BCD436HP/BCD536HP: DMR Wait and See

bearcat · May 17, 2016

We have all been hit with a ton of announcements from both manufacturers
over the past two days. Take a big breath and wait. None of us has
even seen (heard) how any of these DMR modes will work.

The PSR 500 had severe overload issues on VHF (maybe Whistler has fixed
this). The 436 has some issues on UHF (not fixed) Most of these new
modes are within those bands. We will need to see what is to come.
Both units may have some issues.

How will these new updates or models handle DMR trunking, one maybe
better than the other, one maybe much better than the other. They
could be the same. Unknown right now.

We have actually not seen (heard) a thing from either company. Unless I
missed something I do not think either company has said I can have it
today. So who knows when, a month, two months, a year. We are still
waiting for features from the original 436 release so who knows.
Whistler has made promises but it is not in hand. I do not think there
is even a picture of their new model. Which I would think should be
available if it is to ship in 6 weeks or so.

We should all hold our reactions and judgements until one of them
provides a product to seen, touch, and hear.

The 50 bucks in the end could be worth it, sometimes FREE is not as
good, but it could be.

I am waiting them out and I hope you consider the same. Make them give
us a product before we jump on either bandwagon.

Rich

MStep · May 17, 2016

bearcat said:
We have all been hit with a ton of announcements from both manufacturers
over the past two days. Take a big breath and wait. None of us has
even seen (heard) how any of these DMR modes will work.

The PSR 500 had severe overload issues on VHF (maybe Whistler has fixed
this). The 436 has some issues on UHF (not fixed) Most of these new
modes are within those bands. We will need to see what is to come.
Both units may have some issues.

How will these new updates or models handle DMR trunking, one maybe
better than the other, one maybe much better than the other. They
could be the same. Unknown right now.

We have actually not seen (heard) a thing from either company. Unless I
missed something I do not think either company has said I can have it
today. So who knows when, a month, two months, a year. We are still
waiting for features from the original 436 release so who knows.
Whistler has made promises but it is not in hand. I do not think there
is even a picture of their new model. Which I would think should be
available if it is to ship in 6 weeks or so.

We should all hold our reactions and judgements until one of them
provides a product to seen, touch, and hear.

The 50 bucks in the end could be worth it, sometimes FREE is not as
good, but it could be.

I am waiting them out and I hope you consider the same. Make them give
us a product before we jump on either bandwagon.

Rich

Based on past performance with Uniden upgrades (specifically with ProVoice), I think that all should go well and I do not anticipate any major issues that Uniden will not be able to iron out with the DMR upgrade. Having experienced DMR on my AOR DV1 receiver, there is certainly plenty to listen to in the NYC area, and I've only scratched the surface with the DV1 receiver since it does not do trunking.

Despite my previous knocks at Uniden regarding the still unavailable Android application along with a few other promised features that have yet to materialize for the 536, my guess is that if anyone could nail DMR, it would be Uniden. I'm not ready to jump ship and go to Whistler.

MaximusTheGreat · May 18, 2016

This OP deserves this thread to be a "sticky"!!!

Well said +1

Voyager · May 18, 2016

MStep said:
Despite my previous knocks at Uniden regarding the still unavailable Android application along with a few other promised features that have yet to materialize for the 536, my guess is that if anyone could nail DMR, it would be Uniden. I'm not ready to jump ship and go to Whistler.

Did you notice that the Android app was mentioned in the announcement as well?

cellphone · May 18, 2016

For those of you going to Dayton stop by Whistler. I would hope they have demos. Likewise, stop by Scanner Master, as Uniden announced they will have the BCDx36HP running beta firmware for DMR.

N4GIX · May 18, 2016

bearcat said:
We have all been hit with a ton of announcements from both manufacturers
over the past two days. Take a big breath and wait. None of us has
even seen (heard) how any of these DMR modes will work.

Rich, that's not entirely accurate. There is a short video on the longer thread where DMR decoding was demonstrated by one of the beta testers. The decoded audio was quite clear and crisp, just as I'm used to hearing on all of my amateur DMR radios (MD-380, CS800, XPR7550). :wink:

MStep · May 18, 2016

Voyager said:
Did you notice that the Android app was mentioned in the announcement as well?

Yes I did. Having worked for the Fire Dept for a number of years, I hope this is not another false alarm.

cellphone · May 18, 2016

N4GIX said:
Rich, that's not entirely accurate. There is a short video on the longer thread where DMR decoding was demonstrated by one of the beta testers.

Here is the link to save everyone some searching.
http://forums.radioreference.com/un...9-discuss-dmr-upgrade-here-7.html#post2574855

bearcat · May 18, 2016

No I did not. Thanks. I am looking forward to the comments once these units are in the hands of the masses.

darunimal · May 18, 2016

Voyager said:
Did you notice that the Android app was mentioned in the announcement as well?

Did you notice its been 2 YEARS and 3 MONTHS or 27 MONTHS since it was said it would be out shortly. its taken them less time to come out with a new scanner than that before, remember you said the BCDx36HP was in R&D for 18months hahaha.

Voyager · May 18, 2016

Did you notice in that time there have been major issues with a subcontractor followed up by major issues with parts? Those took resources (financial and man-hours) from other things. Uniden is not a government and they cannot spend the same money more than once, nor can they just hire more people without regard to paying them.

And I made no such specific timeline comment about the scanner R&D. I know it does not happen overnight, but I don't know when they started development on them. It's likely they have a couple models in early R&D now (planning stages - maybe even an early alpha).

darunimal · May 18, 2016

I noticed that one does not have anything to do with the other, have you and when will you? An app developer is the not the same person at both places nor do the same engineers deal with parts and Apps, different engineers dealing with totally separate things, are you saying they had to lay off the App developer, so he could go write code to replace LED's and then go to the Vendor of the WIFI and write code for the Wifi Dongle also .

And in fact you did mention such timeline-time-frame of 18 months, paraphrasing 'that's why they had the defects,' was your defense, it's where told several people once again paraphrasing they 'didn't understand bringing electronics to fruition.'

And you previously mentioned these were NOT "ISSUES" and you said something like they were just "things", without weekly reminder of the "Wifey's Causational" we may have all forgotten in a years' time, give me a break and others on here; I don't think we will soon forget Unidens' failures as a QC company or Customer Service Company, good thing we just buy scanners from them.

k3fs · May 18, 2016

Still waiting for the advanced analysis features announced over 2 years ago.

A flag ship radio with no control channel output, IF output or advanced analysis features. You cannot do any trunking analysis unless you modify the radio. Still waiting for word on those features, that again were paid for up front when the radio was bought.

wise871 · May 18, 2016

k3fs said:
Still waiting for the advanced analysis features announced over 2 years ago.

A flag ship radio with no control channel output, IF output or advanced analysis features. You cannot do any trunking analysis unless you modify the radio. Still waiting for word on those features, that again were paid for up front when the radio was bought.

Didn't you know. Uniden is busy releasing new recieve capabilities like PV and DMR to be concerned with promises they announced back in 2013. They even have 7 months left to try and squeeze out and Android App before 2016 ends. :roll:

bearcat · May 18, 2016

wise871 said:
Didn't you know. Uniden is busy releasing new recieve capabilities like PV and DMR to be concerned with promises they announced back in 2013. They even have 7 months left to try and squeeze out and Android App before 2016 ends. :roll:

I highly doubt we will ever see the features promised in the 436/536 release video. A simple YES or NO from Uniden could settle this whole thing. I would have more respect for them if they just said we cannot do it. When I read Upmans rules of conduct I would think they would have owned up to something by now. The best bet for me is write off the trust I had in them for 46 years. I have no idea how many scanners I have bought over those years, but it was a bunch. It is time for a change and that change was announced yesterday.

bearcat · May 18, 2016

Voyager said:
Did you notice in that time there have been major issues with a subcontractor followed up by major issues with parts? Those took resources (financial and man-hours) from other things. Uniden is not a government and they cannot spend the same money more than once, nor can they just hire more people without regard to paying them.

And I made no such specific timeline comment about the scanner R&D. I know it does not happen overnight, but I don't know when they started development on them. It's likely they have a couple models in early R&D now (planning stages - maybe even an early alpha).

Then some heads should roll in their quality control inspection process.

Boatanchor · May 19, 2016

k3fs said:
Still waiting for the advanced analysis features announced over 2 years ago.

A flag ship radio with no control channel output, IF output or advanced analysis features. You cannot do any trunking analysis unless you modify the radio. Still waiting for word on those features, that again were paid for up front when the radio was bought.

^^^^ This ^^^^

I'm still waiting for the x36hp to do what my 'old' 996xt can do.
But, I'm sure there is some convoluted excuse that certain residents will come up with as to why certain
originally advertised features are still missing.

EricCottrell · May 19, 2016

Hello,

Actually the x36hp can do control channel output and other analysis features. Some features output to the PC rather than to the built-in display. So a program on the PC is needed.

73 Eric

wise871 · May 19, 2016

At least with my 396xt I can drive around town scanning a range of frequencies and know when I hit a control channel I will get useful information like SSID and frequencies. Don't need a PC to tell me if its a new or old site I just got a hit on. We need CC Only in search mode on x36HP. They were able to add CTCSS/DCS search to the x36 which was not possible with the XT series which had to be in either one or the other.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

k3fs · May 20, 2016

EricCottrell said:
Hello,

Actually the x36hp can do control channel output and other analysis features. Some features output to the PC rather than to the built-in display. So a program on the PC is needed.

73 Eric

Please explain how, without modifying the radio.

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