BCD436HP/BCD536HP: Not picking up everything...

[LIScanner101]

Wiggling doesn't do any good. I wiggled both ends of the USB connection and tried several different ports. Using a USB cord from a card reader, it's more consistent in recognizing the scanner is plugged in and I've now gotten the usb mass storage device question three times so I'm inclined to think it's the cable that came with the radio. And unlike yesterday, I'm starting to pick up more analog transmissions, but not as many as I'm used to. It could be, though, that's it's just a slow day. I don't have my 106 at work with me so I can't compare them to see if I"m still missing transmissions.

Bring your 106 to work and get back to us. I'm being 100% serious. I would love to learn that this is "cockpit error" on your part - not because I have anything against you, but I want to learn that this issue is not a scanner problem.

 

[AC2OY]

Troy your not the only guy to say this trust me!! I too bought a 536 and my 800 is now a paper weight one day I'm going to race them side by side!! If the 800 wins them I honestly don't what I'll do! Somebody who is a lot better at this thing told me that if you program many favorite lusts or let's say each system in a list the 536 scans faster!!

 

[desert-cheetah]

I've been seeing problems like you are describing since day 1 on my 536. If you're listening to many systems and/or talkgrouups and/or don't have a 2nd radio to compare to, you'll think things are great. However, if you try to listen to specific and limited numbers of systems and/or talkgroups and/or have a 2nd radio to compare reception to, you'll notice alot of activity being missed. I (and others) have been reporting this for weeks and seeing NO response whatsoever regarding it being a known problem and/or if anything is being worked to solve it.

Of course, whenever anything says anything like this others attribute it to "user error" (it's not) and/or "Uniden haters" (I'm not).

My PSR800 stopped on twice as much activity than the 536 finds. Too bad as this radio *could* be really nice.

I started comparing it to what my 106 was picking up from the moment I had anything programmed on the 436 simply because I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

I think some of my issues are user error because the 436 is a different type of scanner than I'm use do. With RS units you just input the frequencies and are good to go, but with the HP-type ones, you have locations and ranges and such.

The main system I scan has a bunch of simulcast channels and towers because it includes several different cities so I want to my state forum hand asked about inputting the simulcast sites and favorites lists. I haven't had a chance to try out the recommendation I was giving but hopefully that'll help.

As stated before, though, there's a lot of features on this thing other scanners don't have and I'm really liking them.

 

[desert-cheetah]

Bring your 106 to work and get back to us. I'm being 100% serious. I would love to learn that this is "cockpit error" on your part - not because I have anything against you, but I want to learn that this issue is not a scanner problem.

Well, it's the weekend so I brought my 436 home to compare to the 106. On Monday I I'll bring both the work and see what happens with that.

And don't worry. I don't think you're thinking this is totally user error. This is a new scanner and any kind of user info people can provide benefits everyone.

 

[desert-cheetah]

Troy your not the only guy to say this trust me!! I too bought a 536 and my 800 is now a paper weight one day I'm going to race them side by side!! If the 800 wins them I honestly don't what I'll do! Somebody who is a lot better at this thing told me that if you program many favorite lusts or let's say each system in a list the 536 scans faster!!

That's what I was told on my state forum. I was splitting out the cities into individual favorite lists even though they're on the same system so I asked if all the simulcast sites had to be in each fave list and was told to put one system on a list even if they're different cities (at least, that's how I interpreted it) so that's what I plan to do later this evening. Each re-programming seems to take me closer to scanning utopia

 

[SCPD]

That's what I was told on my state forum. I was splitting out the cities into individual favorite lists even though they're on the same system so I asked if all the simulcast sites had to be in each fave list and was told to put one system on a list even if they're different cities (at least, that's how I interpreted it) so that's what I plan to do later this evening. Each re-programming seems to take me closer to scanning utopia

I vaguely remember a post by UpMan by not having the same System running in multiple FL list or something like that because It would slow down the Scan Speed. to tired to hunt it down tonight.
Hopefully someone will remember it and post it.

 

[4436time]

I vaguely remember a post by UpMan by not having the same System running in multiple FL list or something like that because It would slow down the Scan Speed. to tired to hunt it down tonight.
Hopefully someone will remember it and post it.

http://forums.radioreference.com/un...36hp-slow-scan-my-workaround.html#post2121992

 

[desert-cheetah]

I vaguely remember a post by UpMan by not having the same System running in multiple FL list or something like that because It would slow down the Scan Speed. to tired to hunt it down tonight.
Hopefully someone will remember it and post it.

That would make total sense. RWC has, like, 8 simulcast sites plus at least that many towers so if I had 4 different cities on different fave lists and all 8 simulcast sites in each FL it was a wonder the thing picked up anything at all.

I was able to do an abbreviated test last night between the two scanners last night before my batteries gave up the ghost, but the scanners only picked up one transmission at the same time. The 106 kept stopping on analog and MCSO while the 436 kept stopping on RWC frequencies. Today I will do more "testing"

 

[WILSON43]

All I can say is WOW! As I sit here with three under $300 re-furbed (3) HP - 1s humming away beautifully, not missing much here in northern NJ / NY metro area.

And, $500 tucked away in the bank !!!!!

I have a headache reading this thread. NO new scanner radio should be this difficult to use, or miss as many comms as do these scanners. It's the RECEIVER folks. Too many bells and whistles, not enough RECEIVER!

Enjoy your new headache, er, I mean - scanner.....

 

[LIScanner101]

dconti, please check your PMs. Thanks.

 

[desert-cheetah]

All I can say is WOW! As I sit here with three under $300 re-furbed (3) HP - 1s humming away beautifully, not missing much here in northern NJ / NY metro area.

And, $500 tucked away in the bank !!!!!

I have a headache reading this thread. NO new scanner radio should be this difficult to use, or miss as many comms as do these scanners. It's the RECEIVER folks. Too many bells and whistles, not enough RECEIVER!

Enjoy your new headache, er, I mean - scanner.....

I beg to differ, but you're entitled to your opinion. It's definitely operator error maybe because of the bells and whistles but the receiver works just fine. It relies on the operator to tell it what you want to hear. Before I started messing with the stuff to listen to, it was picking up tons of stuff. Too much.

 

[WILSON43]

To each his / her own - Brenda, but at this stage of my life and scanning hobby, I prefer to enjoy listening to a radio as opposed to spending weeks getting a graduate degree from MIT on it's operation.

I'm gonna go take some Aspirin.

 

[desert-cheetah]

As do I...which is good because I've got my 436 scanning nicely now. It picks up transmissions my 106 isn't!

 

[bama9999]

As do I...which is good because I've got my 436 scanning nicely now. It picks up transmissions my 106 isn't!

Same here. Maybe I just got lucky, at least going by those doing so much complaining about these radios, but as it stands now, my BCD536HP is one of the best radios I've ever owned, and I have own a lot of radios over the years. It is hands down THE best scanner I've ever owned.

It works exceptionally well on the MSWIN phase II system, the Desoto County MS analog trunked system, the Tunica County MS analog trunked system, and the Lee County MS analog Motorola type II system, as well as on non-trunking frequencies.

Something might happen tomorrow to cause me to change my mind, but right now, I couldn't be happier with its performance and ease of programming Favorites lists so I can hear all the things I want to scan.

p.s. To those who would wish to call me a Uniden fanboy or a Kool-Aid drinker... I'm not loyal to any particular brand at all. I love my GRE made Radio Shack Pro197, and on analog and Phase I P25 it's a great performing radio, but I can hear stuff on the 536 that's not possible on the Pro197.

 

[desert-cheetah]

Same here. Maybe I just got lucky, at least going by those doing so much complaining about these radios, but as it stands now, my BCD536HP is one of the best radios I've ever owned, and I have own a lot of radios over the years. It is hands down THE best scanner I've ever owned.

It works exceptionally well on the MSWIN phase II system, the Desoto County MS analog trunked system, the Tunica County MS analog trunked system, and the Lee County MS analog Motorola type II system, as well as on non-trunking frequencies.

Something might happen tomorrow to cause me to change my mind, but right now, I couldn't be happier with its performance and ease of programming Favorites lists so I can hear all the things I want to scan.

p.s. To those who would wish to call me a Uniden fanboy or a Kool-Aid drinker... I'm not loyal to any particular brand at all. I love my GRE made Radio Shack Pro197, and on analog and Phase I P25 it's a great performing radio, but I can hear stuff on the 536 that's not possible on the Pro197.

I'm glad you like your new scanner. Even though I had initial problems, I still liked my 436 because I knew the problems were mine and not the receivers. I got mine programmed by reading the manual (both the easier to read and printed), watching a bunch of YouTube videos and asking questions.

I'm not brand loyal either. I've had a radio shack unit since 2009 or 2010 and before that I've had both RS and Bearcat at the same time. I was going to wait to see what whistler came out with but when it became more and more obvious it wouldn't be anything new initially and after seeing the MSRP on the re-branded 106 and the fact that it didn't have any extra features I decided to go ahead and get the 436. It isn't replacing my 106, though, because I will use both

 

[troymail]

We could be talking apples and oranges here....

If you use the Zip Code/range load method, you're going to hear alot. This is a primary thing that these radios were marketed upon.

However, most users very quickly decide that's not what they want.

As far as reception, I completely agree that the 536 is picking up distant SYSTEMS .... For example, I can hear the Baltimore City P25 Phase 1 system on the 536 but no other radio receives his system from my primary location.

However, for other closer SYSTEMS that my other radios (specifically PSR500/PSR800) can receive, the reception is "incomplete". That is, it is obvious that the 536 doesn't stop on all activity on these systems. And this seems to be true for both "distant" and "local" systems. This makes sense for "distant" systems as atmospheric conditions change and distant signal strengths fade and fluctuate - but not for the "local" systems.

It is baffling as to why this is the case. If this could be solved, I'd agree that the 536 could be a great radio (ok, maybe with a couple of other minor changes). I just don't trust right now that the radio is hearing everything it should.

I'm starting to wonder what is happening "behind the scenes" in the radio signal processing. There is a slight delay in hearing voice (at least for Phase 2 voice activity) as compared to what I hear on the PSR800. That, coupled with my belief that the 536 (maybe all scanners?) will only "present" you with the FIRST active talkgroup it finds before moving to the next system.... I think lately I've noticed it sometimes stops on (and I can hear) a split second of digital noise when a talkgroup is encrypted (or the radio thinks it's encrypted). When this happens, the radio doesn't stop on any other talkgroups in the system before scanning to the next system. Given the "delay" I mentioned above, I wonder if the radio is trying and failing on decoding a talkgroup (before ever even opening up to the point you can hear something) thus moving on to the next system giving the user the impression that it never stopped on anything in that system.

After more than 35 years, the scanning hobby for me has turned less into listening and more into trying to figure out why things don't work as well as I think they should - and offering observations and suggestions for making improvements (for all of us).

As far as brand loyalty, that isn't limited to scanners. I very much prefer Ford over Chevy and definitely over Dodge. Bottom line is users will go with what works for them and their needs. Like others, I'm going to go to the vendor where things work for me. In terms of scanners, it looks like I'm going to continue to rely on multiple vendors and models to satisfy my needs.