Uniden Bearcat SR30C, 500-Channel Compact Handheld Scanner, Close Call RF Capture, Turbo Search, PC programable, NASCAR, Racing, Aviation, Marine, Railroad, and Non-Digital Police/Fire/Public Safety

8.3.24 Experienced radio guy and Ham. My go to scanner died and I didn't want to spend top dollar for a brand marketed to Hams. Arrived 7.27.24. This Uniden is quite nice. The size is perfect for me. I can put it on a table outdoors and is doesn't blow over in a typical gust, but I am sure it would fall if the wind were strong enough. The speaker is loud; distinctly better than my two previous high-end scanners. It took me two days and a YouTube video to master the software/controls. I had it up and running about ten minutes after I began to read the instructions. The keystrokes for programming banks and scanning banks takes a little practice. It has several preset service bands that allows you to listen to a 'search and find' for marine/police/fire/Ham/aviation and a few others. The display is excellent. At this point, it is a buy again or buy as a gift again. Some cons --- There is no VFO; you cannot just type in a freq and listen. You can get to a freq, but this is part of the practice needed to operate the scanner smoothly. It does not have military aviation UHF so you won't hear the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels air to air (nor other routine air to air if you live near a training area or base). NOTE: As far as I know at this point, Ham repeaters have to have both freqs entered manually in a scan bank or order to hear both.

Happy with price and function cabability

I have always thought of Uniden as a quality product. The SR30C was a new product and seemed to have good reviews except for the complicated programming, but that was not a problem for me. The build quality was excellent as well a the sound quality. One big problem was the battery life. I put in a new set of alkaline batteries and they lasted about 12 hours when I got the low battery warning. Replaced them with a fully charged set of NiMH batteries which lasted about 3 hours until they also set off the low battery warning. I have a portable radio that works on alkaline batteries that has been working for months. Not sure if this was just a bad unit, or a battery hog. Returned it to Amazon for a refund. Will be contacting Uniden to get their opinion.

A potential great that falls just short. Excellent features. Excellent for the beginner and average user who enjoys listen to what is going on in areas with low band, VHF coverage. Most often. Rural areas. Not hard to program in frequencies, Ten banks to organize or group your local favorites. Lock-out button to remove unnecessary chatter when something big is going on ( the banks help there also). I am very pleased with the operation of this scanner. But my only beef with the designers of this portable scanner is the battery life. It only uses two AA batteries, instead of four. Really guys?!?? What were you thinking??! So far, my experiments with Rechargable batteries have found "Tenergy batteries to last the longest. I get 5 to 6 hours depending on scanner traffic. I always carry spare batteries and spare power cable when taking it out for extended periods. So, If w friend were to ask if they should purchase one. I would say go ahead, it will do the job you need it to do. It has some excellent features, but just understand it's one major design flaw and shortcoming. And carry extra batteries when out and about.

The ONLY problem you are going to have with this scanner is programming it according to the instructions in the manual, because they're not great. However, there are a ton of YouTube videos about this unit; watch one and you'll be like "yeah, this is super easy." The only reason I can think of why you'd want a more upscale scanner is if your local police department uses digital radios - more and more departments go that way every year - and you want to listen to the cops. This one won't do that; the one that will is $339.49. This radio will tune in any kind of auto racing, plus weather, aviation, marine and railroad traffic. This can be programmed from a Windows PC; as I am a Mac person that's not an option for me, but programming it from the front panel is easy to do. This does not support Bluetooth out of the box. If you have a good pair of Bluetooth headphones, Amazon sells adapters for less than $20 that will interface your headphones to this scanner. For MOST purposes these are fine. For auto racing they are not - it is very loud at the speedway and you need isolation headphones, such as the Race Day Electronics headphones I bought from Amazon. Those are awesome. I use them for woodworking as well as going to races and they work well both places. BIG recommendation: buy Ni-MH batteries because that will save you a lot of cash. The scanner will recharge Ni-MH batteries so you don't need a separate charger. Program it before you go to the speedway so it's ready for you when you get there. It will cost you $47.95 to rent a scanner at a race, and it must be returned when you leave. If you buy this scanner and a set of headphones, you'll be saving money at your third race. AND it's yours! Also consider: they don't rent scanners at airports or on Amtrak trains and that traffic is a lot of fun to listen to. It's really worth it to have your own scanner.

My radio was used! Someone has written notes in the manual. I ordered new. Maybe that is where the batteries went. BE AWARE! This is analog only. Batteries not included, maybe. I have worked on radios for over 40 years so setup was easy for me. I only monitor a few aviation and marine frequencies with this little guy. It works fine.

I was looking to monitor aircraft frequencies. Right out of the Box it started finding close by transmitters. With a little manual reading I learned how to store those found frequencies in the empty memory slots. A little more reading and I was able to scan the preprogrammed aircraft band. Little more reading I might find out what else it can do for me. Battery started beeping after 3 or 4 hours of use. It shut off little after that. I'm going to monitor battery life on the 2nd set a little closer so I know how many spare batteries to keep with me. It's standard AA batteries so cheap and easy to find.

Was impressed works well