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

This works great if you dont need to scan bands. The stock antenna it comes with works well right out of the box, and i was able to monitor my municipality (fire dept) on a single channel after about 3 zillion hours with the manual... So other than the fact that this thing is more complicated than the Hubble telescope to use and despite having a tech degree and being a reasonably geeky fellow I still cant figure out the scanning feature - it works. If you are easily frustrated by technology, you might want to opt for something a bit more user friendly.

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..

I do like it but I just cant program the scanner

This scanner after some time of playing around with became pretty easy to navigate. I knew from the start that it was analog but I didnt go digital because of the price difference. I thought that I would at least be able to pick up some local stations, but nothing. I live a good 45 minutes from NYC and I was picking up Brooklyn but nothing local. I will have to wait and get a digital scanner and see how it goes. I ended up returning the unit. I have to say though if you think your area is still running analog this scanner would be fine.

I received this as a gift from my wife. I find the scanner a little hard to program and the sound quality is not a good as I would like. Of course it isnt a $500 scanner so I really didnt expect it to be a Cadillac but more of a Chevy. It offers a wide variety of frequencies to monitor so someone looking for a scanner that will do the job and not break the bank this is a good one!

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.

Up front: this is an older model, and does not receive digital transmissions. But with that being known ahead of time, this scanner is simply the best, easiest, and highly usable for my purposes. I wanted something that would be great for use in my travel trailer. I need to go to a new area and pick up whatever local stations are transmitting. I want to hear the cops and fire, but also ham radio repeaters, and aircraft from time to time. And it even gets CB which is something I might need too. The close call feature is great, as expected, for those times when there are mystery stations nearby such as the security guard in the RV park chasing someone, or hams at a hamfest QSYing where they think its a private freq). Big features I like are a) programming searched out channels into a bank, b) storing my own favorite freqs into the private bank, no matter what the service (air, AND fire, AND ham 146.52, AND FRS, AND CB ch. 19 for example), and c) a pretty fast scan rate, and d) a very sensitive receiver. Its small, low power requirements, and can run on 12V or uses the 115 adapter. It also includes a couple of antennas, for flexibility where it is sitting on the bench at home, or in the car. You can scan everything and then cut out band-by-band that you dont want to monitor right now. One tradeoff is that there is no direct frequency entry mode, but that means there are 10 less buttons on the front panel, and for a small radio like this, that is really a plus, not a minus. Ultimately, would I buy another one if this one was broken or stolen or I gave it away? Absolutely. Its exactly what I wanted when I bought it, and Im 100% happy with everything about it (including Amazons price, as usual). If youre thinking of getting this as a gift for someone, check first to see if their local services use digital radios. This varies all over the country.

Programming this thing is a nightmare.

Over the years Ive owned a number of Uniden BC355 scanners. Theyre simple to use and program, and the audio output is loud and clear. Of course, this is an analog scanner, but for areas like rural Vermont, analog systems are still very much in use. The unit comes complete with AC adapter, DC cigarette lighter cord for mobile use, telescopic whip antenna, and tilt-desk stand. AM aircraft reception is superb, and weather scan requires just simple one-button access. You wont have to worry about what CTCSS tone to use, because the 355N uses carrier squelch, only. If you live in an area served by analog public service radio, this model is perfect to catch up on all the action. (Note if you require digital P25 reception, this isnt the unit for you...for that see the BC996P2 or other digital scanners).

The sound is great programming is not difficult but UHF only no digital