Uniden BC365CRS 500 Channel Scanner and Alarm Clock, Snooze, FM Radio, Weather Alerts, Search Bands used for Aviation, Railroad, Marine, Non-Digital Police/Fire/Public Safety transmissions and more

I bought this scanner to replace a 30 year old one that I bought back then for $99, which was also a Uniden Scanner. A reminder before you buy, make sure the agencies you want to hear are not digital or trunking as this scanner will not pick them up. Most of what I want to hear in my area are still on analog FM as they have been for decades.Right out of the box, in a few minutes I had entered known active frequencies in my area and the scanner came to life. I found some videos on Youtube that made entering frequencies quick and a lot easier than using the supplied owners manual. The supplied telescopic antenna does a surprisingly good job as the sensitivity of this scanner is quite good. As a departure from older scanners, the antenna is now a BNC connector instead of the older style Motorola Connector.The ability to pick up weaker and more distant signals is greatly enhanced by the use of an external outdoor type Scanner Antenna. I connected a Discone Scanner Antenna which really brought up weaker signals and brought in distant ones that I was not able to get with the supplied telescopic antenna.The audio quality is excellent from the small front mounted speaker and sounds like the audio has been contoured for voice. Plenty of sound and if you desire more there is an audio output jack on the back of the unit.I have had this scanner on for about a week since taking it out of the box and giving it a few off and on cycles. I have not had a chance to try it on all of the frequency bands it has but it so far has worked well on public service lo and hi bands, amateur radio 2 meter band and the instant access weather channels. It is a lot of scanner for the price as long as what you want to listen to is still operating on conventional FM Non Digital transmission modes. If you want digital and trunking scanning you will have to go with something more substantial.

Arrived on time, decent price, easy to setup.would reccomend

It works and is constructed well, but there are a few quirks to be aware of, and the manual is disappointing. If you feel frustrated trying to get it to do anything, you're not alone!First, understand that this scanner does NOT support naming channels, and it also does NOT support CTCSS/DCS squelch. It's carrier squelch only. If you need these features, you'll want the next model up, the BCT15X.Next, here's how I programmed my scanner:- One bank is the amateur radio calling frequences.- One bank is the local amateur radio repeaters.- One bank is all the Family Radio Services (FRS), GMRS, and MURS frequencies.- One bank is the CB radio frequencies.- One bank is the local airport traffic control frequencies.- One bank is the state highway patrol frequency. (The city is on a digital trunked system so I can't program the city police in, only the state highway patrol.)- One bank is the frequency of my home intercom.Usually I leave the amateur radio calling frequencies bank and the home intercom frequency bank turned on, and I turn the others on whenever I feel like it. It's very easy to toggle a bank on and off, just press the number button of that bank (0-9).In the process, here's what I learned that the manual didn't make very clear:1. This an analog-only, non-trunking scanner, with a low price to match. You can listen to aircraft and air traffic control towers, amateur radio, satellites, nearby businesses, citizens band (CB) radios, FRS/GMRS/MURS walkie talkies, marine bands, and so on. You can NOT listen to trunking or digital communications, so if your city or county uses either of those, you'll need a trunking scanner such as the BCT15X (at 2x the price) and hope you want to listen to isn't digital, or a digital scanner such as the BCD996P2 (at 4x the price) and hope what you want to listen to isn't encrypted. California Highway Patrol still uses analog frequency 39.8 MHz so if that's all you need then you're good with an analog non-trunking scanner.2. The FM radio doesn't support HD radio.3. The difference between the BC365CRS and the discontinued BC370CRS is the clock on the 370 is radio controlled (self-setting) and the 370 supports the 800 MHz band and the AM broadcast band. The difference between the BC365CRS and the discontinued BC345CRS is the 345 supports the AM broadcast band.4. The manual doesn't explain how to tune to a specific frequency without programming it. The answer is you can't, except for FM Radio.5. The manual doesn't explain how to scan for FM Radio stations. You can't. Even in "search" mode, the squelch dial mysteriously has no effect through the FM Broadcast band. This is a failure of user interface design.6. The word "channel" means either a channelized frequency or a programmed channel. The manual conflates the two meanings. This is a failure of technical writing.7. The BC365CRS won't let you program whatever it believes to be an off-channel frequency such as 447.560 MHz which is an active frequency in southern California. If you try, it automatically chooses the next closest channel.8. Channel Bank 1 is always programmed channels 1-50, Bank 2 is channels 51-100, and so on. You have to infer this from the table on page 22.9. The manual on page 9 says, "Press 0-9 and HOLD to directly access any stored frequency." This is incorrect. Press HOLD to stop scanning, then type in the channel number (1-500), then HOLD again.10. The manual doesn't explain the difference between "Priority DND" and "Priority OFF".11. When programming a frequency, to cancel, just press the "./CLR" button to exit.12. The method for programming FM channels is completely different than for programming scanner channels. This is another user interface design failure.13. The two modes of tuning FM are "direct entry mode" and "channel memory mode". Direct Entry Mode is selected by pressing SVC/DIR. Channel Memory Mode is selected by pressing PRI/MEM. You're always in one mode or the other, just remember this.14. The different mode buttons are all over the place. There's the Limit Search mode (at the top), Service Search mode (top) and Scan mode (the SCAN button to the right of the numerical keypad).

Excellent as described