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.

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.

I have had this scanner a couple weeks and it has worked flawlessly. The Sentinel software is great, and very user friendly. I chose to select from the database to program the local frequencies I needed. It was also very easy to utilize the software to program auto racing frequencies that were not in the database. I am an Amateur radio operator and also programmed in numerous repeater and Skywarn frequencies. I recommend using the Uniden videos available in YouTube that show how to easily program this scanner for a frustration free programming experience. Excellent Scanner, packed with features and worth the money! You will not be disappointed with this scanner.

Hard to program, not knowing if its a p-25 trunk, p25x2-tdma,p25 one frequency, then if you try and program using your zip code,they said 30 miles. Well it loaded every frequency for whole state of Alaska. Now have reset scanner to blank and will start again. All digital scanners I have purchased (3) have been difficult not knowing what channels. Not as user-friendly as the older scanners.

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 a high end, scanner, and worth its money

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.

Great scanner, works as advertised

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

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.

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.