Ramblings of a new HP-1 owner

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jkahn

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I thought I would share my very positive experience as a brand new HP-1 owner.

I have been into scanning since the very old crystal/tunable thing that went between the car's (AM) radio and antenna (darn close to 50 years)! When I got my 396T and 996T they were somewhere around my twentieth units to own, so I have been in the thick of things as radio systems have advanced. I was one of Paul's beta testers as Uniden fine tuned the firmware for 396/996T units and P25.

I wasn't sure about what to get, a 396XT or the HP-1. The decision was made for me as I received the HP-1 as a gift. I have been extremely impressed with this radio. Its ease of operation, the reception range and the clarity of P25 decoding. {if it would only do Phase II, I would be in heaven!}.

I travelled from the southern edge of Montgomery Co. MD (near DC) to the northern fringe of MD, almost into PA, and covered 4 counties enjoying the spring weather this past weekend. I took the central zip code of the Northern County (Frederick) with me (but really didn't need it) and later, I manually programmed the GPS coordinates of part of the trip (and really didn't need to do that either). The unit sat on the console between the front seats using the factory antenna, and was able to receive trunked and conventional systems from 1 to 3 counties away! (40-60 miles) even in the hills and valleys of North Central MD. It was almost sensory overload for the amount of varied radio traffic it received (State, County and Local Police, Fire/EMS, Federal, Dept of Natural Resouces (-there was a multi-agency water rescue-) and I was hearing things I never usually programmed into my other scanners, but will probably add now.

The only things I can think of that might be negative are the multiple and repetative steps required, while driving, to "avoid" systems you don't want to hear, and not knowing exactly what some definitions of system types are in the database that might make it easier to avoid some of those systems. Also, the fact that there is not a vehicular mounting bracket included with a unit designed to be both desk top and portable, although a 12v power cord is included.

Over all, however, I am extremely impressed with this radio and give Uniden a big "thumbs up".

I should note that this is an unsolicited and unpaid endorsement, although if Paul wants to send me a 396XT to play with I wouldn't refuse it!!!

JK
 
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Viper43

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Gotta agree with most of what you say about the HP, the only thing I differ with you on is the mobile mount. I guess I look at it from the perspective that you don't get a mobile mount with your phone, GPs,laptop or netbook so why would get one with your scanner? Truth is most people wouldn't use it if it did come with it. Myself, I have 3 mounts, all are different depending on which vehicle I am in so thats another consideration. What I use in my Dodge Ram PU doesn't work in the Jeep XJ and vice versa. Even the laptop mounts are different for the two. The Jeep takes a medium height while the Dodge takes a long legged mount. so basically it comes down to Uniden not knowing what vehicle you have to put it in and even then different users would mount things differently, so supplying the mount wouldn't realy benefit anyone in the long run. Last and not least it would up the price of the scanner too. The power supply for mobile is included as that could be an issue if the wrong voltage and current supply is used.
 

Viper43

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Your first impressions was a lot different than mine was. $500.00 is way over priced.

How is it way over priced? There were a lot of R&D costs, testing, licensing, advertising, warranty coverage, patent costs and a host of other things to cover. They didn't just take boards from a 396XT and stick it into a different case and stick a different display on it and call it a new scanner. Actually, in todays costs it should be more, everything is going up, and before long so will scanners.
 
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