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.

Good scanner but as with any radio Id suggest to use an external speaker for better sound quality. I just received it so Im still learning how to use it. But so far its a good scanner. The one thing they should add to it is an ignition wire for it for when installed in car since they say not to wire it to your vehicles ignition since I could corrupt the SD card when it shuts off if you dont shut off manually first.

Like most people haven’t listened to my old scanner for 25 years. Bought this about 2 months ago and inputted the daylight savings time frame, the date and time zone and zip code that I’m located in and that was it. I live in Weirton,WV and also down in a valley and I have it sitting by my chair on the end table with the antenna the came with it and it picks up around 50 mile radius I’m guessing, I think it’s incredible the range it gets with this antenna. Someday I will sit down and figure out the downloading off the internet, but really as far as I can see within a few hours it had picked every emergency system up. Seems like an excellent quality radio if you ask me, I’m no expert though.

Typing in your zip code to start scanning is very easy, but this scanner picks up so many transmissions from so far away that it is overwhelming. There is no easy way to bypass the transmissions you dont want or select only the transmissions you do want. The scanner itself is very good, with clear sound and long range using just the included antenna. If you are willing to pay extra the company offers to sell you a new sd card with your choice of county options, but after paying so much for the scanner in the first place it shouldnt cost extra to be able to program the scanner correctly. If you want an easy to program scanner to listen to only the agencies you want to hear, this is NOT it.

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.

Goes offline at least twice a day. Unplugging and reinserting the dongle usually fixes it but occasionally the scanner has to be rebooted.

Received replacement within two days, thank you Amazon! One difference I noticed immediately between the replacement unit and the original unit received - on the original unit the front panel connector for the USB cable was loose/had slop; replacement unit snug fit with no slop. On the original unit, I started to experience the power recycling when I connected/disconnected the USB cable while the unit was powered on. On the replacement unit, could not initially access as a Mass Storage Device (whereas with my BCD436HP out of the box I could). I followed the number one recommendation from RadioReference, i.e. remove the SD Card, use SD card reader with PC, format the card, program (using Sentinel), place SD Card back in 536. Worked flawlessly. I am very pleased with the technical performance of the 536 - five starts. Overall though three stars for poor and inadequate OEM documentation, issue with initial unit, and not out-of-the-box ready like my 436. BCD536HP - factory defect. Unit continuously would cycle through the power on/boot up routine. Searching on RadioReference.com indicates this is a known issue that appears to initiate at various points in time. Once it starts, no clearing/reseting. There were no definitive solutions, lots of recommendations and suggestions. I own a BCD436HP so I am familiar with Sentinel, USB interface, etc. Also, I am an Electrical Engineer and have been involved in radio communications systems for a year shy of four decades. Returned for a replacement, will review replacement. I recommend prior to purchasing this model that you review the various feedback on the RadioReference forums regarding the BCD536HP.

One of the best dugital scanners on the market.

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

Amazing scanner. The most advanced scanner with the most options I have ever had. Currently I have 5 scanners and 4 of them are Uniden. The most important thing to determine before you buy this scanner is if the police, sheriff and fire departments in your community transmit an encrypted signal. This scanner or any scanner will not work for you if the signal is encrypted. In Georgia, Clayton, Henry, Fayette and Spalding Counties encrypt their signals. I live in Clayton county and the other counties I listed surround me. I am returning it. It is a heart breaker for me and my wife. We have been listening to police scanners for 20 years and now nothing will work. I guess it is more important for the police department, sheriffs department and fire departments to keep everything from the public than it is for the public to know what is happening in their community. This is a sad day for government transparency. I guess the local politicians think it is better if you do not know what is happening in your community.