Uniden BC365CRS 500 Channel Scanner and Alarm Clock with Snooze, Sleep, and FM Radio with Weather Alert, Search Bands Commonly used for Police, Fire/EMS, Aircraft, Radio, and Marine Transmissions

I bought this scanner to replace a 30 year old one that I bought back then for $99, which was also a Uniden Scanner. A reminder before you buy, make sure the agencies you want to hear are not digital or trunking as this scanner will not pick them up. Most of what I want to hear in my area are still on analog FM as they have been for decades. Right out of the box, in a few minutes I had entered known active frequencies in my area and the scanner came to life. I found some videos on Youtube that made entering frequencies quick and a lot easier than using the supplied owners manual. The supplied telescopic antenna does a surprisingly good job as the sensitivity of this scanner is quite good. As a departure from older scanners, the antenna is now a BNC connector instead of the older style Motorola Connector. The ability to pick up weaker and more distant signals is greatly enhanced by the use of an external outdoor type Scanner Antenna. I connected a Discone Scanner Antenna which really brought up weaker signals and brought in distant ones that I was not able to get with the supplied telescopic antenna. The audio quality is excellent from the small front mounted speaker and sounds like the audio has been contoured for voice. Plenty of sound and if you desire more there is an audio output jack on the back of the unit. I have had this scanner on for about a week since taking it out of the box and giving it a few off and on cycles. I have not had a chance to try it on all of the frequency bands it has but it so far has worked well on public service lo and hi bands, amateur radio 2 meter band and the instant access weather channels. It is a lot of scanner for the price as long as what you want to listen to is still operating on conventional FM Non Digital transmission modes. If you want digital and trunking scanning you will have to go with something more substantial.

Purchased this scannner out of Amazon warehouse at a reduced price. Didnt really have high expectations. Upon arrival it appeared to be brandnew. Even though the original packaging was missing. All external parts were carefully packed in ziplock bags. After programming I plugged unit in and also installed a 50foot external antenna as well for better reception. Upon calibration for maximum rception im picking up depts over 150miles away.

Good buy

It was not very easy to figure out, but after reading the booklet and trying different buttons it seemed to pick up some stuff. The police channel didnt have anything coming in but it might have been a slow crime time.

I could not get it to program so I returned it. Amazon was very accomadating in refunding my money. Also I found out later that it would have become useless. Police Departments are going digital and are encrypting their messages and the noise I heard on my friends scanner was very irritating and he had to turn it down. You can listen to the EMS ,but not the P.D.

Small size but still loaded with some great extra features. For anyone just getting into using a regular scanner or a back-up ... this is your winner! Comes with a small antenna but still receives most signals you will want to hear and add an outdoor antenna later. Complete with AC wall power supply and a small user manual. Scanner case is plastic with touch button controls and an orange glow back lighted display which is easy to see in most lighting. Receiver is very good for Hi-band VHF, Weather, Fire, Police and EMS. Lo-band VHF and UHF were good but not the quality of Hi-band VHF. Radio has Alarm Clock and FM radio with a 3-cell AA battery backup for clock. Channels say in memory even with no AC power and do not need battery backup. Scanner is medium level easy to program for a newbie but one must read the user manual first and no computer is needed for use. Using the scanner can be a small learning curve of two to four hours of hands on use. This is one nice scanner to hear the latest whats happening in my local area now. Anyone wanting a good scanner this is the one to buy! I will follow - up post later.

This is a great desktop scanner at a good price. Quite easy to program and use. I own other police scanners and this one has the best sound quality.

The Bearcat BC365CRS is a very nice radio. Listening to Military/Commercial Aviation daily via Davis Monthan AFB from my apartment. Tucson International is just beyond that. While I cant really use an external antenna at the apartment, the standard telescoping antenna supplied gives me a very sufficient signal strength for virtually all my listening. Amateur radio on 2 Meters and on 440 is clear. General Pima County services are quite clear. While the main Tucson Police Department is a trunked 800 MHz system and NOT covered by this radio, the remainder of city services and MedEvac helicopter are interesting to listen to. FM reception is quite adequate. Sound is exceptional considering the size of the speaker. Based on what I hear coming in on the NOAA Weather frequencies - the Mt Lemmon Transmitter is alright but not great quality. This isnt a scanning receiver issue. Their WX transmitter is only marginal. Alarm function is good. Either turn on the radio or tone with enough tone kick to wake anyone up. Compared to a regular Alarm Clock the alarm settings arent as easy to use as a dedicated digital clock though. Search modes by Service and programming those frequencies into memory is pretty straightforward . Five Stars.

This was exactly what we wanted. Being a firemans wife, I like to be able to hear the calls he goes on to know hes safe, get an idea of how things are going to plan for things like dinner or other activities in case hes going to be delayed, and its somewhat entertaining to hear some of the crazy stuff you hear with police communications.

This item was purchased for my house to make sure everyone was doing ok in my house