Help needed in using Uniden BCD436HP to zero in on a specific signals

[Farhad]

Hi,
I am a total newbie at scanning and his is my first post here.

I live in New Smyrna Beach, Volusia County, Florida, and I purchased a Uniden BCD436HP which comes pre-loaded with a US-Canada frequencies database. My desire is to listen to what is happening in my town by scanning the radio signals of the New Smyrna Beach Police.

The day I got my new scanner I easily entered my zip code, then I chose selected my service types (Emergency Ops, Law Dispatch, Law Talk, Multi-Dispatch on, all the others off) and 3min later I was listening to the cops in my county. Except that this included all the other towns.

I took a look at the Volusia County page at the Radio Reference Frequences Database (https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=379), but I did not find a way to use this info to somehow program my scanner to listen only to the cops in my town and not in the entire county.

Could you please help me with that?

My second question is this: when I am on the road, I would like to listen to truckers and their signals which, iirc, is in CB. Another alternaive would be CB+FRS+GRMS+MURS (to really cover all possible signals from travelers on the road).

How do I best set this up on my scanner?

Last question, when I travel around our cities I would like to know what the security situation is around me. Is setting my scanner to "Close Call Only" the correct solution? I tried today in Daytona Beach and all I heard was static. What am I doing wrong? Is there a setting for "police signals within, say, 3 miles of my location".

Many thanks for any pointers,

Farik

 

[stingray327]

Hi,
I am a total newbie at scanning and his is my first post here.

I live in New Smyrna Beach, Volusia County, Florida, and I purchased a Uniden BCD436HP which comes pre-loaded with a US-Canada frequencies database. My desire is to listen to what is happening in my town by scanning the radio signals of the New Smyrna Beach Police.

The day I got my new scanner I easily entered my zip code, then I chose selected my service types (Emergency Ops, Law Dispatch, Law Talk, Multi-Dispatch on, all the others off) and 3min later I was listening to the cops in my county. Except that this included all the other towns.

I took a look at the Volusia County page at the Radio Reference Frequences Database (https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=379), but I did not find a way to use this info to somehow program my scanner to listen only to the cops in my town and not in the entire county.

Could you please help me with that?

My second question is this: when I am on the road, I would like to listen to truckers and their signals which, iirc, is in CB. Another alternaive would be CB+FRS+GRMS+MURS (to really cover all possible signals from travelers on the road).

How do I best set this up on my scanner?

Last question, when I travel around our cities I would like to know what the security situation is around me. Is setting my scanner to "Close Call Only" the correct solution? I tried today in Daytona Beach and all I heard was static. What am I doing wrong? Is there a setting for "police signals within, say, 3 miles of my location".

Many thanks for any pointers,

Farik

I have a 436 also and am still learning on it. I use it in the car but I do not like it for the car. Seems to be not user friendly, can't see the screen and to turn it on can be dangerous when driving so I have to park then engage it to come on. For some reason it keeps asking me if I want to charge it between no and E for yes and It doesn't turn on to scan.
The charger part will come on when hooked up to the cigarette lighter in car. It just started to do this.
You can use GPS scanning if you move in and out of areas alot so then scanner will automatically scan local stations. But in my case I have the GPS set up and I still pick up stations far away more than whatever range I set it to or let GPS automatically take it over.

 

[AC2OY]

Farik
Your best bet is to use the Sentinel software and program in exactly what you want. You can create favorite lists to better organize and turn them on and off. Everytime I ever used close call it got stuck on commercial radio stations. Best advice to adsorb as much programming knowledge quickly is look at the you tube videos and the easier to read manual. I have my 536 for almost a year now and I'm still learning things.

 

[Voyager]

I have a 436 also and am still learning on it. I use it in the car but I do not like it for the car. Seems to be not user friendly, can't see the screen and to turn it on can be dangerous when driving so I have to park then engage it to come on.

Why don't you set the backlight for INFINITE so it will stay on? That's what I do, and I can see it fine in the car (or truck).

 

[stingray327]

Why don't you set the backlight for INFINITE so it will stay on? That's what I do, and I can see it fine in the car (or truck).

If I am on batteries, the batteries will die out faster but then again I can do that if I use the cigarette lighter plug. How hot do those lights get and how long will they last?
I had the lights burn out on my 2052. Sent it in cost $60.

 

[Voyager]

If I am on batteries, the batteries will die out faster but then again I can do that if I use the cigarette lighter plug. How hot do those lights get and how long will they last?
I had the lights burn out on my 2052. Sent it in cost $60.

They are LEDs, not bulbs, and I've used that mode back to my 246/330/396T/396XT/436 and never had an issue with them going bad. And my mobile versions run 24/7/365 with the backlights on. The battery drain is not that bad. I still get 8-10 hours out of a set of charged cells.

 

[Farhad]

Farik
Your best bet is to use the Sentinel software and program in exactly what you want.

Alas, it does not run on Linux. Not even with Wine.

Surely there must be a way to get the "CB+FRS+GRMS+MURS" combo without using a computer?

Also: How can I check if "Close Call" is on of off? It does not show on the screen.

Thanks

Farik

 

[AC2OY]

If you click the Squelch button(top right) the icon IC a "C" with a plus sign around it,keep clicking it until it disappears then close call is off. Your also correct saying you don't need a computer to program the scannet but to do it by the buttons on the scanner is a lot of work but it can be done. What you can do it this....turn on the service types you want to listen to and lower the range of the scannet. Default I think is twenty miles.

 

[Voyager]

I took a look at the Volusia County page at the Radio Reference Frequences Database (https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=379), but I did not find a way to use this info to somehow program my scanner to listen only to the cops in my town and not in the entire county.

If they are on the trunked radio system, and the ones you don't want to hear use the same talkgroup as the one you do, there is no way to separate them.

 

[stingray327]

They are LEDs, not bulbs, and I've used that mode back to my 246/330/396T/396XT/436 and never had an issue with them going bad. And my mobile versions run 24/7/365 with the backlights on. The battery drain is not that bad. I still get 8-10 hours out of a set of charged cells.

It doesn't look like LED but if it is that's great because they are suppose to last longer and burn cooler.
How do you make the light stay on?

 

[stingray327]

Why don't you set the backlight for INFINITE so it will stay on? That's what I do, and I can see it fine in the car (or truck).

How do you keep light on?

 

[Farhad]

If they are on the trunked radio system, and the ones you don't want to hear use the same talkgroup as the one you do, there is no way to separate them.

so are you saying that my local cops have to listen to all the others also or do they have some technical way to separate them which I don't?

thanks,

Farik

 

[Farhad]

If you click the Squelch button(top right) the icon IC a "C" with a plus sign around it,keep clicking it until it disappears then close call is off.

I found the "C" in a circle (no + sign) and clicking squelch does not help, but I can switch off the CC inside the "CC mode" menu. I think that your firmware and mine must be different versions, but you pointed me in the right direction and for that I am grateful, thanks a lot!

Farik

 

[SCPD]

Set the range for 1 mile ,that should narrow it down alot,the radio when set to factory default scans 3 states thats an awfully high amount of channels for which to scan.


Or make your own favorites list by picking what you want out of the directory to the left in sentinel.
STATE>COUNTY>TOWN add to favorites list(the new one)Then just shut off full database.

 

[Voyager]

so are you saying that my local cops have to listen to all the others also or do they have some technical way to separate them which I don't?

thanks,

Farik

If they are all using the same talkgroup, there is no way to separate them on a scanner or on the user radio.

 

[Voyager]

How do you keep light on?

MENU button
DISPLAY OPTIONS (next to last selection)
SET BACKLIGHT
SET MODE
TIMEOUT
(set to INFINITE)

(exit the menu)

(press the light button. The light should stay on)

 

[stingray327]

MENU button
DISPLAY OPTIONS (next to last selection)
SET BACKLIGHT
SET MODE
TIMEOUT
(set to INFINITE)

(exit the menu)

(press the light button. The light should stay on)

gOT it thanks. Every time I turn it off and turn it back on I have to repeat the above process?

 

[Voyager]

gOT it thanks. Every time I turn it off and turn it back on I have to repeat the above process?

Nope. All you will have to do it hit the light button to turn the light on and it should stay on.

 

[stingray327]

Nope. All you will have to do it hit the light button to turn the light on and it should stay on.

Now how to you get it to return it to the other way it was when it receives a signal it lights up then shuts off. It goes on and off pending receiving of signals.
I tried to reverse the process then I get no light when I get transmission and at this point I turn on light and it stays on rather than light automatically turning off like before when signal is gone.

 

[Voyager]

Now how to you get it to return it to the other way it was when it receives a signal it lights up then shuts off. It goes on and off pending receiving of signals.
I tried to reverse the process then I get no light when I get transmission and at this point I turn on light and it stays on rather than light automatically turning off like before when signal is gone.

That's odd, but mine doesn't do that. I have my settings as:

Squelch: Open Squelch
Keypad: 10 Seconds
Timeout: Infinite

and my backlight never shuts off.

Do you have batteries in the unit? Not having batteries in can cause odd operation.