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.

Like the self programming. Dislike sound quality, attached extension speakers did help. Needs a sound leveling system, some channels come in really loude and others I can hardly hear. Try to find a happy medium.

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.

Not easy to use and those FM stations keep breaking in all the time!! Maybe a good antenna with a good location might help this little radio out but doubt it!!! A total waste of money!!!

July 23 update: After reading several posts at the radio reference website, I have found out why the unit is always asking to set the date and time. It seems that it has an internal battery for just this and it must be shipped dead from the factory. To charge it, you must leave the scanner on for several days. The magic number of days posted there seems to be three. So, turn on the scanner, and leave it only for several days in a row. The battery only charges while the unit is actually on. A constant power supply to the radio, while it is turned off will not charge the battery. Once I did this, the constant nagging for me to set the date and time has finally gone away. I will be adding back one of the removed stars as this is a great scanner but I am holding back one because UNIDEN should have made this CLEAR in the manual on the setting up section. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ July 2014 update: Now this scanner is asking me to set the date and time every time I turn it on!!!!!! Uniden, fix this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Because of this, Im removing two stars! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ And now, I really like it. Like all Uniden scanners, documentation is to be desired. It is/was written for those that have been aboard with Uniden from the get-go. Im sure they get it! But, if you are not an aged veteran of Uniden, then you are not alone and the manual that comes with it is of little help. With that said, this unit does offer help for the novice. LIKE ME! The sentinel software really helps, but it also ASSuMEs a lot. Do as I did; take a day off, sleep good and then try it again with an open mind. With this, you can figure out how to make your scanner work best for you. yes, it uses stupid words like append for what most would call add and other stupid Chinese to English translation errors. The feature I like most is the simulcast. I can now listen to all the local police cars as they broadcast. With my old scanner, this was not there. The reason I got this new scanner was that I often saw police and emergency vehicles zoom by my home with no chatter at all on my old digital scanner. Now, when I see them, I actually listen to them and know exactly where and why they are in a hurry.

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.

Uniden has always made great products and this scanner is no different. Be prepared for a bit of a learning curve. I found some helpful videos on YouTube. Once you get it down though it works great! But its definitely more complicated initially than the traditional scanners. The speaker is on the bottom of the unit so you have to use the mounting stand (reversed) in order to hear it. While its not terrible I would have rather had the speaker on the side or top. I am considering an external speaker.

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.

Date of manufacturer was 2013, guess they did not move off the shelves. Did not operate on power up, could not find any stations at all. Figured due to date of manufacture, it was obvious to me that it was out of date because the local police and fire frequencies were not correct. Tried to do database update, but the new database required a firmware update before it would load the DB. Did the FW and then the DB and all was well. Set my zip code and we were off to the races. As for the remote SW for my iOS iPad. It works but they really put no effort into doing a great remote app. As for the Sentinal SW for the PC, it uses dated methods of organizing the various functions. This app is in search of a well organized GUI..... Electricly it is a very good scanner, good sensitivity but could use bit more selectivity. Only negative is that when using an external speaker, the plug for external speaker does not turn off the internal speaker. This causes audio level problems and reduces the ability to control the audio in graceful way. Once you get past the growing pains it is a fine performing scanner, but I can’t justify 5 stars.

It is hard to program but all it takes is time. Only used it for a few days but I needed the digital. As always it’s quite expensive for an amateur.

After reading some of the other reviews I was worried there would be issues with this scanner. I was able to take it out of the box and had it up and running within 15 minutes and didnt even need to take the manual out of the package. You basically enter your zip code and go. The antenna that was included even worked well to start. After I connected it to the antenna in my attic I was amazed with the reception on analog and digital. Analog is very clear, it must have a very sensitive receiver and excellent noise filter. The speaker works ok but is in the bottom of the unit. If you are using it on a table you need an external speaker. I use an old Motorola 2 way speaker and it is able to power it perfectly from the external speaker connection. Updating the database and firmware is also simple using the included software. Dont look for a CD or download it is included on the memory card within the unit.