Railfan Technology > Uniden Home Patrol

i have had a home patrol for several year. i recently purchased from scannermaster a uniden home patrol ac/dc adapter so i could run it at home w/o the batteries. it doesn't work. i called scannermaster who said that the adapter might be defective, and mailed me another one, which didn't work either. the unit works fine with batteries, but try to run it with the ac/dc adapter, and completely dead.

anybody else have this problem? I called uniden support, who said that scannermaster must have sent me a "third party" adapter and it wouldn't work with the unit. not so, both adapters clearly are marked "Uniden'.

You might take your question to the Uniden forum at radioreference dot com.

Does it have a switch inside the battery compartment? I had a Radio Shack scanner that did.

Bob

thanks guys, i'll give 'em a try.

Just make sure you don't have the batteries in the unit if you flip that switch. By doing so it could cause the batteries to leak and cause your unit to really not work even with batteries.

I have one and it works using the power adapter without the batteries installed.


Chris Toth
NSDash9.com

Something to try.

There are two popular coaxial power connectors: 2.1mm and 2.5mm.

This difference refers to the nominal diameter of the inner contact.

The nominal outer diameter is identical for both plugs.

From the trouble you are having it may be that your adaptor is fitted
with a 2.5mm connector but your radio's jack is 2.1mm.

A 2.5mm plug will fit into a 2.1mm socket but plug's the inner connector
may not make contact with the socket's inner connector.

Plugging in either size connector will activate a switch built into the
socket which will transfer the radio from battery power to adaptor power.

You may wish to take your scanner to a Radio Shack store and have them
look at the plug on the adaptor vs the socket on the radio.

If you have model railroader level soldering skills, it is easy to fit
a new plug.

If you choose to do this, be sure to measure the polarity of the adaptor
plug's center compared to the outer shell. The industry standard is for
the center to be + (positive) and the outer shell to be - (negative.)

You will need a digital voltmeter to determine the polarity.

Be Well,

Tim Colbert K3HX

Celebrating 50 years in Amateur Radio.

I've been using the Home Patrol for about a year and a half and it always works with the power supply.

The power supply I have is a Uniden, part no. PS-0039. It has a yellow plastic ring around the tip, and the tip polarity is +.

a Possibility is the jack inside the home patrol may have loose solder, so no matter what plug you put in may not work, you could also generate a support ticket at uniden

Jason Webb
Maitland, FL
HyRail Simulations