BCD325P2

Great replacement for whistler 1050

I bought this Uniden BCD325P2 scanner on Amazon for $100 less than it was offered by other resellers. I was looking for a scanner that received P25 Phase 2 unencrypted digital trunked broadcasts. I am listening to fire and EMS calls in Lee County, Florida since I received it five days ago. Scanning site 2 at about16 miles away, the scanner would display between 1 and 3 bars of reception, sometimes 4 bars. Receiving the broadcasts was hit or miss, Sometimes I would hear broadcasts and sometimes the scanner missed calls. I purchased a Alinco REM-800B (Remtronix) antenna and replaced the scanner's stock antenna. With the new antenna it has a consistent 5 bars reception and the scanner appears to drop no calls.I tried programming the scanner by hand using the included instruction booklet. It was very frustrating and I decided to purchase ProScan software to program the scanner using the scanner's included USB cable and my Windows 10 laptop. With the ProScan software, programming the scanner was a breeze. I already had a Radio Reference account and the ProScan software quickly downloaded the frequencies and Talk Groups I wanted into the scanner.The $347 purchase on Amazon seems to be a good deal. But I added $43 for the antenna (including shipping) and $50 for ProScan. I already have a premium subscription to Radio Reference, but if you don't it is $15 for 6 months and $30 for a year subscription.

I bought the scanner with the hopes that I would have a good quality craftsmanship scanner in my hand, no doubt unit in does make some good radios, unfortunately, this model is not one of those. The battery only last an hour at most without even scanning, that's just listening on one channel with no LCD light. Yes reception comes in great but the audio volume output is half of that of a normal scanner, hard to hear unless it's right up to your ear. I can't see myself spending $350 on a scanner, that does not meet my needs, so I sent this back for a refund.