Home Patrol 1 or 2

[wisconsinjimmy]

My zip is 54006 counties around me are in WI Polk, Burnett and Barron County's.
In MN there is Chisago, Washington, Pine county's. I do not think I could hear Anoka or Hennepin
I am on a very tight budget and was looking at a Home Patrol 1
Can you help?

 

[doovenator]

At quick glance it appears the ARMER's system in Minnesota has a lot of simulcast sites, which perform better with Uniden's newer SDS100 or SDS200. The HomePatrol 1 can only do P25 Phase 1, which the main WISCOM state system is P25 Phase 1, so it should work there. Just expect less than ideal reception if you go with the HP1 for Minnesota, even though it is also P25 Phase 1, the simulcast changes the game.

 

[tvengr]

The HP1 should be fine for Polk, Burnett, and Barron Counties. Chisago, Washington, and Pine Counties on the ARMER system use simulcast sites which may cause missed transmissions and garbled audio.. It way work or it may not, depending upon your location in relation to the towers. Everything in your area appears to be conventional or P25 Phase I. so the HP2 presently would not be required. The HP2 would have the same simulcast issues. There are some casinos and other business you would not be able to receive. Neither the HP1 nor the HP2 are capable of DMR or NXDN.

 

[wisconsinjimmy]

from all of your expertise could I get buy with an older unit I was looking at the SDS100 but by the time you add the programming I am up to almost $900. I am 75 and have no intention of moving the only reason to listen to Chisago is that is my daughter lives there. I think I can get minneapolis/St Paul on the computer

 

[RandyKuff]

You could take a look in the "Classifieds" here on radio reference and see what is available as far as used...
Might find something in your budget range...

 

[wisconsinjimmy]

I am electrically challenged on this scanner stuff should I buy an analog or digital? I am thinking digital

 

[hiegtx]

from all of your expertise could I get buy with an older unit I was looking at the SDS100 but by the time you add the programming I am up to almost $900. I am 75 and have no intention of moving the only reason to listen to Chisago is that is my daughter lives there. I think I can get minneapolis/St Paul on the computer

I presume that the reference to "price of the programming" you are referring to buying a scanner programmed by the selling dealer. Depending on how many counties you want programmed, that cost can end up north of $100 for programming. Also, when something changes, you'd have to pay them again if you don't want to do the programming yourself.

But for a database scanner, such as Uniden's HP scanners (Uniden refers to their database scanners as being in the 'Home Patrol' family). there really is no pressing need to pay for programming. You can update the database using the Sentinel software from Uniden, that is free to download & use, then scan using your location, range, the database. & selecting the service types of interest. Creating Favorites lists to customize your listening has a bit of a learning curve, but there are multiple videos on YouTube, Wiki pages, and countless posts on the forums on how to do it. While there are other software packages available (ARC536, two versions, "Basic" about $40, "Pro" around $70; and ProScan, $50), they are not required since you can do programming with Sentinel.

As far as cost of the scanner itself, occasionally you'll find a good price on a unit for sale in the classifieds here, or on eBay. You might also score a bargain at pawn shops or estate sales, where the seller does not really know what they have, only that they want to sell it. While, in general, the price of a new SDS100 is about $650 from most dealers, you might also find one that has a "store demo" for less. Remtronix has the SDS100 for $549.95. These are refurbished by Uniden, not a third party, and come with a 90 day factory warranty. Call them for details if interested.

 

[wisconsinjimmy]

What about this
GRECOM PSR-800 Digital
I cannot say if the price is right but what are your opinions?

 

[hiegtx]

I am electrically challenged on this scanner stuff should I buy an analog or digital? I am thinking digital

Definitely digital, for what you want to monitor.

 

[hiegtx]

What about this
GRECOM PSR-800 Digital
I cannot say if the price is right but what are your opinions?

That's about a ten year old scanner. Forget about using it if simulcast is involved.

 

[jimmie13]

I will go friend either because they both are not the best for simulcast i woud go for a sds 100

 

[palmerjrusa]

I have an HP-2 and a SDS100.

They're both great scanners but the HP-2 will not handle simulcast issues well, the SDS100 should have no problem doing that though.

I would go for a refurbished SDS100 and don't pay someone to program it for you or to add licenses for other digital systems.
It's easy to do that yourself and there's plenty of help here and tutorials on YouTube for that if you have questions.

 

[wisconsinjimmy]

Ok SDS it is can, kind of spendy

I have an HP-2 and a SDS100.

They're both great scanners but the HP-2 will not handle simulcast issues well, the SDS100 should have no problem doing that though.

I would go for a refurbished SDS100 and don't pay someone to program it for you or to add licenses for other digital systems.
It's easy to do that yourself and there's plenty of help here and tutorials on YouTube for that if you have questions.

I am looking at a home Patrol 2 that is like new and this simulcast I beleive is not in my area yet so I think I can live without and one more thing that I just thought of will the HP2 monitor WI State Patrol?

 

[palmerjrusa]

Ok SDS it is can, kind of spendy

I am looking at a home Patrol 2 that is like new and this simulcast I beleive is not in my area yet so I think I can live without and one more thing that I just thought of will the HP2 monitor WI State Patrol?

I checked the database and the WI State Patrol seems to be a conventional system and the HP-2 should be able to handle that no problem.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

As far as simulcast goes (and has been mentioned countless times on various forums/threads here) the SDS series scanners are the only way to go. Unfortunately they aren't within everybody's price range but then again this is quite an expensive hobby and the engineers who build these systems don't give a hoot about the hobbyists and couldn't care less to design them for our optimal listening experiences. It is what it is...

 

[palmerjrusa]

Ok SDS it is can, kind of spendy

I am looking at a home Patrol 2 that is like new and this simulcast I beleive is not in my area yet so I think I can live without and one more thing that I just thought of will the HP2 monitor WI State Patrol?

How much is that HP-2 you're interested in?

The SDS100 does have some features I really like that the HP-2 lacks, alerts (visual and audio) on specific channels you've programmed.
Also, bear in mind that you'll need to pay to unlock the "extra" features of the HP-2.
Those features and more are standard with the SDS100.
The SDS100 is a far more configurable scanner than the HP-2.

 

[hiegtx]

Ok SDS it is can, kind of spendy

I am looking at a home Patrol 2 that is like new and this simulcast I beleive is not in my area yet so I think I can live without and one more thing that I just thought of will the HP2 monitor WI State Patrol?

The HP-2 would work for your state police. While they do have some conventional channels, it appears that most of their communications are on the statewide WISCOM system. However, for the Wisconsin counties you've mentioned, the sites are Vhf-high, P25 Phase I, but not simulcast.

As far as the Minnesota counties you mentioned above, those are simulcast on ARMER. The HP-2 is not a good choice for simulcast. However, simulcast distortion is very location specific. You might be far enough away from the sites in one or more counties that the HP-2 might work, or it might not. You would not know for sure until you got the scanner & tried to monitor them.

 

[palmerjrusa]

The HP-2 would work for your state police. While they do have some conventional channels, it appears that most of their communications are on the statewide WISCOM system. However, for the Wisconsin counties you've mentioned, the sites are Vhf-high, P25 Phase I, but not simulcast.

As far as the Minnesota counties you mentioned above, those are simulcast on ARMER. The HP-2 is not a good choice for simulcast. However, simulcast distortion is very location specific. You might be far enough away from the sites in one or more counties that the HP-2 might work, or it might not. You would not know for sure until you got the scanner & tried to monitor them.

Ditto for your comments re simulcast.
There's simulcast systems I monitor perfectly on my HP-2 and HP436, simulcast issues are very location-specific.

 

[wisconsinjimmy]

Thanks good people I picked up a HP2 with the upgrades and less than a year old for 4 Ben's on the classifieds I do thank you for steering me in the right direction ya'll have a great year and above all else stay healthy.
Jim KD9DOG

 

[palmerjrusa]

Thanks good people I picked up a HP2 with the upgrades and less than a year old for 4 Ben's on the classifieds I do thank you for steering me in the right direction ya'll have a great year and above all else stay healthy.
Jim KD9DOG

Congratulations and have fun!
It's worth spending some time to get to know the Sentinel software.