It also can't be locked if the clock date remains prior to June 30, 2017, IIRC. So setting that to an earlier date or just depowering it long enough to let the clock memory expire should keep you from getting zapped. Both of my radios are used exclusively as mobiles so I don't keep batteries in them. Both were depowered at some point for various reasons long enough to have the clock go back to the default 2010 date. Since I consider them scanners and not clocks, and since I habitually power them on as soon as I get in and start up, and since they can't flash the clock display on command while scanning, I never bothered to reset them. Blind luck on my part but it may help some others.
I also never advanced beyond 4.6/3.0 for the very good reasons that (a.) it works great for my purposes and (b.) the paid upgrade became available. I think I have my USPS problems solved (it's amazing how much a little screaming can accomplish) so I'm going to pull the trigger on that next week. Hopefully my scanners won't get sent to Abu Dhabi on the return trip, or just fall off the edge of the earth as so many other items have over the past several months.