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.

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.

First a word of caution: Please be aware that many of the reviews on this page are not for the BCD536HP. Many are for older models of Uniden scanners that have very little in common with the BCD536HP. Why these reviews are here I do not know, but they are. Now for my review. This is a great scanner, easily the best Ive ever owned, and I have owned quite a few dating all the way back to the 1970s. That being said, I will also say its easily the most maligned piece of electronic equipment Ive ever heard of, and that reputation is not entirely unwarranted. This scanner debuted in early 2014 with early adopters finding a number of problems, including defective headphone jacks, and problems with SD cards becoming corrupted. Uniden made good on the headphone jack issue and repaired or replaced the affected units that were returned. The SD card issue seems to be hit or miss, but many who have had the problem have reported that replacing the SD card that came with the scanner with a new one has helped or eliminated the problem entirely. More recently some users have reported that the LCD backlight has dimmed over time. This is worrying, and I find myself trying to use the radio with the backlight either off, or set to its dimmest setting in order to preserve the life of the backlight. Again, this may be an issue that affects some units and not others, but I don’t want to find out the hard way. Another worrying issue is the clock battery. Some have reported their clock battery going dead after a period of months and have been unable to recharge it, or get it to hold a charge. If the clock battery is dead, the radio will require you to enter the date and time each time you turn it on, so while this doesn’t kill the radio it will suck some of the fun out of it. And then of course it took Uniden a year to finally release the Siren app for iPhone, something that was touted as a major new feature when the radio was released. OK, so all that stuff sounds bad, and it is, but I still think this is a great radio. The Siren app is out now and mostly works, at least within your home WIFI network. The headphone jack on my radio is fine. I’ve re-programmed the radio multiple times and had no card failures (I’m using a 32GB card I bought new, keeping the supplied card as a backup.) My clock works fine. The Uniden Sentinel software that comes free is bare-bones but usable. It updates the radio’s firmware easily. The radio scans quickly, it’s UHF and VHF sensitivity is better than I expected it would be based on user comments I’d read. The radio looks and sounds great! It does not look like the “Pinto” of police scanners, which let’s face it, it kind of is. it looks more like a BMW. Very nice fit and finish, very nice design. The feel to the controls is nice & solid, and the very nice display offers more characters to use for your Alpha Tags than ever before. It’s really a wonderful, even refined, radio. I would easily give it 5 stars if it weren’t for all the design and quality control issues that have plagued it, at least did in the past. Now I will say I think a lot of folks will be disappointed in the “Home Patrol” aspect of this radio. Yes it’s touted as a major feature, and yes you can enter your Zip Code and be scanning your local police and fire in minutes. But what I’ve found is it tends to load up a lot of stuff you will not enjoy listening to, which forces the scanner to work its way through a lot of unnecessary channels, slowing the scan cycle way down. Yes, you can hit “Avoid” on stuff, and yes you can select only the types of communications you’re interested in. All that will help, but scanners work best when you PROGRAM THEM. When YOU put in exactly what YOU want to listen to. So my advice is to take the time to learn how to program the radio properly with Sentinel, or with the Butel software (a subscription at radio reference will help if you use Butel). You will enjoy your radio infinitley more when its set up properly. If this is your first scanner, and you live in an area with complex communications systems, you should expect that learning how to program it is going to take some time and effort. It will be time well spent though, and there’s lots of resources online to help. The Marks Easier To Read manual online is a good place to start. Also RadioReference.com is a huge compendium of help and information and informative users. Hope that helps.

I am a scanner newbie, I wanted something to listen in to local police and fire and air. My experience with scanners if very limited. I first bought the RS PRO-652 from my local RS store. I had a heck of a time trying to program this, I basically used search and tune and entered one frequency at a time. Very frustrating, even after reading instructions. I thought Id order this Uniden after reading how simple it was to program. I ordered through Amazon and got it next day. From the time I opened the package and got it working was like 30 minutes. I put in my zip code and it started loading the area database and I was in business. I even found this one picked up distant radios a little better as well. I returned the RS and havent looked back. I have a Apple iPad and can listen to it using the Siren app and even do some programming and other controls with it. I wish they had the Siren for PC or Android. WIth wifi it should be able to connect to the PC wirelessly. My SSID contains several lower/upper case letters and I was unable to figure out how to do caps lock or lower case. So I created a new one using all upper case password. I still am learning with this scanner but so far it seems to be light years ahead of others with the home patrol software built-in. I am able to pick up radios from two counties away, faintly, but I can hear them. So far Ive been very pleased with this scanner.

Having been a scanner enthusiast since the 80s and having owned other Unidens as well as Icom and other top flight units, it was nice that upon opening the box it was fairly apparent this was deserving of its stature of being their top of the line. All metal construction with solid feeling buttons and switchgear. Setup was literally no brainer. One simple starts by turning it on, setting the date and time, then entering a zip code. You can easily begin listening to an already present full database of frequencies in any given area around the entire country The good stuff comes when you load the FREE Sentinel software that also come pre loaded on the removable micro SD card. It provides the ability to easily program in Favorites of channels you group to listen to according to taste. I arranged all my Country Police on one, then the Fire on another, then also Business and such. Great instructions on how this is all achieved is easily watchable on Youtube so no worries on getting familiar with this unit. The sound is good, but a but on the muffled side as the speaker is on the bottom. I happen to have a great external communications speaker from years ago that I use on this and its audio is flat out superb. There is plenty of power (5 watts) off this unit so if youre serious about the sound quality it will easily drive any speaker well. Love the large rich contrast display that shows tons of info on what youre hearing. It is actually VERY intuitive to use if you have any experience using scanners. Otherwise if you dont its still easy to just use the full database and all you need to do is choose the Service or type of thing you want to listen to, such as the various headings for Police, or Utilities or City stuff. It is indeed easy regardless. The quality is most certainly there. Much better than TV to listen for hours.

Just put my zip in and was ready to go. It’s got allot more ability then me for sure

This is a high end, scanner, and worth its money

super easy to set up an use comes with all the stuff but I did get the external speaker and the gps hook up unit but have not installed them yet..just using what comes in the box..with the scanner ..simple use in home or in car cig lighter plug an go or home unit outlet plug or direct battery hookup all comes in box with the radio...very nice unit have had some scanners in the past that where so difficult to set up I ended up just giving up an gifting the thing to someone else more knowing about them ..I am dumb..this scanner is super easy to use enjoying it 200% cant wait to hook up external aftermarket compliant antenna an speaker an gps..then will really know but like i said out of the box its awesome NO need really for anything extra to get ...being it is a little expensive..but your getting a very high quality piece of tech ..super nice cant stress enough how happy I am with this scanner.ex trucker ex military used to have a bearcat bct7 analog system ..dont know if you can listen to cell phones an stuff with it like that radio..but I imagine a fella could with enough know how to do ...has digital signal pickup analog can download stuff to it ..see how it goes a year from now but I dont feel my 5 stars will change at all could not be happier with my purchase..thanks again hope this review of my dumb real self helps anyone wanting to have a nice scanner ..I was gonna do a scanner page on facebook also...why I did get this type...yes are cheaper ones but I read alot an wanted something that was from a quality company

Once I figured out how to block channels, it was a bit easier. A quality unit.

It works well but it is rather slow at scanning (it seems). Unless you connect to a computer and disable a lot of the frequencies, the scanner takes a long time to make a round. I miss a lot of broadcasts due to this. Its a very nicely built scanner. I just dont think it fits my needs.