HP-2: NXDN NEXEDGE

Status
Not open for further replies.

KE0GXN

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2011
Messages
1,353
Location
Echo Mike Two-Seven
Is Uniden offering or getting any closer to providing an upgrade for NXDN NEXEDGE? This is the only system in my area that I would be interested in upgrading to monitor.

If this has been discussed already on here, I apologize in advance, been busy with amateur radio stuff lately, so I have lost touch with the latest goings on in the scanner world......
 

fxdscon

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 15, 2007
Messages
7,157
Is Uniden offering or getting any closer to providing an upgrade for NXDN NEXEDGE? This is the only system in my area that I would be interested in upgrading to monitor.

If this has been discussed already on here, I apologize in advance, been busy with amateur radio stuff lately, so I have lost touch with the latest goings on in the scanner world......

Uniden is the only one that would know the answer to that, and for competitive marketing reasons they will not announce those types of upgrades until they are released.

They have not yet stated if the HP-2 is even capable of being upgraded.
 

KE0GXN

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2011
Messages
1,353
Location
Echo Mike Two-Seven
Uniden is the only one that would know the answer to that, and for competitive marketing reasons they will not announce those types of upgrades until they are released.

They have not yet stated if the HP-2 is even capable of being upgraded.

I was thinking along the upgrade lines of the recent ProVoice upgrade, except for NXDN.

Oh well, thanks for the info, I'll check out what Whistler has going.
 

mmckenna

I ♥ Ø
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
23,617
Location
Hiding in a coffee shop.
I was thinking along the upgrade lines of the recent ProVoice upgrade, except for NXDN.

Oh well, thanks for the info, I'll check out what Whistler has going.

It would be reasonable to expect that. DMR, P25 and NXDN all use the same AMBE+2 vocoder. The only difference is how the bits get decoded into audio. Seems like there are some challengers now, so maybe things will heat up.
 

MStep

Member
Joined
May 2, 2005
Messages
2,168
Location
New York City
Is Uniden offering or getting any closer to providing an upgrade for NXDN NEXEDGE? This is the only system in my area that I would be interested in upgrading to monitor.

If this has been discussed already on here, I apologize in advance, been busy with amateur radio stuff lately, so I have lost touch with the latest goings on in the scanner world......

Let's give them a chance to get the DMR situation straightened out first, before venturing into other digital modes. If you have been following the posts regarding release of the DMR beta version, it would appear that there is still plenty of work that needs to be done to tame that beast and get it up and running properly.

I think (hope might be a better word) that once the Sentinel program has been upgraded to start accepting various DMR "flavors", that more clarity will be achieved, Although I purchased the keys for my DMR upgrades, based on the nature of the current posts, I don't want to get involved with the beta at this point.

I'm fairly certain that once DMR is operating properly, Uniden will explore other options for milking another 50 bucks per unit for other digital modes.
 

KE0GXN

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2011
Messages
1,353
Location
Echo Mike Two-Seven
It would be reasonable to expect that. DMR, P25 and NXDN all use the same AMBE+2 vocoder. The only difference is how the bits get decoded into audio. Seems like there are some challengers now, so maybe things will heat up.

I hope so, but after venturing into the Whistler threads it seems Uniden is way behind in the game...
 

KE0GXN

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2011
Messages
1,353
Location
Echo Mike Two-Seven
I'm fairly certain that once DMR is operating properly, Uniden will explore other options for milking another 50 bucks per unit for other digital modes.

LOL! No doubt Uniden will have their hand out to snatch your and my 50 bills. Meanwhile Whistler is saying theirs will be free.....go figure.

While I love my HP-2, I am getting tired of Uniden's secret squirrel games that keep everybody groveling at their feet for the littlest bit of news and their $50 upgrades.... :roll:

It seems Whistler has no problem flat out telling everybody what upgrades they have in the works with zero competitive marketing fears and stating it will be free at that.

Hate to say it, but my HP-2 may be getting mothballed or going bye-bye.
 
Last edited:

MStep

Member
Joined
May 2, 2005
Messages
2,168
Location
New York City
LOL! No doubt Uniden will have their hand out to snatch your and my 50 bills. Meanwhile Whistler is saying theirs will be free.....go figure.

While I love my HP-2, I am getting tired of Uniden's secret squirrel games that keep everybody groveling at their feet for the littlest bit of news and their $50 upgrades.... :roll:

It seems Whistler has no problem flat out telling everybody what upgrades they have in the works with zero competitive marketing fears and stating it will be free at that.

Hate to say it, but my HP-2 may be getting mothballed or going bye-bye.

I am certainly not privy to Uniden's plans for the future, but based on experiences over the past several years, my guess is that the HP1 and HP2 do not have the requisite hardware to decode anything except for P25. Once again, that is just a guess.

On the other hand, HP1 and HP2 users have all those great analyze features that were also promised but not delivered as integral features of the 436 and 536 units. I guess it's called "win some, lose some".

While Uniden was likely working on DMR expansion for the x36 series for some time, Whistler's announcement apparently caught Uniden with their proverbial pants down, and likely forced their hand into what was obviously a premature announcement and beta release, albeit at $50 per radio.

Competition is a good thing--- it helps move technology along, It will be interesting to see if Whistler's free distribution of DMR and NXDN has any effect on Uniden's next digital release, should their be one. There does come a point when folks get a little tired of continually opening their wallets--- Whistler may help alleviate some of that in the long run.
 

buddrousa

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 5, 2003
Messages
11,221
Location
Retired 40 Year Firefighter NW Tenn
Mstep the HP-2 may have the hardware but might not have the memory. But I am only guessing the x36 line is the high end line the HP-2 may get something down the road but we will not know until it happens.
 

MStep

Member
Joined
May 2, 2005
Messages
2,168
Location
New York City
Mstep the HP-2 may have the hardware but might not have the memory. But I am only guessing the x36 line is the high end line the HP-2 may get something down the road but we will not know until it happens.

That is certainly possible, although I think that if there were some way to accomplish DMR on the HP1 and/or the HP2, Uniden would have already had their hand out collecting their $50 per unit.

I have the 436 and the 536, which are the best scanners I have ever owned, and believe me, in my 60+ years of radio monitoring, I have been through a lot of radios. (I also loved the Sonar FR-105, for those who got back that far, along with the original Bearcat 250.)

I am not parting with my HP1 for a number of reasons---- I love the form factor in the car (on the windshield in place of a GPS device), and I especially like the advanced Analyze functions, which never made it to the x36 series. It's also great because it can be battery operated in the event of a blackout.

I hope that DMR can be worked out for the HP2, but I just have a feeling in my gut that it's not in the cards.
 

adcockfred

Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2010
Messages
366
Location
Aldine, tx.
I agree with MStep 436 the best. we will see how this new stuff rounds out. down here in Houston all this DMR still evolving. seems to me like all the dmr mess uses a common over flow freq. we have one cap+ vhf and tetra. too.
 

mmckenna

I ♥ Ø
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
23,617
Location
Hiding in a coffee shop.
Like I said I think it is a memory limitation not hardware issue. Hope I am wrong for several people but is is just a guess.

It is. AMBE+2 vocoder is the part that makes P25, DMR and NXDN all work. If its already in the scanner then it has what it needs to do NXDN.

The sticky bit is fitting all that software into an older radio that wasn't necessarily designed for it. That's a memory sizing issue, not related to the vocoder.
 

buddrousa

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 5, 2003
Messages
11,221
Location
Retired 40 Year Firefighter NW Tenn
We are talking about a HP-2 which does P25 Phase 2 and I think I remember reading it takes the AMBE+2 to do P25 Phase 2. So it should have the hardware. But the HP-1 does not do Phase 2 so I would think it does not have the hardware.
 

ShyFlyer

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Apr 25, 2013
Messages
640
Location
Colorado
I've said it elsewhere, so I'll paraphrase here....

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that the HP-2 has all the hardware capabilities to handle all the latest and greatest digital modes. I sincerely doubt you'll see such upgrades available for the HP-2. Doing so would hurt sales of the x36HP line.
 

scottyhetzel

Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2011
Messages
1,409
Location
Palm Springs Area / OrCo
I've said it elsewhere, so I'll paraphrase here....

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that the HP-2 has all the hardware capabilities to handle all the latest and greatest digital modes. I sincerely doubt you'll see such upgrades available for the HP-2. Doing so would hurt sales of the x36HP line.

+1 exactly correct
 

marcotor

I ♥ÆS Ø
Feed Provider
Joined
Nov 4, 2004
Messages
1,132
Location
Sunny SoCal
Hate to say it, but my HP-2 may be getting mothballed or going bye-bye.

You understand that NXDN capability will not be a "free" upgrade but will require a $500+ investment in a new radio, right? Whistler has been very clear that when it's ready, it will NOT be for the current models, due to insufficient memory.

And I am sure Whistler will "milk" me for at least one or two units. :)
It's the cost of the hobby today.

If you don't like it, you should retire your scanners cause it's not going to change.
 

Voyager

Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2002
Messages
12,060
The HP-2 was never intended to be a high end scanner. Based on the absence of the ProVoice and DMR modes for the HP-x series, I doubt you will see NXDN.

Now whether the x36 series will get NXDN is an interesting question. Only Uniden can answer that, and they aren't talking yet.
 

KE0GXN

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2011
Messages
1,353
Location
Echo Mike Two-Seven
You understand that NXDN capability will not be a "free" upgrade but will require a $500+ investment in a new radio, right? Whistler has been very clear that when it's ready, it will NOT be for the current models, due to insufficient memory.

And I am sure Whistler will "milk" me for at least one or two units. :)
It's the cost of the hobby today.

If you don't like it, you should retire your scanners cause it's not going to change.

I do like it....Hence the reason the I stated, bye, bye (as in selling) and or mothballed (as in putting back in box and not using anymore) in regards to my HP-2, when I purchase a new Whistler scanner to monitor NXDN. :)
 

SCPD

QRT
Joined
Feb 24, 2001
Messages
0
Location
Virginia
It's been over a year since the rumour Uniden NXDN is in the works from a few who said they knew someone in the know. I now doubt this it's been over a year
I wouldn't bother waiting any longer if you want to listen to NXDN buy a Whistler

Is Uniden offering or getting any closer to providing an upgrade for NXDN NEXEDGE? This is the only system in my area that I would be interested in upgrading to monitor.

If this has been discussed already on here, I apologize in advance, been busy with amateur radio stuff lately, so I have lost touch with the latest goings on in the scanner world......
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top