My experiences with a GPS enabled 536 cross country

[blantonl]

So I made my yearly summer pilgrimage with the family to Whitefish, MT from San Antonio, TX this week and arrived

This year I decided to forgo using a HomePatrol and instead use my very hobbled 536 with the GPS puck and Wifi Dongle coupled with an older iPhone 4S with the Siren App. The reason my 536 is "hobbled" is because it was part of the first production run, so it has the headphone jack problems along with the clock problem. I just never got around to sending it in for repair. For an antenna, I used a Baofeng VHF/UHF antenna that I ordered from Amazon the week before: Amazon.com: Authentic Genuine Nagoya UT-72 Super Loading Coil 19-Inch Magnetic Mount VHF/UHF (144/430Mhz) Antenna PL-259: Cell Phones & Accessories

Here are some notes and observations:

• I installed the 536 in the back of a 2016 Cadillac Escalade along with the GPS hockey puck and the Wifi dongle. There is a conveniently located 12V cigarette lighter plug located on the drivers side all the way in the back with a pocket that all the equipment fits nicely into.
  
• Because my 536 hasn’t been repaired for the initial run problems, I connected a ground loop isolator between the external speaker audio out and ran an audio cord to the Aux-In connector located inside the center console. That provided decent audio through the Escalade’s sound system, but some improvement is needed there. Lots of ambient hissing noise between scanning systems, and still a hum is present. I suspect the 536 audio hardware fix is needed, and I’ll do that eventually.
  
• For the trip I downloaded and installed the latest full database. I configured the 536 Wi-fi dongle in Access Point mode, and set an easy to use SSID and Password.
  
• I used an old Apple iPhone 4S for the remote control of the 536 - so I wiped it clean and made sure that the Wi-fi dongle's access point was the only one memorized. The resulted in the iPhone automatically joining to the 536 after about 10-15 seconds after power up. It was a pretty small screen though, but it worked fine as a remote control.
  
• The 536 was configured to use the full database. It wasn’t clear to me how to make sure that the GPS was being used to automatically load local systems, but after trial and error I figured out that once the GPS puck is connected to the 536 and locked on, it just automatically starts using it. That was further complicated by the next item...
  
• When using the siren app as a remote control, I noticed on the settings page Settings->Set Location->Setup GPS a setting for “Enable GPS Updating” - Figuring *this* was the way to make sure that the scanner updates using GPS so I enabled this. Big mistake. My first day of traveling was fraught with the scanner running very slowly, holding on single systems for minutes at a time, and generally acting sluggish. Turning this parameter to OFF resulted in the scanner just working properly like a normal Home Patrol and using the GPS regardless of this setting. My only guess is that this is a feature of the Siren App that allows GPS updates from the phone to the 536 without a dongle. Or not, I don’t know. But with it turned off everything worked fine.
  
• The siren app. worked OK, just OK. It’s a pretty buggy app and it needs some work for true mobile use, but I was still able to drive 30 hours working through the quirks. I noticed if the 536 powered off and then back on, the app either never re-connected, or did so in a manner that resulted in a “flickering” screen update and unexpected app behavior problems, like crashes when touching the mute button. Swiping to kill the app and restarting resolved the problems each time. For real mobile use, I would suggest that Uniden re-use the last connection settings if the scanner or app restarts instead of prompting each time (so I don’t have to restart the app if the scanner restarts). Also, I would recommend relocating the home screen options for “Squelch” and “Range” to the Settings page. Those, for me, are almost never used parameters unless in very unique circumstances. I would instead place the “Avoid” and “Next” options in their place. In mobile GPS environments, you are always avoiding stuff, and there are many times when you want the scanner to move along “Next” on a conversation.
  
• Turning the car off, and then back on via the ignition switch resulted in a power cycle of the 536 via the cigarette lighter plug. I was pretty worried about this, especially the integrity of the SSD card, but we never had a problem. This commonly happened when we pulled into a gas station to fill up, turning off the car was no issue, but starting the car back up resulted in the scanner power cycling, resulting in a complete reload of the database, reacquisition of the GPS, and then a reload of the database. This power cycle also resulted in the siren app restart needed as described above.
  
• Receive performance of the scanner was outstanding, as well as digital audio quality. The Colorado State system and the Wyoming State system provides wonderful coverage across areas traveling north on I-25 from NM to MT, and coupled with excellent RRDB coverage of those areas, you get everything on that trip.

Comments are welcome.

 

[ofd8001]

Your experiences are identical to mine, including the Siren App re-connect issue and Mute button glitch.

I agree that the Avoid button should be on the main screen rather than having to use the right arrow. This would be particularly helpful because the full database includes NXDN systems. When the scanner "hits" on such things, all you hear is digital noise and you look for the Avoid button real fast. It probably will become even more helpful if more DMR systems find their way in the database and someone not having the upgrade attempts to scan them. (Probably also true for ProVoice).

I got a 536 when they first came out and has been in my truck ever since. It's powered by an ignition sense circuit. It is started at least 4-5 per day. I've not seen and SD card failure (knocking on wood), but I do keep a spare card just in case.

I'm using a charging cradle for my iPhone 4, plugged into a 12V power point within easy driver reach and visibility.

 

[WX4JCW]

I am an OTR Driver for Fedex, i use a BCD436HP with the gps on a daily basis, Los Angeles to Chicago was seamless the whole way through, having the entire database on hand is awesome as i don't have to spend any time programming at all.

 

[JamesO]

Lindsay,

Thanks for the review.

Since you are kind of "Database Central" I have a suggestion/request.

It seems that many people West of the Mississippi do not understand the challenges of the East Coast when it comes to GPS Scanning and the database.

I have run GPS scanning up and down the East Coast on my HP1, although I have a 436 and 536 and here is what I constantly run into.

The East Coast tends to be more densely populated and has many, many physically smaller states as well as MANY, MANY counties, boros, and cities.

As you travel unknown or unfamiliar areas with GPS scanning enabled, You will see a system, channel pop up with a county, boro or city name, but no state reference. The problem is while traveling you need to be able to determine what state you are monitoring and you may even want to lock an entire state, county, boro, city out as you may be running parallel to or away from a specific area.

Take a look at the I95 corridor and I think you will understand what we are up against in this part of the country. Folks that live in and travel either in the middle of a large midwest state or travel West of the Mississippi may not understand what I am talking about.

Is there anyway to PLEASE have a 2 letter state reference somewhere in what is displayed in the screen so it is clear what area you are monitoring??? Possibly make the state a 2 letter prefix for the system or area you are monitoring.

I have traveled from DC to Whitefish many years ago, 13 states, 6k miles before. I also run from DC to up and down the coast line/I95 corridor often as well as to New Orleans. So I know what the rest of the country looks like and the East Coast is very densely populated and it is sometimes very hard to know what you are actually listening to.

Just look at the DC area alone, between MD, VA, and DC, if you are not from the area, you may not know the difference between Fairfax (which is broken down into smaller areas, not by town, but other districts/regions) , Falls Church, Arlington, Alexandria, Montgomery (which is broken down into smaller areas, not by town, but other districts/regions), Prince Georges (which is broken down into smaller areas, not by town, but other districts/regions), Bethesda, Chevy Chase and so forth.

How is sometime visiting or passing through supposed to know what state they are actually listening to if they had not lived or grown up in the area?

Please consider this as a future change/option to the way things are named in the database and/or maybe there can be some firmware tweaks in the radio that will allow a user to enable/disable a state ID prefix when scanning.

Until you experience this challenge and frustration, nobody will really understand what is going on.

 

[K2KOH]

I did the same, but sans the Siren app. I had my 536 mounted on the dashboard with the GPS and full database, with whatever services I wanted active during the trip. I traveled New York, through PA, OH, MI, and into WI. The scanner had performed flawlessly, and like you said, the temporary avoid came in handy more than a few times. I'm not thrilled with the Siren app yet. It has great potential. I'm waiting for the bugs to be worked out so I can mount my 536 in my new Escape trunk.

 

[garys]

I did the same thing and wrote about it here.
Using the built in database, proper Service Type selection, GPS, and setting the range to zero yielded very good results.

My route was a bit different than yours since I turned south at Columbus and drove to Louisville.

It's not something I'd use in my local area or an area I knew well, but for traveling it's a great option.

I did the same, but sans the Siren app. I had my 536 mounted on the dashboard with the GPS and full database, with whatever services I wanted active during the trip. I traveled New York, through PA, OH, MI, and into WI. The scanner had performed flawlessly, and like you said, the temporary avoid came in handy more than a few times. I'm not thrilled with the Siren app yet. It has great potential. I'm waiting for the bugs to be worked out so I can mount my 536 in my new Escape trunk.

 

[blantonl]

I did the same, but sans the Siren app. I had my 536 mounted on the dashboard with the GPS and full database, with whatever services I wanted active during the trip. I traveled New York, through PA, OH, MI, and into WI. The scanner had performed flawlessly, and like you said, the temporary avoid came in handy more than a few times. I'm not thrilled with the Siren app yet. It has great potential. I'm waiting for the bugs to be worked out so I can mount my 536 in my new Escape trunk.

The app didn't have any showstoppers, other than the GPS Update option thing which isn't documented anywhere and completely threw me for a loop. It also completely threw the scanner for a loop as well. Does anyone know exactly what that option means?

The app definitely needs some work and I hope Uniden updates it with some necessary changes (that I think are needed).

 

[ofd8001]

It's not something I'd use in my local area or an area I knew well, but for traveling it's a great option.

If I'm within 50 miles of home full database is Off and Favorites Liss are On. Pretty much everything within 50 miles is in a Favorites List somewhere with those FLs using Location Control.

Outside that 50 miles, the full database is turned on. Favorites Lists go off due to Location Control operation.

When I get to a travel destination, full database goes off and Location Controlled Favorites Lists for the destination come on.