Best antenna for a HP436

[bradam2001]

I have the Hp436 and the antenna is the Radio Shack rubber one. The antenna does not work for me. I live in Maryland, DC metro area on a 4th floor apartment, 22 miles from DC and 20 miles from Va. and 20 miles from Frederick Md. I should be able to pick up more. I bought this antenna when Radio Shack was open and used it on my 396T uniden. Any help for a new antenna that might work better. I live in Montgomery County works fine, I can pick up Loudoun Co Va

 

[u2brent]

I swear by these.. (If wanting to remain portable)

Amazon.com: Diamond (Original) RH77CA 144/440 MHz. Dual-Band High Gain Handheld Antenna Rx: 120~900 MHz. (Gain: 440 Mhz. 2.15 dBi, Max Power: 10 Watts, Length: 15") BNC

Buy Diamond (Original) RH77CA 144/440 MHz. Dual-Band High Gain Handheld Antenna Rx: 120~900 MHz. (Gain: 440 Mhz. 2.15 dBi, Max Power: 10 Watts, Length: 15") BNC: CB & Two-Way Radios - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

Used with the SMA to BNC adapter that came with the radio..

 

[Hit_Factor]

It's going to make a difference on what you wish to monitor. If it's a wide range of frequencies, then a discone antenna on your balcony is likely the solution.

If you must use rubber duck antennas, don't expect to much of a performance improvement.

What do you monitor?

 

[maus92]

I have the Hp436 and the antenna is the Radio Shack rubber one. The antenna does not work for me. I live in Maryland, DC metro area on a 4th floor apartment, 22 miles from DC and 20 miles from Va. and 20 miles from Frederick Md. I should be able to pick up more. I bought this antenna when Radio Shack was open and used it on my 396T uniden. Any help for a new antenna that might work better. I live in Montgomery County works fine, I can pick up Loudoun Co Va

Your surrounding jurisdictions: Frederick County, Carroll County, Howard County, and DC are all P25 simulcast systems, which are notoriously difficult to receive with a non-optimized consumer grade radio (the 436 is non-optimized radio.) The other issue that you are experiencing is the individual tower sites have a range of about 8 - 12 miles when using a commercial radio designed to receive P25 signaling. You may get a range bump because you are higher up in a building, but then again the building itself might be attenuating the signal. Also, newer systems are designed to shape their coverage to remain more or less within their county borders. And by the end of this year, Montgomery County and the state will activate their new P25 systems in your area. You will likely need a new radio to receive these P25 systems satisfactorily. For now, you can try the antenna mentioned above - certainly the cheaper option - but understand it may not be the ultimate answer.

 

[maus92]

I did a quick and dirty theoretical coverage map for Germantown using the site max range of 12 miles, and assuming no coverage shaping. It looks like you are on the fringe area of the Mt Airy FAA tower which hosts sites for Carroll, Howard and Montgomery counties, as well as a FIRST ASR site. So *maybe* you can receive Carroll and Howard county systems, and the state's FIRST system. Map in Google link below:

Meet Google Drive – One place for all your files

Google Drive is a free way to keep your files backed up and easy to reach from any phone, tablet, or computer. Start with 15GB of Google storage – free.

drive.google.com

 

[bradam2001]

By the end of this month I am buying the Unication G5 with VHF

 

[bradam2001]

Got my Unication G5 today, beat my HP436. How I can pickup DC and PG and others. Just waiting for Montgomery to come online.

 

[maus92]

Got my Unication G5 today, beat my HP436. How I can pickup DC and PG and others. Just waiting for Montgomery to come online.

You have to download the PPS software to program it. It's a bit arcane and tedious, but there are some YouTube videos. Somebody here might have a pps file premade, and you can post on the Unication forum for help. My pps file is designed for most jurisdictions in Maryland and DC, but only for things I want to hear. You're welcome to try it, but I'm not sure if it will work in your radio.

 

[bradam2001]

You have to download the PPS software to program it. It's a bit arcane and tedious, but there are some YouTube videos. Somebody here might have a pps file premade, and you can post on the Unication forum for help. My pps file is designed for most jurisdictions in Maryland and DC, but only for things I want to hear. You're welcome to try it, but I'm not sure if it will work in your radio.

I am in Montgomery Co. I already had the software and had it set up before I got it. Had to do little adjustment, it's up and running

 

[maus92]

Load in the DC and PG system to see if you can hear them; I'm curious.

 

[Hit_Factor]

By the end of this month I am buying the Unication G5 with VHF

I understand that the antenna for VHF is an internal antenna on a G5. I think you may need an amplified base to use an external antenna with that.

I hope it works out for you, Unication excels with trunked 700-800 MHz systems, but the secondary bands are not as robust.

 

[bradam2001]

I can pick up DC and Pg Co. For my area VHF works fine until Montgomery Co goes P25 Phase 1 or 2

 

[bradam2001]

I am in Gaithersburg and pick up DC and Pg real good. Now I pick Frederick up better. Haven't tried Carroll Co yet or Howard. I work in Germantown and from here can't pick up DC or Pg

 

[maus92]

I use my G5's VHF capability to monitor our county's fire dispatch, and have one tone pair set for my station. We are basically in the same boat as Montgomery County with a legacy SmartZone system, waiting for its P25 replacement to come online. The G5 works great, but it is underutilized: I'm too far away from any neighboring jurisdiction (Baltimore Co, PGCo, Calvert Co or BWI) to receive their P25 signals due to distance, terrain and / or trees. I can receive Queen Anne Co on FIRST with the G5. They are not a busy jurisdiction; not sure if it's when one of their units is transporting to Anne Arundel Medical Center or if their dispatch TG is strapped on the AACo site.

 

[bradam2001]

At work we had a extra Motorola antenna for 800mhz and now the G5 picks up better

 

[maus92]

At work we had a extra Motorola antenna for 800mhz and now the G5 picks up better

Be careful, there have been user reports that when using non-Unication sma antennas / adapters, it could damage the radio's sma connector.

 

[bradam2001]

Anyone have any idea how to get 2 tone toneouts working for Montgomery County on the G5. It's programed right with 154.160 and set to tone outs. It locks on to a tone alerts but no voice.
Is Montgomery going to any type of P25 paging when the new system comes online. Read they are going to get the G5s for firefighters.
Maybe one day I will go to the radio shop and take to them, work for the county

 

[maus92]

I have working tone outs set for AACo over VHF. I can post a few screen shots of the relevant PPS pages a bit later today. I do know that MontCo is retaining its VHF freqs, but unsure if they will remain analog - I'd have to check the FCC data to see if they have amended their emission type. And also not sure if they will retain their QCII format. Their is a MontCo Communications Fire Captain that posts here from time to time, so maybe he'll respond.

 

[maus92]

Anyone have any idea how to get 2 tone tone outs working for Montgomery County on the G5. It's programed right with 154.160 and set to tone outs. It locks on to a tone alerts but no voice.
Is Montgomery going to any type of P25 paging when the new system comes online. Read they are going to get the G5s for firefighters.
Maybe one day I will go to the radio shop and take to them, work for the county

So basically the steps are:
1. Tab D2 - Set up a Conventional Frequency Setting for Montgomery County - 154.160? Sounds like you did this.
2. Tab D3 - Set up a 2-Tone Protocol Type
3. Tab D4 - Set up Group Alias for the tone pair, one alias per resource. I use Alert Mode: Tone; Alert Tone: Tone 8; 2-Tone (enter tone freqs); everything else either off or no setting.
4. D5 - Set zone / knob position: This where it gets tricky. I have my Receiving Mode set to Monitor Mode, which means I hear all transmissions. When then tone pair is detected, the radio will alert with Tone 8 as configured in step 3. I use the Auto Reset as the Reset Mode, although it really doesn't matter for my config since the radio does not need to go back to silent. Finally, the Knob - Talk Group List, select the Group Alias you set up in step 3: check Enable, and select the None radio button (filled in the circle.)

If you want the radio to remain silent until there is tone out for the resource you configured, change the Receiving Mode to Selective Call. You may also need to change the Reset Mode to a time based delay. If the dispatcher releases the transmit key randomly, it tends to mess up Auto Reset. Remember that a box alarm with multiple resources dispatched can take a -long- time to complete.

If you want to export your config, I'll look at it.