Home Patrol problems

I have just purchased a new Uniden Home Patrol 1. I am a retired radio operator from the Missouri State Highway Patrol. I have knowledge of radios. I opened the box…did everything to the letter! Obtained and added Sentinel software. Did the zip code thing. Loaded Arkansas, Kentucky, and Illinois freq’s, plus Nationwide freq’s. I live in southeast Missouri. I’m 3 miles from the nears 150 watt radio transmitter. The only (2) freqs I have been able to hear is..My old department MSHP..and Obion Tennessee which is a good 60 mile s as the bird flys. WHY….am I not receiving???????? The freq’s are in the data base I assume on the SD chip. I have reset (4) times….checked all over the internet and still no transmissions! I am a preium subscriber to Radio Reference. Please any help!!!! Bout to box this thing up and send it back. $506.00 for nothing so far!

Ok, help us out here though. You said you can receive MSHP and Obion, but then you say your not receiving...

What are you trying to hear that your not hearing??

Hi CashMan

I might suggest posting your question on the Missouri forum there are a lot of people from your area that may be very helpful. I can't help on the home patrol good luck.

Please confirm the version of the database in the scanner by:

MENU --> ADVANCED MENU --> Version Information

try updating the database card

make sure you have the apropriate services you want to listen to selected. Sounds like the same thing that happened to me when i first got the HP. I had the channels I wanted to listen to but they would scan becaues I didnt select the EMS services

Thanks everyone. If anyone is interested, the new towers for Missouri State Highway Patrol will be in Poplar Bluff, Bloomfield, and Sikeston. Its a pattern aling Highway 60. Footings have been poured, but with all the flooding, tornadoes, etc, its being delayed. Reference the new trunking system.

Check these things:

Look at the Attenuation Display on the top line, Does it have a RED Dot next to it?, if it does, press the Atten and turn it off.

Press Range, press the + button to display Range 30.0 miles

It they are OK, take out the batterys and press the RESET button , put the batterys back and try again.

Good Luck

Hp

GOD im so happy i didnt but that unit,seems eveyone has problems with this thing at some point...Ill program my own thank you ,no issues with my BCD396XT

DannB said:

GOD im so happy i didnt but [buy?] that unit,seems eveyone has problems with this thing at some point...Ill program my own thank you ,no issues with my BCD396XT

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DannB: You have to remember that to paraphrase Paul (Upman): the target audience for this radio is the newer hobbiest that may not want to learn how to program his radio, not the advanced users who own and buy the x96T and XT radios.

No offense to Cashman, but the majority of problems that I am seeing in these various HP-1 threads are due to user error or not fully reading the instructions.

I own 2- 396T and 2- 996T radios and chose to spend my money on an HP-1 instead of an XT model, more out of curiosity than laziness. While I waited for delivery, I downloaded both user guides (full and quick start) and read them. There was a lot I didn't understand until I got "hands-on" but I have not had any problems with the radio that were not my own fault (missing service selection, accidental attenuation).

True, there have been some returns for factory problems, but those are addressed reasonably quickly by Uniden, and even automation is not perfect 100% of the time.

I am now listening to agencies that I have never taken time to program because I thought they would be boring but find they are anything but. My biggest problem in the radio saturated Metro DC area is "avoiding" so many channels and agencies that the radio automatically selects per my settings.

My next radio will probably be a 396XT when I can afford it, but I have nothing but praise for the HP-1.

Now if they would only address the TDMA thing I could listen to PG County police & fire again! (Sorry, Paul, had to poke just one more time!)

Hp-1

If you are using the antenna it came with,theres your problem!
Get a base antenna and hook it up with the Hp-1,make sure the attenuator is off.
Mine works just as good as my 996XT and I bought it used.
Make sure the city or town is showing up on the display for one thing,you wont pick up what you cant see,
Also make sure the SERVICES are set to ON.
Too many services and you may just be missing action due to a list thats TOO LONG.
Any scanner is going to suck if its not setup right.

Last resort,lock everything out and add stuff in one at a time.
I live in CLIFTON,nj and the thing didnt get F-1 POLICE DISPATCH ,can you guess why?
DISPATCH was set to OFF.by default......
Is that silly or what?
ARC patrol,by BUTEL is great for using the database so you can program HP-1 with the radioreference service.

I got the HP as soon as I could get one, and to this day, it has never given me a bit of problems. Recommended one to a buddy, a fellow ham, and long time scannerist. He turned his on, hooked it up to an outside antenna and has never given him a lick of trouble. Recommended the HP to another buddy, who pulled the 996XT out of the company vehicle, because he could never understand how to program it, or for that matter how to really operate it. He is NOT a long time scannerist...his HP has never had a problem either. He says he sits and watches it work, and is amazed at the things he is hearing that he never dreamed could be monitored. He is enroute home at the end of a 1200 mile trip and says even his wife has enjoyed having it in the car. They do not ALL have problems, and often it is operator error, and if you have coin, it is a dang good radio....BTW, I do have his old 996XT and it works fine for me, as well as a couple of 780XLT's and a few others.

The home patrol is one of the biggest failures in modern history. It is right up there with Betamax. But of course Uniden will not admit that they screwed up and came up with a piece of junk. They will just walk around with their tails between their legs and pretend that all is fine.

I think that you just have to see the huge number of returned HP units to show that it is a big failure and maybe it is time Uniden cut their losses and removed it from the market before more people get suckered into buying them.

edmscan said:

The home patrol is one of the biggest failures in modern history. It is right up there with Betamax. But of course Uniden will not admit that they screwed up and came up with a piece of junk. They will just walk around with their tails between their legs and pretend that all is fine.

I think that you just have to see the huge number of returned HP units to show that it is a big failure and maybe it is time Uniden cut their losses and removed it from the market before more people get suckered into buying them.

Click to expand...

WOW! Glad to know that you don't have much of an opinion about this radio.

To be entirely fair, I own one. While not the "end all be all" "perfect scanner" I have very few complaints and find it out receives my 396T & 396XT.

I'm very glad we don't bash things or people at this forum.


MM

911scanner said:

WOW! Glad to know that you don't have much of an opinion about this radio.

To be entirely fair, I own one. While not the "end all be all" "perfect scanner" I have very few complaints and find it out receives my 396T & 396XT.

I'm very glad we don't bash things or people at this forum.


MM

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And after working in retail electronics for 15 years, knowing that 2% of all electronic products do not work out of the box, I learned another very important point in my experience.

75% of the problems are OE, plain and simple. Sometimes things don't work, but most of the time you just have to be smarter than the product you are using.... or at least be able to RTFM.

MM

While I have seen and had some issues with the HP-1, it works pretty well for "One of the biggest failures in modern history". A whole lot better than a couple of previous scanners I've had, including such duds as the Regency HX-2000, and the worst scanner I ever had, the Bearcat BC-8500XLT.

I too purchasedthe HP-1 and I have had scanners for as long as I can remember. While not perfect for me, it has never had an issue. Works just fine and is great mobile when connected to a GPS Puck. If they would update the firmware so I could set a Priority channel and adjust the delay it would be perfect for me!!

I have my HP-1 connected to an outside Discone antenna mounted on my HAM Radio Antenna Tower, I am recieving stations from 125 miles away crisp and clear. I have/had several scanners over the years and the HP-1 is a good scanner. I have even mounted the HP-1 in my Aircraft and used it for a backup reciever on the airbands, works great in the air also. As previously stated , most people do not read the instructions when they first get the HP-1. They just open the box, turn it on, put in the local zip code/city and listen. This forum is a wealth of knowledge. If the HP-1 is not doing what it is designed to do, look here after reading the intructions, most likely someone else has had the same problem already and the answer is here.

I can say this for sure

If you can't make the HomePatrol-1 work you should not have a scanner at all for this is the simplest scanner ever made for the dumbest person in the world to use all you need to know is your zip code and then listen.

Now I do admit you can read and make it even better, but for the dumb people like I said zip code thats it. Don't read and mess it up then blame the HomePatrol for your brain freeze because most problems are the OPERATOR not the product.

All kidding aside when I got my HomePatrol I was so amazed that the product worked as well as was advertised It's only people that don't listen that seem to have troubles and the people that had trouble that understand scanners listen and fix very fast if they do have a problem.

One thing that really got me was the atten on and off because im like what are you all looking at theres a red light right next to the atten its on or off but you say you need to put a big red light on the HP-1.

Everytime I update my HP1 it does nothing but get better. I actualy have to avoid so much so I can hear what I want to hear.

And for the guys or gals that use the GPS you ask can I turn the miles up to 30 well I ask you 1 ? why would you want to do that when you GPS you want where you are going not where you been very smart product let it do it's job don't tell it what to do.

"Biggest failure in modern history." Sheesh, mine has been flawless since I got it last October. I like it.