Uniden BC355N 800 MHz 300-Channel Base/Mobile Scanner, Close Call RF Capture, Pre-programmed Search “Action” Bands to Hear Police, Ambulance, Fire, Amateur Radio, Public Utilities, Weather, and More, Black

Is it a great scanner? No. Is it a decent scanner in an area with only analog comms? Definitely. Dont expect the world from it, but it works well for what it is.

when I turned this scanner on there was no sound, I connected an external speaker and it began to work.. I removed the bottom of the the unit and repaired the broken wire . Nice scanner after all that..

This unit is versatile in that it is easily moved from a desktop installation to a vehicle installation - and it is ALMOST a portable unit except that it needs an external power connection. It is small and light enough to be moved about easily, and compact enough to fit in many cubby holes. Unlike some mobile units, its exterior is clean enough to look fine sitting out in the open on a desktop, yet it can be quickly/easily attached to a (pre-installed) mount in a vehicle, although it does require manual attachment of the power and antenna cables. Of course, the mobile mounting bracket could be used instead to mount the unit, say, under a shelf or whatever. Functionally, it works well in most respects. I was a little surprised that it seems to be a bit less sensitive than the old crystal-controlled scanner that it replaced. The backlit display is readable under most lighting conditions, but some indicators would seem quite small for quick reading in a mobile installation - unless the unit can be located fairly close to the observer. Fortunately, its not necessary to see them clearly during normal scanning mode. I havent yet used my unit in a mobile installation, but Im wondering if the buttons will be easy to see and access under poor lighting conditions. The buttons are small enough and spaced tightly enough that they might be difficult to use in a moving vehicle and/or with a gloved hand. Generally speaking, the unit is easy to use, but some of the functions dont seem to be intuitive - and so I often have to pull out the manual to do the operations that I use only rarely, in order to get all of the necessary steps in the correct sequence. The most tedious aspect is when manually programming (or removing) specific frequencies. While not particularly difficult, the process is time-consuming. It would help a lot if this unit had the ability to be programmed from a computer, because this likely would save a lot of time in the process. Meanwhile, programming frequencies by capturing actual transmissions is straight-forward, quick and easy - so long as the someone cooperates by transmitting on the desired channel when you want to capture it. I am still rather confused by how the channel banks interact with each other - and how to configure them properly. But, Ive been able to get the unit set up to do almost all that I need it to do. (The missing piece is that I dont know how to access the PL channels that are used in this area). The unit does retain its programming when power is removed - although I havent confirmed this over the long-term. The only problem Ive run into is being unable to find any specifications for the necessary impedance of the external speaker, and wasnt even able to find out from Tech Support. This isa rather concerning. Hopefully, they will be more helpful if there are any other support needs. Overall, I do like this unit, and I feel it is a good value.

I really wanted to like this scanner. I bought it to replace another Uniden that I had 20+ years ago. I live in an area where our public safety uses digital trunked systems. Not a problem, as I only purchased it to monitor air, marine, rail, and ham traffic in the area. Sadly, this scanner just doesnt fit my needs and is being returned. I really did not like how the memory channels were allocated and how you had to go through the entire band, air for example, BEFORE the unit would scan the small handful of air frequencies you programmed. In all honesty, this radio only has 100 programmable channels that are functional. The other 200 are useless. Those 100 usable channels in the Private bank cannot be broken out into subsections. So, all the frequencies you want to monitor need to be stored there, and not in the service banks. As far as overall quality and audio output, the scanner is a nice compact package and sounds really good. Buyer beware...

I use this scanner in my Jeep. It was easy enough to mount next to the CB. Antennas for fiberglass shells are hard to come by, so I got creative with a magnet mount, and a little hardware. Seems to receive signals satisfactory.

Had issues programming and had to you tube videos and Google to figure it out

I needed a couple of these for receiving emergency broadcasts for a local radio station that I engineer for. Im knocking them down to 4-stars only because they arent the most intuitive units to program. Nevertheless, they are both doing their job well and Im very happy with the result. If I could do 4 1/2 stars here thats what theyd get. Whats really nice is that they include a BNC connector for the antenna (great if you need to feed it with an external antenna) and an audio line output connector, which I also needed in order to feed the audio from these into our EAS server. All told I would definitely buy these again if I need more.

I purchased this scanner because it has a private bank i.e.; you can program your favorite frequencies into this band, and turn off all other banks. The private bank only holds 100 frequencies. This might be an issue if you live in or near a very large city. Its not an issue for me, and probably not for most people. Programming wasnt all that hard to figure out. Just follow the instructions in the owners manual. It has a weather band and has all 7 NOAA bands. Scanner comes with a telescoping antenna, and uses a standard BNC connector. It has a frequency lock out feature. Permanent and temporary. Turbo search (180 steps per second). 7 banks total. 6 pre-programmed 1 private band. Close call i.e.; checks for strong nearby signals while monitoring other frequencies. This is a great feature when you are monitoring a band that has some activity but not a lot. Im not going to use it as a mobile device, but it comes with everything you would need to go mobile, including a window mount antenna. Scanner does not have internal battery backup. I guess if you loose your house power, you can plug it into your vehicle. Use an external speaker. Ive owned several scanners and all their internal speakers pretty much suck. Ive had this scanner for 2 months, and overall, Im very satisfied.

Live three miles out of town and it will not pick anything

I wanted a scanner that I could use at my home, as well as at my tiny cabin (where 12 volt solar is my only power source), and this product proved to be perfect for this application. Granted, it only receives analog signal, but for my area (Central Missouri), that is all that I need to stay on top of things. It receives all of my local police, fire, and EMS, both dispatch and mobile just fine. I really like the ability to switch to the other bands this scanner receives, such as air and marine. The only reason I didnt give it 5 stars, is due to the fact that the manual is difficult to understand, however, you can watch a few Youtube videos to get the idea, and after that it is pretty easy. Just a couple of helpful hints. If you program your local frequencies into private mode, you will get much better performance by deselecting all options other than private mode, and if you want to listen to any of the other bands, then just select the particular band of your choice, and deselect the private band, because if you try to scan too many bands at once, you will miss out on a lot, because there is a lot going on the airwaves, and you can only listen to one frequency at a time. Finally, a good tip for programming locals into private mode, is to go to broadcastify.com, and select the area you want to listen to. Broadcastify will allow you to listen to broadcasts in your area. Next, begin a search of scanner frequencies for your area, programming them into the scanner. Unless there are any trunked frequencies, you should hear the scanner talk when broadcastify talks. I hope this is easy to understand as it is relatively easy to do. All in all, I am very happy with this product, it does what I need it to do.