Uniden BCD536HP HomePatrol Series Digital Phase 2 Base/Mobile Scanner with HPDB and Wi-Fi. Simple Programming, TrunkTracker V, S.A.M.E. Emergency/Weather Alert. Covers USA and Canada.

I have one of these in my patrol car and one in my personal. I paid for the provoice and dmr upgrades and will soon get the NXDN upgrade as all 3 are used in my state. I prefer this size over the new model because the new one takes up twice as much real estate. Both work great and I couldnt be happier.

If youre familiar with the menu system on Uniden/Bearcat scanners over the past 10 years, you will not have to relearn everything from scratch with this unit. I love the extra long lines of text that can be used for naming Systems, Sites, Departments, and individual channels/talkgroups. There is an extra layer of complexity introduced with the Favorites feature which can make enabling/disabling groups of channels with just the numpad+.+E keys a tricky mess, but the Favorites feature itself is cool. A Favorite is like an entire set of systems/groups/channels in a scanner grouped into a bucket, where you can now have multiple of those named buckets to enable/disable at will, like Local Only, Vacation Spot, Imported from RadioRef, I Love Railroads!, etc. Having those Favorites saved to the included SD card is cool, as well as the HomePatrol feature of preloaded sets of systems across the entire US and Canada, scannable and selectable by Lat/Long. The USB dongle is included, and the Uniden Sentinel software is free for updating the firmware and the SD Cards national database. I have been using BuTels ARC software with prior Uniden scanners, and there is a version for this scanner too. There is a useful multi-color ring LED that can be lit for specific types of services or individual channels; note that youll never see it light up if you only ever scan with the built-in national database. When I programmed channels I set it to light up blue for Police, red for Fire/EMS, green for Public Works, and more for other services. I set it to flash for my hometowns channels, which is easily visible from across a room. I also tried out Unidens Siren app on Android to listen to the scanner remotely within my house through WiFi, which is a cool concept but a bit buggy right now; occasionally the app gets stuck or stops streaming audio even though the system/site/channel continues to follow along in realtime. The app cannot handle higher-latency network connections, so if you connect to your scanner from outside your home through a VPN, the app will show system/site/channel but will not stream any audio. There is a purchasable, third-party Windows desktop app that can do this called ProScan; there may be others. For a relatively small receiver this thing is heavy! I like that it has a 13.8VDC input for the AC Adapter, and a 3-pin 13.8VDC jack commonly used for mobile receivers.

Amazing piece of equipment but might not be ideal for everyone. The 536HP (and its sister 436 handheld) incorporate Unidens HomePatrol technology that esentially allows for anyone to turn it on and listen to just about anything you choose based on your zip code (including APCO 25 trunked systems in use by many agencies). However, programming the unit to isolate your favorites can prove to be a nightmare as many reviewers have noted. The old methods of programming banks with your favorites is complicated and essentially requires that you use software to achieve what used to be possible with direct entry. Specifically, Uniden has a free software application called Sentinal (PC only, no MAC) that allows for programming and managing the various profiles lists and systems that correspond to your listening requirements. Within those categories you must also customize in order to match the units performance with your desires. Once programming is completed in Sentinal, the choices are transferred to the units micro SD card via the included cable. The entire process can be frustrating for those without the willingness or patience to persevere. Having said all that there are various third party resources that can help you understand the process if youre determined. If you make it through all that youll be rewarded with what I believe to be a remarkably competent piece of equipment that will provide what is arguably the best consumer grade wideband base station listening experience on the market. But for its complexity I would have easily given it 5 stars.

I started off with Crystal scanners. I left off years ago at triple trunking. This scanner is awesome. Yes there is some learning curves, however Im up and running and less than one minute. Im able to get my surrounding channels I need. Set the range turn up the squelch, Im good. I will continue to update as I go along, but so far all good. Well not the fact that I got to upgrade and pay for it.,,,DMR, not that important to me. However, to others it is a big deal. The fact that it is Wi-Fi and there is an app that does work is awesome. It works. I love it. I still got to figure out how to get connection from the outside. I was going to forward the ports, but could not type in the colon at the beginning of the app you know, the IP address colon the number Port you assigned it to. Ill figure it out. Dont want to stick it out there in a DMZ.

I knocked off 1 star only due to the high price. This seems like a very high quality product and it seems to work great. I now regret paying extra for the home patrol version as I only used the zip code function for the first hour or so while I figured out how to use the software to create favorites lists from the database.

Absolutely awesome scanner! Very easy to get the wifi up and running, and the Siren app works perfect on iPhone and iPad. THe programming software makes this a VERY simple scanner to program. Just find your state, choose what you want, and make your list to send to the scanner. Was completely up and running in 30 minutes and have not used a scanner since the old analog only kind. This takes all of the mystery out of trunking and programming all of that so you can get on with listening. Best part is you can switch your lists very quickly and easily. Radioreference.com is a great site to use for seeing what is in your state and area. A definite recommend on this one.

July 23 update: After reading several posts at the radio reference website, I have found out why the unit is always asking to set the date and time. It seems that it has an internal battery for just this and it must be shipped dead from the factory. To charge it, you must leave the scanner on for several days. The magic number of days posted there seems to be three. So, turn on the scanner, and leave it only for several days in a row. The battery only charges while the unit is actually on. A constant power supply to the radio, while it is turned off will not charge the battery. Once I did this, the constant nagging for me to set the date and time has finally gone away. I will be adding back one of the removed stars as this is a great scanner but I am holding back one because UNIDEN should have made this CLEAR in the manual on the setting up section. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ July 2014 update: Now this scanner is asking me to set the date and time every time I turn it on!!!!!! Uniden, fix this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Because of this, Im removing two stars! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ And now, I really like it. Like all Uniden scanners, documentation is to be desired. It is/was written for those that have been aboard with Uniden from the get-go. Im sure they get it! But, if you are not an aged veteran of Uniden, then you are not alone and the manual that comes with it is of little help. With that said, this unit does offer help for the novice. LIKE ME! The sentinel software really helps, but it also ASSuMEs a lot. Do as I did; take a day off, sleep good and then try it again with an open mind. With this, you can figure out how to make your scanner work best for you. yes, it uses stupid words like append for what most would call add and other stupid Chinese to English translation errors. The feature I like most is the simulcast. I can now listen to all the local police cars as they broadcast. With my old scanner, this was not there. The reason I got this new scanner was that I often saw police and emergency vehicles zoom by my home with no chatter at all on my old digital scanner. Now, when I see them, I actually listen to them and know exactly where and why they are in a hurry.

Overall this is a great scanner. The Siren app has me frustrated however. It is not completely functional, as promised. I knew this before purchasing the scanner, but I wanted a mobile scanner with the Provoice option, and this was one of two choices. The app is supposed to work, but with very limited function. I would like to see that, as I cannot even get my wifi dongle to connect. All of my other wifi devices connect, just not the 536. Also, there are a few things I dislike about the scanner. I wish you could turn systems on in the database by selecting a drop down menu. This works well in Sentinel (although the way this program is written is also frustrating), but it would be nice to be able to make database selections when a computer isnt available. All in all its a great scanner. But I cant give it a higher score because the Siren app is not functional even though it has been repeatedly promised.

Easy to set up

Date of manufacturer was 2013, guess they did not move off the shelves. Did not operate on power up, could not find any stations at all. Figured due to date of manufacture, it was obvious to me that it was out of date because the local police and fire frequencies were not correct. Tried to do database update, but the new database required a firmware update before it would load the DB. Did the FW and then the DB and all was well. Set my zip code and we were off to the races. As for the remote SW for my iOS iPad. It works but they really put no effort into doing a great remote app. As for the Sentinal SW for the PC, it uses dated methods of organizing the various functions. This app is in search of a well organized GUI..... Electricly it is a very good scanner, good sensitivity but could use bit more selectivity. Only negative is that when using an external speaker, the plug for external speaker does not turn off the internal speaker. This causes audio level problems and reduces the ability to control the audio in graceful way. Once you get past the growing pains it is a fine performing scanner, but I can’t justify 5 stars.