Difference between revisions of "Ka3jjz"
From The RadioReference Wiki
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | + | 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. Its 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 their freeware programming software called [[Sentinel (Uniden software)|Sentinel]]. | |
| − | + | ||
| − | + | ||
| − | There's | + | ==Ports and Jacks== |
| + | There's a standardized USB Mini-B port on both for programming/control/updating, and a semi-proprietary square port from prior BCD scanners on the BCD436HP for GPS | ||
| + | |||
| + | On the rear of the BCD536HP, there's a standard Serial port. | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | ==Navigation== | ||
| + | User navigation within the menus 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. The old 2 layer system of the DMA architecture with System and Groups has been revamped to include a new entity above Systems making it a 3 layer system: 'Favorites', 'Systems' and 'Departments' (which were called 'Groups' in previous versions of DMA). There has also been some changes in the nomenclature; for example, LOCKOUT / L/O is now AVOID. | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | ==Pro Voice Upgrade== | ||
| + | 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 mode (which, ironically enough, will be deprecated in the near future). This gives these scanners a leg up on its direct competitors the GRE [[PSR-800]], Whistler [[WS1080]] & 1088 and Radio Shack [[Pro-668]] in areas where this mode is utilized. | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | ==SD Cards for Memory== | ||
| + | With the price of memory and SD cards decreasing by half every year, the switch to using SD cards makes sense, but also makes the scanner more prone to memory or data corruption. SD cards have what's called in the computer world a "FAT File Limit"; this is related to the amount of files (not size) to be saved, before a larger card is filled: i.e 5Gb of a 16Gb card with between 55k and 65k files written, before the BCDx36HP begin to show signs that the data may be corrupt and the scanner reboots itself. | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | ==Recording== | ||
| + | With the SD is you can replay up to 240 second clips and instantaneously replay all that has been captured, or you can record all transmission until you move them to a computer to play back. You can individually select which transmission you what to listen to as they are sorted by time and date stamps. There isn't any dead air time in the recorded files unless there was an open carrier. There is one caveat; you can NOT use the instantaneous "Replay" while "Record"ing. | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | ==Additional Filtering== | ||
| + | There's 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. 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 responsive to user ideas. | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | ==Issues== | ||
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. | 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 | + | 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. |
Revision as of 09:01, 22 September 2016
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. Its 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 their freeware programming software called Sentinel.
Contents
Ports and Jacks
There's a standardized USB Mini-B port on both for programming/control/updating, and a semi-proprietary square port from prior BCD scanners on the BCD436HP for GPS
On the rear of the BCD536HP, there's a standard Serial port.
User navigation within the menus 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. The old 2 layer system of the DMA architecture with System and Groups has been revamped to include a new entity above Systems making it a 3 layer system: 'Favorites', 'Systems' and 'Departments' (which were called 'Groups' in previous versions of DMA). There has also been some changes in the nomenclature; for example, LOCKOUT / L/O is now AVOID.
Pro Voice Upgrade
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 mode (which, ironically enough, will be deprecated in the near future). This gives these scanners a leg up on its direct competitors the GRE PSR-800, Whistler WS1080 & 1088 and Radio Shack Pro-668 in areas where this mode is utilized.
SD Cards for Memory
With the price of memory and SD cards decreasing by half every year, the switch to using SD cards makes sense, but also makes the scanner more prone to memory or data corruption. SD cards have what's called in the computer world a "FAT File Limit"; this is related to the amount of files (not size) to be saved, before a larger card is filled: i.e 5Gb of a 16Gb card with between 55k and 65k files written, before the BCDx36HP begin to show signs that the data may be corrupt and the scanner reboots itself.
Recording
With the SD is you can replay up to 240 second clips and instantaneously replay all that has been captured, or you can record all transmission until you move them to a computer to play back. You can individually select which transmission you what to listen to as they are sorted by time and date stamps. There isn't any dead air time in the recorded files unless there was an open carrier. There is one caveat; you can NOT use the instantaneous "Replay" while "Record"ing.
Additional Filtering
There's 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. 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 responsive to user ideas.
Issues
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.