Uniden Equipment Suggestion

[hoghunter838]

Hi everyone. I am curious if I would be buying the correct scanner for monitoring my local agencies. I want to be abundantly clear, i am brand new to this and a lot of the language and lingo on these forums easily confuse me… so any watering down of technical language would be appreciated lol.

i currently just want to monitor the local law enforcement agency and fire to just keep up with what is going on in my community. I understand that it seems like the local sheriffs office is upgrading to a Motorola P25 Phase 2 Simulcast system either currently or has already done so. (I hope I described that right). I will drop the link below to my county (Paulding county Georgia) and all the associated frequencies if someone could kindly either confirm or discuss with me.

i have done some reading online and I am interested in purchasing the Uniden Home Patrol 2 as it looks like it would be rather easy to “plug and play”. I have read that they struggle with simulcasts. Any opinions or pointers in the right direction would be gladly appreciated!

Paulding County, Georgia (GA) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Paulding County, Georgia (GA)

www.radioreference.com

 

[Enforcer52]

Since Paulding County is soon moving to a 6 tower simulcast system, from the current DMR system, I would suggest either a SDS100 or SDS200 with the DMR upgrade, other wise the simulcast will probably be a problem for you. If you do go with the HP2, then you will still need the DMR upgrade till the switch is made to P25.

 

[werinshades]

Hi everyone. I am curious if I would be buying the correct scanner for monitoring my local agencies. I want to be abundantly clear, i am brand new to this and a lot of the language and lingo on these forums easily confuse me… so any watering down of technical language would be appreciated lol.

i currently just want to monitor the local law enforcement agency and fire to just keep up with what is going on in my community. I understand that it seems like the local sheriffs office is upgrading to a Motorola P25 Phase 2 Simulcast system either currently or has already done so. (I hope I described that right). I will drop the link below to my county (Paulding county Georgia) and all the associated frequencies if someone could kindly either confirm or discuss with me.

i have done some reading online and I am interested in purchasing the Uniden Home Patrol 2 as it looks like it would be rather easy to “plug and play”. I have read that they struggle with simulcasts. Any opinions or pointers in the right direction would be gladly appreciated!

Paulding County, Georgia (GA) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Paulding County, Georgia (GA)

www.radioreference.com

It would appear you need a scanner that is DMR upgradebale, and the sites look to be simulcast.

 

[hoghunter838]

Since Paulding County is soon moving to a 6 tower simulcast system, from the current DMR system, I would suggest either a SDS100 or SDS200 with the DMR upgrade, other wise the simulcast will probably be a problem for you. If you do go with the HP2, then you will still need the DMR upgrade till the switch is made to P25.

for someone with my knowledge, how hard is this thing going to be to program?

 

[Enforcer52]

There is a big learning curve to programming the Unidens. Would suggest you download the manual and study it. Using the Zip Code function and limiting the range and setting it to Law and Fire only could also be used. I would suggest using the ProScan software over the Sentinel software for programming as it does so much more and once you learn it, it's easy to use. But make no mistake, it will take you awhile to get the hang of it.

Maybe someone in your area will chime in and be willing to help you once you make the decision as to which scanner you want.

 

[K9KLC]

There is a big learning curve to programming the Unidens. Would suggest you download the manual and study it. Using the Zip Code function and limiting the range and setting it to Law and Fire only could also be used. I would suggest using the ProScan software over the Sentinel software for programming as it does so much more and once you learn it, it's easy to use. But make no mistake, it will take you awhile to get the hang of it.

Maybe someone in your area will chime in and be willing to help you once you make the decision as to which scanner you want.

If I ever get sentinel working again it will be only for updates on the scanners it supports. I fully also recommend Proscan for programming.

 

[K9KLC]

i have done some reading online and I am interested in purchasing the Uniden Home Patrol 2 as it looks like it would be rather easy to “plug and play”.

Plug and play isn't go be worth much if they go to simulcast. While myself and some others have gotten lucky with Non SDS scanners in "some areas". I don't think I'd count on it.

 

[werinshades]

Sentinel is very usable and free so I would start there. Pro Scan can be added at a later time as well as any additional accessories.

To answer the question, no I think you might be overwhelmed at first due to your lack of experience. But, with some reading, patience you can get the hang of it. As it was suggested, ask around in the local state forum and might be lucky enough to find someone close that can get you started.

 

[hoghunter838]

Sentinel is very usable and free so I would start there. Pro Scan can be added at a later time as well as any additional accessories.

To answer the question, no I think you might be overwhelmed at first due to your lack of experience. But, with some reading, patience you can get the hang of it. As it was suggested, ask around in the local state forum and might be lucky enough to find someone close that can get you started.

I appreciate all of y’all chiming in. I will be honest, I had previously posted in my state thread and some local guys had chimed in… to say they were ***holes would put it politely. It felt like there was some kind of boys club they were trying to gate keep when I admitted I would be brand new and just trying to see if it was worth getting into just to keep up with everything going on. My interest has just peaked again since we had some bad weather here last night and I felt like I had no idea what was happening around my home..

 

[werinshades]

appreciate all of y’all chiming in. I will be honest, I had previously posted in my state thread and some local guys had chimed in… to say they were ***holes would put it politely. It felt like there was some kind of boys club they were trying to gate keep when I admitted I would be brand new and just trying to see if it was worth getting into just to keep up with everything going on. My interest has just peaked again since we had some bad weather here last night and I felt like I had no idea what was happening around my home..

Being a low post count, it's probably being more cautious than anything else. Your question is valid and very good to ask and get information. It's not going to be easy or cheap, and depending on your willingless to learn will guage how this will go.

On the system you linked to (another very helpful thing for us here), they appear to be all simulcast and like we said, will need the DMR upgrade. Being very new at this, I usually don't suggest having the vendor program, but this might be a good idea at least to get a start. From there, you should download Sentinel (since it's free to start), read the programming back into there. You're probably looking at $800 or so with taxes and shipping on the SDS200, so this will dictate how much you're interested. It's all up to you of course.

 

[EAFrizzle]

On the system you linked to (another very helpful thing for us here), they appear to be all simulcast and like we said, will need the DMR upgrade. Being very new at this, I usually don't suggest having the vendor program, but this might be a good idea at least to get a start. From there, you should download Sentinel (since it's free to start), read the programming back into there. You're probably looking at $800 or so with taxes and shipping on the SDS200, so this will dictate how much you're interested. It's all up to you of cocourse.

I agree completely. If you go this route, just get one county programmed from the vendor. Then you can open up Sentinel and see how it's laid out.

You'll definitely need an SDSx00 scanner to deal with the simulcast. I don't have any experience with the Uniden HP series scanners, but my BCD325P2 that is a jewel on DMR and trunking won't even attempt to make audio on my county's P25 simulcast trunked system. My SDS scanners track simulcast beautifully.

 

[tglendye]

Sentinel is very usable and free so I would start there. Pro Scan can be added at a later time as well as any additional accessories.

To answer the question, no I think you might be overwhelmed at first due to your lack of experience. But, with some reading, patience you can get the hang of it. As it was suggested, ask around in the local state forum and might be lucky enough to find someone close that can get you started.

I agree completely. I would also add that there are some good videos on the Uniden SDS scanners and Sentinel. Very informative to learn programming.