Northwest Indiana & Uniden BCD536HP

[Gooseisland10]

Hello my name is Joe I am a long time scanner listener. Started out with a Regency crystal based scanner back in the 1970’s. I have owned numerous Uniden and Realistic scanners over the years. I dropped off the scanner radar for quite a few years, and recently got back into the hobby. Needless to say the scanner industry has changed so much since my last Realistic Pro 2006 base scanner. I recently purchased a Uniden BCD536HP from Bearcat Warehouse. I was told that this scanner would work well in my area. I live in Northern Indiana, in Lake County In. I have been very disappointed in this scanners performance through no fault of it’s own. The reason for this scanners poor performance as I have found out is due to Lake and surrounding counties broadcasting in P25 phase 2 Simulcast. Is there a solution to making listening to my scanner more enjoyable. Tried moving scanner to different locations, adjusting my antenna. Using a Comet BNC-W100RX back of set antenna and have tried a Remtronix 830B rubber duck back of set antenna. I’m not able to have an outside antenna. I have read about some Yagi antennas, is this a possible solution or can you recommend anything else? If a Yagi may work to improve my listening , is there one in the 700 to 900 mhz range that may be used inside the house?

Thank you so very much for your advice for this situation.

Sincerely Joe

 

[west-pac]

Your best bet would be to sell the 536HP, and buy a Uniden SDS200. The SDS200 was designed to work with simulcast radio systems, whereas the 536HP was not.

 

[Gooseisland10]

Was hoping to avoid putting up my BCD536HP for sale being I have only had it for about six months.

 

[AK9R]

I wouldn't say that the BCD536HP was not designed to work with simulcast systems as that implies that you won't hear anything when trying to monitor a simulcast system. I would say that the SDS200 works better with simulcast than the BCD536HP.

Before you sell your BCD536HP, try it. Program it for the systems near you and see how it does. It may work. It may not. Simulcast is a funny thing.

 

[west-pac]

Using that same analogy, if you mistakenly bought size 10 shoes, instead of size 12, would you keep the size 10 shoes simply because you just bought them?

 

[west-pac]

I wouldn't say that the BCD536HP was not designed to work with simulcast systems as that implies that you won't hear anything when trying to monitor a simulcast system. I would say that the SDS200 works better with simulcast than the BCD536HP.

Before you sell your BCD536HP, try it. Program it for the systems near you and see how it does. It may work. It may not. Simulcast is a funny thing.

Did you read his post? He said he's already using it, and it has poor performance. Literally the whole 2nd half of his post talks about the poor performance.

 

[Opossum214]

Hey Joe, I live in Lake County and I started off with a BCD 436 and quickly sent it back after trying all the gimmicks and gadgets, including a yagi and other antennas. The only consumer grade scanners that will handle simulcast is the SDS series. I also have two Unication G4s which work great for simulcast areas and receive far better than an SDS. You will always be disappointed and severely frustrated with any radio that cannot handle a heavily simulcast area like Lake County.

 

[Gooseisland10]

Hey Joe, I live in Lake County and I started off with a BCD 436 and quickly sent it back after trying all the gimmicks and gadgets, including a yagi and other antennas. The only consumer grade scanners that will handle simulcast is the SDS series. I also have two Unication G4s which work great for simulcast areas and receive far better than an SDS. You will always be disappointed and severely frustrated with any radio that cannot handle a heavily simulcast area like Lake County.

As I stated I’ve been absent from scanning for a number of years, so with this new technology I’m like a newbie. Those Unification G4S, do they have to be computer programmed also for the area you want to listen to? Do they work the same as a scanner, as I have heard them referred to as pagers.

 

[NWI_Scanner_Guy]

A lot of it comes down to location, location, location. When I had a 436HP, reception of the Lake County system was crappy at my house (in south Hammond), no matter what room I was in. However, when visiting a friends house about 1/2 mile from my place, reception was crystal clear. Since I couldn't afford to move to a "sweet spot," the practical solution for me was to sell the 436 and get an SDS100....the best radio for the job.

 

[AK9R]

The Unication G4 is not a scanner. It is a paging receiver. I can be programmed to act like a scanner, but all programming is with a computer running Windows. It does not have the flexibility to change configurations on the fly like a scanner has. That said, they are very good at what they do. I have one that I was using as a scanner and it worked very well...until I dropped it which apparently dislodged something inside.

 

[west-pac]

The Unication G4 is not a scanner.

Another downside to the Unication pagers are that they can only listen to one system at a time. They can listen to the Lake County P25 system, or the SAFE-T P25 system, but they cannot listen to both systems at the same time.

 

[Gooseisland10]

Thank you so much to you all for your input and patience, it’s a learning curve for me.

 

[Gooseisland10]

Has anyone tried a Diamond RH3 stubby bullet antenna on a 536HP or 436 HP? Have read that less is sometimes more in regard to simulcast issues, was wondering how this may work for Hammond PD Monitoring.

 

[Napalm]

Joe. If you'd like to send me a PM I can help you out. I live in Lake County.