No matter what kind of rubber duck antenna I use it is almost deaf. I connected it to my outdoor antenna and it works great. So I decided to try an antenna that came with my icom r-2 receiver. It is metal and extendable. It to woke it up also to receive like it should. It is frustrating that it doesn't work well with any rubber duck antenna . My Whistler TRX-1 and BCD 396xt handhelds do great with rubber duck antennas in the identical location and the same programming. .
BCD436HP/BCD536HP: RECEIVE PROBLEMS
- Thread starter columbas
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Is the only place you have tried the rubber duck antennas inside your home? If so, there may be something inside that causes desense. When you connect to the outdoor antenna, you are bypassing whatever that source may be.
The rubber-duck antennas supplied with most hand held scanners are a huge compromise. While they try to be good at everything they're really good at nothing. The telescoping metal antennas supplied with most base/mobile scanners actually work surprisingly good quite often. Many people just leave them in the box and immediately upgrade to something, sometimes without even trying them, just for the sake of upgrading.
I had an occasion to use one temporarly on my BCT15X for VHF aircraft and the telescoping metal whip antenna did the job!
I had an occasion to use one temporarly on my BCT15X for VHF aircraft and the telescoping metal whip antenna did the job!
Yes the rubber duck still has the center pin. Also I have tried it outside in same location as my other scanners and in my vehicle also in same locations. I even connected it to my dual band ham mobile antenna. When I did that it came alive on receive as well. Anything but rubber ducks does well for the receive. I even tried a mono band high gain rubber duck. Not much if any difference. As Earlier I had said. No problem with other handheld digital scanners with rubber duck antennas. I even put those antennas on the bcd436hp. It didn’t help much either. But they work well on the other bcd396xt and the TRX-1. Handhelds. I think that uniden needs to do a firmware upgrade Or a cpu upgrade that will increase the receive capabilities Thank all you for the quick response. This is my only issue I have with this scanner. I have over $600.00 invested in this scanner. For this price You would think the receive would be so good it would be able to receive over seas.
tvengr
Well Known Member
Check to see if you accidentally turned on the attenuator.
Over seas? Are you in a different country? Or are you attempting to monitor something overseas?
freqseeker
Member
What is your squelch setting at? A good starting point is 2.
It's really kind of wild that you try numerous rubber duck antennas with no success, but another style seems to work.
I presume you are attempting to receive the same "thing" such as a known weather channel with each type of antenna, so tests are on an even keel. Even a bad antenna next door to a good transmitter will work.
You may have invested more money buying antennas than it would take to send it in to Uniden for evaluation, unless it is a new scanner covered by warranty. Some times scanners can get too close to transmitters, particularly ham operators, and fry a diode on the front end. I know this the hard way. Static electricity can also cause this when connecting an antenna.
I presume you are attempting to receive the same "thing" such as a known weather channel with each type of antenna, so tests are on an even keel. Even a bad antenna next door to a good transmitter will work.
You may have invested more money buying antennas than it would take to send it in to Uniden for evaluation, unless it is a new scanner covered by warranty. Some times scanners can get too close to transmitters, particularly ham operators, and fry a diode on the front end. I know this the hard way. Static electricity can also cause this when connecting an antenna.
You didn't mention what frequency range you were having this issue with or how old your scanner is but older BDC436HP models were reported to have UHF Reception Issues due to RF interference noise from the battery compartment leaking to the antenna on top of the scanner. There is a very long thread on this issue but the bottom line is that some people experiencing this problem were able to fix it by applying shielding tape to the inside of the battery cover. On a later revision Uniden added a capacitor on the circuit board to fix it. Here is an example of the recommended fix from that thread.
forums.radioreference.com
BCD436HP/BCD536HP: - UHF Reception Issues due to Noise from Battery Compartment
Exactly what we need. He seems to have a vast knowledge of the components. He may be able to identify the issue. I really think we are on to something here. You really think the highly paid Uniden engineers and circuit designers overlooked something in design. Really, Really?? No I don't...
I scan uhf. VHF. Analog. Digital. Dmr. 150 to 160 is a problem. Mostly. West Virginia. Digital sirn receive could be better Also with the rubber duck. . My scanner is only 2 weeks old. I did the battery cover mod. I don’t have any receive problem with the bcd396xt or the whistler TRX-1. Or my radio shack digital scanners. Side by side switching antennas from one scanner to another. Makes no difference hardly Any on the bcd436hp the antenna the bcd436hp Comes with is junk. Yes I do think the engineers need to do an update for the receive. It is all over the net on different sites people saying the same thing. Unless you live close to the repeater on flat land or on top of the mountain is only way the rubber duck does well. Like I said in many post. My icom r-20 receiver extendable antenna makes the bcd436hp work well. Connecting the bcd436hp to my mobile dual band ham antenna makes it do well. Connecting it to an outdoor antenna at my home makes it receive well. I think the receive is cut down from the engineers so as the scanner won’t get overloaded I am a ham operator and I know about what we call front end over load can do to a radio or scanner. No doubt. When it does receive with alternate antennas. It does decode very well. I will brag on that. I have tried all of what I told you also outside in the wide open. No obstruction what so ever. One repeater I use is about 15 miles away. The other is about 20 miles away. So I hope I have answered your questions. I do not mean to insult uniden or the engineers but nothing is perfect. If that be the case there would not be firmware update corrections like in the past. Thanks and I hope uniden will look at what many others are saying. It’s not just me.
I'm listening to SIRN right now from Virginia, picking up the Martinsburg, Moorefield, Mt. Weather, Ridge, Wardensville, and Kearneysville sites, with the 436, 536, SDS100, and SDS200.
The stock duck antenna is crap, there is absolutely nothing magical or special about it, other than the fact that it has "UNIDEN" embossed on the side. If the receiver was crap, it wouldn't pick up with any antenna. the fact that the radio works well with other antennas shows the antenna is the problem, not the radio. The best antenna choice depends on the frequencies you want to monitor, not the radio you're connecting it to.
The stock duck antenna is crap, there is absolutely nothing magical or special about it, other than the fact that it has "UNIDEN" embossed on the side. If the receiver was crap, it wouldn't pick up with any antenna. the fact that the radio works well with other antennas shows the antenna is the problem, not the radio. The best antenna choice depends on the frequencies you want to monitor, not the radio you're connecting it to.
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