Uniden HomePatrol-2 Color Touchscreen Scanner with TrunkTracker V/S/A/M/E, APCO P25, Emergency Alerts – Covers USA and Canada

I have owned many scanner radios over the years, including Regency crystal type. I have a 396xt which has been THE scanner to receive most digital signals, in my county. Cincinnati Police are partially encrypted so most reception is Hamilton County Sheriff as well as surrounding counties. This is the scanner to own, for the majority of users. As to install, it literally took me 1 minute to getup and running. At this time, i’m going with the factory firmware and not connected to a laptop. The display is superb, finish and build quality very good, and the reception of digital signals very clear. The one thing I miss is the loss of search function. You can’t set a lower and upper scan range looking for new frequencies. The signal strength meter is way to small in the upper right corner. Setup is very easy. Punch in your zip code.. The scanner will load all local frequencies from a 4 gig micro sd card, located under the right side batteries. 2300 Mahr nimh AA batteries are included. After loading your frequencies, you then can go into the meny and adjust distance from transmitters to your home and pick what type of freq. to load.When doing setup just go past the page asking for user info, either attach USB to computer to download Sentinel off Uniden’s web site. I did not use Sentinel. A better choice would be Scancat. Sentinel will not run properly in XPpro, especially if you have a lot of drivers loading. I strongly suggest you install into Win 7-8.1. I have seen issues involving corruption of the sd card, especially if nimh batteries are nit loaded. An AC failure seems to corrupt some cards. Honestly,the radio is fine with original firmware. So, if you have no laptop handy, use as is. The clarity of digital signals is better then on my 396. Now the bad- get an extendable whip antenna and toss the rubber duckie. Universal has a fine antenna with the correct sma connector and swivel. Consider getting a Uniden extension speaker, especially in autos. The gps option automatically changes freq. depending on location. Be gentle installing the two connectors to the radio. Jacks have been reported to fail when excessive presure is applied. The gps uses a very clunky interface needing a separate power connection. I would recommend not leaving scanner on dashboard in summer. I have not encountered any software bugs with original firmware. The ver. 2 has a charge indicator on the front panel. The scanner is currently overpriced. If you don’t need it now, wait until the prices come down. For the average listener, the zip code feature issuperb. I had to pay to program previous Unidn’s. They were terrible even using scanning software. I would’ve given five stars, except for the price. ADVOCATE USE REPORT- after living with the HPII, I become more impressed everyday. The scanner was so easy to setup. No computer required. Tone quality superb even on APCO 25 phase one. The scanner also decode phase 2 being used in some large cities. This is first trunk tracking HP. Graphics in color are EXCELLENT. Sensitivity excellent. Setup SUPERB. If you use matching speaker, sound is fantastic. You can alter to exact mile away from transmitter that you will receive.Start with zip code. Then go into menu and fine tune distance. All the negative issues concerning jacks failing is not really correct, at least on my sample. You do not have to immediately use a computer. You don’t have to enter your info. Bypass these screens and enjoy. I was particulary impressed by clear reception from other counties. I do recommend you dump the rubber duckie. Universal sells a superb telescopic whip that cones with a swivel sma plug. You can use and charge, if you AC adapter is rated 1 amp @5v. Next use test will be new uniden trunking five handheld.

As someone who loves to stay up-to-date on local news and events, I’ve been on the lookout for a police scanner that’s both easy to use and packed with features. The Uniden HomePatrol-2 delivers on both counts and more.The first thing I noticed about this scanner is how easy it is to set up and use. The color touchscreen is intuitive and responsive, and the pre-programmed channels and location-based scanning made it a breeze to get started. I was up and running in no time, and quickly began to explore all the different features the HomePatrol-2 has to offer.One of my favorite features is the ability to customize the scanner to my specific needs. With the ability to create custom scan lists and assign priority channels, I can focus on the frequencies that are most important to me. And with the GPS functionality, the HomePatrol-2 can automatically adjust the channels it scans based on my location, making it even easier to stay informed about what’s happening in my community.The audio quality is also top-notch, with clear and crisp reception that makes it easy to hear even in noisy environments. And with the ability to record and playback transmissions, I can go back and listen to important broadcasts again if needed.Overall, I highly recommend the Uniden HomePatrol-2 to anyone looking for a high-quality police scanner that’s packed with features and easy to use. Whether you’re a hobbyist, a journalist, or just someone who wants to stay informed, the HomePatrol-2 is a great investment that will provide hours of listening pleasure.

Updating, and battery charging was a bit confusing.I dislike the whole idea of needing a computer for any radio, but that’s just my personal prefrence.Once the scanner was completely updated, and programmed (which was great, zip code was only needed!), and the outside antenna connected, it worked great! Great audio, and clear! Hearing departments again that switched from analog to P25 ph1.I do not use the batteries, I use the cable, and a power supply. I’ve seen complaints about the audio volume, but I have none.Again, I am glad I purchased this.

Fantastic. First impression was when I opened the smaller than expected box. There were two complex cardboard shapes with everything slipped into carefully designed spaces inside the folds. (I am impressed when someone takes the time to design a simple thing like packaging. I believe this indicates an overall high level of quality that permeates down to the internals of the product.) I installed the four rechargeable AA batteries and found it to be pre-charged to a useable level. I fiddled for a while then plugged it into a USB charger overnight. (The red CHARGE light never did turn green, but the onscreen battery indicator was a solid green.) I got out the quick start guide and dove in.I plugged the included USB cable in my PC and selected NO on the Start Charging screen. This is clever: if you choose YES it accepts a charge current off the USB cable, as one might expect. If you select NO, the PC sees a flash drive with a SETUP folder! I went through the setup process and watched it load the scanner’s interactive software onto my PC, which downloaded the latest firmware and national+state frequency database. I read up on the use of this software and then loaded the “profile” from the scanner. I reset my location (zip code) and the services I wanted it to scan. I tweaked the volume, squelch, etc. and saved the profile back to the scanner. (All this can be done on-screen, but it’s much easier with the PC software.)I held down the power switch for a second or two and it came to life. I’m too new at this product to judge yet, but I spent some time fiddling with the attenuation and range controls to get it to find what I wanted to listen to. I’ve been learning the HOLD and AVOID functions by trial and error. I’m going to read the owner’s manual (also loaded onto my PC) soon, but I’m having too much fun for now.Overall, this is a really sophisticated scanner that comes with local PC software support, which uses an Internet connection to keep the frequency database up to date for me. I’ve had scanners before. The early ones required me to use a book to keep my frequencies up to date. Later many of the radio systems went to trunk and digital modes that my little scanner couldn’t handle. When the police and news helicopters were nearby over some incident, it was nearly impossible to find out what was happening. That scanner, as nice as it was, sat in a drawer for many years. This one, however, looks like it will prove to be a lot more interesting and informative. And when we go to the local small airport restaurant for lunch, we will be able to monitor aircraft and tower conversations while we watch the takeoffs and landings. The old scanner didn’t support that mode.

Following the start-up instructions, I had to find an old PC to plug into for what was supposedly a DB update. (We purged PC’s from our home a few years ago.) Never got that to work.But it turns out the existing flash/ROM installed DB was just fine. The catch is, as a default it wants to scan EVERYTHING. So if you enter your ZIP code, it will give you ALL the frequencies you could possibly want… the entire state, your county, and your locals. With all that scanning, you’ll get nothing.So a quick trick is to use the FAVORITES option (easy to find and setup). Quick lookup online for your local and of-interest frequencies, manually enter them as favorites, and it finds the matching names in its database. Then you’ll have a nice, short list, of frequencies that you care about, and it will cycle through them quickly. And NOW you’ll enjoy all the features too.Very happy with this device. Sound quality is excellent. I wish the “stand” would lock in place though. It’s a flimsy gravity-based shelf-type holder, entirely inappropriate for a $400+ device.