Hello and Welcome Back... A Complicated but Worthy Radio?
The Uniden UBCD436PT (pic below) is a middle of the range Scanner Receiver from Uniden Australia and sits between the budget UBCD325P2 and the latest offering (and most expensive) the USDS100, which is a cross hybrid of 436PT & a SDR (Software Defined Radio) radio.
WHAT TO BUY
I had a choice to buy a new radio just recently.
I still have my trusty UBCD369XT, (pic below) which is a beast of a radio & i will keep for now but i decided to buy something that would give me access to DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) and Phase 2 GRN, something the 396XT wont do..
For those who don't know what DMR is,
DMR stands for Digital Mobile Radio, and just about everybody seems to catching the DMR Bus, from various bus company's (see what i did there), shopping centers, Surf Life Savers, Taxi Company's, Transport, etc, etc... and its available on certain scanner radios as a paid upgrade from Uniden.
So i sold my entire Minidisc collection (Minidisc is like a CD & Cassette Tape in one) and set about doing my homework on which radio to buy.
The two choices were the UBCD325P2 and the UBCD436PT.
The Uniden 325PT (pic below) is a basically a remake of the UBCD73XLT but redesigned.
The main problem i encountered with the 325PT was the battery life.
From the forums i read and the various comments, they all said the same thing, the battery life sucked, like it lasted 3 hours on a set of AA battery's kind of suck...
*** HINT***
BTW, if you do own a 325PT, get yourself a set of Panasonic Enloop Pro batterys (2450mah), From what i read, they last about 8 hours in the 325PT and are made in Japan (also a scanner firmware upgrade that's available seems to help)
The other option was the UBCD436PT (pic below)
The first thing that gets you is the large screen and better battery usage but it was a bit steep in price.
In two days, the price changed from $550 / $600 to $700 / $750 in one week (new on ebay) due to demand i suppose.
Thankfully, a quick ebay bid for a second hand one got me in the market. Turns out the bloke who owned the one i bought had tried to get it to work and gave up after a few days...
There was a reason for that...
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
First of all, i will say, for a radio scanner, it bloody complicated... Veeery Compilated.
It took me at least a week to get my head around the various buttons and what they meant...
Avoid = Lockout (why not just write lockout??)... Its like they got together a bunch of engineers and said "lets make a scanner that is so bloody complicated that no one will ever be able to manually program it".
In America, they just download the Radio Reference database and put in where you live, the scanner does the rest.. sounds great but this doesn't work in Australia.
Read on..
First thing i noticed when i finally got my new radio (thanks for the 'no tracking' on my postage :( ) is the lack of a 'Scan' button.. This has to be the first scanner i have ever owned without an actual 'Scan' button..
Second thing i noticed was how big the screen is..excellent, right?.. actually, No.
What a waste of screen space.. There are 3 layers of screen space to tell you, you are using this bank, its accessing also in this bank and its also in this bank too..
The three main things i look for in a scanner is signal strength meter which is kinda there but its almost minut, the the bank numbers which are also tiny. Admittedly, i wear reading glasses and really struggled to see what bank im using and what the signal is like..
Third thing is programming... turns out, you can only program this radio using Uniden Sentinal Software.
Freescan wont touch it and Pro-Scan supports its American Brother but not the Australian Version. I tried to see if would run on Pro-Scan but i had no luck..
This radio also uses a MicroSD card for memory & storage, which is fun...
**Tip** I found that if i put the MircoSD card into a full size SD adapter, plug that into my computer using the inbuilt card reader and access the Sentinal software, the computer thinks the SD card is actually a radio scanner...
Handy if you plug the scanner into your computer, select 'PC Control" on the scanner and the computer fails to read the scanner...
It only needs to access the card and put the info onto the card, then just put the card into your scanner and boom, it works...
I was using several MicroSD cards and trying different settings to see what worked and what didn't, each time using the SD adapter instead of plugging in the scanner over & over..
Apart from that, its a meaty radio... quiet a large piece of plastic with a big screen. I like large radios, it feels like its worth more..
I own a Alinco DJ-X3 that i spend several hundred dollars on and its like, credit card size.. sure its a good radio but it reminds me of a toy, its tiny..
But not the Uniden UBCD436PT.
The button layout on the 436PT is ok.
Its a shame you cant relabel the buttons to your liking..
Once again, no 'Scan' Button and no 'Lockout' button, there's not even a 'Hold' button, that the CHAN/MOD button (confused yet??)
Programming this beast is done via Australian Uniden Sentinal Software (its a free download) and is typical for a excel type software layout.
When you first open the software, forget about the U.S / Canadian database list. It has no use in the Australian layout...Sadly, you cant delete this bit either.
Main list of Sentinal is "Favorites" part, its exactly the same function as "Systems" in Freescan.
The setout is the same, Main folder with small sub folders.. (see pic below)
There are 2 types of editing...
1. Edit Profile (Background settings)
2. Edit Favorites List (all Frequency's, TGIDs & everything else)
*** TIP*** One thing i found while writing my data-bank was that when i finished and uploaded into the radio, half the banks would scan and the other banks were not...I kid you not, for a week, i was swearing and cursing as to why some banks were active and some seemed to just disappear, even know all the frequency's were in the file...
The first thing to check was that (see pick above) that all banks are set to Monitor 'ON' and Download 'ON'.. this is done through the 'Edit Profile' tabs, but that was not what the problem was.
Turns out when your programming your frequency's, you have to set a 'Service Type' (see below)
As you can see, i used 'Fire-Talk' as my service type for this part. It doesn't really matter which one you use BUT it does matter that you have all service types ticked in the 'Edit Profile' section... (see pic below) Meaning, THESE TWO PARTS OF THE SOFTWARE ARE LINKED...if you don't have the service types ticked (as i did) then that bank wont scan..
I had all the services unticked as i usually don't use service searches... MAKE SURE THEY ARE ALL TICKED :)
This radio also has the function to use DMR, once again this is done via the Sentinal software.
The DMR part is done through Uniden and costs around $85 (uses paypal..yay) and in return for your money, they send you a very long key code.. took me 3 goes to get the code into the radio but it now works..
To program DMR into your DMR activated radio, you create a new 'Favorites' bank and when asked what type of system choose 'Conventional'.. Once you have all your frequency s set out, choose Audio Option to 'Search', even if you already know the Digital code, i find letting the radio do all the work seems to work... I have been listening to Busways on the DMR Orion Network, frequency 507.4125mhz
But i still had one more problem with my new radio...
On GRN (P25 Government Radio Network), the receive function was horrid, while my Uniden UBCD396XT was receiving flawlessly.
I had full signal strength on the 436PT but no audio... check out the video below..
As you can see, i used the same basic antenna on both units. It wasn't a setting problem because when i connected to my outdoor antenna, the 436pt worked as it should.. see video below
*** TIP*** after alot of messing around and me almost about to resell the unit thinking it was crap, i played around with the 'Digital Threshold' Mode & 'Digital Threshold' level, it is adjustable in the Edits Favorites List Setup part of the P25 Trunking section when setting up GRN Trunking.
SOLUTION
I set the Digital Threshold level to 6 instead of 8 and set the Digital Threshold mode to 'Manual' and this was the result... see video below
As you can see, My UBCD436PT is now running as it should and i'm very happy with it.
I am still setting up my Sentinal Frequency base as you cant cut and copy from Freescan to Sentinal so its all got to be done by hand..Sigh
FINAL THOUGHT
I would highly recommend this 'Future Proof' radio with the DMR upgrade... I have managed to set my radio up the same as my UBCD396XT using banks 1 - 0 to turn things on and off..
MY SETUP
BANK
0 - Rural Fire (Aviation, NPWS, PMR, Fireground)
1 - Surfcom DMR
2 - GRN
3 - Medical / Rescue (Various Air, Land, SES, Fire & Rescue P25)
4 - Local Comms (Bus Company's, Rail, Hotels, Westfields)
5 - Sydney Airport (inc Companys)
6 - Local Air (Bankstown, Camden)
7 - Military (Richmond, Williamtown)
8 - Marine Radio (Inc Marine Rescue)
9 - FM Radio (good for checking antenna range from various stations)
10 - CB Radio (80ch UHF, CB & Amateur Radio)
I Hope to have available to sell, this file on a Micro SD card so all you have to do is put in your radio and everything works... No Hair pulling and No grey hair (like me)
WATCH THIS SPACE...
#Uniden
#ubcd436pt
#ubcd396xt
#436pt
#scanner
#scannerradio
#bcd436pt
#ubcd325pt
The Uniden UBCD436PT (pic below) is a middle of the range Scanner Receiver from Uniden Australia and sits between the budget UBCD325P2 and the latest offering (and most expensive) the USDS100, which is a cross hybrid of 436PT & a SDR (Software Defined Radio) radio.
WHAT TO BUY
I had a choice to buy a new radio just recently.
I still have my trusty UBCD369XT, (pic below) which is a beast of a radio & i will keep for now but i decided to buy something that would give me access to DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) and Phase 2 GRN, something the 396XT wont do..
For those who don't know what DMR is,
DMR stands for Digital Mobile Radio, and just about everybody seems to catching the DMR Bus, from various bus company's (see what i did there), shopping centers, Surf Life Savers, Taxi Company's, Transport, etc, etc... and its available on certain scanner radios as a paid upgrade from Uniden.
So i sold my entire Minidisc collection (Minidisc is like a CD & Cassette Tape in one) and set about doing my homework on which radio to buy.
The two choices were the UBCD325P2 and the UBCD436PT.
The Uniden 325PT (pic below) is a basically a remake of the UBCD73XLT but redesigned.
The main problem i encountered with the 325PT was the battery life.
From the forums i read and the various comments, they all said the same thing, the battery life sucked, like it lasted 3 hours on a set of AA battery's kind of suck...
BTW, if you do own a 325PT, get yourself a set of Panasonic Enloop Pro batterys (2450mah), From what i read, they last about 8 hours in the 325PT and are made in Japan (also a scanner firmware upgrade that's available seems to help)
The other option was the UBCD436PT (pic below)
The first thing that gets you is the large screen and better battery usage but it was a bit steep in price.
In two days, the price changed from $550 / $600 to $700 / $750 in one week (new on ebay) due to demand i suppose.
Thankfully, a quick ebay bid for a second hand one got me in the market. Turns out the bloke who owned the one i bought had tried to get it to work and gave up after a few days...
There was a reason for that...
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
First of all, i will say, for a radio scanner, it bloody complicated... Veeery Compilated.
It took me at least a week to get my head around the various buttons and what they meant...
Avoid = Lockout (why not just write lockout??)... Its like they got together a bunch of engineers and said "lets make a scanner that is so bloody complicated that no one will ever be able to manually program it".
In America, they just download the Radio Reference database and put in where you live, the scanner does the rest.. sounds great but this doesn't work in Australia.
Read on..
First thing i noticed when i finally got my new radio (thanks for the 'no tracking' on my postage :( ) is the lack of a 'Scan' button.. This has to be the first scanner i have ever owned without an actual 'Scan' button..
Second thing i noticed was how big the screen is..excellent, right?.. actually, No.
What a waste of screen space.. There are 3 layers of screen space to tell you, you are using this bank, its accessing also in this bank and its also in this bank too..
The three main things i look for in a scanner is signal strength meter which is kinda there but its almost minut, the the bank numbers which are also tiny. Admittedly, i wear reading glasses and really struggled to see what bank im using and what the signal is like..
Third thing is programming... turns out, you can only program this radio using Uniden Sentinal Software.
Freescan wont touch it and Pro-Scan supports its American Brother but not the Australian Version. I tried to see if would run on Pro-Scan but i had no luck..
This radio also uses a MicroSD card for memory & storage, which is fun...
**Tip** I found that if i put the MircoSD card into a full size SD adapter, plug that into my computer using the inbuilt card reader and access the Sentinal software, the computer thinks the SD card is actually a radio scanner...
Handy if you plug the scanner into your computer, select 'PC Control" on the scanner and the computer fails to read the scanner...
It only needs to access the card and put the info onto the card, then just put the card into your scanner and boom, it works...
I was using several MicroSD cards and trying different settings to see what worked and what didn't, each time using the SD adapter instead of plugging in the scanner over & over..
Apart from that, its a meaty radio... quiet a large piece of plastic with a big screen. I like large radios, it feels like its worth more..
I own a Alinco DJ-X3 that i spend several hundred dollars on and its like, credit card size.. sure its a good radio but it reminds me of a toy, its tiny..
But not the Uniden UBCD436PT.
The button layout on the 436PT is ok.
Its a shame you cant relabel the buttons to your liking..
Once again, no 'Scan' Button and no 'Lockout' button, there's not even a 'Hold' button, that the CHAN/MOD button (confused yet??)
Programming this beast is done via Australian Uniden Sentinal Software (its a free download) and is typical for a excel type software layout.
When you first open the software, forget about the U.S / Canadian database list. It has no use in the Australian layout...Sadly, you cant delete this bit either.
Main list of Sentinal is "Favorites" part, its exactly the same function as "Systems" in Freescan.
The setout is the same, Main folder with small sub folders.. (see pic below)
There are 2 types of editing...
1. Edit Profile (Background settings)
2. Edit Favorites List (all Frequency's, TGIDs & everything else)
*** TIP*** One thing i found while writing my data-bank was that when i finished and uploaded into the radio, half the banks would scan and the other banks were not...I kid you not, for a week, i was swearing and cursing as to why some banks were active and some seemed to just disappear, even know all the frequency's were in the file...
The first thing to check was that (see pick above) that all banks are set to Monitor 'ON' and Download 'ON'.. this is done through the 'Edit Profile' tabs, but that was not what the problem was.
Turns out when your programming your frequency's, you have to set a 'Service Type' (see below)
As you can see, i used 'Fire-Talk' as my service type for this part. It doesn't really matter which one you use BUT it does matter that you have all service types ticked in the 'Edit Profile' section... (see pic below) Meaning, THESE TWO PARTS OF THE SOFTWARE ARE LINKED...if you don't have the service types ticked (as i did) then that bank wont scan..
I had all the services unticked as i usually don't use service searches... MAKE SURE THEY ARE ALL TICKED :)
This radio also has the function to use DMR, once again this is done via the Sentinal software.
The DMR part is done through Uniden and costs around $85 (uses paypal..yay) and in return for your money, they send you a very long key code.. took me 3 goes to get the code into the radio but it now works..
To program DMR into your DMR activated radio, you create a new 'Favorites' bank and when asked what type of system choose 'Conventional'.. Once you have all your frequency s set out, choose Audio Option to 'Search', even if you already know the Digital code, i find letting the radio do all the work seems to work... I have been listening to Busways on the DMR Orion Network, frequency 507.4125mhz
But i still had one more problem with my new radio...
On GRN (P25 Government Radio Network), the receive function was horrid, while my Uniden UBCD396XT was receiving flawlessly.
I had full signal strength on the 436PT but no audio... check out the video below..
As you can see, i used the same basic antenna on both units. It wasn't a setting problem because when i connected to my outdoor antenna, the 436pt worked as it should.. see video below
*** TIP*** after alot of messing around and me almost about to resell the unit thinking it was crap, i played around with the 'Digital Threshold' Mode & 'Digital Threshold' level, it is adjustable in the Edits Favorites List Setup part of the P25 Trunking section when setting up GRN Trunking.
SOLUTION
I set the Digital Threshold level to 6 instead of 8 and set the Digital Threshold mode to 'Manual' and this was the result... see video below
As you can see, My UBCD436PT is now running as it should and i'm very happy with it.
I am still setting up my Sentinal Frequency base as you cant cut and copy from Freescan to Sentinal so its all got to be done by hand..Sigh
FINAL THOUGHT
I would highly recommend this 'Future Proof' radio with the DMR upgrade... I have managed to set my radio up the same as my UBCD396XT using banks 1 - 0 to turn things on and off..
MY SETUP
BANK
0 - Rural Fire (Aviation, NPWS, PMR, Fireground)
1 - Surfcom DMR
2 - GRN
3 - Medical / Rescue (Various Air, Land, SES, Fire & Rescue P25)
4 - Local Comms (Bus Company's, Rail, Hotels, Westfields)
5 - Sydney Airport (inc Companys)
6 - Local Air (Bankstown, Camden)
7 - Military (Richmond, Williamtown)
8 - Marine Radio (Inc Marine Rescue)
9 - FM Radio (good for checking antenna range from various stations)
10 - CB Radio (80ch UHF, CB & Amateur Radio)
I Hope to have available to sell, this file on a Micro SD card so all you have to do is put in your radio and everything works... No Hair pulling and No grey hair (like me)
WATCH THIS SPACE...
#Uniden
#ubcd436pt
#ubcd396xt
#436pt
#scanner
#scannerradio
#bcd436pt
#ubcd325pt
