Federal Monitoring With The Uniden HomePatrol-1

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JASII

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I did a search on this sub-forum, but I did not find any posts involving federal monitoring with the Uniden HomePatrol-1. I already have a Uniden BCD396XT and Uniden BCD996XT. My initial reaction to the scanner in general was pretty lukewarm, at best, since it originally did not appear to ahve a way for the end user to modify data without going through the webpage. Now, at least as I understand it, the user can modify programming independent of the "mother ship."

Specifically with federal monitoring, although it looks like it allows PL/DPL with analog frequencies, there does not seem to be any provision for use of NAC codes on P25 channels. Unless I am missing something.

Anyway, I would love to hear from others about the Uniden HomePatrol-1 specifically involving federal monitoring. Does the database have the correct federal frequencies, does it automatically mute when encryption is detected, and other things that are handy for federal listening.
 

kennyblues

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With the Sentinel software you can program your own Federal system, using analog or digital, with a CTCSS tone or a NAC tone, or put it in for a tone search. I think the database could either be incomplete or possibly incorrect with regards to Federal frequencies, depending on the area of the country you are in. Explore the R.R. Wiki for lists for different agencies frequencies. The HP will mute detect and mute encrypted comms.
 

JASII

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> Federal Monitoring With The Uniden HomePatrol-1

Thank you very much for the reply. Just knowing that it will decode NAC codes is very helpful to me. I am leaning towards getting one of these!
 

SOFA_KING

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I have been using one for fed monitoring for 9 months now. Before the big update it was very limited because you could only have one NAC code programmed on a frequency entry. Some feds use multiple NAC codes on the same frequency, so you had to program the scanner with multiple NAC codes for those frequencies, which wasted scan time when scanning channels without a NAC match (lucky to catch anything on those). Now that you can program "NAC Search", you have the ability to catch any NAC on one entry, and have it display that NAC, but not get any trash or analog noise because it is filtered out. This was a big plus add! It can also search out PL/DPL codes now, as well. Another plus! It would have been really slick if they made the PL/DPL search feature filter out anything without a tone, but they didn't.

I am spoiled by the encryption muting/masking, so I use the HP as my main fed monitor for known freqs. RR has little to nothing worth listening to in the DB for Florida. I already know most everything in the state, and the list is very large (over 300 active "big boy" LE fed channels...no non-LE parks,VA, mill or other useless coms). My fed scanner is very busy here! The GRE scanners do full time searching and pick up new stuff the day they turn it up...and also the rare mobile direct "secret channel" stuff that comes within range (and I drive all over the state). I bag 'em all, but right now I can search for weeks and get nothing new...and that is a good thing because it means I have them all. The new stuff comes in waves, as different depts do conversions and move to P25. The rare direct stuff on new channels is a thrill to catch! Searching is where it is at, and with WIN500 on my GRE radios recording the data for me (even when I'm not there) I can be sure I am getting the new stuff and the data is correct. "Discover Mode" on the HP extreme update looks interesting until you realize it will keep "discovering" what you already know, and that is no good to me.

My thoughts on the HP? I was about to sell it until the Version 2 update. Now it is of use to me. It has thin and weak audio, due to a very small speaker inside it that requires some external amplified speakers to hear it better, and then the P25 audio is bassy and not near as clear and balanced as the GRE between analog and digital. Mine failed to catch 95% of the traffic on P25 trunked systems here in FL before the update, and I have not yet tested that after the update. That was (is?) a big flaw with this scanner. The GPS tracking ability was the reason I got it. It did track (lock in/out systems/channels in range while mobile) good, but I had to correct so much bad GPS lat/lon data (and bad channel data) in the RR DB that it became a full time job. I got 80% of FL corrected on my edited DB file, and then stalled on the big population areas (too much work). Let's put it this way...If you get ARC-Patrol and program it all yourself (presuming you know what to program), you can use it like any scanner...but have GPS tracking to keep the channel list lean and mean for the area you are in (a great thing!), but if it still has a problem on P25 trunked systems, then it can be useless in those areas...except for conventional fed monitoring. I plan on testing the P25 trunked stuff in Polk County, FL today and tomorrow. If it didn't have P25 encryption masking, it would be gone on evilBay by now.

I am still considering purchasing the "Extreme Upgrade". I'm not sure it will be worth it. I have to really think about what that will do for me for the $100 they ask. Looks fancy, but has to be of real use to justify the price. I am glad the standard V2 updates were added. Those were all needed features. I made a few more suggestions to UPman and hope they tweak those in on the next update. Someone needs to make a docking amplified speaker for this thing...so you can hear it better in a car/SUV/van/truck. The little speaker is just too small to sound loud enough...or good.

Those are my thoughts on the HP-1.

Phil

EDIT: "Have them all" is an overstatement. Things change all the time on the FED bands. When they do, you want to be searching to catch the canges and the tests they do after a change. That is the way to stay on top of what is out there. ;-)
 
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