Making sense of what counties/cities come in, and setting your city on Uniden HP1

[PadrePaul]

Hi all,

Still getting used to the new scanner, and thus far I think I've found a good spot for it on my windowsill and am enjoying using the antenna I purchased off of ebay, an 800mhz one that gives me a good range. I appreciate the help people have been in helping me get started.

The only other questions I had were concerning setting your city on the scanner, and making sense of what comes in. I understand one call may "trip" other towers so what I'm hearing is being picked up on a nearby tower, most likely Maple Plain. I live in Delano, but being I wanted to hear more of Hennepin I set the city as Medina, which is about 10 miles east. Doing this I find I get the Hennepin mains pretty good, Wright County calls, and even get many Anoka calls clearly, along with Scott and Dakota Counties. The only thing that's a little scratchy at times are Hennepin County fire pages, and I'd guess that maybe less towers are being tripped on these because the only tower perhaps being tripped is that within the city of the page? Or would they do more than that as volunteer firefighters don't have to live within the city they serve?

As I've said before though, I'm a little confused as to why I hear next to nothing from Minneapolis. I know I could set the city different, but I also want to make sure to hear Wright County calls. I do get Bloomington pretty clear, along with Edina and Eden Prairie; and if Anoka's main is coming in just fine, that's even farther than Minneapolis. One would think the most calls would come from Minneapolis as it's got the densest population. If I'm too far away that's OK too; I've got plenty to listen to, but to me the more the better. If you were me, and you still wanted to hear Wright County, would you mix it up and try different cities like Golden Valley, Otsego, Plymouth? Medina seems to be pretty good, and I figured it was closer to Minneapolis so I might get some of that, but no dice so far.

So all in all, pretty good so far as I get used to the thing; only thing is some calls getting choppy every once in a while which was covered in another post. I've also noticed sometimes the little bars that tell me the reception quality seem to work in reverse - so the higher bars on the right are filled while the smaller ones aren't. Seems it should be the other way around.

Thanks for the welcome and the tips. I'm finding it very enjoyable to listen to at night for a while before bed while working on the computer or doing other chores around the house, and probably will bring it to the office too from time to time. Certainly glad I got it.

Take care,
Paul

 

[mrhowes]

I have very limited experience with the HP-1, but I will help where I can. Having set the location on the scanner as Medina, you are most likely picking up traffic from the Hennepin East and/or West towers. What you can hear while monitoring these towers is a hard one to pin down 100%. One thing I can say for sure is that you should be able to hear most if not all Hennepin County traffic (Police, Fire, various public works, etc) with one exception......Minneapolis. I will explain Minneapolis in moment. Now it is possible to hear other talkgroups that comes from outside of Hennepin County. For example while I am writing this I am monitoring the Hennepin East system, and can hear a Dakota County law enforcement talkgroup. I am also hearing Ramsey West law enforcement and Saint Paul police talkgroups. From what I understand, this can happen for 2 reasons (and there may be other reasons as well). The first reason is that talkgroup has an affiliation setup with the tower(s) you are monitoring. This is the most likely possibility. There may be many different reasons for this. Saint Paul, for example, may have this affiliation due to the fact that Saint Paul sits on the Hennepin County border. It may also be because Saint Paul is one of the larger cities in the Twin Cities Area.

The second reason may be that a transceiver (a radio that can transmit and receive) that is actively using a certain talkgroup for one county is currently operating on a tower within a different county. For example, a Saint Paul Police officer using a radio that is operating on the talkgroup for Saint Paul PD East, but is currently standing in the lobby of the Anoka County Courthouse. As such, his is sending and receiving traffic on Saint Paul PD East talkgroup, but by way of the Anoka County tower(s). As such an affiliation with the Anoka County System is temporarily created. This situation is probably the least likely of the two. I hope this does not confuse you.

Now to Minneapolis. Unlike Saint Paul, Bloomington, and Golden Valley, which operate on their respective county system (Ramsey, Hennepin and Hennepin), Minneapolis operates completely on their own system. So, 99% of the time, if you want to hear Minneapolis, you have to be able to monitor Minneapolis' towers.

Please if I have spoken incorrectly, or confused the issue at all feel free to speak and set the record straight. I have been monitoring scanners most of my life, and have been monitoring the Minnesota ARMER system since the beginning, but I too am still learning.

Michael.....

 

[gunmasternd]

you could always upgrade to a 800mhz yagi antenna and point it to the tower your want to listen to. or get the antenna you got on ebay and mount it as high as you can.

overall you got enuff stuff coming in to listen to down there. I would get another scanner if your worried about missing something good.