BCD436HP Playing Favorites List

[N2kiss]

I am hoping someone here can help. I don't consider myself a stupid person, but I can't for the life of me figure out what I'm doing wrong (or not doing correctly) to be able to pick and choose which of my favorites lists my BCD436HP will play. Between reading on here and watching a few videos, I have been able to get my favorites lists created (by using Sentinel software on my lap top). I was able to successfully load them on to the SD card. When I turn on my scanner, it will scan and play all 5 lists. However, I specifically created several different lists for different occasions and locations, and don't want all 5 of them to play at once.

I am admittedly not very scanner-literate; for example, I have a vague understanding of the principles, but know without a doubt I would not be able to program my scanner without the ease of the software. Because of this, I'm scared of pushing the wrong buttons and somehow fouling up the programming or the pre-loaded card. If I can only figure out how to make it scan one favorite list at a time, I will have all the knowledge that I need to have my scanner do what little I need it to do for my usage. And I can't seem to make that happen with what I've read on here, or the manual.

Can someone kindly "dumb down" the exact steps I need to take to turn on my scanner and have it play one specific favorites list? Through Sentinel, I gave them Quick Key numbers 1-5; "None" in the number tag field.

I hold down the power button to turn the scanner on, and then ? Press what? Wait for SD card to load first?

I'm sorry if this is the most basic, stupid question ever . . .

Thanks so much!

 

[wfeigley]

Same question

I just got my BCD436HP today and have the same question. No matter what I seem to do to try to set up favorites to scan only certain county systems, all systems that were downloaded with my zip code are always scanned. There must be something I have to do to scan only the systems included in the favorite that I select, but I can't figure it out. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[W8RMH]

Make sure you have monitor and download enabled in Sentinel's Favorite List Editor before you download it to the scanner.

Also press Menu>Set Scan Selection>Set Lists to monitor. This is where you can turn FLs on and off.

The easiest way is to assign a FL Quick Key to each favorite list. Then after you turn the scanner on and let it load just press the FL Quick Key Number and "E" to cycle it on and off.

The Easier To Read Manuals are a great help too.

http://marksscanners.com/536/436_536.shtml

http://marksscanners.com/536/X36 HP Sentinel.shtml

 

[MStep]

Here is where to start guys--- this is VERY basic info, but it's a good jumping-off point. Turn on your MENU and look a the top of the list for "Set Scan Selection". Press the top knob to enter a new menu and the scroll to and select by again pressing the top knob down: "Set All Lists Off". You'll get a message that says "All Lists Monitor Off". That will appear for about a second then revert back to the previous menu. On that menu, you will see "Select Lists To Monitor" Press the top knob and all you favorites, plus the full database will appear. Simply scroll down to the lists you want and press the top knob to turn them on "YES", or off "NO'. When you are done, hit the SYSTEM key on the bottom of the keypad and you should start monitoring just the lists you want. Report back on how you made out.

Now all of this information supposes that you have used Sentinel to set up your favorites lists and that you have loaded all of this information into the scanner. For the moment, forget about Startup Configuration Keys and try to avoiding setting quick keys. It's a good idea in Sentinel take make sure all your quick keys are turned on.

There is quite a learning curve for the 436/536, but once you get the hand out it, you will be amazed at the versatility of your radio.

 

[wfeigley]

MStep and W8RMH, thank you both for the information. I was able to do in 10 seconds what I spent hours trying to do last night! I appreciate your quick help!

 

[N2kiss]

I second that emotion! Big thanks for taking the time to answer. I'm not where I can try it right this minute, but will follow your directions and give it a go as soon as I can. Thanks again.

 

[ApexMark]

And don't forget Service Types. At some point you may go near crazy wondering why your scanner isn't scanning the Favorites you clearly have ON. It's because somehow, somewhere, in the toggling of the Full Database On or Off, some or all of the Service Types (Hospitals, Law TAC, etc) which correspond with the types of 'channels' in your Favorites got turned off. You really have no way of knowing this, unless you notice that some of your Departments aren't being scanned, or, worse case, all the Service Types which correspond to the types within your Favorites got turned off and you'll sit there staring at a screen which says "Nothing to Scan" when you clearly have your Favorites chosen. At this point you turn to Google and you'll quickly find FAQ's which walk you through diagnosing this. The very fact that there is a lengthy write-up on how to resolve something like "nothing to scan" should be sounding red alarms at the Interface Design department at Uniden.

Then of course you have the dreaded "Favorites lists in the 'what to scan' menu are ON but their Quick Key is disabled" issue, and you are left again with "nothing to scan."

Some of these unintuitive items are artifacts of powerful features, such as Service Types. But for those coming from a Channel/Bank background, it is not at all clear that every single Channel/Talk Group you put in has a, what I would say, narrowly defined "type" of channel hard-coded in. There is no question - everything from the Database has a hard-coded Service Type: EMS Dispatch, EMS Talk, Law, etc. I had a hard time getting my head around that rigid nature. It still sometimes bites me. My flow now is: turn on Favorites to scan in the "lists to monitor." Immediately go into Service Types and ensure the Types turned ON match what I have available in the Favorites lists. Then go to the scan screen and ensure all the Quick Keys for the now-enabled Favorites Lists are turned on.

*whew*

It doesn't have to be this hard. I consider the Menu system to be a near total train wreck. Then again, I've been professionally designing menu systems for software applications for 25+ years so I don't tolerate junk very well.

Why on earth would I think to go into "Settings" to replay my saved recordings? A recording is not a setting. The attributes of a recording *feature* are "settings" (record duration, etc.) but the recordings themselves should be accessed elsewhere. When people go into their Tivo/DVR/iPod/etc device to play a recording, do they navigate their menu to "Settings" to find out what they have recorded? "Recordings," especially given their popularity, should be a top-level Menu item. Indeed it probably ranks as second in importance to "What to Scan." Then it would read mnemonically as: "What to scan," "What to play" type of thing.

Another dandy: when a recording is finished playing there is a prompt which says "play again?" If you say no, you go back to a short menu with the active menu item being "Play," making this dialog totally irrelevant! Without that dialog, when a recording finishes you'd simply press <enter> to immediately play it again, just like you do now. If you didn't want to play it again, you'd do nothing, and return to the menu whence you came. Therefore, this dialog forces me to say "no" needlessly. It simply should not be there.

I'm sorry, but for a top-of-the-line product, the menu system gets an "F." If a high school Comp Sci student gave me a program with a menu system this bad I would give them maybe a "C." Maybe. If I was in a good mood. How this thing got out the door stretches the imagination.

 

[wfeigley]

ApexMark, thanks for the advice. I've had various scanners since I was a kid in the 70s, so I didn't expect this to be any problem. It's definitely not an intuitive scanner, and the owner's manual isn't helpful at getting started. Thanks to the folks on this forum who helped, I feel like I'm off to a good start, and I even learned to use the Sentinel software to set up some new favorite lists today.

 

[W8RMH]

Just take it slow, practice and experiment. The 436 is a great scanner. I plan to replace my BCD396XT with it. I am still learning as well. I know the 396 inside and out but the 436 is like a 396 on steroids. I fell in love with the Sentinel programming from using my HP-2 which I believe is the best scanner out there but not really a handheld. I would like to see a handheld with the full color touch screen.

 

[wfeigley]

Agreed. Now that I got over that initial problem, I'm enjoying exploring all of the features. It's a big learning curve from the 296 that I was using, and quite a leap from my first Regency scanner with 8 crystal controlled channels!

 

[badabinger]

Help! BCD536HP / SDS100 Favorite Scanning

I just bought a new SDS100 scanner but have not unboxed it yet. The reason for this is that I need to be able to set up Sentinel to scan my 1 and only favorites list so that when done I will also be able to load my settings and favorites to my SDS100. I just recently updated Sentinel firmware after over a year knowing I was going to buy an SDS100. When I did the update it removed my favorites. I also did something wrong and deleted them on Sentinel. I set up my Favorites list again on Sentinel without any issues. I wrote them to the scanner and the name of my favorites was shown on Manage Favorites and Select lists to monitor. I turned off full data base and search with scan and left my Favorite list on. When I closed out of menu, it showed loading favorites and then said nothing to scan, It scanned Favorites before I recently updated the firmware but now I can't remember how I did it. My memory is not what it once was and would greatly appreciate it if someone could maybe simplify what I need to do. All I want is to scan 1 list when I turn the scanner on. If someone wants to help me and would rather call me on the phone you can e-mail me at badabinger@comcast.net. I can give you my cell phone number then and set a day and time.
If I can't get this fixed, I will most likely return the SDS100.
Help would be greatly appreciated.

73,
Dean

 

[NK7B]

And don't forget Service Types. At some point you may go near crazy wondering why your scanner isn't scanning the Favorites you clearly have ON. It's because somehow, somewhere, in the toggling of the Full Database On or Off, some or all of the Service Types (Hospitals, Law TAC, etc) which correspond with the types of 'channels' in your Favorites got turned off. You really have no way of knowing this, unless you notice that some of your Departments aren't being scanned, or, worse case, all the Service Types which correspond to the types within your Favorites got turned off and you'll sit there staring at a screen which says "Nothing to Scan" when you clearly have your Favorites chosen. At this point you turn to Google and you'll quickly find FAQ's which walk you through diagnosing this. The very fact that there is a lengthy write-up on how to resolve something like "nothing to scan" should be sounding red alarms at the Interface Design department at Uniden.

Then of course you have the dreaded "Favorites lists in the 'what to scan' menu are ON but their Quick Key is disabled" issue, and you are left again with "nothing to scan."

Some of these unintuitive items are artifacts of powerful features, such as Service Types. But for those coming from a Channel/Bank background, it is not at all clear that every single Channel/Talk Group you put in has a, what I would say, narrowly defined "type" of channel hard-coded in. There is no question - everything from the Database has a hard-coded Service Type: EMS Dispatch, EMS Talk, Law, etc. I had a hard time getting my head around that rigid nature. It still sometimes bites me. My flow now is: turn on Favorites to scan in the "lists to monitor." Immediately go into Service Types and ensure the Types turned ON match what I have available in the Favorites lists. Then go to the scan screen and ensure all the Quick Keys for the now-enabled Favorites Lists are turned on.

*whew*

It doesn't have to be this hard. I consider the Menu system to be a near total train wreck. Then again, I've been professionally designing menu systems for software applications for 25+ years so I don't tolerate junk very well.

Why on earth would I think to go into "Settings" to replay my saved recordings? A recording is not a setting. The attributes of a recording *feature* are "settings" (record duration, etc.) but the recordings themselves should be accessed elsewhere. When people go into their Tivo/DVR/iPod/etc device to play a recording, do they navigate their menu to "Settings" to find out what they have recorded? "Recordings," especially given their popularity, should be a top-level Menu item. Indeed it probably ranks as second in importance to "What to Scan." Then it would read mnemonically as: "What to scan," "What to play" type of thing.

Another dandy: when a recording is finished playing there is a prompt which says "play again?" If you say no, you go back to a short menu with the active menu item being "Play," making this dialog totally irrelevant! Without that dialog, when a recording finishes you'd simply press <enter> to immediately play it again, just like you do now. If you didn't want to play it again, you'd do nothing, and return to the menu whence you came. Therefore, this dialog forces me to say "no" needlessly. It simply should not be there.

I'm sorry, but for a top-of-the-line product, the menu system gets an "F." If a high school Comp Sci student gave me a program with a menu system this bad I would give them maybe a "C." Maybe. If I was in a good mood. How this thing got out the door stretches the imagination.ow

Thanks so much for your input here -- it is good to see that an experienced software guy has looked carefully at things inside out and smells at least one or two rats. I thought I was just a sissy who was not trying hard enough. . . . .

Aside from intrinsic problems of how the software was designed, there is this separate issue of how the Bearcat 536HP user manual was written. It is in multiple places nearly incomprehensible due to its dis-organization, occasional bizarre grammar, and weird punctuation choices. One wonders if there was even one careful proof-reading session before this thing was printed!! I have used the 536HP a lot--actually I have two of them--it is in many ways a fine machine and I use one of them in my car (legal in Minnesota for any licensed ham, I am NK7B). We have tons of P25 trunking signals here 24/7. Minnesota's 800 MHz ARMER system is very sophisticated and presently has 279 sites on the air across our frigid state.

One huge bummer for me: Even using a proper 1/4 wave VHF antenna with the 536HP I have found it to be a LOUSY and very insensitive radio for VHF signals in general (e.g. rail, aircraft, pubic safety, etc). This is really noticeable when I am over in Wisconsin. The WISCOM P25 trunking system used statewide by the Wisconsin State Patrol is a VHF system whose control channels are around 138-139 MHz with voice channels in the 150-155 MHz range. Even sitting in my car two miles from a VISIBLE and active tower (e.g. the Baldwin or Elmwood sites) the copy is uniformly very weak to horrible. I cannot determine that I am "doing anything wrong" here either. I am open to any suggestions.

 

[bearcatrp]

If someone could tell me how to make a favorite with just “AIR” , would appreciate it. Have tried but only selection to add is air patrol and air shows. I currently shut off all systems and turn on air, then set my range. Actually picks up better than my 780 and can see who is actually talking. OP is right, the 436 has allot of confusing option that us old timers have a hard time figuring out.

 

[ofd8001]

All I want is to scan 1 list when I turn the scanner on.

In Sentinel, edit the applicable Profile. Go to the "Quick Keys Status" tab and check only the box for the Favorites List you want active when the scanner powers up. What that does is set FL Quick Keys to be on or off by default. You can choose 1, several or all to be that way.

Once the scanner is operating, you can toggle any FL Quick Key with the standard button press, So if you have #2 off by default but want it on to listen to something special just press 2 eYes and it is on.

 

[ofd8001]

Aside from intrinsic problems of how the software was designed, there is this separate issue of how the Bearcat 536HP user manual was written. It is in multiple places nearly incomprehensible due to its dis-organization, occasional bizarre grammar, and weird punctuation choices. One wonders if there was even one careful proof-reading session before this thing was printed!! I have used the 536HP a lot--actually I have two of them--it is in many ways a fine machine and I use one of them in my car (legal in Minnesota for any licensed ham, I am NK7B). We have tons of P25 trunking signals here 24/7. Minnesota's 800 MHz ARMER system is very sophisticated and presently has 279 sites on the air across our frigid state.

One huge bummer for me: Even using a proper 1/4 wave VHF antenna with the 536HP I have found it to be a LOUSY and very insensitive radio for VHF signals in general (e.g. rail, aircraft, pubic safety, etc). This is really noticeable when I am over in Wisconsin. The WISCOM P25 trunking system used statewide by the Wisconsin State Patrol is a VHF system whose control channels are around 138-139 MHz with voice channels in the 150-155 MHz range. Even sitting in my car two miles from a VISIBLE and active tower (e.g. the Baldwin or Elmwood sites) the copy is uniformly very weak to horrible. I cannot determine that I am "doing anything wrong" here either. I am open to any suggestions.

From what I understand, Wisconsin isn't very happy with the system they have. There are some RFPs to overhaul the system.