I have spent an exasperating weekend setting up and testing a new BCD436HP, during which I encountered many of the issues mentioned in some other posts. At this price point, you expect the product to work right out of the box. I am not a novice: I have used public safety radios since the 1960s, was a Uniden dealer in the early 1970s, and successfully deployed or used radio systems-- including P25-- in recent years as a volunteer with several agencies. A few comments:
OPAQUE INSTRUCTIONS. When an owner's manual starts with "Understanding The Memory" you already know you are in trouble. It is more a statement of the programmer's idiosyncratic philosophy than a guide to field use of the radio. There are pages of description of what each button or knob is supposed to do, but little explanation of how to do common tasks like monitoring a single department and switching from a dispatch channel to a tactical channel.
BIZARRE SOFTWARE. The default seems to be that every system, department, and channel in the country is turned on. You want to listen only to Phoenix Fire? Apparently, you must individually "avoid" every system, department, and channel across several counties. But you must leave the total national database turned on or you will be warned there is nothing to scan. If you miss an "avoid," you end up with an unwanted system dominating your scanning. Favorites lists revised and saved in the software do not always overwrite those in the radio memory, even when overwrite is chosen in the software.
FAULTY CONTROLS. If you finally succeed in isolating one department to monitor, there is a new challenge: How do you move from one channel, such as fire dispatch, to another channel, such as the tactical channel assigned by dispatch? The instructions seem to say this is done by pressing the white CHAN/MOD button and then rotating the SEL/VOL/SW knob to walk through the channels specific to the held channel. That held channel is, of course, within a specific department and system. However, the reality is that rotating the knob takes you to distant departments and channels that are specifically marked "avoid" in your active favorites list.
Together, these issues make the scanner impractical for professional use, although hobbyists may enjoy listening to the whipsaw of uncontrolled, unrelated transmissions.
OPAQUE INSTRUCTIONS. When an owner's manual starts with "Understanding The Memory" you already know you are in trouble. It is more a statement of the programmer's idiosyncratic philosophy than a guide to field use of the radio. There are pages of description of what each button or knob is supposed to do, but little explanation of how to do common tasks like monitoring a single department and switching from a dispatch channel to a tactical channel.
BIZARRE SOFTWARE. The default seems to be that every system, department, and channel in the country is turned on. You want to listen only to Phoenix Fire? Apparently, you must individually "avoid" every system, department, and channel across several counties. But you must leave the total national database turned on or you will be warned there is nothing to scan. If you miss an "avoid," you end up with an unwanted system dominating your scanning. Favorites lists revised and saved in the software do not always overwrite those in the radio memory, even when overwrite is chosen in the software.
FAULTY CONTROLS. If you finally succeed in isolating one department to monitor, there is a new challenge: How do you move from one channel, such as fire dispatch, to another channel, such as the tactical channel assigned by dispatch? The instructions seem to say this is done by pressing the white CHAN/MOD button and then rotating the SEL/VOL/SW knob to walk through the channels specific to the held channel. That held channel is, of course, within a specific department and system. However, the reality is that rotating the knob takes you to distant departments and channels that are specifically marked "avoid" in your active favorites list.
Together, these issues make the scanner impractical for professional use, although hobbyists may enjoy listening to the whipsaw of uncontrolled, unrelated transmissions.
