[aprssig] GPS 18x PC for Kenwood radios

[Bob Burns W9RXR]

At 05:20 PM 6/18/2012, Scott Miller wrote:


>Look up your location in a database and pre-load lists of known 
>frequencies, apparently.

Actually, the Uniden HomePatrol-1 comes factory-loaded with the 
entire RadioReference.com database for the U.S. and Canada. The RR 
database has been encoded with the geographic location for all of the 
systems in the DB along with an "effective range". The only 
programming you have to do with the HP-1 is give it your location, 
either by ZIP code or city name, the range you are interested in 
trying to monitor, and the types of radio services you want to hear 
(police, fire, business, air, rail, marine, etc.). The scanner will 
then select the systems, frequencies, and talkgroups (for trunked 
systems) based on your selections. This makes the scanner a lot 
easier to use for people who can't figure out how to program a scanner.

An additional feature allows you to drive around with the scanner 
getting lat/lon data from a GPS receiver. The scanner will then make 
automatic decisions about what to monitor based on your location.

I have an HP-1 and this all works pretty slick. There are a few 
quirks and the scanner is only as good as the information in the RR 
database. Uniden downloads the RR database once a week and posts it 
on their web site in a form that the scanner's programming software 
can read. Hook up your scanner to your computer, run the Uniden 
software, and it will automatically update the scanner with the 
latest database.

But, Scott, I have to ask...why the Garmin GPS18x? What advantage 
does it have over your ADS-GM1?

Bob...