How about a picture of both boards Side by side.Until it happens it is all hearsay know?
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BCD436HP/BCD536HP: UHF Reception Issues due to Noise from Battery Compartment
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BOBRR
Member
Serial No. (For Bearcat)
Hello,
Per your request, here is the S/N of my 436 which was purchased thru
Amazon a few months ago.
"What is your SN or at least the digit after the Z ?"
It's: 376Z68003818
Unit says it was made in Vietnam.
Any way of knowing if it likely has the Cap and Resistor ?
Just so hard without the test equipment to really evaluate any noise level.
If it likely does not have the cap and resistor, I will send it back
to Uniden, but really would hate to if it is fine.
I do not, at my age now, 80, feel competent to open the unit up to look at the board.
Also, don't see why I should have to: shouldn't Uniden do it ? Fairly pricey item.
Would love to have lower noise floors, but what I hear might be perfectly "normal"
Think it's worth returning ?
What's the warr. period, by the way ? Any costs involved ?
How long, typically, would it take them to ship back ?
Any other issues traceable via the S/N, such as the Clock issue ?
Thanks for help,
Bob
Hello,
Per your request, here is the S/N of my 436 which was purchased thru
Amazon a few months ago.
"What is your SN or at least the digit after the Z ?"
It's: 376Z68003818
Unit says it was made in Vietnam.
Any way of knowing if it likely has the Cap and Resistor ?
Just so hard without the test equipment to really evaluate any noise level.
If it likely does not have the cap and resistor, I will send it back
to Uniden, but really would hate to if it is fine.
I do not, at my age now, 80, feel competent to open the unit up to look at the board.
Also, don't see why I should have to: shouldn't Uniden do it ? Fairly pricey item.
Would love to have lower noise floors, but what I hear might be perfectly "normal"
Think it's worth returning ?
What's the warr. period, by the way ? Any costs involved ?
How long, typically, would it take them to ship back ?
Any other issues traceable via the S/N, such as the Clock issue ?
Thanks for help,
Bob
ChrisABQ
...
Only way to check is opening the unit.
There is no way of knowing if it has the capacitor without looking or testing. Most likely the resistor is there, but the resisitor alone does nothing to reduce the noise issue.
If it is missing the capacitor it is worth getting it installed
I have no idea if Uniden would fix it under warranty. I would think they certainly should. I have no idea what the turn around time would be. The clock and display issue is a wait and see thing. If you need to reset your clock or the display starts getting darker and darker then it needs to go back.
Per Uniden the S/N tells you nothing about the issues. My unit with the cap has a much higher S/N than yours, but who knows.
Without looking or testing, anything else is just a guess.
Do you have another scanner of any type?
If it is missing the capacitor it is worth getting it installed
I have no idea if Uniden would fix it under warranty. I would think they certainly should. I have no idea what the turn around time would be. The clock and display issue is a wait and see thing. If you need to reset your clock or the display starts getting darker and darker then it needs to go back.
Per Uniden the S/N tells you nothing about the issues. My unit with the cap has a much higher S/N than yours, but who knows.
Without looking or testing, anything else is just a guess.
Do you have another scanner of any type?
k3fs
Member
I find it hard to believe, they don't know the serial numbers of affected units. They knew what units were affected by the headphone jack issue. Is their record keeping and QC that bad, they don't test a unit on production, and can't narrow it down? It's beginning to look like that may be the case. It also looks like they are using the defective parts for the display again, and even new production may have to be sent in for that recall. Are they are still using defective parts.We won't know, and has been the case for this issue, we have to figure it out ourselves.
In order for Uniden to fix the issue, they would have to acknowledge it. It is a defect / omission in their manufacturing, and they should resolve the issue. They maintained silence long enough, and now a good amount of defective units are out of warranty. May explain why the RTC / dim display swap out received no extension of warranty. There was some talk about poor UHF performance starting before that campaign. The head phone jack units did receive an extension of warranty. With the problems this unit has had, requests for warranty extension have been met by the usual Uniden silence.
In order for Uniden to fix the issue, they would have to acknowledge it. It is a defect / omission in their manufacturing, and they should resolve the issue. They maintained silence long enough, and now a good amount of defective units are out of warranty. May explain why the RTC / dim display swap out received no extension of warranty. There was some talk about poor UHF performance starting before that campaign. The head phone jack units did receive an extension of warranty. With the problems this unit has had, requests for warranty extension have been met by the usual Uniden silence.
k3fs
Member
Can this thread get a sticky? This is an issue that affects a lot of radios, and is of interest for those who listen to UHF/VHF bands. In particular DMR, is used a lot in UHF. Those opting for DMR, will likely find this to be of help.
Bob132
Member
Bob, my BCD 436 serial # is similar to your's Z68002890 made in Vietnam and also purchased from amazon a few months ago. I dismantled mine today mostly because curiosity got the best of me, but also for the good of the cause. My board version was 1.09.02 the pads for the cap were present however the cap itself was not. But on the bright side the alleged resistor was installed. No clock or brightness problems as of yet. No noise when I did the separate scanner antenna poke around trick.I have also checked out stuff in the UHF band at variable distances from home comparing my 436 reception with my BCD 536 as well as my Home patrol 2 and a couple of other scanners I had lying around in a drawer, and found the 436 preformed just as well as the other Uniden scanners and maybe a tad better then at least one of the brand X scanners I resurrected from the drawer. I also tried the aluminum tape trick (6 layers) with no noticeable difference. So I guess I have convinced myself that I'm a happy camper.
Now if I could just figure out why my 436 receives better on batteries then on ac power I'd be an extremely happy camper.
Are you using the 436 on a rubber duck or external antenna?
You may be happy with the results which is great, but without the cap you do have the noise. I never had trouble hearing the strong local UHF repeaters, but the stuff that maybe on the fringe is where you will suffer.
You may want to do a search from 450 - 480 and do a comparison between radios that way. You may find that there are signals that you are not hearing at all. Using a rubber duck on the 436.
Thanks for verifying that there are fairly new ones out there that are missing the cap. Assuming the last four digits of the serial number are sequential then the one I have with the cap is about 3000 units newer.
Yes without the cap my DMR reception was poor. Using the shielded door showed a marked improvement. With the cap installed the improvement is drastic. Signals that I could not hear at all are now full quieting. VHF seems to improve just a bit while UHF is drastic.
Bob132
Member
I normally use the Radio shack 800 Mhz duck. but lately I have been using the more compact SMA-501 plastic radome antenna with good success. My HP-2 and BCD-536 are using external mobile mag mount antennas.Is it possible that they made other mods to the board that don't require the cap? like I said the 436 sounds as good as all the other scanners I compared with. Right now I'am listening to my HP-2 with the exterior mobile antenna and my 436 with the SMA-501 attached with only slight degradation on in county UHF frequencies. When I put the 800Mhz antenna back on all radios sound comparable again. When I am outside with either antenna on the 436 I can still hear surrounding counties well On the UHF bands. I don't have the DMR upgrade so all of the UHF I hear is analog. Could that have anything to do with it?
I am certainly not trying to be argumentative. If you are happy then so be it. The cap makes a difference on DMR and analog. You may want to listen to the repeater input freqs of your county repeaters on both radios and see if they both receive the same in that scenario. Remember this noise has very little effect on strong UHF signals. It is the weak ones that are not heard.
There is nothing else they did to fix the issue. Adding the cap was the fix. Like I said if you are happy then great.
I got my '436 back from Uniden in late January for the clock issue fix. I had the scanner for a long time before the clock issue surfaced. FWIW, my unit does have the new board and the capacitor C1 is in place, although it looks as if it were added after the board was manufactured.
Just to add another data point for you guys, I got my 436 from amazon last year,
SN# 5800****
board V# 1.09.02
C1 pad with no cap installed,
looked to be a resistor installed.
I do not notice noise, just tried several scanners on 460, noise doesnt change close or far from the scanner.
SN# 5800****
board V# 1.09.02
C1 pad with no cap installed,
looked to be a resistor installed.
I do not notice noise, just tried several scanners on 460, noise doesnt change close or far from the scanner.
Bob132
Member
No argument here, I just don't hear this noise you are talking about. Refresh my memory what kind of noise am I listening for.Could it be that all of my scanners could need a capacitor? Why doesn't the foil in the battery compartment make any difference? Not arguing, you undoubtedly know more about the problem then I do but I don't know what else to do to hear this noise the cap fixes.
Bob132
Member
That seems to be what I am experiencing. I wish Uniden would break their silence and give us the scoop from their perspective and settle this issue for once and for all. Is it is or is it aint broke?
Its white noise. Empty frequency electronic that dulls the scanner ability to hear weak signals.
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Bob132
Member
Hmm, I do hear some distant UHF freq's that are a little scratchy, but no white noise that I am aware of.
It is not noise you can hear. It is RF noise that reduces the sensitivity of the scanner. The second radio antenna should be placed right over the middle battery. Like touching the battery. Try this test while the second scanner is receiving a signal and see if you hear some noise on the received signal. That being said if you are missing the cap the noise is present. If it is not bothering your situation then do not worry about it.
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