BCD436HP/BCD536HP: when is new firware coming

[jukes]

i know it might be expensive but why cant uniden make a scanner the size of an iphone plus you have the screen which all smart phone users operate quite well and than it can have a screen like the hp-1/2 and be touch operated too yes expensive but we pay that now for smart phones too and alot easier to carry and use blue tooth ear buds with

 

[Hulca]

Who uses batteries with the 436?
Not me. Don't need too at all.

 

[MStep]

i know it might be expensive but why cant uniden make a scanner the size of an iphone plus you have the screen which all smart phone users operate quite well and than it can have a screen like the hp-1/2 and be touch operated too yes expensive but we pay that now for smart phones too and alot easier to carry and use blue tooth ear buds with

Practically anything can be done technologically, but the deciding factor is the cost. The price of production has to be reasonable so that the units can be sold at a retail price which is attractive to the consumer. But we are close to that stage in that the BCD536HP can be used with an iPhone as a remote device, mimicking most of the functions of the radio. Have you considered that at all ?

 

[UPMan]

Just a quick touch-point, here: A wireless phone, which sells in the 10's or 100's of thousands of units, operates on 3 or 4 UHF (really GHz) bands using standardized chipsets that are manufactured in the millions and still costs $650.

 

[mjs438]

I hear you UPMan. Keep working the on the firmware updates And ignore the noise.

 

[buddrousa]

A couple comments on the 436HP. Not allowing the scanner to charge while on is a pain. Even when charged, battery life isn't spectacular. Why not use two or three Lithium AA cells. 3.7 volts and better than double run time per charge.

Not sure what you are doing but I am running 2450 rechargeable batteries and get 10 to 12 hours running the volume level at a comfortable 6 or 7. I also have a 5000 Mil battery that will run the scanner over 24 hours on a single charge in the field.

 

[SOFA_KING]

Honestly, remote access of any kind, has never been high on my list of priorities.

The vehicle 'remote' functionality of the BC536HP is never going to work right no matter what Uniden does with IOS or Android because they failed to provide any ability to remotely turn the unit on or off.

Remind you of anything? Yes, the old RH96 remote head that failed to thrive, partly because of the same problem

Personally, aside from the obvious hardware fixes to the display and RTC, I would like to see:
* Improved display layout on the 436HP, with larger fonts, larger 'S' meter, scrolling display for longer aliases.
* P25 RID decode on conventional channels
* Control channel scan (as per the x96XT).
* Trunking analysis features like the HP-1/2 extreme

There are other little, niggling issues that I have with the 436HP, but we probably shouldn't overload Uniden with requests at this point in time

That is a good basic "starter list". The only additional thing I would want to see on this update is my suggestion to HAVE AN OPTION TO SKIP OVER P25 ENCRYPTION ON CONVENTIONAL LIKE IT DOES ON TRUNKING OR P25 ONE FREQUENCY MODE.

I use P25 One Frequency mode now to accomplish this, but it's much harder to program and much slower scanning. But normal scanning of my government frequencies can hang up on stuff I sometimes can't hear...and make hundreds of blank recordings that are tedious to review. It doesn't have to be that way, as we can see from either trunking or P25 OF mode. However, many times someone or even a whole group can or will come out in the clear, so I definitely want to hear that.

As for my other suggestions, I posted them over at the Home Patrol site some time ago. I would welcome those other features at some later date.

Although not the thread to address new suggestions, I would like to see Fire Toneout have an option to capture multiple tone pairs. I recently played with that feature and liked hearing my previous home area fire dispatch on low band skip, but noticed the feature only captured the first tone pair of several that went out. Yes, you can shorten the delay to 1 second and catch others on a recording, but then you don't hear who the tones were for, as the scanner mutes the voice traffic. Maybe I missed something in setup, but I couldn't find a way to get all the tones displayed and hear the following voice traffic.

One other comment...Why was this display and clock repair issue announced in a State forum and not here in the Uniden forum? Glad to hear the news that they have a plan to fix these issues.

Phil

 

[MStep]

....................................................... One other comment...Why was this display and clock repair issue announced in a State forum and not here in the Uniden forum? Glad to hear the news that they have a plan to fix these issues.

Phil

I made note of that also Phil and thought it a but odd, but perhaps that was going to be announced here at some point. I'll give UPMan the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to an "oversight", but it highlights the need for better communication between Uniden and the consumer--- it's an observation that MANY of us have made over the past year.

 

[Hulca]

Would an admin put the clock repair solution posted by Uniden in the stickies section under clock repair. Thank you!

 

[SOFA_KING]

I made note of that also Phil and thought it a but odd, but perhaps that was going to be announced here at some point. I'll give UPMan the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to an "oversight", but it highlights the need for better communication between Uniden and the consumer--- it's an observation that MANY of us have made over the past year.

Roger that. Good news, none the less.

P

 

[Voyager]

but it highlights the need for better communication between Uniden and the consumer--- it's an observation that MANY of us have made over the past year.

You must not remember the pre-UPMan times when there was virtually no communication out of Uniden.

 

[MStep]

You must not remember the pre-UPMan times when there was virtually no communication out of Uniden.

That indeed might be the case. However, once a company establishes a presence, it becomes difficult to justify selective involvement in a group. I appreciate Paul's participation, and I'm sure that not only the consumer, but also the company, has benefited from his presence here. He certainly has the right to pick and choose what questions he decides to answer, but by appearing to ignore certain issues, for whatever reason, he runs the risk of alienating some of the participants here. Just like the old analogy--- it's like a double-edged sword--- it cuts both ways.

 

[Voyager]

It may not be his choice. For example, he may not be allowed to comment on an ongoing investigation. What would happen if he were to give a wrong answer? You know the haters would be on him like quills on a porcupine.

 

[MStep]

It may not be his choice. For example, he may not be allowed to comment on an ongoing investigation. What would happen if he were to give a wrong answer? You know the haters would be on him like quills on a porcupine.

Of course, that's exactly why I said "for whatever reason"--- I understand that he cannot comment on some issues that may involve information which is proprietary in nature, or the subject of investigation; nevertheless it gives the appearance that he is picking and choosing, and thus might alienate some, even when his intentions are well-meaning.

In the meantime, getting back on topic of firmware, I'm sure we're all interested in what may (or may not be) on the horizon; when and if such firmware is introduced, it would be wise indeed not just to scrutinize what issues may have been resolved, but also to make sure that functions and features that have already been implemented have not been affected in any negative way.

That's always the "other side of the coin" in terms of firmware updates. My own preference would be to see updates introduced gradually, affecting one of two issues, rather than having an update that attempts to resolve too much at once.

 

[N1SQB]

Frustration and the lack of response!

We went from a couple of weeks to a few months now! HMM I smell a new scanner line coming out....But I will wait for the new formware just like everyone else.With my recent neck disk fusion I have nothing but time! LOL..

Manny

 

[Boatanchor]

Short sighted?

Some may be of the opinion that *****ing and moaning on these forums is counter productive and a waste of time.

But, without such public forums a division can feed all the BS and excuses under the sun back to the parent company as to why it may be under performing or loosing money. Forums such as this can be a valuable feedback mechanism for upper management to keep an eye on what the market is really saying about their products and make the necessary changes to it's operations, be it either at a top corporate level or at a more local/divisional level.

Uniden generally makes very well regarded scanner products, but we all know that the premature release of the x36HP line has been a massive failure and caused Uniden to take a(nother?) hit to it's reputation. Fixing the x36HP appears to be sucking up time, money and resources, that frankly, Uniden doesn't have right now.

In retrospect, the x36HP probably should never have hit the light of day. The scanner market, for the most part I believe, would have been happy with an incremental update to the x96 that incorporated a larger hardware based memory, Phase 2, a slightly improved display and true NFM filtering. Instead, Uniden tried to reinvent the wheel and succeeded in producing a [insert appropriate word here], hybrid thing that was supposed to appeal to everyone. Which of course it didn't, otherwise we wouldn't have had the subsequent releases of the HP2, the 996P2 and the 352P2!

My guess, is that Uniden North America are almost running on empty. They are probably running on a skeleton staff after cost cutting and restructuring that occurred within the last few years and they are really struggling right now.

That said, Uniden Tokyo needs to support the North American scanner division. It is the only electronics division that has market dominance and despite falling US sales revenue due to the current recession (am I permitted to use that word?), Uniden scanners developed primarily for the North American market, are also sold around the world. Recently, for better or for worse, a large Australian Fire fighting agency awarded Uniden the contract to supply 436HP scanners to potentially thousands of it's volunteers so they can monitor the local P25 trunking networks.

Hopefully, Uniden Tokyo realizes this and continues to support and maybe even expand the scanner Engineering and R&D levels in Texas and Tokyo. Because, at the end of the day, Uniden Corp pretty much has a monopoly of Global radio scanner sales and if you build it, it is reliable and support it well, people will buy it..

 

[Hulca]

We went from a couple of weeks to a few months now! HMM I smell a new scanner line coming out....But I will wait for the new formware just like everyone else.With my recent neck disk fusion I have nothing but time! LOL..

Manny

A few months now? What happened?
Must be the Uniden shuffle!

 

[N1SQB]

Some may be of the opinion that *****ing and moaning on these forums is counter productive and a waste of time.

But, without such public forums a division can feed all the BS and excuses under the sun back to the parent company as to why it may be under performing or loosing money. Forums such as this can be a valuable feedback mechanism for upper management to keep an eye on what the market is really saying about their products and make the necessary changes to it's operations, be it either at a top corporate level or at a more local/divisional level.

Uniden generally makes very well regarded scanner products, but we all know that the premature release of the x36HP line has been a massive failure and caused Uniden to take a(nother?) hit to it's reputation. Fixing the x36HP appears to be sucking up time, money and resources, that frankly, Uniden doesn't have right now.

In retrospect, the x36HP probably should never have hit the light of day. The scanner market, for the most part I believe, would have been happy with an incremental update to the x96 that incorporated a larger hardware based memory, Phase 2, a slightly improved display and true NFM filtering. Instead, Uniden tried to reinvent the wheel and succeeded in producing a [insert appropriate word here], hybrid thing that was supposed to appeal to everyone. Which of course it didn't, otherwise we wouldn't have had the subsequent releases of the HP2, the 996P2 and the 352P2!

My guess, is that Uniden North America are almost running on empty. They are probably running on a skeleton staff after cost cutting and restructuring that occurred within the last few years and they are really struggling right now.

That said, Uniden Tokyo needs to support the North American scanner division. It is the only electronics division that has market dominance and despite falling US sales revenue due to the current recession (am I permitted to use that word?), Uniden scanners developed primarily for the North American market, are also sold around the world. Recently, for better or for worse, a large Australian Fire fighting agency awarded Uniden the contract to supply 436HP scanners to potentially thousands of it's volunteers so they can monitor the local P25 trunking networks.

Hopefully, Uniden Tokyo realizes this and continues to support and maybe even expand the scanner Engineering and R&D levels in Texas and Tokyo. Because, at the end of the day, Uniden Corp pretty much has a monopoly of Global radio scanner sales and if you build it, it is reliable and support it well, people will buy it..

I agree with you. Furthermore I think there are communications issues between Tokyo and US Uniden markets. That would explain why things like complaints and bugs are taking so long or are not being attended to at al! Uniden America is NOT in a financial position to be disappointing more and more customers!

Manny

 

[mule1075]

A few months now? What happened?
Must be the Uniden shuffle!

Nothing happened I think some one got confused with the firmware update and the clock and display issues.As UPman stated in another thread about a few months lead time on parts for above said issue or issues.The few months comment had nothing to do with the firmware.

Sent from my Z750C using Tapatalk

 

[Hulca]

Thanks Mule.