The bottom line is that by the time the issues are corrected the next generation of scanners will be out. This was a tactic to beat Whistler to the marketplace. They released the 50% solution. Now they will feel the repercussions in their market share. Although, I can't see Unidens market share being too affected by the scanner segment. I am not hopeful that these issues will be rectified. I replaced my PSR 800 with the 436...what was I thinking?
Uniden released new hp2? What about fixing the models you already released!
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stingray327
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The 536 is the flagship of Uniden Scanners? Or is it the 436 now?
Neither...it's the 396 series...
536 for mobile. 436 for portable. HP-2 for portable tabletop.
jonwienke
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If you actually RTFM, page 10, you'd see the cause and the cure for this "issue". If you ground any part of the audio output, you're shorting out part of the audio and can damage the scanner. You have to use an external audio device with an input that isn't grounded, or else connect an audio isolation transformer between the scanner and computer/mixer/speaker.
And this is normal? This is something that every other electronic device with audio output? I don't think so...another oops?
Actually, it is an accepted electrical theory in manufacturing. There are two schools of thought, Uniden chose this one.
Realistically, I don't think they chose it. It turned out that way, maybe. These are mainstream scanners like Whistler. Not AORs or other high-end receivers.
Uniquely though Uniden is the only one that advertises features that a year later still don't work. And the one that picks this "accepted" more complicated electrical theory.
Uniquely though Uniden is the only one that advertises features that a year later still don't work. And the one that picks this "accepted" more complicated electrical theory.
Believe what you want. It is also the preferred method of engineering in many android devices. I'm the last person to defend Uniden, but this is NOT a flaw.
So from an average consumer's point of view the fact that a piece of equipment needs an additional piece of equipment to work as expected is not a very acceptable expectation from a manufacturer. My Android Nexus 7 works just fine. So did my PSR 800 and my PRO 106. I got rid of those expecting greatness and I feel duped.
I'm sorry, I understand that you are unhappy with the performance (my 536 is on an external speaker with no problems) but I cannot include something that is neither missing from the product nor a design flaw in the complaint letter.
Maybe the question should be why an amplified speaker doesn't have an isolation transformer. In reality, they both *should* have one, but perhaps rely on the other to have it. Everything isn't always Uniden's fault despite what some on RR think.
Ok...so it's not Uniden's fault that they could not include an isolation transformer in a $400 scanner but Whistler can do it across their entire line from $100-$500 scanners. What does that say about Uniden? That implementation would have added $1.00 to the design?
Boatanchor
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Start a petition..
Here ya go..
If the judicial or regulatory system won't/can't help, start a social media petition:
https://www.change.org/start-a-petition
Companies hate that sort of thing because at some point, if it becomes big enough, even the mainstream media gets involved.
It is bad enough that this issue is getting so much attention here, but having this issue covered in the press is the last thing Uniden wants right now.
You may be surprised how many existing and potential shareholders follow social media too.
Here ya go..
If the judicial or regulatory system won't/can't help, start a social media petition:
https://www.change.org/start-a-petition
Companies hate that sort of thing because at some point, if it becomes big enough, even the mainstream media gets involved.
It is bad enough that this issue is getting so much attention here, but having this issue covered in the press is the last thing Uniden wants right now.
You may be surprised how many existing and potential shareholders follow social media too.
And neither could the speaker manufacturer.
jonwienke
More Info Coming Soon!
Then you're pretty ignorant. Uniden chose to make their audio outputs "push-pull", which means that both conductors are actively amplified instead of just one, which doubles the audio output voltage. You can get higher volume from such a design, but cannot ground any of the output connections. This arrangement is almost universal in high-powered audio amps.
It's not Uniden's fault you're not willing to bother to read the manual.
And BTW, there are amplified speakers and audio devices that do not have grounded inputs, and will happily accept a signal from a push-pull (balanced) audio output. Uniden happens to make one, but there are many others. Anything with an XLR connector will accept a balanced input.
I read the manual and I am not debating the fact that I didn't know. I am debating their choice to implement a technology set that in my opinion should not be in this class of equipment. So before you call someone ignorant, read and understand all the posts and have the decency to respect opinions. That way you don't appear to be an a..hole.
jonwienke
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I did. And you're entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.
It's one thing to question a design choice, but to characterize a design that has several concrete advantages (louder output volume, better common-mode interference rejection) over other designs as a defect or an "oops" is (for lack of a better term) ignorant. You also accused Uniden of being so stupid that the push-pull audio output was the accidental result of a design flaw, rather than an intentional design choice, which is absurd.
Try randomly soldering electronic components together, and see how many iterations it takes to get any kind of an amplifier, rather than a single-use smoke generator.
You are right, but in both posts I qualified my comments with "think". This is purely an opinion. Ignorance is the lack of knowledge or information. I know what they did, I am am not convinced that it was an intended feature rather a crossover from some of their other product offerings that assume a more advanced consumer base. Again, this is an opinion formed on information and perceptions from this incomplete generation of scanners. You are obviously a Uniden fan and that's fine. I don't have enough experience with Uniden other than this current release. I have owned several GRE products and AOR products over the last 20 years. I have also qualified all of my comments based on this latest release. I have handled a 396, and thought it was great. Just didn't own it long term to make an assessment. Yes the output volume is better than the PSR 800...but that's it...someone else mentioned that these have better multi-site capability. I haven't found that yet. It seems like it just scans through sites and stop at the first one. I am not going to assume that not my fault since I don't really care for the software it comes with and could be a setting. Again none of my commentary is fact, it's my opinions based on experience. I would never condemn anyone for being ignorant based on their opinions. I have over 20 years experience in hardware and software communications security and exploitation. Which again the lack of a discriminator on this unit really doesn't make sense at the price point. Even if only an IF discriminator.
Since there are some obvious Uniden gurus here, has anyone decompiled the firmware file for a 436? I haven't begun to look at, but am interested if it can be manipulated to add capability?
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