Does Anybody Hre Use The Uniden Home Patrol To Scan For New Talkgroups?

[JASII]

As posted above, I am just wondering if anybody here uses their Uniden Home Patrol HP-1 to SCAN for new trunked system talkgroups instead of SEARCH mode? For example, I like to monitor the Minnesota ARMER system. Some counties are on the ARMER System, but not all of the talkgroups are known yet. What I am thinking of doing is simply programming in the entire range of talkgroups to see what is being used and by whom. Here we have:

Wabasha County Talkgroups

DEC HEX Mode Alpha Tag Description Tag
21246 52fe D WBSH SO DISP Sheriff Dispatch Law Dispatch

Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response (ARMER) Trunking System, Various, Minnesota - Scanner Frequencies

I do realize, of course, that by scanning rather than searching I miss the talkgroups in use outside of that range, but I think this might be worthwhile until I Can afford the Extreme Upgrade.

The range of talkgroups for that area is:

21200 to 21399 Wabahsa County

Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response (ARMER) Radio ID Directory - The RadioReference Wiki

Thus, I would program in talkgroups 21200 to 21399 and by scanning all of those I am in essence searching, BUT only searching for that specific range of talkgroups. Anyway, I am jsut wondering if anybody here has used that and, if so, how effective that has been. Granted, I could spend the money for the Extreme Upgrade, but I don't have the extra money right now.

 

[KE5TLF]

Yep, without ID SEARCH mode that is all you can do, and is what I did prior to that feature being added. Though I did it in more focused manner, not just on a large contiguous block like that. For instance say you know a few TG's for an agency, see the pattern of things like spacing and whether it is on a odd or even set of groups(if it is a even numbered spacing pattern).

So knowns of say 1000, 1006, and 1008 likely reveals a likely spacing of 2 on even numbers so fill in the gaps with 1002, 1004, and maybe pad the ends with a couple more.

 

[hiegtx]

As posted above, I am just wondering if anybody here uses their Uniden Home Patrol HP-1 to SCAN for new trunked system talkgroups instead of SEARCH mode? For example, I like to monitor the Minnesota ARMER system. Some counties are on the ARMER System, but not all of the talkgroups are known yet. What I am thinking of doing is simply programming in the entire range of talkgroups to see what is being used and by whom. Here we have:

Wabasha County Talkgroups

DEC HEX Mode Alpha Tag Description Tag
21246 52fe D WBSH SO DISP Sheriff Dispatch Law Dispatch

Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response (ARMER) Trunking System, Various, Minnesota - Scanner Frequencies

I do realize, of course, that by scanning rather than searching I miss the talkgroups in use outside of that range, but I think this might be worthwhile until I Can afford the Extreme Upgrade.

The range of talkgroups for that area is:

21200 to 21399 Wabahsa County

Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response (ARMER) Radio ID Directory - The RadioReference Wiki

Thus, I would program in talkgroups 21200 to 21399 and by scanning all of those I am in essence searching, BUT only searching for that specific range of talkgroups. Anyway, I am jsut wondering if anybody here has used that and, if so, how effective that has been. Granted, I could spend the money for the Extreme Upgrade, but I don't have the extra money right now.

If you are wanting to change the way the Home Patrol scans ARMER (or any trunked system, for that matter) from the default "ID Scan" (which scans only identified talkgroups) to "ID Search", which would also pick up those not entered, that can be done.

You would need to to edit the system, using Sentinel, in a Favorites list, but it's easy to accomplish. See this.The "Extreme Upgrade" is not necessary to accomplish this using Sentinel.

 

[KE5TLF]

Oh ok DUH!!! LOL I couldn't remember if the the ID SEARCH mode was a Extreme upgrade only feature or not, and just took the OP at his word, and couldn't check myself since I have the upgrade.

 

[hiegtx]

With the "Extreme", you can edit from the keypad, by editing your Favorites list, and then selecting the system. But, as long as the system in question is in your Favorites list, you can stll get the desired result in Sentinel, even without the Extreme Upgrade, Just remember to download the modified system to the scanner. Of course, you can also use Sentinel to add the custom reband tables, if the system "flips" in between the database update cycle.

 

[kevino]

Trunked Discovery Mode

I use the extreme upgrade "Trunked Discovery" feature to look for new talkgroups and log/record activity on known TGs of interest on trunked systems. I program the freqs for my local tower along with the talkgroups I DON'T wish to log (cut and pasted from the master database) into a favorites list. I then set up a Trunked Discovery session to use that favorites list, setting "Delay" to 5 sec, "Logging" to New Only (thus not logging the TGs I included in that favorites list), "Compare to Database" to On, "Record Duration" to 600 Seconds and"Time-Out Timer" to Off. I add TGs to that favorites list when I no longer wish to log/record them. Every so often I stop the Trunked Discovery in order to dump the loggings/recordings to Sentinal so I can review them there while returning the HP-1 to Trunked Discovery mode.

 

[tilt404]

Uniden makes you pay for upgrades? I'm glad GRE hasn't done this.

 

[lep]

Uniden makes you pay for upgrades? I'm glad GRE hasn't done this.

NOTE: I am not sure about GRE but Uniden considers "updates" and "upgrades" as two quite different things. You do NOT pay for updates, only for Upgrades. Makes sense to me.

 

[tilt404]

NOTE: I am not sure about GRE but Uniden considers "updates" and "upgrades" as two quite different things. You do NOT pay for updates, only for Upgrades. Makes sense to me.

Seems like apples and oranges to me. GRE just released an upgrade to enable P25 Phase II this weekend and that could be called an upgrade to me since no other scanner has it right now. Yet was free. Charging people $100 for upgrades/updates is a bit shady in my eyes. I still plan to get a uniden scanner in a month but not the home patrol. If uniden asks for money to 'upgrade' the BCD996XT I plan to get, I won't be happy. I think GRE needs to do what they can to keep on top of Uniden so saying they will never charge for a update like it says on their site:

"Upgradeable CPU and DSP firmware and library - Keep EZ Scan Digital current with enhancements and updates as they become available with free upgrades through EZ Scan Digital software utility program."

User upgradeable CPU/DSP firmware AT "NO COST"

I wish Uniden did the same but I don't remember uniden asking people to pay for upgrades before this home patrol came out. Its bad enough I had to pay $50 for a USB cable for the 996 I plan to get in a month. GRE usually includes a USB cable with their digital scanners. Sorry to go on and on though. I like uniden scaners just not some of the things uniden does.

 

[UPMan]

While I can appreciate your concern, you should note that the Extreme Upgrade was significantly more involved than the typical bug fix/minor enhancement. It involved over one year of development and testing, and adds features never before seen in any scanner, including some functionality that created additional royalty liability for us...and it would not be fair to increase the cost to all users to pay for this development and royalty expense when a relatively small percentage of users will actually want/use the new features. Bug fixes are and will continue to be free. Sometimes we are even able to sneak in some enhancements.

If you haven't seen the new features that were added with the Upgrade, check out:

HomePatrolExtreme < HomePatrol < TWiki

 

[kruser]

Seems like apples and oranges to me. GRE just released an upgrade to enable P25 Phase II this weekend and that could be called an upgrade to me since no other scanner has it right now. Yet was free.

Who knows, GRE's update is a Beta so maybe it will time out after 1,000 hours of use or something! Then comes the real non beta update at cost.

Of course I'm kidding. That is something Microsoft would pull on ya.

It was nice of GRE to offer something major like this for free.
I wish the HP-1 had the hardware for TDMA support. It would have been interesting to see how Uniden would have handled things after GRE released P2 support for free.
I still like the HP-1 much better over the PSR-800 but if we ever get a P2 system online here, those feelings may change quickly.

 

[JASII]

Uniden Home Patrol HP-1 ID Search

If you are wanting to change the way the Home Patrol scans ARMER (or any trunked system, for that matter) from the default "ID Scan" (which scans only identified talkgroups) to "ID Search", which would also pick up those not entered, that can be done.

You would need to to edit the system, using Sentinel, in a Favorites list, but it's easy to accomplish. See this.The "Extreme Upgrade" is not necessary to accomplish this using Sentinel.

I tried this yesterday. I selected ID Search in Sentinel in a Favorites list, but it still just ID Scans. I actually thought the first time I did it it was ID Searching, but right now it is just ID Scanning. Obviously I am doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what it is just yet. Maybe I will h ave to spring for the Extreme Upgrade sooner rather than later! (Will Uniden have any Holiday prices on the Extreme Upgrade or have they ever had any after the initial $50 Introductory price?)

 

[KD8HE]

ID Search off = Scans and stops only on known TGs in the system's database you have loaded.
ID search on = Scans and displays any TG it hears, if the talkgroup is not in the database you have loaded then the HP displays "new" TGs as "Unknown" with TG and UID displayed in the "channel" bar.
"Extreme" upgrade allows you to log "unknown search hits" and record the audio...makes identification and verification easy.

 

[lep]

In addition to the above, I also operate my HP-1 under ARCPatrol virtual scanner and save the UNKNOWN TGs logged on the screen. Makes it quite easy!

 

[JASII]

Does Anybody Here Use The Uniden Home Patrol To Scan For New Talkgroups?

Thank you very much for the replies. I had read that the ID Search can be selected without getting the Extreme Upgrade, but I can seem to get it to work with Sentinel.

 

[hiegtx]

I tried this yesterday. I selected ID Search in Sentinel in a Favorites list, but it still just ID Scans. I actually thought the first time I did it it was ID Searching, but right now it is just ID Scanning. Obviously I am doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what it is just yet.

Did you make the change in the Favorites Editor, then Save the changes, and download the updated Favorites List to the scanner?

 

[KD8HE]

"Extreme" not required for ID search but it is if you wish to change from HP screen without Sentinel.

 

[JASII]

Does Anybody Here Use The Uniden Home Patrol To Scan For New Talkgroups?

Thank you for the replies. I was able to switch it to ID Search mode tonight, so I will try that and see how well it works out!

 

[JASII]

Does Anybody Here Use The Uniden Home Patrol To Scan For New Talkgroups?

I assume that I can't save a newly found talkgroup on the Home Patrol HP-1 without the Extreme Upgrade, however. Can anybody verify this for me?

 

[zzdiesel]

I would've bought the HP1 in June instead of the 800 if it wasn't for having to pay for the extreme upgrade