BCD160DN/BCD260DN: My Thoughts of the BCD160DN After a Month

[smcbmt]

Have to say I am more than pleased with my BCD160DN paired with the Remtronix 842B after a month of use. I did perform the available firmware update without a hitch once a driver issue on the old laptop I use for scanner software was ironed out.

On the civil and military air bands it’s as good as, maybe a bit better, than my old BC895XLT with a fully extended Diamond RH789 antenna. The BC895XLT beats my BCD536 with a fully extended Radio Shack 20-006A. So the BCD160DN appears to be quite good indeed. All of them beat my SDS-100 with a Remtronix 842S.

Like the BCD536 and SDS-100 the 160DN can handle AM channels in the Mil Band 138-144 MHz Mil Band.

On the AAR railroad channels and Ham bands the BCD160DN is at least as good as the 895XLT and BCD536. The SDS-100 lags the three a bit on the AAR rail channels but much less than on the air bands.

Of course there is no trunking for the BCD160DN but the DMR works well regardless of band, equaling the BCD536 and SDS-100 with their paid upgrades applied.

I do miss Close Call.

Truth be told, as far as I’m concerned, the BCD160DN pretty well relegates the BCD536 to trunking duty and the SDS-100 to trunking and simulcast duty.

Scanning speed is great. Scanning 300 air band frequencies I really don’t feel like I am missing many transmissions, as I do with the other units.

I do miss the longer channel names available on the BCD536 and SDS-100 but then the 895XLT has no channel tagging ability at all. So 16 characters is better than none.

The 160DN has the best and most versatile service search implementation I’ve come across. With my eyes I have no interest in the band scope function.

The free software from Uniden works but is quite limited. I realize this group has a strong preference for Proscan but I’m an old BuTel user from the iCom R-75, 780XLT days. So I grabbed a copy of ARC-260 for the BCD160 and 260DN. Worked great with my RR membership downloading frequencies and programming the little scanner. There were a couple of what to me were profile saving glitches so I posted my thoughts and questions on the RR software forum and had a response from BuTel. The latest upgrade includes my suggestions and resolved my issues. I can’t speak to the remote control or band scope functionality of the software as they are of no interest to me.

I assume the BCD260DN would perform similarly.

 

[a727469]

Very nice review!. I probably would have gotten one but I have an Icom and some baofengs(gasp!) that actually do quite well on some of the same bands Including dmr on a Baofeng. I know, we can never have enough radios!

 

[Trucker700]

Good review. I have not used my BCD160DN a lot. But, when I do, I have found it quite good. Plenty of sensitivity and fast scanning speeds. I look at it as a BCT125 with full MilAir coverage and installed upgrades ( DMR and NXDN) that would cost extra on my other scanners.
I have not tested it on railroad frequencies yet. But, I suspect it will do fine.
James

 

[bearcatrp]

This radio with its features would be hard to beat for the cost. Have hooked mine up to my discone, comparing to a R30, 325P2 and a RS Pro 26. R30 was just a tad better on air on weak signals. If you don’t need P25, this is the radio to get.

 

[10-43]

The Manual for the BCD160DN suggests you can set the band defaults and search range to any mode or channel step as indicated below for any band or frequency range. Is that correct?

AM, NFM, FM

5 kHz 6.25 kHz 7.5 kHz 8.33 kHz 10 kHz 12.5 kHz 15 kHz 20 kHz 25 kHz 50 kHz 100 kHz

I am considering one for civilian and milar. 116-136.975, 138-143.975, 148-151.775 and 225-399.975 MHz Yep I did mean to include 116-118 MHz. Rather rare for milair voice, but a possibility. A bit more often outside the US.