This is a mini review of the Uniden BCD325P2-AU digital radio scanner.
Background:
My back ground in radio scanning goes all the way back to the late 1990's, I was one of the first people in Tasmania to successfully program a Uniden trunk tracking radio scanner to listen to our state wide 800MHz EDACS trunked radio network. Since then I have kept up to date changes in the radio scanning hobby and have owned a large number of radio scanners during that time, my last major purchase was a Uniden UBCD436PT in early 2017.
Physical:
The Uniden BCD325P2-AU uses the same hand-held radio case as the Uniden ubc126at and a few other US models of the same size. So far I have found it to be a good fit for my hand and the button layout is good, making it easy use all the keys without any hassles. It has a good size screen and the speaker produces a good level of audio. The only downside to the small size is the fact that it uses 2 AA batteries, however by having a couple of sets of rechargeable batteries to rotate, I have not found this to be an issue at this point.
Features:
TrunkTracker V -- Includes APCO's newest P25 Phase I & II, Motorola Type I & II and X2TDMA, EDACS, LTR Trunked, DMR and Uniden exclusive EDACS ProVoice digital system trunk-tracking Radio Systems.
25,000 Channels
DCS/CTCSS Rapid Decoding
Audio Digital and Analog AGC
Dynamic Memory Architecture
Quick key (QK) capable
100 Systems QKs
Per Systems
10 Group QKs
20 Groups per System
Multi-Site System Support
Channel Volume Offset
P25 One-Frequency Trunk - P25 Conventional channels w NAC and TGID user differentiation
Control Channel Only trunking and I-Call monitoring
2-Line Alpha-Numeric Large Font Display w 3 additional lines of Info and 3 modes
Displays UID (Unit IDs) on trunking systems.
Displays can show you P0 & P1 for transmissions signifying P25 Phase 1 & Phase 2
Backlit Display
3 Display Modes
3 Display Dimmer settings
Function Key on Front, active for 3 seconds
USB standard connectivity USB Mini-B for program/control/update/power
Battery Charger (dumb) for Ni-MH battery with caveat scanner is off
PC Programming and Control (No Uniden Software included or developed, 3rd Party Only)
System / Channel Number Tagging - provides rapid access to a specific system or channel.
Control Channel Data Output – allows the analysis of control channel data without a discriminator tap. Now supported in UniTrunker version 1.0.0.10 or newer.
Uniden Close Call, with Close Call Do Not Disturb, Close Call Priority (or Primary), and Close Call Temporary Store
GPS Support for location-based scanning, location alerts, and crows-flight navigation
Independent GPS Control of Sites and Channel Groups
Intermediate Frequency Exchange - changes the IF used for a selected frequency to help avoid image and other mixer-product interference on a frequency.
Key Lock - lets you hand the scanner to a novice user and prevents anything being changed but Volume and ON\OFF.
Private Systems - lets you flag a system so that it cannot be read out of the scanner or modified, preventing secondary user: System & Group deletion (Software).
Band Scope - gives a graphic representation of signal activity.
Delay Channel adjustable to 0-2,5,10,30,
Negative Channel dropout delay (forced resume) adjustable to -2, -5, -10 seconds
DCS/CTCSS Rapid Decode
Temporary System, Site, Group, Channel, and Location Lockout
500 (250 Temporary + 250 Permanent) Search Lockouts
Startup Configuration
Frequency/ID AutoStore - automatically store frequencies from a service or limit search into a conventional system or store talk group IDs into a trunked system
16 character text tagging for each system, site, group, channel, talkgroup, search range, location, Tone-out, and SAME group
Ability to flag a channel as Digital, Analog, or All
Quick Search
Search with Scan for Service and Custom Searches with assigned Quick Keys
12 Service Searches - Public Safety, News, HAM Radio, Marine, Railroad, Air, CB Radio, FRS/GMRS, Racing, FM Broadcast, Military Air, and Special (Itinerant)
Custom Search — lets you program up to 10 search ranges
3 Quick-Access Search Keys
Fire Tone Out alert
Also see the Fire Tone Out article
Fire Tone Out Search - built-in frequency counter displays the received tones.
Channel Alert
Independent Alert Tone Volume – lets you set the volume level of the following tones: Key Beep, Emergency Alerts, Channel Alerts, and/or Close Call Alerts.
Weather Alert Priority
SAME Weather Alert
Duplicate Channel Alert
Priority Scan with Priority Plus
Also see the Priority Scan article
Adjustable Priority check interval
Adjustable Priority check quantity
Preemptive Priority on conventional analog frequencies
Priority ID Scan on some trunked systems types non-preemptive
Signal Strength display
Auto Adaptive Digital Threshold - automatically adjust P25 Decode Threshold
or Universal Scanner P25 decode Threshold Manual Settings
Battery level displayable
Battery save
Adjustable scan duration 0-255 sec per system, site, custom or service search
Hold feature stay on one channel or System/Site
Attenuation (for Strong signal -20db)
Upgradeable firmware
Repeater Reverse
Broadcast signal ignore while searching (TV or radio station frequencies, pagers, etc) with 10 custom bands
Wired Cloning (Will only Clone to another BCD325P2)
Multi-Site Trunking - Lets you program the scanner to share a Trunked System's TGIDs across multiple Sites without having to duplicate TGIDs.
A couple of points of note for the BCD325P2-AU.
- No firmware updates have been related by Uniden Australia.
- It does not support the paid upgrades for DMR, ProVoice or NXDN.
- Uniden Australia have not provided any programming software, you need to use a third party option (I use FreeScan)
Negatives / Issues:
No radio scanner is perfect, the only real issue I have found is the lack of backlight for the keypad, for some reason I thought it did. The keypad is easy enough to use without it.
Due to the size of the case of the BCD325P2-AU 2, it uses 2 x AA batteries. This reduces the battery life compared to new larger case radios that use 3 x AA batteries. I have a few sets of AA rechargeable batteries and by rotating through a few sets, I've not found this to be a major issue.
How it has changed the scanning hobby for me:
This is the most important thing to me, the BCD325P2-AU has put the "fun" back in scanning. I can use it for active listening or have it running in one of the auto store modes and this allows me to later review what is found, adding this information to my database.
Breaking free from needing a PC for logging has what has really changed the hobby for me, it is a real pity that some of the lower end models, like the UBC126AT don't include search and store modes.
More than anything in the Uniden BCD325P2-AU has put the fun back in to the radio scanning hobby for me. It is small enough that I can carry it almost anywhere with me, it is absolutely packed full of features, some of which I probably will never use however it is really good to know that I have the option there if I need them.
Background:
My back ground in radio scanning goes all the way back to the late 1990's, I was one of the first people in Tasmania to successfully program a Uniden trunk tracking radio scanner to listen to our state wide 800MHz EDACS trunked radio network. Since then I have kept up to date changes in the radio scanning hobby and have owned a large number of radio scanners during that time, my last major purchase was a Uniden UBCD436PT in early 2017.
Physical:
The Uniden BCD325P2-AU uses the same hand-held radio case as the Uniden ubc126at and a few other US models of the same size. So far I have found it to be a good fit for my hand and the button layout is good, making it easy use all the keys without any hassles. It has a good size screen and the speaker produces a good level of audio. The only downside to the small size is the fact that it uses 2 AA batteries, however by having a couple of sets of rechargeable batteries to rotate, I have not found this to be an issue at this point.
Features:
TrunkTracker V -- Includes APCO's newest P25 Phase I & II, Motorola Type I & II and X2TDMA, EDACS, LTR Trunked, DMR and Uniden exclusive EDACS ProVoice digital system trunk-tracking Radio Systems.
25,000 Channels
DCS/CTCSS Rapid Decoding
Audio Digital and Analog AGC
Dynamic Memory Architecture
Quick key (QK) capable
100 Systems QKs
Per Systems
10 Group QKs
20 Groups per System
Multi-Site System Support
Channel Volume Offset
P25 One-Frequency Trunk - P25 Conventional channels w NAC and TGID user differentiation
Control Channel Only trunking and I-Call monitoring
2-Line Alpha-Numeric Large Font Display w 3 additional lines of Info and 3 modes
Displays UID (Unit IDs) on trunking systems.
Displays can show you P0 & P1 for transmissions signifying P25 Phase 1 & Phase 2
Backlit Display
3 Display Modes
3 Display Dimmer settings
Function Key on Front, active for 3 seconds
USB standard connectivity USB Mini-B for program/control/update/power
Battery Charger (dumb) for Ni-MH battery with caveat scanner is off
PC Programming and Control (No Uniden Software included or developed, 3rd Party Only)
System / Channel Number Tagging - provides rapid access to a specific system or channel.
Control Channel Data Output – allows the analysis of control channel data without a discriminator tap. Now supported in UniTrunker version 1.0.0.10 or newer.
Uniden Close Call, with Close Call Do Not Disturb, Close Call Priority (or Primary), and Close Call Temporary Store
GPS Support for location-based scanning, location alerts, and crows-flight navigation
Independent GPS Control of Sites and Channel Groups
Intermediate Frequency Exchange - changes the IF used for a selected frequency to help avoid image and other mixer-product interference on a frequency.
Key Lock - lets you hand the scanner to a novice user and prevents anything being changed but Volume and ON\OFF.
Private Systems - lets you flag a system so that it cannot be read out of the scanner or modified, preventing secondary user: System & Group deletion (Software).
Band Scope - gives a graphic representation of signal activity.
Delay Channel adjustable to 0-2,5,10,30,
Negative Channel dropout delay (forced resume) adjustable to -2, -5, -10 seconds
DCS/CTCSS Rapid Decode
Temporary System, Site, Group, Channel, and Location Lockout
500 (250 Temporary + 250 Permanent) Search Lockouts
Startup Configuration
Frequency/ID AutoStore - automatically store frequencies from a service or limit search into a conventional system or store talk group IDs into a trunked system
16 character text tagging for each system, site, group, channel, talkgroup, search range, location, Tone-out, and SAME group
Ability to flag a channel as Digital, Analog, or All
Quick Search
Search with Scan for Service and Custom Searches with assigned Quick Keys
12 Service Searches - Public Safety, News, HAM Radio, Marine, Railroad, Air, CB Radio, FRS/GMRS, Racing, FM Broadcast, Military Air, and Special (Itinerant)
Custom Search — lets you program up to 10 search ranges
3 Quick-Access Search Keys
Fire Tone Out alert
Also see the Fire Tone Out article
Fire Tone Out Search - built-in frequency counter displays the received tones.
Channel Alert
Independent Alert Tone Volume – lets you set the volume level of the following tones: Key Beep, Emergency Alerts, Channel Alerts, and/or Close Call Alerts.
Weather Alert Priority
SAME Weather Alert
Duplicate Channel Alert
Priority Scan with Priority Plus
Also see the Priority Scan article
Adjustable Priority check interval
Adjustable Priority check quantity
Preemptive Priority on conventional analog frequencies
Priority ID Scan on some trunked systems types non-preemptive
Signal Strength display
Auto Adaptive Digital Threshold - automatically adjust P25 Decode Threshold
or Universal Scanner P25 decode Threshold Manual Settings
Battery level displayable
Battery save
Adjustable scan duration 0-255 sec per system, site, custom or service search
Hold feature stay on one channel or System/Site
Attenuation (for Strong signal -20db)
Upgradeable firmware
Repeater Reverse
Broadcast signal ignore while searching (TV or radio station frequencies, pagers, etc) with 10 custom bands
Wired Cloning (Will only Clone to another BCD325P2)
Multi-Site Trunking - Lets you program the scanner to share a Trunked System's TGIDs across multiple Sites without having to duplicate TGIDs.
A couple of points of note for the BCD325P2-AU.
- No firmware updates have been related by Uniden Australia.
- It does not support the paid upgrades for DMR, ProVoice or NXDN.
- Uniden Australia have not provided any programming software, you need to use a third party option (I use FreeScan)
Negatives / Issues:
No radio scanner is perfect, the only real issue I have found is the lack of backlight for the keypad, for some reason I thought it did. The keypad is easy enough to use without it.
Due to the size of the case of the BCD325P2-AU 2, it uses 2 x AA batteries. This reduces the battery life compared to new larger case radios that use 3 x AA batteries. I have a few sets of AA rechargeable batteries and by rotating through a few sets, I've not found this to be a major issue.
How it has changed the scanning hobby for me:
This is the most important thing to me, the BCD325P2-AU has put the "fun" back in scanning. I can use it for active listening or have it running in one of the auto store modes and this allows me to later review what is found, adding this information to my database.
Breaking free from needing a PC for logging has what has really changed the hobby for me, it is a real pity that some of the lower end models, like the UBC126AT don't include search and store modes.
More than anything in the Uniden BCD325P2-AU has put the fun back in to the radio scanning hobby for me. It is small enough that I can carry it almost anywhere with me, it is absolutely packed full of features, some of which I probably will never use however it is really good to know that I have the option there if I need them.
