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 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.

This is the coolest scanner I have ever seen. The negative reviews are definitely about how complicated it is to operate. Well, it is as complicated as you want to make it. I was listening to it within 2 minutes of plugging it in and entering my zip code. Have I done more to it since then? You bet. I added some channels from my local Jail. I made the different departments in my area show up with different colors. I have caught some new frequencies with it also and blocked out some frequencies that I didnt want. IF it is too hard for you to read the manual and learn about the features then you wont get that far. Buy something cheaper and live and let live. This is the coolest scanner I have ever seen. Worth the $ in my opinion.

Easy to set up

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.

This unit is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, its got fantastic build-quality. It works as it should, scans channels and lets you listen. The buttons and knobs work well. Its a quality unit. Or is it? It might be me, perhaps Im old and stupid, but I cannot, for the life of me, understand how to use the favorites system. In a web browser, youre on a page you like, and you hit a button and save it as a favorite. Later, you can go back to it. But this thing has no such button. Instead, it has an elaborate and over-complicated favorite-list system which is impossible for me to understand even after watching countless YouTube videos. The problem is you cant just say Hey, this is interesting, fave it! For goodness sake, Im a computer programmer and I *still* cant understand how to operate the user interface of this thing. Why cant I, for example, just quickly set a frequency / operation mode of my choice like I can on a regular radio? So now it sits here gathering dust instead of being used because the UI is so annoying.

WEVE ONLY HAD TWO SCANNERS IN OUR 50 YEARS OF MARRIAGE. THE SECOND ONE HAS NOW DIED, AFTER HAVING BEEN ON DAY AND NIGHT. THIS ONE WAS PRICEY BUT BEARCAT IS A GREAT REPUTATION AND, NOT KNOWING IF OUR CITY IS GOING DIGITAL OR NOT, WE TOOK THE JUMP. TOO TECHNICAL OF COURSE FOR US (75+ AGE), BUT WE HAD A TECKIE GUY PROGRAM IT FOR US. HERES TO ANOTHER 50 YEARS. . . . .OR THE ESTATE SALE.

Great scanner, easy to use with zip code based HomePatrol feature is great. Setting up your own lists with the software is a little tricky the first time but I was successful in completeing the task. It Has good receiver sensitivity even with antenna attached to rear of receiver. While I dont use the feature a lot the Siren App for my iPhone works great for monitoring the scanner within my Wifi network. The use of the app is very easy to understand. Wifi setup of the scanner was very easy and straight forward. Maintaining the frequency database and loading updates into the radio is very easy and straight forward, as are firmware upgrades. There have been two firmware upgrades that I have done so far in the last few weeks that I have.owned the scanner.

Ive bought just about every new scanner thats been available over the last few years and this is a go-to unit. If you know your way around the software/programming and new digital technology these days youll probably love this thing. It can also be fairly easy to use as a beginner or someone who doesnt care to get too involved. Lots of options available to upgrade the firmware as well. It has good audio and decode quality and receives very well. Many useful features and ways to custom program.

This scanner took some time getting set up and programmed but man was it worth it!! Acutal call: Dispatch to officer, we have a caller on the line needing assistance with two drunk ninjas throwing beer cans at his car. Officer to dispatch, Im finishing up a call nearby and Ill be on my way. Dispatch to officer, caller has updated they are now in bandanas and playing with themselves. Officer to dispatch, send me the address and mark me in route to the drunken ninjas. Dispatch to officer, caller states they are now in a helmet and snorkels.