7/25/2013 marked my 10th anniversary at Uniden America. Wow, time really flies.
Let's see. When I started at Uniden:
Let's see. When I started at Uniden:
- This site (in the current form) did not exist. Instead, we hung out at www.trunkedradio.net.
- In my case, my hanging out was quite secret...being caught posting on behalf of a company without permission was typically punishable by immediate termination...that was certainly the case at the time at RadioShack, and could have been the same at Uniden. I was fortunate in that when I was "outed" on this site in around 2005, Al Silverberg, then President of Uniden America, had enough trust in me to give me free reign. I have had to defend "UPMan" several times as administrations have changed, but ultimately the benefit of his presence has been recognized (and now it is quite common for companies to encourage employees to engage with their customers on social media).
- Scanner firmware could not be updated once it was produced. The cost of reflashable memory was significant enough to make it uncompetitive.
- Uniden's Flagship models were the BC250D and BC785D...the BC296D and BC796D shipped shortly after I arrived; I really had nothing to do with their development. The first digital model I actually had much influence on was the PRO-96, which was released just as I left RadioShack.
- All scanners used "banked" memory...despite the inherent inefficiency and artificial construct as applied to trunked radio systems. When I first brought the idea of Dynamic Memory to the engineers (as a Uniden Employee), their first response was, "Ok, we'll make 20 banks." Thereafter ensued about 8 hours of whiteboard meeting in Tokyo...and the rest is history. Actually, while still at RadioShack I had presented the idea both to Uniden and GRE...I really wanted better use of memory! That is why, despite the innovation, we never filed for any patents on the methods...GRE was actually quite free to use the same general organization (as long as they respected copyrights), but Craig and others had already conceived of Object-Oriented Memory and were devoted to that path.
- High-end handhelds used proprietary (and expensive) battery packs, which the community hated. I nixed that in the next design (BC246T).
- Handheld scanners were bigger than most hands. Should have been called "hands held."
- My hair was similar in density to what it is today...but it is a bit lighter, now.
- I was driving a 2nd Generation Prius (1st Generation was never offered in the US). Now I drive a Camry Hybrid.
- Starbucks was (and still is) my 2nd office.
- I could read the paper without "readers."
- I could bring Phideaux to work on snow days and no one would complain (well, except Phideaux if I got stuck in a meeting for too long).
- It was common for someone to "light up" during meetings in Japan (at any company). Now, it is unheard of (and has been for years).
- Most people had a heck of a time figuring out how to program trunked scannners. Well, some things haven't changed.