First, let me congratulate you on your HP-1 purchase. I found this scanner to be “very satisfactory” at home and around town. I keep one (usually) in my truck along with a GRE800. I usually have one doing Police, and the other doing Fire/Rescue. All of these channels are part of the RWC Multi-Site, Simulcast System (a real bugger to understand it’s technical workings or to scan effectively). The three tasks (PD/FD/RESCUE) can be rotated between these two scanners with no noticeable difference (to me).
This was not always the case. After owning the HP-1 for several months, a paid “upgrade” was offered by Uniden. I paid, and received the “Upgrade”. I now refer to the scanner as an HP-1 (E).
There has been much discussion on the Forums as to whether this “Upgrade” was/is worth the cost. For me, the E (for Extreme) Upgrade increased the value of the scanner far beyond the extra cost. The analytical features of the E has allowed me to fine tune the functions of antennas, cables, connectors/connections, radio settings, etc., for maximum reception and listening pleasure.
Now to the antenna question/answers I will go, lol. None of my current scanners are using their original antennas. As a general rule, I expect to chuck the original antennas shortly after I take possession of a new scanner.
I have one of these (Amazon.com: 4 PORT CABLE TV / HDTV / DIGITAL AMPLIFIER INTERNET MODEM SIGNAL BOOSTER INTERNET AMP: Electronics) in my truck and in my house. My antennas on the truck and the house are both SenComm-NMO™ Mobile Antenna Part No: 08-ANT-0890. This antenna is designed for 698MHz-999MHz. However, the quality of reception at the lower frequencies is very acceptable (to me). Using the HP-1(E) for analysis of signal strength and quality, this antenna proved to be the best for P-25 Simulcast (for me, other’s results may differ) of a dozen or so antennas tested. The use of the splitter/booster advances an already very satisfactory reception, to a unbelievably superior result.
The next best antenna (my testing, my results) is one I can not now find by internet search. It “looks” like the upper part of a Browning BR-800 (Amazon) without the wider dark base. It has the same exposed coil, but maybe a bit higher up on the antenna. The base is a ¾” Magnetic Mount with 12’-16’ of thin two (?) wire cable with a BNC connector included. The total length is only about 17”. This was a popular scanner antenna in the past, so maybe someone reading this will offer up the identification.
There was no close third pick and all the other antennas tested failed to extract a sufficient signal from the airways (even with the splitter /booster) to achieve satisfactory results (my testing/my call) on the RWC P-25 nightmare. These included at least a dozen various popular antennas with magnetic mounts or with the ability to attach to a separate magnetic mount (NMO, maybe other types) .
The splitter/booster gives the same results whether sending the signal to only one scanner, or to four. The in-house set up is using 70+ feet of RG-8X (whatever that is, lol) coming down from the roof. For the splitter: Amazon.com: 4 PORT CABLE TV / HDTV / DIGITAL AMPLIFIER INTERNET MODEM SIGNAL BOOSTER INTERNET AMP: Electronics (Amazon). For the dome antenna: Where to Buy Or, I might have got mine here (TESSCO - Wireless & Mobile Communications Products: Antennas, Cable, Towers, Test Equipment, Tools, Mobile Phone Accessories). Not cheap, but remember that if your results mirror mine, you can run 4 scanners at once and decode 800 MHz Systems better than using just one very good (or expensive) antenna alone.
There is another gotcha, lol. It will probably require multiple adapter combinations at the ends of the spaghetti to connect everything together. I saw this coming and bought cable cutting, crimping, stripping, and compressing tools, along with compression connectors by the dozen (gets down to cents/apiece instead of dollars) to "role my own" at the spaghetti ends. This also allows for neat correct lengths of all cables.
One of my favorite scanner experiences of all time: A 500, two 800's, and an HP-1(E), all with the exact same input (shuffle the HP-1(E) around to confirm antenna/cable viability/equality by meter). Any anomaly jumps out at you.
Another interesting discovery (indoor testing of one of the outdoor tested failing antennas). This antenna is shiny (like chrome), telescopes to about 16-24 inches (can't remember) and has a two planes of rotation at the base. The base connects directly to the scanner by a RNC (?) quick connect adapter/connector.
With the radio held still, the antenna could be rotated around the base 360 degrees, and also the antenna could be tilted over from the vertical to horizontal, at the same time. With the HP-1 monitoring the reception strength and quality, the point of maximum reception could easily be found. For anyone interested, the radio was monitoring a single site in the said P-25 System. That site proved to be (by HP-1 (E)) a very strong site for my location. It was only about the 6th or 7th closet site in this Simulcast System. It was on a mountain Peak, 22 miles due West from my house (Peak visible from my carport). The best antenna position for reception was 25-30 degrees to the left (South West) and tilted down about 20 degrees from the vertical. With the HP-1 (e) the "sweet spot" just jumped out at me. Unfortunately, this sweet spot still was not good enough for satisfactory decoding of this P-25 System.
I came to the conclusion that, if one radio is not working up to par with the other three, it is not due to the failing radio being inferior to the other three. It is, however, much more likely that I, the user, have not made sure of all the connections, proper scanner settings, etc. When I got it right, all four radios were pulling together identically, like a well trained and controlled mule team, lol. This matched result was extremely superior to the results with any one of my scanners, including the HP-1, before the E. Now, of course, I don't actually scan for pleasure this way. My separate radios are generally each scanning different Agencies and/or System. The identical setups used in this narrative are only for the testing.
Sort of throws all that Forum BS about this radio or that radio decoding better than another radio right out the window (Well, I have no doubts about this myself, due to my attempted OBJECTIVE, somewhat controlled, semi-scientific, PERSONAL testing).
Now, I acknowledge that the best antenna for you (along with other possible equipment not yet purchased) will have to take into consideration your location, what types of Systems you want to listen to, your price considerations, your willingness/ability to experiment with user adjustable scanner settings, number of radios you intend to monitor (future), etc. The good news is that you already have in your possession the potential to almost “scientifically” decide the issue. You will need the E to go along with your HP-1. For me, the E was worth it just for the antenna testing alone. I understand a free Update/Upgrade (I get them mixed up) is coming out tomorrow, the 6th. Yahoo!!
Thanks for listening and your patience,
Rob
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