OK, I did this so you won't have to. Don't do it if you don't want to void your warranty. I am not responsible for any errors or if you toast your scanner.
I took my 2-day old BCD536HP apart and found the discriminator jack. While I was there I took some photos to satisfy the curiosity of those less inclined to incur the wrath of the warranty gods.
First, how to safely disassemble the radio:
The BCD536HP is mechanically similar to the prior BCD996XT and related radios. It is a DIN case surrounded by a second case for non-DIN mounting.
Remove the outer case (the black one) by pulling the 4 screws on the back of the radio case's tabs. Then remove the 4 screws on both the right and left sides of the interior clam-shell case. The top peice comes off easily but be very careful removing the lower case, this has the speaker mounted on the case and the wire for the speaker is connected to the board. CAREFULLY remove the speaker wire from the main board!
With the radio right side up look almost dead center at the main board and see the conveniently labeled "DISC OUT" solder pad. Could we be so lucky? We could!
Tack solder a small insulated wore to this pad using just enough heat to melt the solder and provide a good electrical connection. Place a bit of electrical tape over this after running the wire to your jack point. Run the wire to the side of the board where there is plenty of room between the board and case edge to where you decide to mount your jack.
Placing a jack of your choice someplace on the rear panel is the best bet. On other scanners of this series I drilled a 1/4 inch hole thru the threaded rear brace hole. Since I don't use that and it is clear behind it it does the trick. I use an RCA jack, some people prefer other solutions. You could run a pigtail thru the hole or modify an existing jack. Since the 536HP does not have the rear panel Record Jack of it's predecessors that isn't an option.
If the jack you chose grounds to the case then you are done. Some people prefer to put in a tantalum capacitor or a small resistor in their discriminator jacks, go for it if you want. I usually don't and have never had an issue. If you use a pigtail the be sure to ground the shield.
When reassembling the radio remember to plug in the speaker! I have forgotten this many times and had to go back and tear it all apart to reconnect it.
Now more pics!
First is the overview of the main board:
Next here are some protected areas. The epoxy is usually used to protect the region switches and other parts of the CPU to satisfy regulations and prevent tampering with frequency ranges etc.
One of the issues Uniden had with prior scanners is that the ribbon cable from the display/control daughter board would loosen up and need to be reseated. I had this happen on a couple BCT15's and a 996. Now they put a dab of glop to help keep this from shaking out.
The photos should be decent enough quality to view most of the goodies inside it. While most people do not need to tap the discriminator a lot of people are curious about the inside of their radios. The 536's guts look remarkedly similar to those of the earlier BCD996XT, BCD996X, BCT15X and BCT15 that it evolved from.
Right off I noticed that there is no record jack, the rear USB port (Used for the WiFi dongle) is there now. I haven't read up enough to see if there is a setting or selection to allow the rear speaker jack to be set up as a Record jack for constant level output regardless of the volume setting.
The board appears to be typical surface mount tech with multi-layer pathways. It appears uncrowded and perhaps could have been made much smaller if they wished. It appears well labeled thru out.
I took my 2-day old BCD536HP apart and found the discriminator jack. While I was there I took some photos to satisfy the curiosity of those less inclined to incur the wrath of the warranty gods.
First, how to safely disassemble the radio:
The BCD536HP is mechanically similar to the prior BCD996XT and related radios. It is a DIN case surrounded by a second case for non-DIN mounting.
Remove the outer case (the black one) by pulling the 4 screws on the back of the radio case's tabs. Then remove the 4 screws on both the right and left sides of the interior clam-shell case. The top peice comes off easily but be very careful removing the lower case, this has the speaker mounted on the case and the wire for the speaker is connected to the board. CAREFULLY remove the speaker wire from the main board!
With the radio right side up look almost dead center at the main board and see the conveniently labeled "DISC OUT" solder pad. Could we be so lucky? We could!
Tack solder a small insulated wore to this pad using just enough heat to melt the solder and provide a good electrical connection. Place a bit of electrical tape over this after running the wire to your jack point. Run the wire to the side of the board where there is plenty of room between the board and case edge to where you decide to mount your jack.
Placing a jack of your choice someplace on the rear panel is the best bet. On other scanners of this series I drilled a 1/4 inch hole thru the threaded rear brace hole. Since I don't use that and it is clear behind it it does the trick. I use an RCA jack, some people prefer other solutions. You could run a pigtail thru the hole or modify an existing jack. Since the 536HP does not have the rear panel Record Jack of it's predecessors that isn't an option.
If the jack you chose grounds to the case then you are done. Some people prefer to put in a tantalum capacitor or a small resistor in their discriminator jacks, go for it if you want. I usually don't and have never had an issue. If you use a pigtail the be sure to ground the shield.
When reassembling the radio remember to plug in the speaker! I have forgotten this many times and had to go back and tear it all apart to reconnect it.
Now more pics!
First is the overview of the main board:
Next here are some protected areas. The epoxy is usually used to protect the region switches and other parts of the CPU to satisfy regulations and prevent tampering with frequency ranges etc.
One of the issues Uniden had with prior scanners is that the ribbon cable from the display/control daughter board would loosen up and need to be reseated. I had this happen on a couple BCT15's and a 996. Now they put a dab of glop to help keep this from shaking out.
The photos should be decent enough quality to view most of the goodies inside it. While most people do not need to tap the discriminator a lot of people are curious about the inside of their radios. The 536's guts look remarkedly similar to those of the earlier BCD996XT, BCD996X, BCT15X and BCT15 that it evolved from.
Right off I noticed that there is no record jack, the rear USB port (Used for the WiFi dongle) is there now. I haven't read up enough to see if there is a setting or selection to allow the rear speaker jack to be set up as a Record jack for constant level output regardless of the volume setting.
The board appears to be typical surface mount tech with multi-layer pathways. It appears uncrowded and perhaps could have been made much smaller if they wished. It appears well labeled thru out.
