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.

 

[lamarrsy]

I am owner of a BCD436HP and BCD325P2 (and a couple other brands and older units), so, no neophyte here 😉

Question : I am wondering if the BCD160DN with its minimalist approach of DMR monitoring, allows to temporary avoid (“skip scan”) non-desirable talkgroups while monitoring a DMR repeater where there are two services separated by TGs ?
Did you encounter this type of “split service” DMR repeater use and if yes, were you able to “temp. avoid” specific TG?
Thanks in advance !

 

[Ubbe]

There's no TG management in BCD160/260DN and avoid or skip are done per programmed conventional frequency, digital or analog, and not on individual TGs.

/Ubbe

 

[lamarrsy]

There's no TG management in BCD160/260DN and avoid or skip are done per programmed conventional frequency, digital or analog, and not on individual TGs.

/Ubbe

Thanks Ubbe, that was my fear that a push of the Avoid button would act on the memory channel itself.

 

[dmfalk]

This is because, while it supports DMR and NXDN, it doesn't support trunking, so you can't cherrypick the slots and talkgroups. It just decodes the mode on that frequency.

 

[Ubbe]

It is supposed to be scanners suitable for rail fans. It's the same type of safety reason here in Sweden for use of radios during railroad work. They use the same frequency and subtone or DMR with the same TG for a location, so that everyone at that location knows what everybody else are up to. So it works fine using a scanner that monitors everything on a frequency. But a real 2-way radio have a much better specification, can tolerate interference and strong signals and have better sensitivity, it also often cost less from Ebay, than a scanner that do analog and NXDN.

/Ubbe

 

[footage]

I can't figure out how to adjust the search step for the Aircraft service search to 25 KHz.

 

[smcbmt]

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.

 

[smcbmt]

Yes, each of those can be set as 1of 10 Custom Searches in AM with a 25 kHz step. In addition to the default Service Searches Air-band with 25 khz step Military Air-band.

 

[smcbmt]

I can't figure out how to adjust the search step for the Aircraft service search to 25 KHz.

It is one of the default Service Searches Air Band 25k and Air Band 8.33k the choices and Air Band 8.33 k the factory default,

 

[smcbmt]

Yes, each of those can be set as 1of 10 Custom Searches in AM with a 25 kHz step. In addition to the default Service Searches Air-band with 25 khz step Military Air-band.

 

[scott44]

My bcd 160 says p25

 

[jtwalker]

My bcd 160 says p25

Well you have a truly unique unit, because none of the other BCD160DN scanners will handle P25.

 

[K9KLC]

My bcd 160 says p25

Then you've got the only one in the world. Good score!

 

[pb_lonny]

"P25/DAT. Apco Project 25.The radio skips P25 signals
when searching or scanning.
NOTE: These display in the same place as the DMR icon in the
illustration and also in conventional/search mode"

So it will detect P25, show it on the screen and then skip over it.

 

[bearcatrp]

Will it show P25 on the screen before it moves on?