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I'm admittedly out of the loop...but is there anything special going on with the Benton County P25 system?? I know they switched over a while ago and I bought my parents a Uniden HomoPatrol so they could continue to listen. Worked fine when I first bought the thing and downloaded the required freq database...however for the past few months there's been nothing heard.

I've downloaded the newest firmware and freq maps. Either the HP database is outdated or I'm doing something terribly wrong with the HP (which BTW is a POS). Miss my BC-780xlt and the analog days....

Thanks for any help!
Kevin

Have you tried analog?

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"A well regulated breakfast, being necessary to the healthy start of the day, the right of the people to keep and eat food shall not be infringed."

I think they must have a secondary control channel that no one has listed as yet. I drove through there last September and didn't hear one transmission from them on my 996XT. I didn't have time to find frequencies during that trip.

I'm heading down that way in early June so I may plan a short break and probe that system out a bit.

One big problem with the HP-1 is its Database is dependent on a different site Database and the info there is only as good as the info submitted to that site.
So with the HP-1 the maker of it offers you the extreme upgrade for about $99 bucks, that will aid in programing it, I my self have both, its great scanner, but
limited to that sites updates.

So, it appears this is a piece of shit product that was so-called easy to use, became more complex by proprietary means and then the added insult of paying more $$ in order to add your own info. Down goes Frazier, Down goes Frazier!

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"I was installing un-programmed radios"

With the upgrade, this thing is only limited, by the end users ability to program a scanner, and we all know that, that can be a big step for some.

Not hearing anything on 800 MHz analog.

I understand the general specifics when programming a scanner. Did just fine when I had a couple 780xlt's. Damn nice radios. But when the whole digital thing took off, I never educated myself and lost interest in scanning. Couldn't justify spending $500 for a 1000 channel digital scanner when all my parents care to hear comes down to less than 100 channels.

Decided to invest in a HomoPatrol for them a couple years ago. Too consumer-ish for my taste...but seemed great for the novice and those whose education is limited to touch-screen devices. I hate the audio and was disappointed in the lack of external speaker options. Also disappointed in the fact there was no BNC connection for an external antenna.

We're still getting Walla Walla County and Franklin County services OK...just nothing from Benton County (Kennewick/Richland). Will keep checking for updates.

Thx for all your replies!
Kevin

Kevin, do a search for SMA to BNC Adapter, there cheap around five bucks. as far as the speaker, that is a easy fix to. About a 5 dollar or less fix. You can
look around this site go to "community" and look around there for your speaker issue.

http://www.homopatrol.com/index.php

Well now... the Benton P25 system has surely improved 1000-fold in the last 9 months! The system sounds great. I didn't get a millimeter of distortion. The audio was excellent. I couldn't believe how good the coverage was today. I was able to receive the system all the way down into Oregon -- full-quieting. Was very impressed.

Heard a new TGID -- 889. It was very brief so I didn't copy much audio -- it sounded LE of some kind.

I have logged 885 as some sort of school security patrol. 889 may be one of their tacs.

I have been searching for a control channel on 460.4625 or 460.7375 for some time now. It may be on the hills east of Pendleton. Have you run into this yet?

Interesting... No I didn't really look for anything in that range. When I come back I'll try to give a quick search.

It should be a small IP site for Umatilla. I picked it up on the river in Richland as a strong modulation product way off the frequency but still strong enough to decode with Trunk88.

dste I was able to pick up sys id 910F 0001 and 0002 on freqs 460.1 and 463.025 respectively. Saw a few TGIDs flash by but must have been encrypted...

Not ENC at all. Custom UHF/VHF band plan must be in place. Were do I have to be to actually receive the 0002 control channel?

*Site, Lo, Hi, Base, Step
0,380,535,453012500,6250
0,536,759,460000000,6250
1,380,535,453012500,6250
1,536,759,460000000,6250
2,380,535,453012500,6250
2,536,759,460000000,6250

going west, you can start at the mountain top (probably where the antenna is located) as the signal was average up there. As soon as get down into Pendleton, the signals are full-quieting.

It was pretty strong even into WA but faded quickly from there...