Review on Uniden BCD536HP HomePatrol: Digital Phase 2 Scanner with Wi-Fi, TrunkTracker V, Emergency/Weather Alert - Covers USA and Canada! by Scott King

Works great: I've had it for 3 months with no glitches. If you need to bug a Motorola or Harris P25 public safety system, this is the best way for most people. I used to use a Motorola Spectra to listen to this system in analogue mode (I have the capability). But the district switched to P25 and shut me down. So this Christmas, after much hesitation, I treated myself to the BCD536HP. Pros: Very sensitive receiver. Accepts analog and digital P25 and can upgrade popular Provoice and DMR digital modes for a small fee. iOS. Powerful sound (when used with an external speaker) Easily update firmware and channels with Sentinel. minuses; To get started, you need to install the latest firmware and channels with Sentinel. This is easy and requires a PC and a USB cable (included). Disconnect the internal speaker and connect an external 3" or 4" communication speaker. Getting started Programming can be a bit frustrating for a beginner. I'm used to programming commercial LMR radios and I understand all the parameters. So I'd say I'm an "expert" but that experience is proving unnecessary and potentially misleading. This radio differs in that the Sentinel loads a fire hose full of nationwide channels. Your radio will prompt you to enter your zip code (or connect an optional GPS) and it will arm all systems within the radius you specify. This will probably be a lot more than you need. The solution is to use Sentinel to create a favorites list and use keyboard shortcuts to activate only the channels or systems you want. Otherwise, you'll spend a lot of time pressing the avoid button to ignore the dog trap (no kidding). The database comes FREE from www.Radioreference.com Visit this site, forums etc and learn more about the system you wish to control. simulcast systems. You will hear a lot of positive and negative feedback about this receiver. The biggest complaint is reception from P25 simulcast systems. It is true that scanners available today (both Uniden and Whistler) use a "discriminator" to decode the P25 signal. This is not the best way to decode P25 in a simulcast system. The best way is a DSP receiver, and you can only get one by buying a Motorola radio, Harris (which you can't legally program properly), an expensive unification pager, or setting up a software-defined radio (for geeks). My personal experience is that my radio works fine on my local simulcast system and I'm in an overlap area. Sometimes the bit error rate is high and the sound is distorted. P25 itself is not an ideal mode, and you'll find air traffic controllers and officers talking as if they have balloons in their mouths. This is the nature of P25. If you have any concerns, please contact local users and ask them about their experiences with this scanner in your area. encryption. If your local authority uses encryption for some or all of their talkgroups, you will NOT be able to decrypt them. The radio lacks an encryption card and even if it does, you can NEVER get a long 256-bit key. It would also be illegal. If I didn't scare you, you'll be very happy when you do it. Uniden also makes a portable version of this radio, the BCD436HP. I bought the mobile/basic version as then I don't have to worry about batteries and the BCD536HP has better shielding and therefore receives less noise.