Uniden BC365CRS 500 Channel Scanner and Alarm Clock with Snooze, Sleep, and FM Radio with Weather Alert, Search Bands Commonly used for Police, Fire/EMS, Aircraft, Radio, and Marine Transmissions

It works and is constructed well, but there are a few quirks to be aware of, and the manual is disappointing. If you feel frustrated trying to get it to do anything, youre not alone! First, understand that this scanner does NOT support naming channels, and it also does NOT support CTCSS/DCS squelch. Its carrier squelch only. If you need these features, youll want the next model up, the BCT15X. Next, heres how I programmed my scanner: - One bank is the amateur radio calling frequences. - One bank is the local amateur radio repeaters. - One bank is all the Family Radio Services (FRS), GMRS, and MURS frequencies. - One bank is the CB radio frequencies. - One bank is the local airport traffic control frequencies. - One bank is the state highway patrol frequency. (The city is on a digital trunked system so I cant program the city police in, only the state highway patrol.) - One bank is the frequency of my home intercom. Usually I leave the amateur radio calling frequencies bank and the home intercom frequency bank turned on, and I turn the others on whenever I feel like it. Its very easy to toggle a bank on and off, just press the number button of that bank (0-9). In the process, heres what I learned that the manual didnt make very clear: 1. This an analog-only, non-trunking scanner, with a low price to match. You can listen to aircraft and air traffic control towers, amateur radio, satellites, nearby businesses, citizens band (CB) radios, FRS/GMRS/MURS walkie talkies, marine bands, and so on. You can NOT listen to trunking or digital communications, so if your city or county uses either of those, youll need a trunking scanner such as the BCT15X (at 2x the price) and hope you want to listen to isnt digital, or a digital scanner such as the BCD996P2 (at 4x the price) and hope what you want to listen to isnt encrypted. California Highway Patrol still uses analog frequency 39.8 MHz so if thats all you need then youre good with an analog non-trunking scanner. 2. The FM radio doesnt support HD radio. 3. The difference between the BC365CRS and the discontinued BC370CRS is the clock on the 370 is radio controlled (self-setting) and the 370 supports the 800 MHz band and the AM broadcast band. The difference between the BC365CRS and the discontinued BC345CRS is the 345 supports the AM broadcast band. 4. The manual doesnt explain how to tune to a specific frequency without programming it. The answer is you cant, except for FM Radio. 5. The manual doesnt explain how to scan for FM Radio stations. You cant. Even in search mode, the squelch dial mysteriously has no effect through the FM Broadcast band. This is a failure of user interface design. 6. The word channel means either a channelized frequency or a programmed channel. The manual conflates the two meanings. This is a failure of technical writing. 7. The BC365CRS wont let you program whatever it believes to be an off-channel frequency such as 447.560 MHz which is an active frequency in southern California. If you try, it automatically chooses the next closest channel. 8. Channel Bank 1 is always programmed channels 1-50, Bank 2 is channels 51-100, and so on. You have to infer this from the table on page 22. 9. The manual on page 9 says, Press 0-9 and HOLD to directly access any stored frequency. This is incorrect. Press HOLD to stop scanning, then type in the channel number (1-500), then HOLD again. 10. The manual doesnt explain the difference between Priority DND and Priority OFF. 11. When programming a frequency, to cancel, just press the ./CLR button to exit. 12. The method for programming FM channels is completely different than for programming scanner channels. This is another user interface design failure. 13. The two modes of tuning FM are direct entry mode and channel memory mode. Direct Entry Mode is selected by pressing SVC/DIR. Channel Memory Mode is selected by pressing PRI/MEM. Youre always in one mode or the other, just remember this. 14. The different mode buttons are all over the place. Theres the Limit Search mode (at the top), Service Search mode (top) and Scan mode (the SCAN button to the right of the numerical keypad).

Ordered the BC365CRS on May 31st. Very fast service from Amazon, even with standard shipping. Unit arrived OK and all parts were in the pkg as advertised. This scanner is very easy to set up & program; took me just a few minutes to program the ANALOG (only) frequencies in. If you dont live in an urban setting, I recommend connecting an external antenna, as this will provide much better reception than the plug-in antenna included with the scanner. I also recommend hooking up an external speaker for best audio quality. This scanner has lots of great features such as a priority channel, FM radio, clock/alarm clock functions, lighted display, and battery back-up for programmed frequencies/clock in case of power failure. All in all, a great scanner for the money.

I could not get it to program so I returned it. Amazon was very accomadating in refunding my money. Also I found out later that it would have become useless. Police Departments are going digital and are encrypting their messages and the noise I heard on my friends scanner was very irritating and he had to turn it down. You can listen to the EMS ,but not the P.D.

I hoped this would be like the one my dad had when I was a kid that just skimmed threw all frequencies until someone got on. But as of right now I can not get it to skim threw all channels have additional antenna and still doesn’t work right might be use error but it shouldn’t be that hard to figure out

Simple and easy to program. Good for scanning basic police fire and emergency communications. Priority channels easy to program and change. Not much use for alarm clock features but has a timer you can set to turn off when Not in use. 10 banks can be programmed for Priority use or can be turned off in an instant. Good value for the price.

Very good scanner for the money HOWEVER if you live in an area where the signals are trunked (encrypted signals that cant be picked up by everyday scanners) then you may want to consider paying the extra money & getting a scanner with trunking technology built in. If all you want to do is monitor the weather & listen for fire calls (usually not trunked) then this is the scanner for you.

Excellent scanner. Only thing I had trouble with was most codes are more than 6 digits, as for this scanner only allows 6 digits. But after researching, you don’t have to enter all numbers when programming codes. Just enter what you can. Example: Code is 627.55107 then for this scanner you’ll just enter 627.551 and still works!

For openers, the audio quality could be improved. My handheld sounds better and even has a larger speaker. That speaker is tiny. Dont complain about no trunking capability. You get what you pay for! Trunking scanners normally cost $300-$500. For about the $60 you pay, dont expect digital or trunking. The BNC antenna falls down, unless you have the antenna horizontal. The bayonet slots should have been alligned differently to allow the antenna to stand up on its own. There are very good memory banks for scanning (10 banks x 50) channels. The FM radio has 3 banks x 10. This leads me to ask about why is FM even a feature? I suppose since the scanner covers those frequencies, it may as well include the in-between band. It does have a broad range of frequencies. Given the sound quality, I doubt anyone would want to hear music. I can understand including NOAA Weather; but FM? Why the clock-radio functionality? Im not sure I want to wake up to reports of an MVA on the freeway with possible casualties. IDK. As I mentioned before, it covers a broad range: HF,VHF,UHF. 10 Meters,6 Meters, FM, Air, 2 Meters, 70 centimeters, GMRS, police, fire,EMS,Business land mobile, marine, MURS. Heck it even covers cordless phones and baby monitors! Good fast scan time. The manual isnt well written. I had to re-read it many times. Dont complain about frequencies not pre-programmed. How can any seller or manufacturer know what area anyone will use it? Impossible. Hint: Use the FCC ULS database search to find frequencies you want. (FCC.GOV) Bottom line: You get what you pay for. PS: Dont you DARE use the antenna to transmit! In the first place the connector is not a true BNC connector. It just looks like a BNC. It wont twist-lock onto a real BNC. Secondly the SWR is BAD BAD BAD it gave me a 5.1 to 1 ratio. That kind of SWR will fry your transmitter finals. Just use it for the scanner. I was hoping to share the antenna for 2 meters with the scanner as the receiver and a 5 watt QRP transmitter going into an antenna switch. Bad idea.

The stock antenna is on the left. The after market antenna on the right increased my reception big time. It just wobbles from side to side. Lean it to the window. This scanner blows my old Radio Shack scanner away. Picks up more channels. Bettet squelch. More banks. More pre programed frequency.Outstanding unit!!!

Extremely noisy. It is frustrating as heck!