Uniden's New Product Called Home Patrol

[KE4ZNR]

This looks real nice.
My main question is :
Does it have enough audio power to be used in a vehicle ?

The color display is very nice and the size seems like it will mount quite nicely in a vehicle.
This can certainly solve the space problem that so many vehicles have today, and also solve the problem of a "remote head".
It would be a winner to me if the audio was strong enough to use mobile....

Overall, this looks excellent !
I'm in.......

Audio should not be a problem. And if you need more there is an external speaker jack.

Perfect size for mobile mounting indeed.

No offense to GRE but with all of the features it has the Home Patrol makes the Pro-107 look like a childs toy found in a Mcdonalds Happy Meal.

I am looking forward to seeing what other features are still yet undocumented about the HP.

Marshall KE4ZNR

 

[kayi4cle]

Very exciting! And with the large, well-lit screen I've been wanting. Does it come with AC and DC power plugs? In addition to computer programming, is it also possible to enter frequencies manually (like on the fly), and will it display the frequency in addition to text tag? The screen looks large, but are the letters larger than on current radios (such as the 346XT)? Does it have Close Call? Does it have a sleep timer? I can't wait to learn more about this great little radio!!

 

[VE2ZPS]

Nations, services, organizations that claim they need to keep the public from hearing what they do in the constitutional pursuit of their constitutional directives have the danger inherint in that in hiding what they do from the public. There is the thing you need to be actively fighting. I've listened to public service radio as a working journalist and hobbiest since the 1940s and I see this insidious creep of rationalizing hiding anything from "the bad guys" as badder than any bad guy can ever be.i

Very nicely presented !!!

Within the next 2 years, we won't have even ONE Police Dept. left to monitor here in the province of Quebec. In fact, we are probably the only place in North America to have an encrypted Provincial Public Work dept. We have so much money to waste in order to protect the identity and reputation of the old pieces of tire on the road.

With respect to the new product presented today, I was curious about the utilization of the term "Revolutionary" however, being in this wonderful hobby for over 30 years, I was extremely sceptic as to what could be introduced that would be really worthwhile.

The product definitely appears to be innovative, user friendly and it has a very attractive display but (my opinion) I see maybe 3 types of potential market segments: 1) Those who want to try anything new that pertains to Scanning, 2) Those you don't want to bother with learning how to program a DMA Scanner and 3) Those who are constantly on the move.

Based on the preliminary information presented here, I do like to control what's in my 396T and 996T and besides trying this new product for a couple of minutes; I don't have any interest. As one contributor said, if it would have a Snooze button, I would probably use it as alarm clock. :lol:

I don't see any meat for the real scanning hobbyists (for lack of a better word) BUT there is probably a nice market for this product.

Thank you very much for the information; it is extremely appreciated.

 

[DaveIN]

Just what we needed, a sophisticated scanner that is so simple a gangbanger can use it.

ROFL!!! :lol:

 

[Viper43]

This looks real nice.
My main question is :
Does it have enough audio power to be used in a vehicle ?

The color display is very nice and the size seems like it will mount quite nicely in a vehicle.
This can certainly solve the space problem that so many vehicles have today, and also solve the problem of a "remote head".
It would be a winner to me if the audio was strong enough to use mobile....

Overall, this looks excellent !
I'm in.......

How louds your vehicle? There is a place thats called Midas that can quiet the vehicle down so you can hear your radios (sorry, couldn't resist that one)

I could go on about a bigger vehicle for more radios but I'll let that one slide And yeah, I thought the same about the remote head.

V

 

[chgomonitor]

I don't know but I think many of us here are sort of missing the point. As soon as I learned of dynamic memory systems I said what we need is a different way of managing it, a new type of interface. They are too fluid to handle with a keypad, quick keys or even scrolling/rolling menus. My vision was more something along the lines of the then popular PDA devices, stylus, drag and drop, etc. Here Uniden has taken a slightly different approach - perhaps more along the lines of an IPAD or IPHONE. MAGNIFICENT! EXACTLY what the human end of the dynamic memory system requires. It's a whole new era in scanner control. I'm sure that those here complaining about not being able control what the radio is doing will (eventually) be utterly entranced by the new interface and how it operates. SO MUCH BETTER! BRAVO Uniden! The first GUI scannerI can't wait to try it. Hurray!

Happy Scanning! - Ted

 

[DaveIN]

The product definitely appears to be innovative, user friendly and it has a very attractive display but (my opinion) I see maybe 3 types of potential market segments: 1) Those who want to try anything new that pertains to Scanning, 2) Those you don't want to bother with learning how to program a DMA Scanner and 3) Those who are constantly on the move.

You just hit the nail on the the head! Those folks who can't (or won't try) to program a DMA scanner will most likely be attracted to this one. From the looks of things, it's not even going to need much of a manual. That should take care of about 85% of the folks who want yet-another-owners-manual, just so the can ignore it :roll:

I can see much more potential in this model than the last few offerings we have seen in the latest scanner crop. I for one will need a BCD996XT and a PSR600, but if the radio can decode P25, record (and play back audio), and include the whole RR database, then wow! It's going to be a winner.

 

[kennyblues]

Do I need one? No not really. Will i get one? Ya probably will.
I'm just hoping that I can add frequencies that are not in the R.R database. Such as Fed's & Military.

 

[Viper43]

Very nicely presented !!!

Within the next 2 years, we won't have even ONE Police Dept. left to monitor here in the province of Quebec. In fact, we are probably the only place in North America to have an encrypted Provincial Public Work dept. We have so much money to waste in order to protect the identity and .[/B]

Ok, as for ENCRYPTION..... Only YOU can prevent encryption..... YOU the TAXPAYERS and VOTERS! It's up to you to know whats going on and use that knowledge to prevent the radio systems from going encrypted. If when a department says we want $$ for a new radio system then you need to get involved and make sure that the system can be monitored both as a taxpayer and a voter. If you sat around and let them do what they want then don't complain when they go encrypted. ou pay for the system and you should be able to monitor it. ou can vote people out who are wanting encryption as well.

 

[Viper43]

Do I need one? No not really. Will i get one? Ya probably will.
I'm just hoping that I can add frequencies that are not in the R.R database. Such as Fed's & Military.

Last I looked (last night) there are fed and military frequencies in the RR DB

V

 

[LouCheese]

I look at it this way:

Step 1) Uniden releases Home Patrol, an easy to use scanner that expands the market by bringing new customers in.

Step 2) With more customers, it's less risky for Uniden to pursue higher end, higher tech, multi-feature scanners for advanced users....because thanks to HP now there's MORE advanced users.

Will I buy a Home Patrol? No, I'm very happy with my 396/15XT/996XT, and with the way I use them HP doesn't really have anything these don't, but I don't hold that against Uniden. I think HP is a smart business move.

Oh well, guess I'll go ahead and order that remote head now. I was holding off in case a new one came out.

 

[BenScan]

If I recall correctly under Menu, Advanced Settings, there's an option for entering a single frequency. I believe it's a similar to going to VFO on a ham radio, where you're tuned to that frequency, but it's not necessarily in memory, and when you go away from that screen, you'll be back to scanning lists. I could be wrong on that, but I don't recall seeing a place to add that to the scan list. Paul pointed out in his introduction that more advanced functions will be added after the initial release.

 

[rdale]

It only took Uniden about 8 years to use this "HomePatrol" name on a new product

I don't think that was the case.

HOME PATROL- Domain for sale

My guess is they saw that it expired a few years back and took it over.

 

[DaveIN]

Paul pointed out in his introduction that more advanced functions will be added after the initial release.

Good to hear! I hope it goes beyond the original idea of pay for updates on the BCD396T, that never materialized. there are many features I'd love to see on this type of platform. Think of the possibilities with recording, USB conductivity, third party decoders (if the protocol is released), sceen display features for trunked systems, just to name a few.

 

[BenScan]

To tell the truth, when I first entered Uniden's open house today, and saw "Home Patrol" on their shirts, I thought it might have been referring to one of their video surveillance products.

 

[DaveIN]

Will I buy a Home Patrol? No, I'm very happy with my 396/15XT/996XT, and with the way I use them HP doesn't really have anything these don't, but I don't hold that against Uniden. I think HP is a smart business move.

Be sure to vote: http://forums.radioreference.com/uniden-scanners/184283-homepatrol-you-getting-one.html#post1337281

 

[DaveIN]

To tell the truth, when I first entered Uniden's open house today, and saw "Home Patrol" on their shirts, I thought it might have been referring to one of their video surveillance products.

LOL, that's what I was thinking too. No BC XT XYZ this time.

 

[Tryton]

This Scanner will be perfect for my father for his birthday.. He loves radio, and even got his ham ticket, but the radios were just too much for him to figure out. Thank You Uniden for making a scanner for the technology challenged!

 

[DaveIN]

Tryton, this appears to be the target market Uniden is looking at. I'm sure your dad will like it just from what we have learned about it so far. Curious, did you consider the Pro-107 from RadioShack or the GRE PSR700?

 

[h8tdigitalradio]

Does it come with AC and DC power plugs?

Yes, and the USB Cable.

In addition to computer programming, is it also possible to enter frequencies manually (like on the fly), and will it display the frequency in addition to text tag?

Yes, there are even Avatars for specific Departments.

The screen looks large, but are the letters larger than on current radios (such as the 346XT)?

Lets say you will be pleasantly pleased!

Does it have a sleep timer?

It has an auto shut off.

73

Dave AKA The Tripzter

Posted on the iPad from DFW.