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| Uniden Home Patrol Road Test The Uniden Home Patrol scanner, introduced October 1, 2010, is a new concept in scanners! Instead of the user researching frequencies, talk groups, and radio systems to program into the radio, it has the complete RadioReference.com (RR) U.S. and Canada frequency database stored in a 2 Gb Micro-SD memory card in the radio. At a street price of about $500, it is competitive with other digital trunk-tracker scanners, although it's very different from any other scanner. It's not really a handheld, but it's not quite like other base scanners, either. It's about 6 inches wide, and 3.25 inches high, not including the antenna, about the size of a GPS unit. Road Test Description: I tested the radio on a 3-week road trip from Denver through Santa Fe NM, Scottsdale AZ, Palm Desert CA, Modesto CA, and returning through Palm Desert, Phoenix AZ, Flagstaff AZ, Santa Fe, and back to Denver. The radio was tested in two different vehicles, using a Larsen 150-450-800 mobile antenna on a magnetic mount. I used a set of Sony noise-canceling headphones to avoid distracting the driver when I was the passenger. The GPS auto-program function was not tested, since a cable to connect the radio to the GPS was not available at the time. This could have been a big improvement over manually programming in the name of each city or county during the trip. How do you use it: The user selects the channels to be received by: Choosing the desired listening area by using the touch screen to input the area to be received, such as either the city or county, or the ZIP code, and Selecting the desired services (police, fire, federal, etc.) in the listening area from a menu on the touch screen. The radio then searches the RR database on the SD chip, and chooses the channels in the area. The user can also specify the desired range, up to 30 miles, by using the touch screen. If not changed, the defaults are a 10 mile radius from the center of a ZIP code, and 20 miles if you used a city or county name. There is also an intriguing AutoLocate function, which is separate from the GPS function. The radio searches frequency bands for a known radio system. When it finds one, you have the option of accepting that location or retrying for another one. I used it a few times, and sometimes it could guess where I was (and sometimes it couldn't). The radius default for this mode is 30 miles.
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| PROS - good features The radio has very good audio, probably greatly assisted by having a good-sized, front-firing speaker. It's hard to get good audio from a tiny speaker. The sensitivity is very good. When Uniden introduced the BCD-396XT, the sensitivity was noticeably improved from the 396T. This radio's sensitivity is at least as good as the XT, and possibly better. (Not yet measured by me.) The method of holding on a channel by touching the name of the channel (or system, or department) while monitoring it, is very intuitive, and works well. It comes with programming software and cable, 4 NiMH rechargeable AA batteries, whip antenna, and a quick reference card. It also comes with both the 110 volt and 12 volt power cords! The radio can be operated as a base, as a mobile (sort of), or as a portable unit. Battery life was quite good. In my testing, I got more than 6 hours of operation from a charge on the supplied batteries. This was with fairly constant reception. When you replay recorded audio, the radio shows the display for the channel you are hearing. This is very helpful in identifying what you are listening to. The GPS function (not tested) can automatically program the radio 'on the fly' as you travel; especially useful while driving. The AutoLocate function can sometimes guess where you are, even if you aren't sure, and program the radio. You can create 'Favorites' lists, and select any one Favorites list, rather than using a location to select channels. Creating them is a bit time-consuming, but they can be quite useful once they are created. Butel is now offering software that will allow you to create your own Favorites lists and load them into the radio, and make a few other custom modifications. Uniden says the database is updated once a week, and you can download it free online whenever you wish. | | CONS - not so good The display, although generally very good,will 'wash out' in very bright light or direct sunlight. I was initially unable to receive any highway patrol channels. This was apparently a problem in the factory-installed database, which was solved by downloading a later version of the database. The touch screen is sometimes difficult to use. It doesn't always respond to a touch, and can sometimes take several tries. The delay is fixed at approximately 2 seconds. This is too short to react to something you would like to monitor (or lock out, which the radio calls 'avoid'). If you are locked on a system, department, or channel, and turn the radio off, when you power it up, it resumes scanning. It does not remain in the last mode used, like other modern scanners. There is no convenient way to go directly to a desired channel or department other than stopping the scan, and stepping through the database. The radio sometimes seems to be overly optimistic about its range, which can be set from zero to 30 miles. When the range is set low, even to zero miles, it often seems to believe it can receive systems 100 miles away or more when programmed to some areas. This is probably a database programming issue. It needs a good mobile bracket. Uniden now offers one for $9.95 from their web site, but it appears to be a 'bolt-mount', not a windshield suction cup or other no-drill mount. Using the supplied desk stand in a mobile application is awkward, at best. You might find a way to Velcro it to your dash, if you wanted to. For mobile use, a 12 volt power setup would have been more convenient, although Uniden does supply both the wall wart and the cigarette lighter plug in the box with the radio. | |
| Improvement suggestions: The alpha tags for the channels could be easier to read. Some of them are so wordy that it was hard to quickly determine what agency I was hearing. I know this data comes from the RadioReference database, but I would suggest a standard set of abbreviations, such as S.O., instead of Sheriff's Office, P.D. instead of Police Department, etc., to condense the tags to make the text easier and quicker to read. Because some of the tags are so wordy, some of them even overflow the display. I believe the font used on the display should be larger. Could the font be selectable? When you type in a location from the screen, the radio should offer 'auto-complete' like many GPS units do, so that you don't need to type the entire name if there are only a few possibilities after typing a few letters. It does not offer you a menu of choices while you are typing until you press 'enter', and at that time you see the choices. There is an "auto-off" function to turn the radio off automatically after a preset period of time, but it is a one-time function. I would like to see it selectable as recurring, possibly a fixed period after the radio is turned on, and/or after a period of time with no input from the user. Since you set the actual local time during setup, perhaps another option could be to turn it off (and on?) at a certain time. Since you can't actually 'touch-type' on the touch screen, change the QWERTY input keyboard to an ABC display. This would make it easier to find the letters you want, especially if you aren't a touch-typer. Add a way to return to 'last channel heard' like the GRE/Radio Shack digital scanners do. Change the replay time interval from the last X seconds of real time, to the last X seconds of recorded audio. The delay setting should be adjustable. It is preset at about 2 seconds. It should be possible to change it, if not for each channel, at least for the whole radio.
Overal impression and conclusions: This is a very good radio, obviously developed for scanner users (and especially would-be scanner users) who don't want to spend a lot of time (or money) getting the radio programmed; they just want to buy a radio and listen to it. The Home Patrol has certainly had a great deal of work involved in its development. There are a few bugs, but these will probably be corrected in future firmware downloads. It would be a good choice for someone who wanted to just listen to certain things in their home area, and not change the programming frequently. It would also be a good choice for someone who travels and wants to have a radio ready to receive a new area as they travel, especially if connected to a GPS. It may not be a good choice for someone who wants to have more precise control over what they listen to, and who prefers to be more interactive with the radio. Many of the settings are only accessible through menu choices, or are not readily not accessible to the user, and this could be frustrating. by Curt Mann Denver Radio | |
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