Thank you Jason. Yes, I did see that but wasn't sure if it was legitimate.
HP-1: HomePatrol-1 2.06.xx Open Beta
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JamesO
Member
2500 Mile Road Trip Update with Beta version 2.06.08
So I took my HP-1E with the 50G filter and my BC-GPSK on a 2500 mile road trip that covered about 8 states.
I did not do much research on the specific systems, however, what I can say in general what I heard form both EDACS and Motorola analog and P25 systems seemed overall very good. I was monitoring while driving and at a number of destinations.
What was very interesting is the lack of apparent Simulcast problems, but this was likely due to the Systems I was monitoring were not likely Simulcast due to the flatter and more open nature of the terrain. I did notice however, that Mississippi and Alabama highway patrol/state police was pretty quiet, overall very little traffic and I was only skimming the southern end of these states, I was not in them too long due to my route. This may be due to the systems they run, maybe due to the fact that nobody is on the roads?? I have not followed up on these specific systems to understand what I experienced in Mississippi and Alabama.
I still have some more side by side testing to do if I have time and compare to my 996XT or my 436HP. I may actually need to video some of the activity so I can determine if the no audio situations are because the scanner stops as the transmission have stopped, if the signal level/quality is marginal or if there is something else with the System or scanner.
Cannot say I am missing traffic, but I can say I am seeing some wierd things from time to time with the Fairfax County, VA P25 system.
Overall the following systems seemed to play nice, but I did not have another point of reference. Overall the voice decoding and quality was quite good, the error rates even while at highway speed plus were reasonably low and it seemed I was able to follow/hold on TG's and not appear to miss any traffic. I actually listened to a high speed motorcycle pursuit on the NC VIPER Statewide P25 system that was about 20 miles ahead of me and in the general area where I was stopping and somewhat familiar. Speeds of over 120 MPH and multiple units trying to track and give pursuit. A few times I heard a mobile unit break up, the dispatcher requested the unit to retransmit due to breaking up, so this was not the scanner but the mobile unit having issues.
NC VIPER Statewide P25
Louisiana Wireless Information Network (LWIN)
Atlanta Public Safety P25 System
Palmetto 800
Virginia Statewide Agencies Radio System (STARS)
I was very surprised how well the VA STARS system worked while on the highway as compared to how difficult it is for me to monitor at home. I still have not had time to get a really decent antenna set up and my location is not the best for the STARS network along with a lot of VHF transmitters in the general area.
These may or may not be good test cases, I did not have another point of reference, but was my general overall experience with the latest Beta firmware. I did record a bit of traffic, but most of the monitoring was not while recording. I did not experience any hang ups, drop outs or require any restarts of the scanner. I believe the longest time the scanner was continuously operating was around 7 hours during this trip.
So I took my HP-1E with the 50G filter and my BC-GPSK on a 2500 mile road trip that covered about 8 states.
I did not do much research on the specific systems, however, what I can say in general what I heard form both EDACS and Motorola analog and P25 systems seemed overall very good. I was monitoring while driving and at a number of destinations.
What was very interesting is the lack of apparent Simulcast problems, but this was likely due to the Systems I was monitoring were not likely Simulcast due to the flatter and more open nature of the terrain. I did notice however, that Mississippi and Alabama highway patrol/state police was pretty quiet, overall very little traffic and I was only skimming the southern end of these states, I was not in them too long due to my route. This may be due to the systems they run, maybe due to the fact that nobody is on the roads?? I have not followed up on these specific systems to understand what I experienced in Mississippi and Alabama.
I still have some more side by side testing to do if I have time and compare to my 996XT or my 436HP. I may actually need to video some of the activity so I can determine if the no audio situations are because the scanner stops as the transmission have stopped, if the signal level/quality is marginal or if there is something else with the System or scanner.
Cannot say I am missing traffic, but I can say I am seeing some wierd things from time to time with the Fairfax County, VA P25 system.
Overall the following systems seemed to play nice, but I did not have another point of reference. Overall the voice decoding and quality was quite good, the error rates even while at highway speed plus were reasonably low and it seemed I was able to follow/hold on TG's and not appear to miss any traffic. I actually listened to a high speed motorcycle pursuit on the NC VIPER Statewide P25 system that was about 20 miles ahead of me and in the general area where I was stopping and somewhat familiar. Speeds of over 120 MPH and multiple units trying to track and give pursuit. A few times I heard a mobile unit break up, the dispatcher requested the unit to retransmit due to breaking up, so this was not the scanner but the mobile unit having issues.
NC VIPER Statewide P25
Louisiana Wireless Information Network (LWIN)
Atlanta Public Safety P25 System
Palmetto 800
Virginia Statewide Agencies Radio System (STARS)
I was very surprised how well the VA STARS system worked while on the highway as compared to how difficult it is for me to monitor at home. I still have not had time to get a really decent antenna set up and my location is not the best for the STARS network along with a lot of VHF transmitters in the general area.
These may or may not be good test cases, I did not have another point of reference, but was my general overall experience with the latest Beta firmware. I did record a bit of traffic, but most of the monitoring was not while recording. I did not experience any hang ups, drop outs or require any restarts of the scanner. I believe the longest time the scanner was continuously operating was around 7 hours during this trip.
Thanks for the report James
Does your summation with regard to no hang-ups/drop-outs include the "no audio" thing?
Does your summation with regard to no hang-ups/drop-outs include the "no audio" thing?
JamesO
Member
For my 2500 mile road trip, I did not experience any no audio issues. I did suffer from no audio issues with at least one Beta version of the firmware that I had previously run.
I do not recall recall any no audio issue with any of the previous regular release firmware.
Now this may or may not also be System specific as well? So what I am experiencing may or may not be true across the board?
The "no audio" issues in my opinion/experience appeared to be where the scanner would actually stop on a TG, and have traffic. I somewhat determined in my case that the problem was with un-muting the audio section of the radio and not a decoding or signal issue. This appears for at least my typically listening to have been corrected with the latest Beta 2.06.08 which I am running.
I am occasionally still experiencing situations where the scanner stops on a TG for a short period of time and there is no traffic. I do not believe this is the same as the "no audio" issue. It may be a channel reservation has not been let go at the end of a transmission and the scanner has just caught the TG ID still "active" before it has been released, if there is an issue with simulcast confusing things or just a margin signal on for the channel?
I just have not been able to fully put a finger on the lingering issue I am seeing, it may or may not be a "normal" condition?
Part of the issue is the HP1 was not used much until the Beta releases came out and then I started playing with and using it more. Also it was much easier to mount in my vehicle for the 2500 mile road trip with the RAM mount. I still have to get time to put the x96XT in with the remote head, time has been tight lately.
Hmmm...
That now makes me wonder if the issue I'm having is different from what others are saying.
My HP will stop on the exact same TG as my 996xt and 800, at the same time, with the same info displayed, for the same amount of time, with no audio. It doesn't do it all the time, just sporadically. Sometimes audio is present, sometimes not.
It also appears to develop this issue after a few minutes of operation upon startup, with full signal on the meter. I have muted and unmuted, attenuated and un-attenuated, changed the range and squelch both up and down, changed the antennas and the location of the unit, all with no apparent difference.
I have also taken this unit on a couple different road trips with auto GPS and it appears to work without any issues. But, as you stated, I was driving so I could not obviously stare at it constantly to see if there were any "no audios".
I sure hope a new update fixes this because I do like the idea of this thing and I'd hate to get rid of it.
Thanks for your help and info James.
That now makes me wonder if the issue I'm having is different from what others are saying.
My HP will stop on the exact same TG as my 996xt and 800, at the same time, with the same info displayed, for the same amount of time, with no audio. It doesn't do it all the time, just sporadically. Sometimes audio is present, sometimes not.
It also appears to develop this issue after a few minutes of operation upon startup, with full signal on the meter. I have muted and unmuted, attenuated and un-attenuated, changed the range and squelch both up and down, changed the antennas and the location of the unit, all with no apparent difference.
I have also taken this unit on a couple different road trips with auto GPS and it appears to work without any issues. But, as you stated, I was driving so I could not obviously stare at it constantly to see if there were any "no audios".
I sure hope a new update fixes this because I do like the idea of this thing and I'd hate to get rid of it.
Thanks for your help and info James.
JamesO
Member
I think I had the same think with the problem Beta version of firmware now that I think of it.
Turned scanner on, worked fine for about 15 minutes, then would go silent due to audio not unmuting.
Since I have been running version 2.06.08, not issue like you are having.
Suggest you install the beta 2.06.08 and see if it resolves the issue.
Turned scanner on, worked fine for about 15 minutes, then would go silent due to audio not unmuting.
Since I have been running version 2.06.08, not issue like you are having.
Suggest you install the beta 2.06.08 and see if it resolves the issue.
TedRHayes
Member
Could the "No Audio" issue actually be that it has stopped on a TG that is Encrypted (at least for that transmission), and scanner is not able to decode the signal into voice. I've been monitoring a P25 trunked system (Ohio MARCS-IP) on the HP1E with latest Beta firmware; I typically monitor in ID Search mode, and it will occasionally stop on a TG that is not programmed into the my favorites list (and I've not avoided) that I know to be Encrypted, and I hear no audio. Just speculating based on the descriptions.
JamesO
Member
Encrypted transmissions could also be part of the issue. I have not specifically "programmed" any encrypted TG to try this. As I recall the HP-1 handles encrypted transmissions differently than the x96XT's that I have.
As I recall encrypted transmissions on the HP-1 will be muted, the scanner will stop on the TG until the transmission has completed.
There may be something strange where the scanner "thinks" a transmission is encrypted for some reason and then stays muted?
But a number of people, including myself, have monitor the same System/TG's with a different scanner and what is being monitored was not encrypted and some version of the HP-1 firmware still would not un-mute the audio section of the scanner.
I think anyone still having issues needs to document the System, Site and specific TG(s) that they are having issues with to see if there is some common factor that can be pinpointed.
As I recall encrypted transmissions on the HP-1 will be muted, the scanner will stop on the TG until the transmission has completed.
There may be something strange where the scanner "thinks" a transmission is encrypted for some reason and then stays muted?
But a number of people, including myself, have monitor the same System/TG's with a different scanner and what is being monitored was not encrypted and some version of the HP-1 firmware still would not un-mute the audio section of the scanner.
I think anyone still having issues needs to document the System, Site and specific TG(s) that they are having issues with to see if there is some common factor that can be pinpointed.
Has nothing to do with encryption
All of my issues are on standard TG's that are all transmitting fine on my 996xt and 800.
If I'm not mistaken, unidens don't "allow" encrypted channels to be picked up at all.
All of my issues are on standard TG's that are all transmitting fine on my 996xt and 800.
If I'm not mistaken, unidens don't "allow" encrypted channels to be picked up at all.
I actually did try to update it but I couldn't get it to do anything.
Not sure what I did wrong or didn't do at all but I got the zip file downloaded to my desktop but couldn't go anywhere from there.
JamesO
Member
Uniden scanners do "allow" encrypted channels to be picked up, but they are unable to "decrypt" the communications. Some of the scanners will actually "mute" on an encrypted channel and can display "Enc" but hold on the TG until the transmission finishes.
JamesO
Member
Unzip the Beta firmware download and store it somewhere on the computer where you can easily find it. Then connect the scanner to the computer with the programming cable, set it to Mass Storage Mode. DO NOT USE SENTINEL for the firmware update.
You then copy/move the unzipped Beta firmware file to the firmware folder on the SD card in the scanner. You will see the file folder is empty when you find the folder. It may be a sub folder as I recall of a main folder?
Once you have the firmware image copied/moved to the Firmware folder in the HP-1, unplug the programming cable, the scanner will restart and the firmware will load.
And per Jay911's post earlier in this thread, if you don't have a folder named debug in that folder then you will bluescreen...
His post is #84, linked directly here: http://forums.radioreference.com/uniden-owner-tech-support/294284-homepatrol-1-2-06-xx-open-beta-5.html#post2231775
Thanks for the info James, I'll have to try it later.
As for uniden encrypted TG's, I thought I read in one of the manuals that they automatically "locked them out" or something to that effect. Maybe that's the same thing you are saying but mine won't show any encrypted TG's registering at all.
I had to manually put them in after getting them off my 800/197, but I can't say as I've noticed them being received still.
As for uniden encrypted TG's, I thought I read in one of the manuals that they automatically "locked them out" or something to that effect. Maybe that's the same thing you are saying but mine won't show any encrypted TG's registering at all.
I had to manually put them in after getting them off my 800/197, but I can't say as I've noticed them being received still.
JamesO
Member
I do not recall everything about the encrypted TG as I usually do not try to monitor them or have many TG that often use encryption, but encrypted TG are supposed to have a flag that lists them as encrypted. I think my x96xt will not mute on encrypted TG, but the HP-1 is supposed to.
But again, I do not spend much time with dealing with encrypted TG as I have so much other traffic in my area.
jasonhouk
Member
Encrypted talk groups are not excluded from the database downloaded weekly from Sentinel. They are marked as "Audio All" which in turn will monitor that talk group for any unencrypted activity.
In the the case of the 996 and 396 models depending on the software you use to program the scanner as to weather or not encrypted talk groups are imported.
The HP1 and the 396, 996 scanners are supposed to mute/resume scanning when the talk group is actively transmitting encrypted traffic.
J
In the the case of the 996 and 396 models depending on the software you use to program the scanner as to weather or not encrypted talk groups are imported.
The HP1 and the 396, 996 scanners are supposed to mute/resume scanning when the talk group is actively transmitting encrypted traffic.
J
JamesO
Member
I never ran into this issue, however, I think this is an issue for people that make a big jump in the Beta versions.
So do be sure you add the Debug folder. I checked and I have a debug folder on my HP-1 at this point, however, it must have been automatically created with an earlier version of the Beta firmware?
Uhoh...
starting to get a little too technical for me now with all this debug business!
starting to get a little too technical for me now with all this debug business!
JamesO
Member
starting to get a little too technical for me now with all this debug business!
You are all wrapped around the axle before you are even getting started. It's really not that hard assuming you can use a USB flash drive on your computer. The HP-1 in USB Mass Storage mode is nothing more than a USB Flash drive.
Here is the deal, FORGET about EVERYTHING at this point.
Turn on the HP-1, then just connect your HP-1 to your computer using the USB cable. Make sure to choose Mass Storage.
Go to My Computer or where you would find all the drives on you computer and any attached storage/USB drives.
Open the drive which you believe is the HP-1.
You will then see a number of folders: HomePatrol and Setup
Open the HomePatrol folder
Then right click on the blank part of the HomePatrol window and choose New then Folder.
Create a new folder and name is "debug" without quotes and all lower case.
Then the debug folder is added.
You should also see a folder called "firmware" this is where you past the unzipped Beta firmware and once the unzipped Beta firmware is moved/copied to the "firmware" filter, just unplug the USB cable and the scanner will restart and the firmware will automatically update.
Hope this is easy enough to follow?
Well James...
That was fairly easy, provided I did it right.
I'll be crossing my fingers and giving it a test run shortly.
Thanks for the help.
That was fairly easy, provided I did it right.
I'll be crossing my fingers and giving it a test run shortly.
Thanks for the help.
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