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.

super easy to set up an use comes with all the stuff but I did get the external speaker and the gps hook up unit but have not installed them yet..just using what comes in the box..with the scanner ..simple use in home or in car cig lighter plug an go or home unit outlet plug or direct battery hookup all comes in box with the radio...very nice unit have had some scanners in the past that where so difficult to set up I ended up just giving up an gifting the thing to someone else more knowing about them ..I am dumb..this scanner is super easy to use enjoying it 200% cant wait to hook up external aftermarket compliant antenna an speaker an gps..then will really know but like i said out of the box its awesome NO need really for anything extra to get ...being it is a little expensive..but your getting a very high quality piece of tech ..super nice cant stress enough how happy I am with this scanner.ex trucker ex military used to have a bearcat bct7 analog system ..dont know if you can listen to cell phones an stuff with it like that radio..but I imagine a fella could with enough know how to do ...has digital signal pickup analog can download stuff to it ..see how it goes a year from now but I dont feel my 5 stars will change at all could not be happier with my purchase..thanks again hope this review of my dumb real self helps anyone wanting to have a nice scanner ..I was gonna do a scanner page on facebook also...why I did get this type...yes are cheaper ones but I read alot an wanted something that was from a quality company

Works awesome, great product, thank you

Overall this is a great scanner. The Siren app has me frustrated however. It is not completely functional, as promised. I knew this before purchasing the scanner, but I wanted a mobile scanner with the Provoice option, and this was one of two choices. The app is supposed to work, but with very limited function. I would like to see that, as I cannot even get my wifi dongle to connect. All of my other wifi devices connect, just not the 536. Also, there are a few things I dislike about the scanner. I wish you could turn systems on in the database by selecting a drop down menu. This works well in Sentinel (although the way this program is written is also frustrating), but it would be nice to be able to make database selections when a computer isnt available. All in all its a great scanner. But I cant give it a higher score because the Siren app is not functional even though it has been repeatedly promised.

Confession: Im BRAND NEW to the scanner hobby. There, now that thats out of the way. The 536HP is an absolute TOP OF THE LINE product! After spending quite a bit of time learning how this darn thing really works, the results are pretty darn amazing. Initially I was quite frustrated at the lack of channels that I could listen to in my immediate area even though I live in a major metropolitan area. A little research helped considerably so I purchased a much better antenna, placed it outside, spent a few hours reading over the manual and watching some youtube videos and actually found some listenable local channels. Spent some more time researching and learned some of the actual features of this scanner and how they work. There are an AMAZING amount of things that can be done with this scanner. If I had to do it again, I would start by doing more research, especially about antennas and proper placement for better reception. This is an unbelievably powerful scanner that quite honestly, with the right antenna, is plug and play right out of the box. FWIW I live in an Apartment with a lot of RF interference. After putting a decent antenna outside it really opened up the reception for me. I can understand the reviews that say that this is a complicated scanner and agree to a point. Ive spent quite a few hours getting this thing to where I understand it.

To put it bluntly, if you havent taken a college course in how to program a high end scanner, dont buy this one, and as for its preprogramming of channels feature that all you do is enter your zip code, ya, itll scan every state around you and thousands of channels you dont want, and you cant use the range function either when using the scanner set up to scan using a zip code. That only works on channels you have manually entered, and you cant lock channels out either using the preprogramming function. So unless you have the time and knowledge of some very complex, very in depth scanner functions, youre going to be left wondering where the nearest place is you can take a course on how to program the thing, or figure on buying something not so complex, because Ive had 4 scanners prior to this one and was able to find my way around them, but this thing was just too much. The menus and functions keep going on like some infinite journey into the abyss. It has functions I had no idea what they even were, and didnt want to spend the next six months googling it and fiddling around with it just to program it to scan the channels I wanted and not a few thousand I didnt, and I mean thousands. When using the zip code programming, it will scan thousands of channels in your state and the states surrounding you, and theres no way to tell it not to scan all those channels while using in that manner. You cant lock them out and you cant use the range function either, its unreal, and I wonder why not when evidently itll do everything else including wipe your nose. Is it a well made scanner? Yes. Is it high end? Ya, and probably the most complicated scanner on the planet. I guess if this is your hobby and youve been into it your entire life and you want the absolute best, buy this scanner. If you live in a rural area and just want a scanner to scan maybe 10 to say 30 local channels, you dont need this one. Theres plenty of other scanners that have trunking and digital that arent a fraction as complicated as this thing. I returned it. So why did I buy it you may ask... well, I thought Id buy a scanner that I wouldnt have to upgrade for a good long while. What I didnt plan on was buying something so complicated that I couldnt properly program it. Thats my story and Im sticking to it.

ok... so to be honest I love it now, not a few hours ago. :) I found the instruction book to be super confusing. I went out onto YouTube to get information, but most of the videos were way above what I wanted to do. I was attracted to this scanner due to the ID feature (showing what department is talking) and my thought was I would learn as I got use to the unit. I did not want to have to use my computer to program the scanner, but use my zipcode and let the unit load itself. Well... long story short... I figured it out. I put in my zipcode, set a 10 mile range. I created a new favorite list and copied the database into this. I then edited down the favorite list to the departments I wanted to monitor. Then I shut off monitoring the full data base, leaving only my new favorites list to be scanned. This was much easier than manually entering the 10 departments I monitor. Hope this helps someone else. :)

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.

Although pricey, this is the best consumer grade scanner out there IMO. That said, theres an apparent glitch with SD-card-write-read-memory, meaning that after shutting down the scanner with HOLD settings for the System and Department these settings are lost approximately one of every four boot-ups, making it frustrating to have to take the time to catch the desired System and Department again to put back on hold. Ive experienced this with two brand new BCD536 scanners and Ive discussed this quirk with Unidens technical support to which they agree that this characteristic is not right. If and when they can solve this minor issue I will then give this scanner a highest 5-Star rating.

Great remote receiver. Works great with Proscan software webserver so you can listen to your scanner any where you have internet and a web browser.

This is the 1st scanner I have had in several years and the advancements are outstanding. Once I figured out how to use the software for programming, I simply set up a favorite with only the agencies that I wanted to listen to. I pick up all the surrounding counties, State Police, DOT, Game & Fish, EMS. It is pricey, but well worth the money for anyone that likes to keep up with what is going on with first responders.