naming. Scanlist and Scan Set names are far quicker to type on a keyboard than to scroll in with arrow keys.
  • V-Scanner II. Build separate configurations for home, travel or a special event. Copy them to the card’s CDAT_VS.001–200 folders, then switch between them from the keypad in the field.
  • Settings and clock. The application exposes the same settings as the radio’s menus and sets its clock over USB.

Changes made in the application have to reach the card before the radio sees them. Whistler’s FAQ for the later WS1080 EZ Scan names a “Copy Configuration to the Scanner/SD card” step that owners often forget. The 2011 GRE manual defers detailed application instructions to the Help system, so exact GRE menu names beyond those quoted here are not documented in this volume.

3.6 The microSD card

GRE shipped a 2 GB card, pre-formatted and installed, under the battery door (Vol 1). Its layout, per the manual:

Table 1 — GRE shipped a 2 GB card, pre-formatted and installed, under the battery door ([Vol 1](/gre-psr800/vol-1/)). Its layout, per the manual

Folder or fileContents
BTMP, MTMP, STMPTemporary working files
CDATThe current programming
CDAT_VS.nnnV-Scanner II configuration nnn (001–200)
DBThe Library (RadioReference data)
CURVS.DATConfiguration information
CONFIG__.BINConfiguration information
RECAudio recordings (.AU)

GRE warns against changing any of these outside the radio or the application.

Formatting rules.

  • The shipped card uses plain FAT (not FAT32) with 32 kB clusters and the volume name EZSCAN.
  • Any card of 2 GB or less must be FAT with 32 kB clusters.
  • Any card larger than 2 GB must be FAT32 with 32 kB clusters. Other formats can make the radio malfunction; error 03-02 is “cluster size bad”.
  • Wherever possible, format with the application’s Scanner/SD Card → Prepare Scanner Memory/SD Card For Use, which applies the right parameters every time.

Card compatibility. Forum reports describe some cards refusing to initialize with Error 03-01 (“general error initializing file system”). Dane-Elec cards and some high-endurance cards are named, while SanDisk, PNY and Class 4 2 GB cards are reported to work. These are owner reports, not a tested list. The RadioReference wiki’s general SD guidance adds that very large cards slow the scanner’s start-up, because free space is counted at boot, and can meet FAT file-count limits. A card near the shipped 2 GB size is the conservative choice.

3.7 Backups

GRE’s manual suggests copying the CDAT folder to a computer as a backup. Copy the entire card instead: every folder and file, including DB, all CDAT_VS.* folders, CURVS.DAT and CONFIG__.BIN. Do it with the radio off over USB, or with the card in a reader, and keep the copy somewhere other than the PC’s working folder.

The whole-card copy matters more for this radio than for almost any other scanner:

  • There is no official card image. Neither GRE, Whistler nor Goliad publishes a downloadable image of a PSR-800 card.
  • GRE’s update servers are gone. GRE’s own application can no longer download a Library, so a blank card on an unupgraded radio has no official source of Library data (see “Keeping the Library current today” below).
  • The card is the radio’s memory. Programming, every V-Scanner configuration, and the Library all live on it. A failed card takes all of it at once.

A backup copy of a working card preserves a known-good Library snapshot and the full configuration together. GRE also suggests owning more than one card, formatted for the radio, holding different configurations or backups.

The RadioReference data in the Library is licensed for personal use with the radio and its software only. GRE’s license terms forbid copying it to third parties or posting it. A backup is for the owner’s own radio, not for sharing.

GRE documents only one restore path: prepare the card in the application, then reload the Library and configuration from it. GRE does not document copying a saved image back onto a correctly formatted card, although that is what the whole-card copy makes possible.

3.8 Recovering a corrupted card

Symptoms include “Init SD Card” at power-on, the 03-xx card errors, and 05-00 to 05-03 (CONFIG__.BIN cannot be loaded). The full error table is in Vol 4. GRE’s recovery sequence:

  1. Power off and reseat the card until it clicks. Many 03-xx errors are only a card that is not fully inserted.
  2. With the radio off and connected, or with the card in a reader, run Prepare Scanner Memory/SD Card For Use in the application.
  3. Reload the Library and the configuration from the application, or copy back from a whole-card backup.
  4. If the error persists, replace the card, then prepare and load the new one.

For 02-00 / 02-01 (unknown object or trunked-system type in the data), GRE’s remedy is to delete the corrupt objects in the application or create a new configuration.

Step 3 is the catch on an unupgraded radio with no backup: the application has no working source of Library data. Prevention matters more than recovery:

  • Power off from the front panel before connecting or disconnecting external power, and before opening the battery door.
  • Let the low-battery shutdown happen rather than pulling cells from a running radio.
  • Never interrupt Update from Library (Vol 2).
  • Always eject the drive in Windows before unplugging.

3.9 Keeping the Library current today

The Library on the card is a snapshot of the RadioReference database, and it ages as radio systems change. How it can be refreshed has shifted repeatedly:

Table 2 — The Library on the card is a snapshot of the RadioReference database, and it ages as radio systems change. How it can be refreshed has shifted repeatedly

PeriodLibrary update source
2011–2012GRE’s application downloads Library updates (“Check for Library Update”)
After GRE’s 2012 shutdownGRE’s servers eventually go dark. GRE EZ Scan no longer reaches anything, for Library or firmware.
Whistler era (2014–2024)Whistler’s EZ Scan updates Whistler models, historically weekly. PSR-800 units that received the Whistler Official Upgrade update as WS1080s.
November 2024Whistler closes. Library updates stop at version 894.
2025-03-06Goliad Products, the new owner of Whistler’s assets, states that EZ-Scan updates are available again. An owner confirms working Library updates on 2025-07-16.
2026EZ-Scan 3.47 (April) and 3.48 (August) released for the TRX line; the WS1080 software is confirmed still working. A one-day update-server outage on 2026-06-23/24 was followed by a reported server upgrade. A widely repeated claim that RadioReference data had gone away again could not be traced to any post.

Library updates cannot be relied on for this radio. For an unupgraded PSR-800 the position is clearer still: GRE’s application has no update source at all. Forum moderators have described two workarounds, neither documented by any manufacturer and neither verified here: copying Whistler Library files into GRE EZ Scan’s folder, and using WS1080 EZ Scan to refresh a PSR-800 card. The RadioReference license terms above also apply to any such copying. The update service’s history from the Whistler side is in Whistler WS1080 / WS1088 — Vol 2.

The practical approach for an owner:

  • Treat the on-card Library as a dated snapshot.
  • Check the systems that matter against the live RadioReference website.
  • Enter changed or missing frequencies and talkgroups as custom objects in the application.
  • If current Library data matters, weigh the Whistler Official Upgrade, whose availability in 2026 is itself uncertain (Vol 5).

3.10 Third-party software

No third-party program replaces EZ Scan for programming the PSR-800. A RadioReference moderator put it bluntly in 2024: there is no paid programming software for the radio, “only EZ Scan”. Several names that turn up in searches do not program it:

  • Butel ARC800 is for Uniden’s UBC800XLT, not the PSR-800. Butel’s GRE product, ARC500, covers the older PSR-500/600.
  • Win500 is also a PSR-500/600 program.
  • ProScan lists the PSR800 and WS1080 only among the scanners whose streaming text tags its free RadioFeed utility can read. It is not a programming or control package for them, despite search-engine summaries that say otherwise.
  • GREFwTool is a GPL-3.0 community tool for firmware only: updating, downgrading and cross-model firmware on the PSR-800 family, with real risks. It is covered in Vol 5.

What the radio does work with, outside EZ Scan, is decoding software fed from its discriminator output: Unitrunker, Trunk88 and Treport, as GRE’s manual names them. Control-channel data is also streamed as ASCII over USB when PC/IF CCDump is enabled (Vol 2).

3.11 Downloads and manuals

Table 3 — Downloads and manuals

DocumentCovers
GRE PSR-800 Owner’s Manual2011 edition as filed with the FCC: PC application install, microSD card layout and formatting, troubleshooting and error codes

All PSR-800 documents in one list: Reference Library — GRE PSR-800.

Software and pages

Sources

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