HP-2: Considering Home Patrol 2

But I don't know if it will ever have DMR or ProVoice capability. Any word whether this will be a future upgrade to the HP 2 or will this feature be reserved for a future HP 3?

I prefer the format/user interface of the HP 1 and 2 series.

NeedtoKnow2 said:

But I don't know if it will ever have DMR or ProVoice capability. Any word whether this will be a future upgrade to the HP 2 or will this feature be reserved for a future HP 3?

I prefer the format/user interface of the HP 1 and 2 series.

Click to expand...

Uniden has not released any information regarding this question.
Anyone who knows, is not saying anything.

Since Uniden has already announced these upgrades for their x36 radios, and then the XT based phase 2 radios, and left the HP2 alone, I doubt it will ever get such an upgrade.

However, nobody knows what Uniden knows and Uniden does not pre-announce what they are doing. Bottom line... nobody can answer your question.

For my 2 cents, I own an HP1 and two HP2 radios. Have both x36 radios and most of the others too, but never bought Provoice or DMR upgrades for any of them.

My impression from the forums is that even though the Uniden DMR version is more functional than Whistler, it's not a particularly good process.

For my money, the Extreme Upgrade for the HP1 and HP2 are much more useful and robust. Has features that visually and in some other ways outperform the x36 radios.

The best display in the business, and very easy to read while mobile. GPS capability also excellent for mobile use.

The HP2 has the same digital decoding hardware as the x36 radios. On some systems it decodes voice better than the x36 radios.

With or without DMR or Provoice, both of which have very few applications where I live, with very few things I would be interested in scanning, the HP2 is a very solid radio.

536/436/ws1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others

This from the Uniden website this evening, referring to the DMR upgrades available on a couple of their scanners:

"Following is a compilation of common questions/answers from the various forums:

Q:Will my scanner that is not a BCD436HP or BCD536HP get the upgrade?
A: We will be adding support for some additional models. Watch for an announcement."

The above excerpt is from this Uniden web page - scroll down for FAQs: DigitalMobileRadioUpgrade < UnidenMan4 < TWiki


That FAQ could have been posted a year ago for all I know.

NeedtoKnow2 said:

This from the Uniden website this evening, referring to the DMR upgrades available on BCD996P2 and BCD325P2 scanners:

"Following is a compilation of common questions/answers from the various forums:

Q:Will my scanner that is not a BCD436HP or BCD536HP get the upgrade?
A: We will be adding support for some additional models. Watch for an announcement."

The above excerpt is from this Uniden web page - scroll down for FAQs: DigitalMobileRadioUpgrade < UnidenMan4 < TWiki


That FAQ could have been posted a year ago for all I know.

Click to expand...

That's an older post. Since then, Uniden released the DMR and ProVoice upgrades for the BCD325P2 and BCD996P2 scanners.

While we've seen comments before that the HP-2 uses the same digital decoder as the 436HP and 536HP, no idea if the HP-2 has all of the other pieces (if any are needed) to allow for a DMR/ProVoice upgrade. Also no idea if the non-availability (currently) of these upgrades now (for the HP series) is because the internal hardware is lacking something, or if it is a marketing decision, to restrict the upgrade options to the 'flagship' scanners. Personally, I'd like to see the DMR become available, but nobody except Uniden knows if that is planned, or even possible.

I have the HP-2 mounted in my car. I mounted it on the headliner just above and slightly to the rear of the rear view mirror. No need for an external speaker since the built in speaker is relatively close to my ear at that level. P25 reception varies greatly depending on what talkgroups are coming through and of course vehicle motion. All in all I am happy with it. The display is easy to read and the ease of just tapping the screen to scroll through menu options along with the gps capability make it a very nice addition to my car. I also have a BCT-15X installed with the RH-96 remote head.

I did quite a bit of traveling this summer. From NYC down to D.C. a couple of times, another trip to Atlantic City and my most recent trip to Lancaster County PA. I used the gps cable on the first trip to D.C. but then decided to program the systems I wanted to hear (mainly highway/state police while traveling) and the local D.C. area frequencies for when I was in the hotel and driving around locally. I was very happy with the results.

I have the NJSP system programmed for my trips down the Garden State Pky to A.C. and programmed Atlantic City frequencies for my stay there. Again, I was very happy with the results.

Did the same for my trip to Lancaster PA. Programmed the state police for the highway ride (although I didn't hear much traffic on that system) and programmed another scan list for the Lancaster county freqs. Once again, the results were good.

I am also very happy with my Uniden 536hp at home next to my bed hooked up to a rooftop antenna, but I won't compare signal strength and sensitivity to the HP-2 due to it being stationary and working off a rooftop antenna.

I also have a Uniden 436hp which is a very good radio, however I purchased the DMR upgrade and mostly receive choppy reception on the systems I listen to. So I'm not impressed with the upgrade.

I use the mounting bracket that scanner master and Uniden sell for the HP-2 and mounted it (with 2 screws) directly into the headliner. I know some of you are saying "screws? In the headliner?" It was quick and holds sturdy as long as you don't pull on it and constantly knock into, so as to loosen the screws. I can just pop out the radio from it's bracket when I want to remove it from the car. Another plus to mounting in on the headliner is that it is pretty much out of sight. When a thief looks into a car to see if it is "worth" breaking in to, they usually do not look all the way up on the headliner.

I have the 436,the 536, and the HP 2.

If I had to chose one, it would definitely be the "HP 2".

bee said:

I have the 436,the 536, and the HP 2.

If I had to chose one, it would definitely be the "HP 2".

Click to expand...

I have those and others. I bought a couple HP2 radios and looking at a 3rd. Both in vehicles with gps.

I use local favorites lists for regular local driving.

When traveling regular areas, I have favorites lists with location control on, so systems automatically flip among those in the lists as gps dictates.

When traveling unfamiliar areas, use the database on gps.

Great radio.

536/436/ws1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others

Sold my 436 for a hp2 (with gps), never looked back. In fact bought a second hp2 for the house.

I find the color touch screen easier to use and see compared to the 436.

I have a favorites list for my county, use full db and GPS for everything else. Usually just the police service types enabled.

Of all the scanners I own, if I only had one to keep it would be the HP2.

Mark
536/436/ws1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others

Agreed

I had a high end hand me down scanner 15 years ago. Never got it programmed. I just got my HP-2, up and running in 5 minutes and love it.

I to use a HP2 as a Molble set up, works great, like it better than the 536.

my only gripe with the HP2 is the favorite list is deep in the menu.

(distraction driving) sure wish Uniden would put the Favorite list tab button on the main screen on the future HP3.

I thought Uniden had a beta firmware floating around for the Hp2.
I had the Hp1 and it was a fun radio!
ARC XT helps you program it alot easier.

Not aware of any firmware update, beta or otherwise, for the hp2.

There was an HP1 firmware update floating around for over a year that they finally finalized into Sentinel earlier this year.
I think it was 2.05 to 2.06?

Mark
536/436/ws1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others

So I guess I will have to go with the 536hp, since the local school district has went to DMR, I love my HP1 and was going consider a HP2 if it had the option of DMR. some of the whistler's scanners includes DMR and Uniden do not, Bummer!!