Uniden GPS usage - any tips or best practices?

[kc2kth]

So my Uniden GPS arrived today and I've played with it for about 10 minutes so far. It's competing with the Rolex 24 hours race at Daytona this weekend. Anyhow i wanted to confirm a few things I've noticed. Thought folks who have been using it for a while could confirm or correct me in these.

1. I see no LED on the device as referenced in the manual.mare they talking about the GPS indicator on the (436) display?

2. It seems favorites lists are of little value in "GPS mode". Is it best to simply turn on the entire database and use service types to limit what I hear?

3. I assume when the scanner detects a location and prompts for confirmation it is indicating the county and state? We have multiple towns with names similar to the county name here.

4. Any thoughts on what a useful range setting is when driving, highway speeds on Interstates for example? I was thinking 15 miles perhaps based on what I saw included when I went to 30 or even 20 miles - way too much.

 

[K2KOH]

When you connect the GPS to the scanner, GPS pops up in the display. You should have a small red square LED flashing when power is connected to the GPS. As far as the favorites, make sure you have enabled location on in your favorites. When it detects, yes, it is county and state. Personally for range I leave mine at zero when I'm driving around.

 

[marksmith]

Yes, as n2mwe indicated, if you turn on location control in your favorites list (s), they will use the gps and the ranges specified in your systems in those favorites lists. Location control is in your profile as a switch for each favorites list. So you pick which ones you want to use the gps for.

When traveling I use location controlled favorites lists, and I usually don't bother with it locally or stationary.


Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

 

[nbdyspclk]

LOVE my 536 with gps puck! I travel constantly and it picks up all the right stuff all over the country. Works very well in Vegas and awesome in Cali!

 

[eaf1956]

So my Uniden GPS arrived today and I've played with it for about 10 minutes so far. It's competing with the Rolex 24 hours race at Daytona this weekend. Anyhow i wanted to confirm a few things I've noticed. Thought folks who have been using it for a while could confirm or correct me in these.

1. I see no LED on the device as referenced in the manual.mare they talking about the GPS indicator on the (436) display?

2. It seems favorites lists are of little value in "GPS mode". Is it best to simply turn on the entire database and use service types to limit what I hear?

3. I assume when the scanner detects a location and prompts for confirmation it is indicating the county and state? We have multiple towns with names similar to the county name here.

4. Any thoughts on what a useful range setting is when driving, highway speeds on Interstates for example? I was thinking 15 miles perhaps based on what I saw included when I went to 30 or even 20 miles - way too much.

1. There is a little red LED but it is hard to see without power.
2. FL use GPS with location control turned on. I use FL's for my work compute to change what it scans as I drive.
3. No confirmation if it is within range it scans. Note: Range is determined not only by range setting but by the tower range setting.
4. I use 0 on range while driving then when you are within range of a tower it scans it. This eliminates spotty reception.

GPS works much better on the x36 series than it did on the 996T 996XT and 996P2 series. I needed to extend the cable on my GPS unit to make it reach from outside the truck. A computer keyboard extension cable plugs right in without modification and works great.

 

[dave3825]

2. It seems favorites lists are of little value in "GPS mode". Is it best to simply turn on the entire database and use service types to limit what I hear?

If you dont have a favorites list for the areas your traveling to, then yes, you would need the full database.

3. I assume when the scanner detects a location and prompts for confirmation it is indicating the county and state? We have multiple towns with names similar to the county name here.

My 436 does not prompt. It loads either the full db, or the favorites list for the area the gps says its in, as long as location control for the fav list is set to on. The scanner will automatically change out the systems your listening to based on what the gps says.

4. Any thoughts on what a useful range setting is when driving, highway speeds on Interstates for example? I was thinking 15 miles perhaps based on what I saw included when I went to 30 or even 20 miles - way too much.

Driving fast or slow does not matter. I set mine usually to zero or 1.

More on location and how it works
How it Works: Location, Location, Location




.

 

[ofd8001]

As far as what range value you wish to use, it'll be your preference.

My preference is generally 10 miles if I'm traveling. That might give me some idea of whether there is something going on up ahead (accident, vehicle fire) and I need to think about an alternative route.

If I'm more local, then I'll set the range to 0, so I'm hearing just those things applicable to where I am.

I use multiple SD cards. One is for "on the road" and another is at home or destination. Each SD card has a different profile which includes range settings.

 

[stingray327]

So my Uniden GPS arrived today and I've played with it for about 10 minutes so far. It's competing with the Rolex 24 hours race at Daytona this weekend. Anyhow i wanted to confirm a few things I've noticed. Thought folks who have been using it for a while could confirm or correct me in these.

1. I see no LED on the device as referenced in the manual.mare they talking about the GPS indicator on the (436) display?

2. It seems favorites lists are of little value in "GPS mode". Is it best to simply turn on the entire database and use service types to limit what I hear?

3. I assume when the scanner detects a location and prompts for confirmation it is indicating the county and state? We have multiple towns with names similar to the county name here.

4. Any thoughts on what a useful range setting is when driving, highway speeds on Interstates for example? I was thinking 15 miles perhaps based on what I saw included when I went to 30 or even 20 miles - way too much.

That Uniden puck should flash. It is very difficult to see. Perhaps you should park in a dark garage then see if it blinks.

 

[ofd8001]

It's possible that being in a garage may block satellite reception.

To confirm location info is going to scanner, try the following:

Menu>Set Your Location>Set Manual Location. Note the Latitude value. Then go perhaps a 1/4 mile away and repeat the above. If the Latitude values are different, then the GPS is working.

I'm presuming there are no power issues to the GPS (as in the plug inserted in a working power point).

I don't have a 436, but on my 536 I'll see "GPS" on the display. Still the steps above will confirm location information is really getting to the scanner.

There isn't any user input needed, so you shouldn't be prompted for any type of confirmation.

The interaction between the GPS and Favorites Lists depends on what you have programmed for Favorites Lists. A lot of variables come into play.

I have Favorites Lists for Minneapolis, Louisville and Florida in my scanner that are downloaded and "monitored". The GPS turns "things" on and off depending upon where I am.

Also, just to toss this out. The GPS turns on/off Departments in addition to Sites.

 

[UPMan]

You can also test by unplugging the GPS from the scanner (but keep the GPS powered). Put in a zip code for another state (I use 10019 or 90210). Wait for the out-of-state data to load. Then plug the GPS back into the scanner. The scanner will quickly reload your state data and begin scanning local stuff.

 

[fenderblue]

I figured out the red LED light on the gps puck, seen it as I was in a dark garage,it is not the red light on the cig plug.

 

[fenderblue]

The new GPS worked fine today as I traveled 120 miles or so. Now i need to figure how to easily create different profile w/sentinel because I have the location control on the mobile x36. My other x36's I don't want that. I have 4 profiles with different titles but they favorites lists are the same. I don't guess I know how to make a new profile with differences to download to another x36.

 

[ofd8001]

Favorites Lists are common to all profiles, meaning that Favorites List A will be in Profile 1, Profile 2, Profile 3 etc. So what you see is what you should be seeing and you've done nothing wrong.

The difference is how these Favorites Lists behave. Different profiles can have different Favorites List behavior. You can tell the profile to not download a Favorites List(s), not monitor a Favorites List(s) or have the FL quick key be on or off by default.

Unfortunately what you want to do can't be done with different profiles. Location Control is a Favorites List setting.

I'm pretty sure there is a "work around" to accomplish what you want. If you can provide some more specific details and examples, there might be some ideas.

I have multiple profiles for various scanning/location scenarios, each profile being on its own SD card. If the scanning/location scenario changes, I'll use the corresponding SD card.

 

[fenderblue]

Looking the search engines on this, the best way is to use sd cards for mobile and base. Have extra a couple extras, editing some for location on & off, read from the scanner or base etc. I might add can you turn off the location control buy using editing profile or just the favorites list? I don't know but I bet I can turn them off using the keypad and writing to sentinel.

 

[ofd8001]

Location Control is something set in the Favorites List, not in the Profile.

Yes you could change Location Control from Off to On via the scanner menu. However the next time you read the scanner with Sentinel that change will be made and carried forward. That means if you change Location Control to On for FL 1 in your vehicle and read it into Sentinel, then re-program your 436, FL 1 Location Control will be On.

Here's an option, but it has its drawbacks. You can export a Favorites List to an HPE file giving it a different name. Then import that as a new Favorites List, with a new name, thus creating a duplicate FL. One of the versions of the FL can have Location Control On and the other Location Control Off. Here's the hitch - you'll have to use a different FL Quick Key because the scanner doesn't like two FLs with the same quick key.

 

[fenderblue]

I don't need any drawbacks. I have figured out that the GPS is the way to go on a mobile. A person adjust there home or portable accordingly. Use favorites most of the time but got the option to use the database if going way out of town.

 

[ofd8001]

I agree (mostly).

My scanning Modus Operandi is to use the "Car Home" and "Car Destination" profiles/SD cards when I'm either at home or a travel destination. These are Favorites Lists only scanning and the full database is off.

The "Car Travel" profile/SD card is for when I'm on the road between home and a destination. The full database is on and Favorites Lists are turned off via the FL Quick Key status in the profile. That way I can turn my FLs on if I wish to do so.

The only major differences between my "House Scanner" and "Car" profiles are these: Display upside down in car (due to mounting), rear port baud rate (home is higher for Virtual Control, car is 4800 for GPS). I also have some FL Quick Keys on by default for the house scanner because the house scanner has an outside antenna and they are off for the car scanner.

 

[stingray327]

It was said you just plug in GPS with no adjustments needed to scanner.

 

[UPMan]

It was said that that is all you have to do. A lot of optional stuff has been thrown into the discussion along the way.

 

[KB6KGX]

Location Control settings

When you connect the GPS to the scanner, GPS pops up in the display. You should have a small red square LED flashing when power is connected to the GPS. As far as the favorites, make sure you have enabled location on in your favorites. When it detects, yes, it is county and state. Personally for range I leave mine at zero when I'm driving around.

Is it necessary to set Location Control “on” for EACH channel in your FL? Or is there a way to do a “group” set by highlighting the list and just clicking once?