BCD536HP Post-Release Thread

[an39511]

Did I find a bug with the quick keys? (continued)

To further my understanding of quick keys I have posted a video that shows how enabling and disabling quick keys change depending on whether a conventional channel is being received at the time I try changing the mode of a quick key.

Hopefully someone can shed some light on why it acts this way?

BCD536HP QuickKeys - YouTube

 

[jh2000]

I did Dave to the letter. When I plug in the dongle, I get the notification in the system tray, Installing device driver. After a short period I get a device driver not found message.

 

[NHdave]

Try re running the setup executables but instead of double clicking, right click and run as administrator. I installed the software a few days ago, don't remember if I had to do that, you do have to do it when running the updater to update the dongle. Also just for giggles disconnect your internet connection when you plug the dongle in, this will stop Windows from trying to check online for a driver.

 

[OFDM]

To further my understanding of quick keys I have posted a video that shows how enabling and disabling quick keys change depending on whether a conventional channel is being received at the time I try changing the mode of a quick key.

Hopefully someone can shed some light on why it acts this way?

BCD536HP QuickKeys - YouTube

Thats not a bug, you just don't understand how it works. Don't worry, I've had the same confusion at times. You have one FL, 0 under which has 3 systems (you kept calling them sites), and each system has it's own departments.

For example,
FF.SS.DD
01.01.xx this FL/System can have departments 12345
01.02.xx this FL/System can have departments 238
01.03.xx this FL/System can have departments 45

In the video you were stopping the scan on 01.01 and hit .. to see the departments, which it shows 12345. Next you waiting until you were on 01.02 to stop the scan and hit .. (in this case .. means 01.02.) so you see departments 238.

If you were to stop the scan on 01.03 and hit .. (which means 01.03) you would see departments 45.

ME.

 

[trunker]

To further my understanding of quick keys I have posted a video that shows how enabling and disabling quick keys change depending on whether a conventional channel is being received at the time I try changing the mode of a quick key.

Hopefully someone can shed some light on why it acts this way?

BCD536HP QuickKeys - YouTube

..0 shows the status of all Department/Site QKs in the current System. You won't change anything unless you hit E/yes. And those are systems, not sites in your video.


See the new manual.

 

[an39511]

Thats not a bug, you just don't understand how it works. Don't worry, I've had the same confusion at times. You have one FL, 0 under which has 3 systems (you kept calling them sites), and each system has it's own departments.

For example,
FF.SS.DD
01.01.xx this FL/System can have departments 12345
01.02.xx this FL/System can have departments 238
01.03.xx this FL/System can have departments 45

In the video you were stopping the scan on 01.01 and hit .. to see the departments, which it shows 12345. Next you waiting until you were on 01.02 to stop the scan and hit .. (in this case .. means 01.02.) so you see departments 238.

If you were to stop the scan on 01.03 and hit .. (which means 01.03) you would see departments 45.

ME.

Thank you for the clarification. Coming from another brand of radio so it is a little confusing but what you write makes sense.

 

[an39511]

..0 shows the status of all Department/Site QKs in the current System. And those are systems, not sites in your video.


See the new manual.

Thanks for the reply and the link to the revised manual.

 

[LIScanner101]

To the poster who commented on issues when cutting & pasting into Excel and then into Sentinel:

I know very little about Sentinel but I have seen strange results when using Excel. Sometimes when pasting, a leading space can get introduced but the destination cell may appear "OK" after the pasting operation. Other times the formatting of the cells makes a difference.

Can you try taking a "working" Sentinel system, copy it into Excel, then take a "working" FreeSCAN file and paste it into another Excel spreadsheet, and then compare the "problem" cells for mismatches in formatting?

 

[OFDM]

Thank you for the clarification. Coming from another brand of radio so it is a little confusing but what you write makes sense.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I think we all are in the same boat with the learning curve of the x36 radios.

In my opinion, the manual is very hard to read and follow. Uniden would be better off quickly putting a few dozen you tube videos out on the operations of the radios rather then that manual.

 

[signal500]

Fortunately or unfortunately, I think we all are in the same boat with the learning curve of the x36 radios.

In my opinion, the manual is very hard to read and follow. Uniden would be better off quickly putting a few dozen you tube videos out on the operations of the radios rather then that manual.

I have put together my own videos at an attempt to help new owners. Take a look:

K4DPS - YouTube

 

[rkm1215]

Awesome. Thanks for creating those for the people that need a helping hand!

 

[shonc182]

I am having an issue with the firmware Updater. Once I start firmware BC-WF1 Updater I get a "I handled exception error". "Access to the path c:\program files (x86) \uniden\bcwf1_firmwareUpdater\1_30_2014_7_50_32_PM log"

What am I not doing correctly?

Might try post #9, here: http://forums.radioreference.com/uniden-scanners/282848-bcd536hp-wifi-problem.html#post2115929

I am running Windows 8 and got it to work.

 

[AK9R]

Uniden would be better off quickly putting a few dozen you tube videos out on the operations of the radios rather then that manual.

I guess you missed all of the forum posts from UPMan announcing new videos he's posted on YouTube about these new scanners.

Here's a link to all of UPMan's YouTube videos:

Uniden Upman - YouTube

Also, the RR Wiki article about the BCD536HP lists many of those videos plus a few that others have created:

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/BCD536HP#Videos

 

[MikeyP19128]

Radio Stopped Working

I'm new to this forum and let me say at the outset I am not a radio techie. I'm a lifelong fire buff who has
been listening to Philadelphia fire radio for over 50 years. I'm not a wimp, but please be gentle in your replies.

OK, I obtained a BCD536HP on Tuesday, 1/28, from Scanner Master (btw I have a Home Patrol, so I'm
familiar with Sentinal, lists, etc). I used the zip code option and had the radio working within minutes.

On Wednesday, I got a little braver and built a favorites list for the Philadelphia Fire Department. (I actually had a longer list, had some issues, and scaled it back, thinking I could experiment with it
later). That worked.

Thursday, without any modifications, the radio worked like a charm.

I turned the radio on a few hours ago (Friday morning) and I'm receiving nothing (I'm running my Home Patrol right next to it, it's working fine). I switched back from my list to the full database. I'm receiving
some suburban Philadelphia transmissions, but nothing for Philadelphia Project 25 which
includes the PFD. Specifically, when I use my list, I'm seeing absolutely no bars indicating
signal strength.

As I say, I lack all technical expertise regarding these digital radio systems. Can anyone
suggest what the issue is and if and how it can be remedied.

Thanks for your kind consideration.

Mike

 

[southernCTscan]

Check to make sure in your profile that you have the proper "Services" checked. Look in Sentinel under edit profile then look in the tab Service Types and check the ones that you want to listen to. If they are not checked you will not hear them.

 

[MikeyP19128]

If you responding to me, I checked the profiles and all of the correct services are checked off.

Let me emphasize that the radio was working fine when I turned it off last night. When I turned
it on this morning, I'm seeing no signal strength (and hence no reception) for the Philadelphia Project
25 system. I have my Home Patrol right next to it and it's working fine.

 

[OFDM]

I guess you missed all of the forum posts from UPMan announcing new videos he's posted on YouTube about these new scanners.s[/url]

No, I didn't miss it, did you?

How was part 2 of programming and using your BCDx36 on trunked systems?

 

[rkm1215]

Mikey,
It sounds like a quick key inadvertently got turned off or the system was accidentally avoided (locked out.) Post a picture of your front scanner display turned on and someone can probably spot the key sequence you need to press. What FL, SK, DK, and number tags represent the Philly P25 and PFD in your setup?

 

[MikeyP19128]

Mikey,
It sounds like a quick key inadvertently got turned off or the system was accidentally avoided (locked out.) Post a picture of your front scanner display turned on and someone can probably spot the key sequence you need to press. What FL, SK, DK, and number tags represent the Philly P25 and PFD in your setup?

First, thank you for your response. I "played" with the radio, got it working, but have no idea why or how.

Let me say a few things and perhaps you could put me on the right track. I haven't set any quick
keys so I don't think there was a quick key issue. I haven't got to that level yet. Also, I only have
one favorites list.

With that in mind, I reconnected to Sentinel as I wanted to add two Philadelphia Police Frequencies
to my favorites and update the alert lights. All of that worked and I downloaded the updated list.

Next, I went back into the menu, turned off the full data base and turned on my updated list.

So, here's where I'm thoroughly confused. At first nothing was happening, and specifically
I saw no bars indicating signal strength. Then for some reason, I put the system hold on
for Philadelphia Project 25, and voila, the radio began working.

Why would this be the case? What if I build a list with multiple systems ?

One other mystery: When I took it out of the box, I set it up for zip code just to see what
would happen. I entered my zip and it selected Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and
New Jersey from the database and began scanning, it found the Philadelphia Project 25
system, and the corresponding departments and channels. It worked fine. However, I'm
unable to replicate this as I can't monitor the Philadelphia system. I hear sububan Phila. and
South Jersey transmissions, but no Philadelphia Project 25 (as I did out of the box on Tuesday).

Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

Mike

PS: After posting this, I undid the system hold and the radio continues to work. So, why did I have these issues
in the first place? One more observation. Yesterday, as today, I simply turned the radio on and it worked perfectly.
I did the exact same thing this morning and had the aforementioned issues

 

[jeffrogerson]

Question re: Sentinel...
Can you not add, reposition, modify conventional frequencies with this program like you can Freescan?
I've been meddling around with it now for hours...what's the point of this program? Is all it does is allow you to see what's on your scanner? Seems kind of useless to me.

Perhaps this is frustration talking, but if you're used to the 996XT, and are comfortable and familiar with banks/groups... be prepared to want to poke your eyes out. This new favourites/system/department format is confusing. I have programmed my local police and fire frequencies into Favourite 01, but get "nothing to scan" when turning it on. And where's the scan button!? Who wants to hit two buttons to resume scanning?? This scanner is nice, and I suppose I'm glad I bought it (wifi potential), but this radio is far too much like the Home Patrol scanners (if you want to call them that.) Perhaps I'll get used to these changes.