BCD436HP/BCD536HP: At a loss - Scanner simply not picking up anything

[misterceelo]

Hello, I've owned my BCD436HP for a couple of years. Living in the greater Atlanta area and love love love all the chatter I picked up over the years. It also worked on surrounding agencies when I traveled outside of Atlanta. Early on I did have a favorites list but haven't used that in a while since I am mostly just interested in one system (see below) and would just let the scanner scan thru that system and it would pick up tons of chatter w/no problem
Recently, within the past month however, my scanner just simply stopped locking on to anything. I did not change any settings. Nothing stands out and all the functions seem to be ok and all the prompts and keys and menu work fine.
The only issue I noticed over the past months; every now and then I could not lock on to a signal by simply turning on the scanner and running my favorites list so I would manually go to a system/dept and 'Hold' the 'Atlanta Public Safety P25' and manually go thru the channels that I knew had a lot of traffic and as soon as the scanner got its first 'hit' it would work flawlessly after that when scanning and would pick up all sorts of chatter across systems/dept's/channels.
However, now I cannot get it to pick up on anything at all no matter what I do. Seemingly from one day to the next
So I decided to update everything. Latest Firmware 1.28.14 and loaded the latest database onto the SD card and everything seemed to load and update correctly onto the scanner.
I've done factory reset and gone thru and looked at any avoids, turned off unnecessary services, priority scan is off, I've doodled with range and it is now at 2mi, Squelch is at 2 and volume is all the way up
I'm using the standard antenna that it came with. I did not buy direct from a retailer but rather second-hand.
Thanks is advance for any input you have

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Hi & welcome to the RR forums:
Have a read about simulcast distortion. Seems to me at first like this could be the issue at hand as it is one of the most often discussed on these forums. Though your claims that you were once able to track this system before may rule out this possibility, it all depends on your location in relation to two or more simulcasting towers

However, now I cannot get it to pick up on anything at all no matter what I do.

Not picking up Anything? Do you feel the scanner is completely deaf? Have you tried picking up your local NOAA WX frequency?

 

[mc48]

^Beat me to it on the weather. ^

 

[misterceelo]

Correct, the only time I can get it to stop on a channel is when I turn the Squelch to 0 and scanner will stop on white noise

Ive never used the WX option but when I go into that it simply scans thru repeatedly with no hits

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Hmm...definitely not a good sign. Any other antennas to try?

 

[Hit_Factor]

Could be time for a trip to Uniden service.

 

[hiegtx]

Correct, the only time I can get it to stop on a channel is when I turn the Squelch to 0 and scanner will stop on white noise

Ive never used the WX option but when I go into that it simply scans thru repeatedly with no hits

When it 'scans through the weather', you don't hear anything if you stop on the weather frequency nearest you?
As John has already suggested, try a different antenna, just in case.

If you cannot get anything on weather, regardless of the frequency, and a different antenna does not work, then I'd agree with Hit_Factor. It likely needs to be sent in for repair.

Has the scanner recently been accidentally dropped, taking a hit to the antenna? Anyone recently used a radio to transmit very near the scanner?

 

[misterceelo]

The weather scan just continues uninterrupted. It's not locking on to any of the freq's (162.4/5) If I 'hold' on any specific frequency in the scan, there is no noise. The scanner goes with me on trips and so it has been thru the rigours of life but it is a portable scanner afterall.

No extra antenna so may need to find someone around here that could assist.

Thanks for the super quick feedback!! Much appreciated

 

[Carbuff]

Could it be bad sd card

 

[hiegtx]

Could it be bad sd card

For any of the database scanners, regardless of whether it's Uniden or Whistler, an SD card issue is almost always a possibility. What concerns me here is that Weather does not receive. The frequencies are set in the scanners firmware, not derived from any data on the memory card.

However, it would be a good thing to rule out a card issue. If the OP has a known good card, try that. Or, connect the PC to your scanner & put the scanner in Mass Storage mode.
With the scanner in Mass Storage mode, & connected to the PC, select the Clear User Data option from the drop down Scanner menu.
Once that process completes, re-write the main database & any Favorites lists to the scanner.

If it still does not work, then likely repair is needed.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Could it be bad sd card

Doubtful if WX can't be received

 

[misterceelo]

thanks - will try the mass storage suggestion and see about getting hold of a 2nd antenna too

 

[DudleyG]

Easy way to test weather, push the CHAN hold button while the scanner is scanning, then directly enter the NOAA frequency of 162.55 which is listed for Atlanta and then push the CHAN hold button again. That should cause your scanner to receive the weather. If you hear nothing, that is bad news. That method also has nothing to do with the status of the SD card.

 

[donc13]

I would guess based on what you have said you have either a broken antenna connection inside the radio or a "blown" front end circuit in the scanner.

Best option for either is repair by Uniden.

 

[AM909]

I think the relevant weather station would be KEC80 on 162.55, which is co-ordinated for 1 kW at Stone Mountain, GA. Before buying a new antenna, if you unfold a small paper-clip or have a piece of relatively thin wire, you should be able to just insert that into the center contact of the antenna connector (don't force it!) and hear that station from pretty much anywhere in the Atlanta area unless you're on the wrong side of a hill between you and Stone Mountain.

 

[tvengr]

No extra antenna so may need to find someone around here that could assist.

Stick about a 15" length of thin solid wire into the center of the antenna connector on the scanner. That will be an excellent antenna for checking weather.

 

[wtp]

i don't have that radio, and might be wrong but,
if he only has a digital trunked system in and turns the squelch to 0(zero) i thought he would NOT get static/white noise .
i thought you only could hear static on a conventional system.

any thoughts ?

 

[misterceelo]

So I now actually live close to stone mtn and tried the wire trick for an antenna as well as manually going to 162.55 but to no avail. Regarding the white noise, it's not on any specific trunked system but when I let the scanner go thru the GA database with Squelch on 0.

So perhaps the internals are shot on this bugger... but it did give me years of super awesome fun listening enjoyment.
Even let my neighbors borrow it a few times and they are always asking if they can have it for the weekends haha.
Maybe I'll open it up and see if there is something obvious that I can mend -- otherwise gonna see if Uniden has a program for servicing.... or...... perhaps an upgrade to something nicer?

 

[dave3825]

Even let my neighbors borrow it a few times and they are always asking if they can have it for the weekends haha.

Since the last time your neighbors used it, is this the first time you tried using it?

Maybe I'll open it up and see if there is something obvious that I can mend

Definitely try what @tvengr suggests with a long wire in the antenna connector. If your using the sma to bnc connector, I would unscrew that and put the wire directly in the sma connector and see if any signal strength is being displayed on the top of the screen.

Also, check to see if when the antenna is attached if the connector on the radio is loose. There are a bunch of threads on this from it just being loose, to people dropping the scanner and damaging the connector. Threads here

If you open it up, I would start where the antenna connector is soldered to the board.

 

[firemun]

Not to be a smarty pants but before you tear it down or send it off…what is your squelch set at. My scanner stopped working once and I started changing cable ends and antennas etc only to discvover someone tweaked my squelch all the way closed.