RadioReference Wiki:Ka3jjz

The BCDx36HP Series is inclusive of the handheld BCD436HP and the desktop/mobile BCD536HP.  The series is a fusion of the Uniden Dynamic Memory Architecture of previous series' melding with the HP series.  It's most prevalent feature from the fusion is the series now contains the Radio Reference Data Base (RRDB) on a SD card.  The SD card also contains the programming software Sentinel (Uniden software), which is best software written by Uniden ever (with their scanner line up), it's free to download by any and all interested user(s), making it no longer necessary to purchase a Premium RadioReference.com subscription or expensive BUTEL software.  Along with a standardized USB Mini-B port on both for programming/control/updating, with the semi-proprietary square port from prior BCD scanners on the BCD436HP for GPS, and a standard Serial port on the rear of the BCD536HP.  User navigation within the Menu's now allow for visual list for Services, Favorites, and Systems in a Menu with easy toggle ON/OFF, making Quick Keys a thing of the past for some users.  Uniden has made a new and exclusive to the scanner world system type available post release with a $50 upgrade and registration to bring Pro-Voice to the nearly 6% of the county, that's still uses this soon-to-be deprecated mode. This brings the Uniden up-to-date with its direct competitors the GRE PSR-800 and its sibling Whistler WS1080 & 1088 and Radio Shack Pro-668. 

The old 2 file layer system of the DMA architecture with System and Groups has been revamped to include a new file system above Systems making it a 3 layer file system: 'FaVorites', 'Systems' and 'Departments'. As you can see, 'Groups' have gone bye bye, in-favor, of the HP series nomenclature on 'Groups' to be called 'DEPARTSMENT's; by the way not the only nomenclature to be changed, the centuries old LOCKOUT / L/O is now AVOID, thanks, via the HP series. Also as previously noted, the use of USER-changeable SD cards, with the price of memory, seemingly, decreasing by half every year, the switch to SD makes sense, but also makes the scanner more prone; to memory or data corruption, but Uniden no longer has to shell out the big bucks for Non-Volatile memory . Of particular note users are currently have what's called in the computer world as "FAT File Limit"; they're issues related to the amount of files (not size) to be saved, before a larger card is filled: i.e 5Gb of a 16Gb card w/ between 55k and 65k files written, before the BCDx36HP begin to show signs that the data may be corrupt and the scanner reboots itself. Better news, is the fact with the SD is you can Replay your listen sessions up-to 240 seconds clips and instantaneously Replay all that's captured, or you can Record all transmission until you move them to a Computer to play back, or in the scanner itself you can individually select which transmission you what to listen too, they are sorted by time and date stamping. There isn't any dead air time in the Recorded files unless there was an open carrier but with one caveat you can NOT use the instantaneous "Replay" while "Record"ing. There's, also, an additional IF filter, in the series, which helps, narrow down, narrowbanded frequencies, as well as, 12.5khz & 25khz frequencies, ultimately helping the radio scanner pick-up signals cleaner than ever before, without traps and filters (may still be need for some users). Originally a user idea, through many discussions here on RR, with the previous DMA scanners, showing promise when users hacked there way into having 2 IF filters inline before the Voice decoder, showing somebody at Uniden is listening to the User's. There's been growing pains along the way, between an Audio Jack problem on the initial release of xxxx2600 on the BCD536HP, a year long much anticapated Wi-Fi dongle firmware update so consumer could even use it and a RTC Battery & Dimming Display LED's. The Audio Jack problem to go along the with the RTC & Dimming Display LED has made Uniden start 2 Repair Campaigns, to all but recall the series. The 3 hardware issues are probably the least important hardware feature of any scanner, but none the less, they've have caused many Owner's and possible owner's, grand trepidation of the series long-term longevity. While fears ran rampant for sometime before the Repair Campaigns announcement, they have eased many consumer's fear with the release of new NEW fixed units, allowing many consumer's to search for the holy grail of the newest years crop, the 58001xxx (2015) series and (6800xxxx which should be the 2016 series). The RTC & LED affected both in the series, but yet didn't affect all users and only began to crop-up on the people, whom purchased the scanner 9 to 12 months prior. Heavy confusion was initially swarming with the RTC issue because, numerous, first time owners, came to the RadioReference.com complaining of the time not keeping, but was in-fact, their fault, for simply not charging the scanner the first 50hrs, as recommended, per the manual. For the BCD536, they have a Wi-Fi dongle, that has ad-hoc and infrastructure mode, (along with WPA and WPA2 networked security) that brings the possiblity of networked scanner to the forefront, at this point it's only been flushed out through a few 3rd party Apps but intranet connects can still be made for their iOS Siren App. Uniden also, seemingly had a 12 month standoff with the Wi-Fi vendor, making the Wi-Fi dongle unusable for almost 12 months after the initial release. The follow-up releases of Wi-Fi Dongle's firmwares seamed to tamp down acrimony on the issue, but without adequate Android based Siren App availability the hostility between consumers and a big corporation have yet to fade away. The iOS version of the Siren App is out, making the 'HP' part shine on iPhones and iPads, while still a little clunky with occasional disconnects it shows promise, showing Uniden likes to trudge rather than run with development, but that has always been Uniden's way, older purchasers of Uniden products can attest to this, but often the company pushes itself to continually update and upgrade its way to a very workable product.