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.

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.

Easy to set up

Like most people haven’t listened to my old scanner for 25 years. Bought this about 2 months ago and inputted the daylight savings time frame, the date and time zone and zip code that I’m located in and that was it. I live in Weirton,WV and also down in a valley and I have it sitting by my chair on the end table with the antenna the came with it and it picks up around 50 mile radius I’m guessing, I think it’s incredible the range it gets with this antenna. Someday I will sit down and figure out the downloading off the internet, but really as far as I can see within a few hours it had picked every emergency system up. Seems like an excellent quality radio if you ask me, I’m no expert though.

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.

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!!!

Another great product from Uniden. App does work but Im guessing its been abandoned by Uniden. Shame, as it would have been great for updates and more stability.

Great scanner, works as advertised

Like another reviewer stated that it has more bugs than a roach motel is true. Uniden knew this when they announced they were coming out with it back in November. They released it anyway in January! Profits before performance! Uniden said it is WI-FI capable and it is not. Not yet! Maybe never! It does come with a WI-FI dongle but it is useless at the moment.They said you could use an app for either Android or Apple devices. You can not because the app is still in development.Or so it is said. They knew this when they released this scanner but did not tell anyone about it OR that the analyze function that they highly advertised does not work either. These were 2 of the main features why I purchased this scanner.Their website has no mention of the analyze function not working but they still have it on their site as being available on this scanner. Oh it is there. It just doesnt work. Their website also says the app for the WI-FI will be available 1st quarter of 2014. It is now May 25th. I purchased mine near the end of February and realized that there was no CD with it that contained the app. I immediately started searching the Internet to find out why there was no app. If you go to [...] youll find all the questions and answers youll need to make your own determination as to purchase or stay far away. I kept mine thinking that Uniden would release the app and have a fix for the analyze function by the end of the 1st quarter. But the time has passed for me to return it so Im stuck with it. You can use it as a functional scanner but I along with countless others paid for features we didnt get and probably never will. Uniden will not answer emails either. Purchase the scanner and then try to find out info about it.Not one email was ever answered. I personally will not buy another Uniden product of any kind. Period! Theyre dead to me. I would bet my last dollar that there will be a class action suite over this. Check out the Uniden forum at radio reference and see for yourself how many other unhappy customers Uniden has. I also personally think that the good reviews are from people that didnt want/need the unavailable features or are affiliated with Uniden to try to boost sales. There are people in the forums that constantly belittle the people that complain that Uniden is doing nothing and not listening to them. You know the people that paid $600 dollars for something and didnt get what they paid for. I call them customers. Those people will think long and hard before buying anything with a Uniden label on it again. Update 7/29/2014 7 months have passed since the release of this scanner and there is still NO Wi-Fi/Siren App or Analyze function. Yet everywhere you look, including Amazon.com, they still advertise these features. WHY! Do they enjoying making customers mad and have to deal with returns once the customers realized theyve been lied to. Or theyve had their head under a rock since January! Uniden is still not returning emails or taking calls regarding this scanner but Uniden continues to send their propaganda emails advertising! Our government is always wanting to get in on everyones business but never there to protect the consumers from liars and thieves! Update 2/3/2015 Here we are over a year since it was released and still DO NOT have the features that were advertised. A YEAR! REALLY! And to add another slap in the face from Uniden, the 1 year warranty will be expiring soon. So once, I mean IF, these features ever do materialize and something goes wrong, then good old Uniden will happily charge you/me for out of warrenty repair. Its a win/win for Uniden and a loose/loose for us! So to all that went ahead and purchased this while ignoring the those of us that tried to save you your hard earned money and a lot of headaches, I TOLD YOU SO! So much for consumer protection laws. But I have said before Uniden is dead to me. Yeah I got screwed along with a lot of others but I will make it my life goal to bash Uniden until I take my last breath or they go out of business! I sure hope Im around to see it!

Top of the line digital scanner including phase 2 digital, with a corresponding top of the line price. Have a lot of phase 1 and 2 systems in the area and the radio has clear p25 reception. The benefits of the HP-1 in terms of loading systems but still having the control over the system like the 966xt with a very similar menu system. Appears to be at least as sensitive as both of those radios (have both). Can create your own favorites listings of frequencies, systems etc regardless of whether they are in the downloaded regularly updating database. Have been using scanners since crystals and have a dozen of them. This is one of my favorites. Still waiting to find out what they do with the Wifi, which connects to my home network but doesnt do anything yet.

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.