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.

Easy to program from face of radio if you hold on channel and add. Watch video on YT. Search through the full database and see what you want to listen to. Just turn off full database and your saved list will load fast. Audio is ok-good but an expert speaker would be better.

Great radio, Ive got another one of these purchase about a year ago and the best of the best, covers everything you need to cover and the ability to program via a zip code is incredible, gone are the days of punching in hundred of freqs manually like in the old days! The only issue? Amazon needs to learn how to ship things!!!! You pay $450 bucks for a radio, and you expect the product box to come INSIDE a box right? Wrong. Amazon ships these in ONLY the the box the scanner comes in and drops it on your doorstep. Luckily I was home when they rang the bell, picked up the box and said WHOA! I called over the driver and showed him an empty box except for the accessories and manual, he called his office, I gave him back the box and I had to reach out for a refund. Sad...

This is truly a fantastic scanner! As others have said, it does have a very steep learning curve but the good news is that it is usable out of the box. Simply enter your zip code and it will find many frequencies used in your area. Obviously, this is only the tip of the iceberg as to what is possible with this unit. Once you become more familiar with how many of the digital systems operate, this scanner will make it possible for you to monitor them. There are also optional, pay to unlock features availiable. Both Provoice and Dmr are systems that you can monitor once unlocked. Using the Sentinel software, included, this scanner is easier to program and both the firmware and databases can be updated. This unit features included Wi-Fi, works great and includes a dongle you just plug into the back. There are tons of menues and this scanner is very customizable. This unit includes a usb cable to connect to a computer. The manual isnt the best but I hear there are better ones out there. YouTube also has many videos on how to operate and program. This scanner with its rich set of features shouldnt be outdated for several years at least. Again, expect to spend some time learning how the new digital systems work and you will be rewarded with a scanner that has all the bells and whistles.

Ive owned other scanners for over 25 years and all were simple to program. Ive had this one now for over a month and still havent been able to program in the frequencies that I really want. They do have YouTube videos but they arent in any particular order so you have to keep jumping from video to video trying to find the continuation of the video you were just watching. You do have the option to have them program what you want to listen to but they charge too much and if you want it changed you have to pay again and they send you a new micro-sd card. They could do a better job of explaining the spreadsheet of information you need and how to use their programming software. You can select the preprogrammed frequencies but then you have to use what they want you to listen to.

12/15/17 Update I’ve owned the Uniden BCD536HP for almost 3 years, purchased the DMR upgrade and enjoying it ever since. I did have the RTC issue and finally decided to send it in for repair about a week ago; I’m surprised they accepted it after so long. Thank you, Uniden! I picked up a Whistler TRX-2 about 2 weeks ago and can say the BCD536HP was the better choice thus far. Once I get my BCD536HP back then I’ll have time to use them simultaneously more. BCD536HP • Screen is larger and displays more details about target; has 32 larger font characters across another 4 for HOLD status. • Boots up much faster than the TRX-2, even with the RTC error asking me to reset the clock and letting it time out. Starts scanning 16 seconds after turning knob to power on after RTC repair. • Speaker is louder; listening to people I talk with locally on Ham bands and has natural sounding audio. • GPS scanning capability for those interested although I haven’t purchased or used the unit. • Support for third-party software like ARC536. • It’s about $10 cheaper; HRO has it for an additional $5 less today. • The Sentinel programming software is basic and not as polished as Whistler’s; need to manually find updates to it on their website. TRX-2 • The Digital Trunking Scanner Programming System is more polished than Uniden’s and makes it easier to upgrade all components from a single interface. • The ability to store different configurations via V-scanner is a nice function. • The NXDN system upgrade was offered for free. • Speaker isnt as loud and listening to people I talk with locally on Ham bands, sounds hollow. • Feels like a tin can and the detachable head (something I dont care for) feels light and cheap; even the mount is thin. • Screen is small and belongs on a handheld, not mobile/desktop scanner; has 16 characters across with smaller font. • The supplied Whistler USB cable is way too short unless youre using a notebook on the same desk as the scanner. • Only two of five white keys have lights and all other keys dont appear to have any lights behind them. • Noticed backlighting display flickering and reported by others as well. • Scanning shows top level lists instead of actual targets names. • Paging system intermod on 2m Ham and 150-160MHz bands but not present on BCD536HP, receivers, SDRs or Ham gear. • Too easy to accidentally edit config since clicking on something will automatically save config. • Copying initial Library was extremely slow and stuck at 42%; clicking in the window appeared to wake it up as it looked like it was freezing. The same cable used with the BCD536HP updates the database much faster. • Starts scanning 3 minutes and 7 seconds after holding button (for about 3 seconds) to power on. • Every time you go into the Menu and back out, the lists reload again and you have to wait! • No third-party software support.

I bought it from the Amazon Warehouse to save $90. i was a little worried, but it arrived in pristine condition. Re-boxed, not the original Uniden box, but who cares. All the accessories were there. Turn it on, set the date and time, set the Zip Code, and start scanning. Easy peasy. If you have a Ph.D. in Technology, you can probably figure out how to use and enable the gazillion other features. For the rest of us, one day at a time. Really good scanner, and hundreds less than the Uniden SDS-200.. 1-19-23 Updated Review Very good scanner. I did realize that the volume/on/off knob is fairly fragile. I find myself turning the scanner on and off very carefully so it wont break. I could see that happening easily.

Like another reviewer stated that it has more bugs than a roach motel is true. Uniden knew this when they announced they were coming out with it back in November. They released it anyway in January! Profits before performance! Uniden said it is WI-FI capable and it is not. Not yet! Maybe never! It does come with a WI-FI dongle but it is useless at the moment.They said you could use an app for either Android or Apple devices. You can not because the app is still in development.Or so it is said. They knew this when they released this scanner but did not tell anyone about it OR that the analyze function that they highly advertised does not work either. These were 2 of the main features why I purchased this scanner.Their website has no mention of the analyze function not working but they still have it on their site as being available on this scanner. Oh it is there. It just doesnt work. Their website also says the app for the WI-FI will be available 1st quarter of 2014. It is now May 25th. I purchased mine near the end of February and realized that there was no CD with it that contained the app. I immediately started searching the Internet to find out why there was no app. If you go to [...] youll find all the questions and answers youll need to make your own determination as to purchase or stay far away. I kept mine thinking that Uniden would release the app and have a fix for the analyze function by the end of the 1st quarter. But the time has passed for me to return it so Im stuck with it. You can use it as a functional scanner but I along with countless others paid for features we didnt get and probably never will. Uniden will not answer emails either. Purchase the scanner and then try to find out info about it.Not one email was ever answered. I personally will not buy another Uniden product of any kind. Period! Theyre dead to me. I would bet my last dollar that there will be a class action suite over this. Check out the Uniden forum at radio reference and see for yourself how many other unhappy customers Uniden has. I also personally think that the good reviews are from people that didnt want/need the unavailable features or are affiliated with Uniden to try to boost sales. There are people in the forums that constantly belittle the people that complain that Uniden is doing nothing and not listening to them. You know the people that paid $600 dollars for something and didnt get what they paid for. I call them customers. Those people will think long and hard before buying anything with a Uniden label on it again. Update 7/29/2014 7 months have passed since the release of this scanner and there is still NO Wi-Fi/Siren App or Analyze function. Yet everywhere you look, including Amazon.com, they still advertise these features. WHY! Do they enjoying making customers mad and have to deal with returns once the customers realized theyve been lied to. Or theyve had their head under a rock since January! Uniden is still not returning emails or taking calls regarding this scanner but Uniden continues to send their propaganda emails advertising! Our government is always wanting to get in on everyones business but never there to protect the consumers from liars and thieves! Update 2/3/2015 Here we are over a year since it was released and still DO NOT have the features that were advertised. A YEAR! REALLY! And to add another slap in the face from Uniden, the 1 year warranty will be expiring soon. So once, I mean IF, these features ever do materialize and something goes wrong, then good old Uniden will happily charge you/me for out of warrenty repair. Its a win/win for Uniden and a loose/loose for us! So to all that went ahead and purchased this while ignoring the those of us that tried to save you your hard earned money and a lot of headaches, I TOLD YOU SO! So much for consumer protection laws. But I have said before Uniden is dead to me. Yeah I got screwed along with a lot of others but I will make it my life goal to bash Uniden until I take my last breath or they go out of business! I sure hope Im around to see it!

I have listing to a police scanner for many of years and when my county went digital then i went a bought a bran new radio shack digital police scanner gave close to 500 hundred dollars for it but unfortunately Once again my county made some more changes where they went to the Tenn Advance system and you had to have a phase one and phase two scanner to be able to pick up my frequencys so once again i had to pay big bucks for another police scanner and i bought the BCD536HP off Amazon i have got to say with out a doubt this is a very nice and up to date police scanner very easy to learn that the radio shack pro 197 I had .but the down side of it all is i have put in to close to 1000 dollars in two scanners in the last 4 years so hopefully that my county want change anything else around because what they did the last time costed them over 20 million dollars what i herd and also herd that before it is all over and done with everybody will eventually have to have a phase 1 and phase 2 scanner because they are suppose to upgrade all counties to that in the near future but like i said this is a very nice scanner i love it have not learned ever thing on it yet but i am getting there Good Luck Scanner World

It is a great scanner. I bought it in June of 2017 as an upgrade from my old scanner. Now it is two years later and I can say: the Sentinel software which was updated four months ago is pretty good but could still use improvement. The Siren app on my iPhone is ONLY good for listening and viewing call information from the scanner within the bounds of my home WiFi, but it has not been updated in four years. The 536 WiFi is hard to setup as you must enter your WiFi password via twisting the front knob around to select letters and numbers, and then it takes several retries of the same process to get it to stay set. The radio is prone to dropping its connection to the WiFi network, it shows as still being on the network router but no longer responds to port scans which means you must go to the radio and turn it off then on again before it will work on the network again. There is a steep learning curve in using the front panel to switch modes etc. I really doubt we will ever see an update to this radios firmware as a new model scanner has replaced this one and as many may realize that all new effort will be targeted towards the new radio. That said, some changes to the new radios may trickle down to the older models firmware, phone app and software.

It is hard to program but all it takes is time. Only used it for a few days but I needed the digital. As always it’s quite expensive for an amateur.