When P25 is used in the county, will the Home Patrol be compatible? Will I have to reprogram the scanner for P25? Also, can you tell me exactly what P25 is? I'm new to all of this and it is a bit overwhelming.
Thanks for your help.
Thank you dawg and lep. Your explanation on P25 helped me understand what is happening. As you know making a purchase as large as the cost of a HP-1, I really want to be sure it will meet my expectations and my abilities to use it. I bought a Pro 95 about 10 years ago and never got off the ground with it.
With the features on the HP, I feel like I have a better chance of successful scanning.
Dawg, thanks for the suggestion about the antenna. With the forums input and willingness to help a new person to this hobby, I am leaning to purchasing the HP-1.
Thank you dawg and lep. Your explanation on P25 helped me understand what is happening. As you know making a purchase as large as the cost of a HP-1, I really want to be sure it will meet my expectations and my abilities to use it. I bought a Pro 95 about 10 years ago and never got off the ground with it.
With the features on the HP, I feel like I have a better chance of successful scanning.
Dawg, thanks for the suggestion about the antenna. With the forums input and willingness to help a new person to this hobby, I am leaning to purchasing the HP-1.
P-25 is short hand for APCO Project 25 (Association of Public Safety Communiations Officers, a trade association of professionals and manufacturers in the field). P25 is a system of digital voice and data now being adopted by many, but not alll, US public saftey agencies. It can be received by the generation of scanners which are "digital capable." A key feature of the Uniden HP-1 is does NOT have to be programmed for P-25, it does NOT display the mode of emisson and analog and P-25 transmissions can be mixed together and the scanner will play them the same.
Uniden operates a 'mirror' of the rr.com database that has the data that is massaged a little to be suitable for the HP-1, so you upate changes in the database directly by logging into Unidetn (as oftern as once a week if there are changes in the data that you are interested in.
Some departments are changing to a type of digital voice which the HP-1 (or any other scanner) can NOT decode. A noticable type is ProVoice.
P-25 is presently all "Phase 1", there are few (or maybe NO) "Phase 2" systems as the international standard for Phase 2 has not yet been approved, there is a tentative or preliminary Phase 2 standard. The GRE (i.e Radio Shack) latest scanner MAY be able to decode final Phase 2 (or maybe not). I am not sure that anyone knows for certain.
There is NO Federal mandate that Public Safety will be required to adopt digital. Nor, it there any mandate that it be P-25. What is going to be required is "narrow banding" to increase the number of apparent channels by reducing the occupied bandwidth.
Florida is making some changes just because they want to, they are making some changes just to get their turn at Fedral grants, they are making some changes for political reasons, they are making some changes just because they can!
P-25 is short hand for APCO Project 25 (Association of Public Safety Communiations Officers, a trade association of professionals and manufacturers in the field). P25 is a system of digital voice and data now being adopted by many, but not alll, US public saftey agencies. It can be received by the generation of scanners which are "digital capable." A key feature of the Uniden HP-1 is does NOT have to be programmed for P-25, it does NOT display the mode of emisson and analog and P-25 transmissions can be mixed together and the scanner will play them the same.
Uniden operates a 'mirror' of the rr.com database that has the data that is massaged a little to be suitable for the HP-1, so you upate changes in the database directly by logging into Unidetn (as oftern as once a week if there are changes in the data that you are interested in.
Some departments are changing to a type of digital voice which the HP-1 (or any other scanner) can NOT decode. A noticable type is ProVoice.
P-25 is presently all "Phase 1", there are few (or maybe NO) "Phase 2" systems as the international standard for Phase 2 has not yet been approved, there is a tentative or preliminary Phase 2 standard. The GRE (i.e Radio Shack) latest scanner MAY be able to decode final Phase 2 (or maybe not). I am not sure that anyone knows for certain.
There is NO Federal mandate that Public Safety will be required to adopt digital. Nor, it there any mandate that it be P-25. What is going to be required is "narrow banding" to increase the number of apparent channels by reducing the occupied bandwidth.
Florida is making some changes just because they want to, they are making some changes just to get their turn at Fedral grants, they are making some changes for political reasons, they are making some changes just because they can!
One thing to add is that Hillsborough County Sheriff and Hillsborough County Fire Rescue are already "digital".
They converted to digital between 1999 and 2003.
Two years ago, and with P25 looming over everyone's heads, especially the "narrow banding" mandate, they opted to switch to an all Ericcson EDACS system.
Last time I checked, Tampa Fire is still on VHF, but are P25 compliant.
Yes, they are "digital" as in they have EDACS ProVoice capability, but when talking about the system as a whole, they are NOT digital. They are an EDACS analog system utilizing 10% or less ProVoice talkgroups.
Not sure where you get this from. Do you mean they added ProVoice capability at that time?
Hillsborough switched to a GE/Ericsson/Tyco/Harris EDACS system MANY years ago. Probably closer to the 1999 you referenced earlier. They recently drank the P25 Kool-Aid and currently (since the beginning of the year) have a P25 (non-EDACS) system in the testing phase, probably to be in service by the RNC convention.
TFR has been on the Hillsborough EDACS system since February. TPD joined a while back.