Uniden UBCD160DN 25-520/758-960MHz Handheld Digital Scanner

Ad says 10,000 programmable channels…. Err…. No, it doesn’t have quite that many.
It suffers the same issue as it’s little bro… the speaker is connected to the board, not by soldered connections but be the pressure applied by the fit of the outer case (it other words, there is NO actual wired connection, just good fortune. So if you suddenly lose audio, you’ll need to connect an external speaker via the 3.5mm jack which IS (thankfully) actually connected to the chassis.

I'll keep this short (ish).

If you looking for a well priced, no bells and whistles, handheld Uniden scanner capable of digital modes (DMR/NXDN/dPMR) then this is a great choice.

If your only interested in Airband, stick to the 125XLT simply because it's cheaper and performs just as well.

The ARC260 software works well.
Oh, and now that it's USB-C... I can charge it anywhere I charge my mobile!

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Replies to previous reviews:
The UBCD160DN has the same RF sensitivity as the 125XLT (and the 3600XLT) and in my tests, it performs very well on DMR and NXDN. Replacing the supplied Rubber Duck antenna will of course give better reception results, something like the Watson W-881 would be a good choice. If you live near a TX station, to help prevent the front end from being overloaded (especially if you've using an external antenna) - the scanner has the option to set the Attenuation (~20dB) for individual channels or globally. Yes, the battery life isn't long - but what do you expect from 2x 2300mAh AA batteries? If you need it to last longer than 4 hours, take spare batteries!

Bought this scanner Recently as I already have the SDS200E + BCD260DN both work well and found them to be sensitive and reliable on DMR.
But the BCD160DN I've found this not the case the RX on DMR is very poor and the battery life can vary between 1-4 hrs.
My Baofeng 1701 on the same BNC antenna picks
up the same frequencies every time but the BCD160DN is Deaf. even with the same antenna and same spot.
Ive tried both in other area's and the same thing happens.don't get me wrong the BCD160DN works great on my main Roof antenna but whats the point of having a Handy if it has poor RX on a helical antenna..

Bought this as an upgrade to my 125 XLT along with a MRW-100 MK11 super gainer antenna. Much improved on my previous scanner and much clearer with this antenna.

Uniden160dn

Had the the uniden160dn a few days now. Can only admire how much technology they have crammed into this small portable unit. I read that some say it's quiet on certain modes. However I haven't found this, it's excellent on digital and analogue. I don't have a decent external Antenna, just a car roof mounted whip on the windowsill. Even so it's proven that the 160dn is capable under restricted conditions. I've programmed it with Arc260. Also using RR.UK very simple to program all the 1000 channels. The service mode on this is easy to select and use. It even has some service custom channels. Not yet set up. But looks very useful. I would certainly recommend this unit to anyone looking for a portable unit packed with features.

Quick delivery. Very happy with the radio. Took a couple of days to adjust the brain to a new radio. It works better than I expected. I’ve picked up a couple of new DMR stations that I never on the trx-1 and 3600. I can pick up civilian airports 50 miles in each direction sat on the couch, that’s with the stock aerial. I was a bit unsure about the radio due to the so called expert criticisms. I have the UK model and I live 1m from a RAF station. I get no bleed over and pick up the same mil/air band as I did on the other radios. I have a x50 on the roof which works well. The USB c is welcoming addition. I use arc260 for programming, you can copy and paste direct to arc260 but I do it via a CSV spreadsheet set up with ten banks on. I am no expert but I am very happy with the purchase and wait.