BCD436HP - useful outside of US/Canada?

Hi all,

I'm seriously interested in buying the BCD436HP for my scanner needs, but i'm not sure how useful it will be for me since i do not actually live in US/Canada (I'm moving between locations in Asia / Europe).

>>>Does anyone have feedback on how the BCD436HP operates when there are no database / location data / frequency lists available to download? Will the function be in anyway similar to an analog scanner (e.g. BC125AT)?

>>>Also, does the trunking discovery function automatically find all channels/frequencies/IDs in a trunked radio system, or would i need to input all these prior to use the listen to transmissions properly? Unfortunately my area does not publicly broadcast any frequencies, so I'm relying on the Close Call Feature and random frequency search to populate my favorite lists.

Many thanks in advance.

Best regards,
Falk

Using Favorites Lists, you can program anything just like any other scanner.

Trunking Discovery doesn't find channels or frequencies, it finds talkgroup IDs. If you're monitoring a Motorola or P25 trunked radio system, once you find the control/data channel, you won't need any other frequencies (most likely) as the radio will get the other frequencies from the data contained on the control channel.

You can do one of two things in an area outside the North American continent in terms of programming and listening. As Voyager said, you can program favorites lists, and tell the radio to ignore the fact that there's no location data. Then your radio will work just like any other older scanner which has no GPS/location function. Or, you can build the location details into the favorites lists, and manually give your radio a location to work from (since zip codes/postal codes won't work for you), either by using manual latitude and longitude, or connecting a GPS to the radio. Then, you will have all of the benefit us North Americans get - turning on/off of systems based on where your radio is located.

What's of more concern, I think, is what the band plan of your area is. For example, several years ago, I took a couple of my radios to Australia. The band plans in Australia are largely similar to North America, but there are some sections of the band which are outside what our North American radios can access. One in particular is the top end of the 800 MHz trunking band; in North America, it stops at 868.9875; in Australia, their radios can access through 869 MHz. Also, they have VHF "midrange" channels between 70 and 88 MHz, which aren't used in North America. If any of the frequencies you want to monitor are outside the American band plans, odds are poor that you would be able to receive them with a NA-market radio.

I'm just curious - how would the GPS feature be beneficial to me if i do not have any frequencies and their exact coordinates? :?

Does the BCD436HP determine the range/distance of the radio stations from my current location based on the signal strength and coordinates received from the GPS receiver? If yes, how would the scanner know the location of the radio stations? Do the radio signals transmit coordinates together with the talkgroup IDs :?

The way i understood the GPS function, based on my current location, the scanner would get all applicable radio frequencies from the US/Canada database and allow me to set a range, where stations are turned on/off when i'm in/out of range (for scan speed purposes i guess?).

Appreciate if you can provide additional perspective to the GPS function

Jay911 said:

Also, they have VHF "midrange" channels between 70 and 88 MHz, which aren't used in North America.

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Sure they are - for broadcast television for 70-72 and 76-88, and Utilities on 72-76 MHz. But, the key you were getting at is that not all USA-targeted scanners cover those frequencies.

All the GPS data is loaded in the radio. Radio transmissions do not contain any GPS data.

To use that feature on your own data you would need to enter the coordinates of every site manually.

It's really of little use unless you are mobile.

There is a user on here from Australia that either does that manually or has an way to find it. BTW - GPS scanning itself is not new, it's been available several years in the 996 series.

falk1984 said:

I'm just curious - how would the GPS feature be beneficial to me if i do not have any frequencies and their exact coordinates? :?

Does the BCD436HP determine the range/distance of the radio stations from my current location based on the signal strength and coordinates received from the GPS receiver? If yes, how would the scanner know the location of the radio stations? Do the radio signals transmit coordinates together with the talkgroup IDs :?

The way i understood the GPS function, based on my current location, the scanner would get all applicable radio frequencies from the US/Canada database and allow me to set a range, where stations are turned on/off when i'm in/out of range (for scan speed purposes i guess?).

Appreciate if you can provide additional perspective to the GPS function

Click to expand...