Radio enthusiasts in Hilo

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bcd396t_honolulu
I'm in the mainland right now but will be back in Hilo for thanks giving. Looking for others interested in 2meter/70cm ham, CB, and scanning. I've only lived on the big island since September 2017.

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PACNWDude

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I used to work for a company that had a fleet of vessels in Hilo for oil spill response.
You may hear them on 454 and 159 MHz from time to time. They are always glad to get a radio check from anybody in the area as long as you are not interfering with them.
It was always hard to get realistic tests in the area without having someone drive a few miles away with a handheld to be the distant end.
 

northzone

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If you want to listen to police & fire you will need a radio that does P25 Phase 2. I would recommend the Uniden BCD325P2. Great little portable and works good on the Hawaii county system.
 
Joined
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bcd396t_honolulu
If you want to listen to police & fire you will need a radio that does P25 Phase 2. I would recommend the Uniden BCD325P2. Great little portable and works good on the Hawaii county system.
Thanks. I have the BCD396XT which is only phase 1. Sucks that I have to upgrade. Blame progress I guess.

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DeDawg

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Kona, HI
If you want to listen to police & fire you will need a radio that does P25 Phase 2. I would recommend the Uniden BCD325P2. Great little portable and works good on the Hawaii county system.
I second the 325. Mine worked from the first day, unlike other Uniden stuff that needed multiple firmware updates to work.

The digtal audio quality is still wretched, but it seems that is the nature of the beast with digital P2.

The little 325 sounds better than my desktop. Do get bogus close call hits from FM broadcast crap...........
 

ccs247

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San Luis Obispo, CA / Hilo, HI
In the Hilo area, the Uniden BCD325P2 and Whistler TRX-1 both miss most of the traffic. I have one 325P2 monitoring the Hilo site and one monitoring the Kulani site. Regardless of whether they are in ID scan or ID search, they miss most of the traffic. I also have three BCD436HPs where one monitors the Hilo site for police traffic, the second monitors the Kulani site for Puna police traffic, and the third monitors the Laupahoehoe and Kulani sites for fire traffic from the Hamakua, Hilo, Puna and Ka'u districts. The third BCD436HP also listens for Hamakua and Ka'u police traffic. Often, the 325P2 will display a talk group ID, but no audio or keep on scanning while the 436HP will lock onto the same talk group and output solid audio. The Hilo and Kulani sites carry traffic from both Hilo and Puna and are very active. This makes it easy to determine what the 325P2 is missing.

The 325P2 control channel output displayed by pro96com also shows missing active talk groups when compared simultaneously with SDR output from DSDPlus and Unitrunker.
 
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Joined
Nov 5, 2010
Messages
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Location
bcd396t_honolulu
In the Hilo area, the Uniden BCD325P2 and Whistler TRX-1 both miss most of the traffic. I have one 325P2 monitoring the Hilo site and one monitoring the Kulani site. Regardless of whether they are in ID scan or ID search, they miss most of the traffic. I also have three BCD436HPs where one monitors the Hilo site for police traffic, the second monitors the Kulani site for Puna police traffic, and the third monitors the Laupahoehoe and Kulani sites for fire traffic from the Hamakua, Hilo, Puna and Ka'u districts. The third BCD436HP also listens for Hamakua and Ka'u police traffic. Often, the 325P2 will display a talk group ID, but no audio or keep on scanning while the 436HP will lock onto the same talk group and output solid audio. The Hilo and Kulani sites carry traffic from both Hilo and Puna and are very active. This makes it easy to determine what the 325P2 is missing.

The 325P2 control channel output displayed by pro96com also shows missing active talk groups when compared simultaneously with SDR output from DSDPlus and Unitrunker.
So am I better off with a discriminator tap and USB dongle?

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scan18

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Dec 23, 2004
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Honoka'a, HI
In the Hilo area, the Uniden BCD325P2 and Whistler TRX-1 both miss most of the traffic. I have one 325P2 monitoring the Hilo site and one monitoring the Kulani site. Regardless of whether they are in ID scan or ID search, they miss most of the traffic. I also have three BCD436HPs where one monitors the Hilo site for police traffic, the second monitors the Kulani site for Puna police traffic, and the third monitors the Laupahoehoe and Kulani sites for fire traffic from the Hamakua, Hilo, Puna and Ka'u districts. The third BCD436HP also listens for Hamakua and Ka'u police traffic. Often, the 325P2 will display a talk group ID, but no audio or keep on scanning while the 436HP will lock onto the same talk group and output solid audio. The Hilo and Kulani sites carry traffic from both Hilo and Puna and are very active. This makes it easy to determine what the 325P2 is missing.

The 325P2 control channel output displayed by pro96com also shows missing active talk groups when compared simultaneously with SDR output from DSDPlus and Unitrunker.



It’s strange you are missing so much activity with the 325P2. My 996P2 (identical firmware I assume) has been pretty much flawless, especially since the latest firmware upgrade earlier this year. I monitor the CC activity using a Pro6052 and pro96com, and I don’t think I’ve seen any missed activity on the 996P2 in quite a while.

Of course, I’m monitoring only the Honokaa site which has far less activity than what you are seeing. Unfortunately, I am so close to the site that it kills any chance I have of picking up any other site.

I was thinking about getting a 325P2 at some point since my 996P2 seemed to be doing such a great job. But for portable use, I’ve been sticking with my Whistler 1080 (an upgraded RS pro668) which does NOT do quite as well on the Honokaa site.
 

northzone

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It’s strange you are missing so much activity with the 325P2. My 996P2 (identical firmware I assume) has been pretty much flawless, especially since the latest firmware upgrade earlier this year. I monitor the CC activity using a Pro6052 and pro96com, and I don’t think I’ve seen any missed activity on the 996P2 in quite a while.

Of course, I’m monitoring only the Honokaa site which has far less activity than what you are seeing. Unfortunately, I am so close to the site that it kills any chance I have of picking up any other site.

I was thinking about getting a 325P2 at some point since my 996P2 seemed to be doing such a great job. But for portable use, I’ve been sticking with my Whistler 1080 (an upgraded RS pro668) which does NOT do quite as well on the Honokaa site.

My 325p2 also does not miss any traffic and I have taken it all over the island. I too use pro96com to compare what the radio is hearing with what the control channel decode shows. It works flawlessly.
 
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