BCD436HP/BCD536HP: Uniden BCD436HP/BCD536HP Version 1.28.15 Released 06/12/24

[dave3825]

In fact all of them mention a Bandscope mode. Only my SDS100 and SDS200 A have a Bandscope. But, I have not activated that feature yet.

Did Uniden release a band scope for the SDS and X36? Only one I know of was written by someone on Facebook. Do you mean activate the waterfall feature that Uniden released as a paid feature?

Only radios that came with a band scope from uniden are the 160 260 and these https://info.uniden.com/twiki/bin/view/UnidenMan4/BandScopeMode

 

[Trucker700]

Did Uniden release a band scope for the SDS and X36? Only one I know of was written by someone on Facebook. Do you mean activate the waterfall feature that Uniden released as a paid feature?

Only radios that came with a band scope from uniden are the 160 260 and these h

The SDS radios have a Bandscope/Waterfall feature ( $20 paid upgrade) that some refer to as Bandscope. It is not just a spectrum line displaying signals across a given bandwidth. It also includes a waterfall that shows signal strength over time.
Most modern SDR radios ( especially Amateur radio transceivers) now include this feature. ( some are better executed than others)
James

 

[dave3825]

I’m familiar with both the waterfall and the band scope on the 200 as I purchased the waterfall from uniden and downloaded the band scope from Facebook. I’m going with it’s a typo and band scope does not belong in the x36 firmware notes.

 

[Dewey]

Not posted on this forum but worth noting The BCD436HP new firmware is 1.28.15 The BCD536HP is 1.28.17

Yea, that's because the 536 got a '16 firmware update that apparently was not needed on the 436. I noticed the same thing because I keep backups of all the firmware releases, so I went to Uniden's firmware Wiki and confirmed it for myself since I thought I was missing one.

 

[gary123]

Not to complain very much but Uniden should try and keep the FW releases numbered in parallel. IE this release should have been 1.28.17 for all models. IMO. This makes managing the hardware easier.

 

[Dewey]

Not to complain very much but Uniden should try and keep the FW releases numbered in parallel. IE this release should have been 1.28.17 for all models. IMO. This makes managing the hardware easier.

Very much agree.

 

[dave3825]

So has anyone besides @Trucker700 applied the update? If so, what are your findings?

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

So has anyone besides @Trucker700 applied the update? If so, what are your findings?

I applied it to my 436 & 536HPs. Haven't noticed any changes from how they behaved before

 

[Dewey]

So has anyone besides @Trucker700 applied the update? If so, what are your findings?

Yes, no observed difference.

 

[Trucker700]

I’m familiar with both the waterfall and the band scope on the 200 as I purchased the waterfall from uniden and downloaded the band scope from Facebook. I’m going with it’s a typo and band scope does not belong in the x36 firmware notes.

The BCD160DN and BCD260DN have a bandscope. I have been messing with it some today. It actually works fairly well. And you can scroll to a frequency you see on the spectrum display and you can hear the audio.
But, like you, I believe someone got in a hurry and made a all-in one release note and just copied it to notes for each radio without making sure everything in the notes applied to each radio.
James

 

[dave3825]

So now three days later, has anyone that did the update noticed anything better or worse? Not seeing much here or on fakebook about any improvements.

 

[Bmacs]

So now three days later, has anyone that did the update noticed anything better or worse? Not seeing much here or on fakebook about any improvements.

The OFT performance is like night and day. These radios were useless before for DMR OFT and P25 OFT... Now they catch every transmission without a hitch. I am worried about scan speed slowing down in the digital modes, but I haven't measured it. Analog (milair) speeds seem the same.

Bill

 

[oldgoat25]

Thanks for the information, good find, I don't remember an official notification in the Forum.

None of this was ever an issue for me but I will say that the x36 worked great on a local nx48 460 MHz police system before it went encrypted.

Don't use my x36s since we are phase ll tdma and I am well covered for conventional stuff but thank you very much for bringing this to light. Good heads up.

I just installed the updates today. So far my 2 436's and the Home Patrol haven't started smoking. Wow 10 years. Wondering id I'll be around for the next one? (LOL)

 

[IdleMonitor]

I noticed a big difference in the DMR OFT way of scanning and it's alot better than what it was before.

I spent the weekend at a race track that had a major racing event and was able to auto save a bunch of active frequencies while doing a conventional discovery session.

Once home I used ProScan to reorganize all my findings, analog, dmr, tones, cc's, duplicates, just a bit of editing etc..

So in my favorite list for all things racing. My 3 sets of OFT systems were setup with quick keys 1, 2 and 3, conventional analog is 0 with about 140 or so frequencies scanning but not necessarily used this weekend plus what was found this weekend.

QK1 had 14 systems, the main stuff for this weekend found through earlier conventional discovery sessions. QK2 had 25 systems not overly active from previous findings, but found stuff. QK3 had 31 systems, the same as QK2.

QK0 is all my analog channels/departments all organized.

Each system is set for a hold of 2 seconds. I had no issues scanning this weekend with alot of dmr OFT activity. It was able to properly track these types of systems as it should and was able to get the talkgroups as well. Much better for me anyways now in this type of environment.

I'm using a BCD436HP. Conventional discovery is great in this particular type of scanning environment also.

 

[portroyalbirdy]

So has anyone besides @Trucker700 applied the update? If so, what are your findings?

I have updated my 436, and I've also noticed what seems to be a better/faster scan rate, as others have said, but it was not mentioned in the release notes.

I'm scanning my home county, UHF Analog and P25 Conventional mixed, and the P25 seems to handle a lot better! It's not dropping transmissions/conversations half way through, and struggling to get them back, it stays right on/with them!

 

[richardbritt]

I
I updated mine with no issues. Works great.


Does anyone know of a location of shared files to the Sentinel software? Not the programming software but the saved files we can share with other users for traveling? I am looking for files for Virginia to North Carolina mainly.

Thanks

Richard in Northeastern NC

 

[WSDT606]

I had a 536hp new in box never used and ,uh , yea yesterday set it up . Ugh , and yes I paid for dmr and nxdn keys 😄. So judging from an sds100 and a trx-2 . Does pretty solid for a 10 year old unit.

 

[Chris0516]

I had a 536hp new in box never used and ,uh , yea yesterday set it up . Ugh , and yes I paid for dmr and nxdn keys 😄. So judging from an sds100 and a trx-2 . Does pretty solid for a 10 year old unit.

Glad you kept it safe, during those ten years.

 

[WSDT606]

Glad you kept it safe, during those ten years.

Update , I don't like the volume/power control. It's weird to me to have a certain point set to hit the volume . I'm assuming it's alot of fun once worn in . Anyone with issues after 10 years(whatever time frame) ? And not to side track this post , but since not having an sds200 , how is that volume/power control mechanism compared to this setup on the 536hp ?

 

[Chris0516]

Update , I don't like the volume/power control. It's weird to me to have a certain point set to hit the volume . I'm assuming it's alot of fun once worn in . Anyone with issues after 10 years(whatever time frame) ? And not to side track this post , but since not having an sds200 , how is that volume/power control mechanism compared to this setup on the 536hp ?

Ah, okay