Introducing the Home Patrol One. Don't stay home without it.

reply to post by Rocketman7

Surprise surprise the postal delivery guy wanted 68 bucks! to cover taxes.

WTH! wow that is crazy, 68 for Taxes? some kind of fast shipping tax?

I'm still a little skeptical on the Home Patrol, let us know how it goes when you have it all set up. I would imagine having the Wouxun on your delivery route would be better.

Yes I took a look at that BOAFENG and I saw it was 2 watts but I read at eHam a guy with a BAOFENG got 10 miles and hit the repeater on low power setting.
Which I don't know 0.5 watts

I think the guts are made by Wouxun because they have the same software.
MTC has made their own now using that same board I think but they sell them for 65 bucks.

Most radio brand names use the same circuit boards: for example Uniden and Cobra or Galaxy and Connex ect.. If you wanted to modify or program them, it's more than likely it will be the same mods with the other brand names. I haven't checked with these little radios yet, but I do know the BOAFENG UV-100 and the UV-3R are exactly the same, but with different housings.

Well my radios came in today, the shipping package was cool looking. I like these Chinese stamps! The battery was charged and ready to go out of the box, I hooked the supplied vhf antenna and hit a 2 meter repeater from 15 miles away on 2 Watts, not bad considering I live under a hill in the woods. This means I could talk for hundreds of miles on that repeater if need be. Just set the repeater shift, offset and the tx code and your good to go.

When I hooked this up to my dual band 2m, 70cm base dipole 50ft in the air, I was very impressed by the rx range, hit a lot of far off repeaters on 2 watts. The audio is awesome and the receiver is sensitive. I like all the features.

The only problem I found with this radio is the battery cover sliding off if clipped to your belt. I fixed this by adding a rubber seal between the clip and cover, still this is worth every bit of $48. dollars a radio!

Anyway, I'm glad I found this little thread, I have been out of the radio loop for awhile and had no ideal about these little Chinese radios, this is a great addition to my ham radios and survival gear.

here is a pic of one my UV-100 boxed and unboxed.
img39.imageshack.us...

Ok heh... so I didn't read the instruction manual lol... until now, apparently the radios have a lock for the battery cover. duh... Anyway I removed the rubber seals that I added lol. Real men don't read instructions is false...

Now no problems at all, other than it scans a little slower than a scanner.

Originally posted by imitator
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

Surprise surprise the postal delivery guy wanted 68 bucks! to cover taxes.

WTH! wow that is crazy, 68 for Taxes? some kind of fast shipping tax?

I'm still a little skeptical on the Home Patrol, let us know how it goes when you have it all set up. I would imagine having the Wouxun on your delivery route would be better.

Yes I took a look at that BOAFENG and I saw it was 2 watts but I read at eHam a guy with a BAOFENG got 10 miles and hit the repeater on low power setting.
Which I don't know 0.5 watts

I think the guts are made by Wouxun because they have the same software.
MTC has made their own now using that same board I think but they sell them for 65 bucks.

Most radio brand names use the same circuit boards: for example Uniden and Cobra or Galaxy and Connex ect.. If you wanted to modify or program them, it's more than likely it will be the same mods with the other brand names. I haven't checked with these little radios yet, but I do know the BOAFENG UV-100 and the UV-3R are exactly the same, but with different housings.

Well my radios came in today, the shipping package was cool looking. I like these Chinese stamps! The battery was charged and ready to go out of the box, I hooked the supplied vhf antenna and hit a 2 meter repeater from 15 miles away on 2 Watts, not bad considering I live under a hill in the woods. This means I could talk for hundreds of miles on that repeater if need be. Just set the repeater shift, offset and the tx code and your good to go.

When I hooked this up to my dual band 2m, 70cm base dipole 50ft in the air, I was very impressed by the rx range, hit a lot of far off repeaters on 2 watts. The audio is awesome and the receiver is sensitive. I like all the features.

The only problem I found with this radio is the battery cover sliding off if clipped to your belt. I fixed this by adding a rubber seal between the clip and cover, still this is worth every bit of $48. dollars a radio!

Anyway, I'm glad I found this little thread, I have been out of the radio loop for awhile and had no ideal about these little Chinese radios, this is a great addition to my ham radios and survival gear.

here is a pic of one my UV-100 boxed and unboxed.
img39.imageshack.us...

edit on 3-11-2011 by imitator because: (no reason given)

Well that looks pretty cool for 48 bucks.

I tried out the Home Patrol but with the duck antenna it can't get anything. A bit of chatter but keep in mind around here hardly anything ever happens. Victoria BC.

So I am waiting now for the DIamond antenna. When that comes I will tell you how it works.

It updated ok in XP and was easy to set up as shown in the videos.

Its the kind of thing that I may not need until something happens. But if something does happen, then you really need it.


The Wouxun looks great but the antenna is lacking so I ordered a high gain Diamond antenna for it. And I ordered another. radio. A Wouxun KG-UV3D-2/UHF 119.00

Home Patrol 1

and

the Wouxun KG-UVD1P

So at this point I am satisfied that I got what I needed. When the antennas come in I will test the stuff out and probably also drive up the mountain, about 10 miles from here and see how far I can receive.
Right now I am in a valley in a hollow in the city, so I wasn't expecting much.

Originally posted by imitator
Ok heh... so I didn't read the instruction manual lol... until now, apparently the radios have a lock for the battery cover. duh...

Anyway I removed the rubber seals that I added lol. Real men don't read instructions is false...

Now no problems at all, other than it scans a little slower than a scanner.

edit on 3-11-2011 by imitator because: (no reason given)

Isn't that funny. I noticed the same thing on mine but saw the lock and that did it when I first took it out of the box.

I read a review just now that someone has a program out there for the Wouxun KG radios.

I purchased two from Main Trading Company for $109 each.
Downloaded KC8UNJ, Jim Mitchel's KG-UV Commander.
The radios are a good value for the price.

The new Wouxun, the updated one I ordered, the KG-UV3D is getting good reviews

The reason I went for another Wouxun is I thought well I will only have to learn where everything is on one.
And I can use the cloning cable.

I would have to say they are a damn good radio for the price. I guess thats what everyone says.
The uniden Home Patrol 1 didn't work well in the truck either because of the antenna. If I hooked it up to a vehicle antenna, it would work I am sure.

I will try it with the diamond and let you know. I really can't give an opinion right now because as I say, if aliens answered a distress call from earth, and they landed in Victoria, they would think for sure the distress call was a hoax.

I mean this city runs like a top, and even the handful of homeless people here look like actors.

Seattle there will be some action on a Friday night or any full moon.

Another thing I would recommend for anyone if they don't already have one is a Grundig Short Wave radio.

I think they are still the world standard for quality. I have had mine for 10 years and it really comes down to the antenna with any commercial broadcast radio and the 50 foot wire antenna will certainly pick up radio signals from far away.
This one has jacks for external AM FM and Short Wave external antennas.

I don't know if they still come with the 50 foot wire antenna or not.

I can pick up Britain any day of the week without the 50 foot antenna. Thats the other side of the world from where I am. But with a lot of short wave the signal fades in and out without a good antenna.

For the price its a good thing to have in the B.O.B. The hand crank AM/FM will only tell you what is going on locally.

Today it seems almost silly to prepare at all. But thats just the time when you should I suppose.


This one would be a better choice though because of the batteries.

reply to post by Rocketman7

I tried out the Home Patrol but with the duck antenna it can't get anything. A bit of chatter but keep in mind around here hardly anything ever happens. Victoria BC.

I think your in a good location for HF... you probably can pick up some Russian, military, marine stations etc... maybe HARRP too.

You should look into a HF tx radios, you can find some used cheap... like the Yaesu FT-101 or Kenwood TS440. I bought the FT-747GX for $250. Most of the old HF radios will be around that price.

As for VHF/UHF you should get a dual band 144/440 YAGI for your house with a rotator or a high gain dual band mount for your car. MFJ has some great antennas www.mfjenterprises.com... There is so many options with VHF/UHF antenna's, you could build a antenna from clothes hangers lol.. some people use a TV antenna for their scanners. I made a handheld yagi for hitting satellites.

You will never hear the full potential in your radio with a HT antenna, they are only good for walking, running etc... maybe on a mountain good. You could set up base on a mountain with HT gear or set a repeater up to a yagi.

I read the DIamond is a good dual band HT antenna, but nothing beats a base or car mount antenna. It's good to have all three for a shtf scenario "base, car, HT."

Originally posted by imitator
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

I tried out the Home Patrol but with the duck antenna it can't get anything. A bit of chatter but keep in mind around here hardly anything ever happens. Victoria BC.

I think your in a good location for HF... you probably can pick up some Russian, military, marine stations etc... maybe HARRP too.

You should look into a HF tx radios, you can find some used cheap... like the Yaesu FT-101 or Kenwood TS440. I bought the FT-747GX for $250. Most of the old HF radios will be around that price.

As for VHF/UHF you should get a dual band 144/440 YAGI for your house with a rotator or a high gain dual band mount for your car. MFJ has some great antennas www.mfjenterprises.com... There is so many options with VHF/UHF antenna's, you could build a antenna from clothes hangers lol.. some people use a TV antenna for their scanners. I made a handheld yagi for hitting satellites.

You will never hear the full potential in your radio with a HT antenna, they are only good for walking, running etc... maybe on a mountain good.

You could set up base on a mountain with HT gear or set a repeater up to a yagi.

I read the DIamond is a good dual band HT antenna, but nothing beats a base or car mount antenna. It's good to have all three for a shtf scenario "base, car, HT."

edit on 4-11-2011 by imitator because: (no reason given)

I was thinking of getting an HF as well.
And probably should get better antennas even after I get the replacements for the hand helds.

It does start to add up though.

I spent 1400 bucks over the last 2 weeks on stuff. I wanted to beat the Christmas rush.

I still have a list of stuff I haven't even ordered yet that I want.

That sh*t better hit the fan soon or I am going to be some pissed off.

Well I will see how the new antennas do when they arrive. I think no matter what, if it does hit the fan, I will still expect to make my way up that mountain when I really want to know what is going on in the world.

For local use the two Wouxun HT and the Home Patrol scanner should really allow me to know what is going on, unless the local emergency services don't even use APCO 25 or they use encryption.

I mean I was all over the city, and I did not hear anything. No police chatter, no fire chatter, no ambulance nothing. With cell phones people are just not using radios like they used to.

Originally posted by Rocketman7

I spent 1400 bucks over the last 2 weeks on stuff. I wanted to beat the Christmas rush.

I still have a list of stuff I haven't even ordered yet that I want.

That sh*t better hit the fan soon or I am going to be some pissed off.

Just see it as a good investment, if you buy stuff that has retail value, it could be sold for more than it's worth.

I mean I was all over the city, and I did not hear anything. No police chatter, no fire chatter, no ambulance nothing. With cell phones people are just not using radios like they used to.

Yeah some places are going digital with encryption, soon police scanning well be a lost hobby. That is until decryption equipment becomes cheaper.

Well I got the new diamond antenna for the Home Patrol One and it is still as useless as a paperweight.

It picks up absolutely nothing.

Nada.

650 dollars right into the toilet.

Don't believe anything you read on the Internet.