BCD436HP/536HP Loading Frequencies From Squawker PC & Squawker Online

Summary: The ways to get frequencies onto a BCD436HP or BCD536HP without typing them in by hand: Squawker PC’s Scanner Programmer, Squawker Online’s export files (including the Uniden x36 HPE format), and the formats you can use in other software.

Why This Matters

The database that comes with these scanners covers the US and Canada only. Outside North America, or for frequencies the database doesn’t hold, you’ll want your own Favorites Lists. UKAFG’s tools are a fast way to build them from UK and other data.

Which Route Should I Use?

• Squawker PC Scanner Programmer – writes Favorites Lists straight to the scanner’s microSD card over the USB cable. Best for building a full conventional set-up in a few clicks. Conventional (single-frequency) systems only.
• Squawker Online export (Uniden-x36 HPE) – download a file from the website and import it with Sentinel, Proscan or Butel, as the site’s info popup says. Best if you already use one of those, or want to review the lists before they go on the scanner.
• Sentinel, or the scanner itself – the route for trunked systems, for database updates, and for settings the Programmer doesn’t cover. See BCD436HP/536HP Understanding the Memory, Sentinel & Database Updates and BCD436HP/536HP Programming Systems & System Options.

Squawker PC: The Scanner Programmer

Squawker PC is UKAFG’s Windows app. Its Scanner Programmer supports the BCD436HP, BCD536HP, UBCD3600XLT, SDS100/SDS100E and SDS200/SDS200E through one shared screen and a four-level hierarchy: Favorites List > System > Department > Channel. The steps are:

1. Connect – create a profile in Connect Settings (Scanner System: Uniden, Scanner Type: BCD436HP or BCD536HP, the correct COM port, Enable Programming ticked), open the Programmer and click Open Editor. See SDS100/SDS200/UBCD3600XLT Programmer – Overview & Getting Connected and SDS100/SDS200/UBCD3600XLT Programmer Screen at a Glance.
2. Read the scanner and back it up – see Reading, Backing Up & Restoring – SDS100/SDS200/UBCD3600XLT.
3. Fill it – Quick Fill builds a whole set of Favorites Lists from your postcode, or use the Data dropdown with New Favorite and Add To. See Quick Fill – Auto-Populating a Full Set of Favorites Lists Near Your Location and Filling a Favorites List – The Data Dropdown, New Favorite & Add To.
4. Edit the result – see Editing, Sorting & Deleting – Favorites Lists, Systems, Departments & Channels.
5. Send to Scanner – see Writing to Your Scanner – Mass Storage Mode.

Before your first write, read Before You Start – Understanding the Risks, Backups – How Squawker PC Protects Your Existing Programming and The Programming Workflow.

What to Know Before You Write

• Trunked systems are not supported. The System Type column lists trunked types, but every system in the editor is really departments full of single-frequency channels, and everything is written to the scanner as a plain conventional system whatever the Type says.
• Read leaves out trunked systems. If the scanner already has trunked systems, Read silently omits them. If you then Send to Scanner, those systems are overwritten and not recreated. Don’t use a Read/Write round trip to manage a scanner with trunked systems you want to keep; use Sentinel for those.
• Auto backup before sending (on by default) copies the raw files off the microSD card just before a write, so it does preserve trunked systems. If that backup fails, programming stops. A manual Save only backs up what’s in the editor.
• How it writes: Squawker PC uses serial at a fixed 115200 baud only to tell the scanner to reboot into Mass Storage Mode, waits for the microSD card to appear as a drive on your PC (an error appears if it doesn’t mount within about 30 seconds), writes the files, and the scanner then reboots by itself. You don’t put the scanner into USB mode or eject the card yourself.
• No cancel button once a write has started, and no partial-write report or automatic rollback if it’s interrupted. The completion message says how many Favorites Lists were written and how long it took.
• Model check: before writing, Squawker PC checks the connected scanner matches your profile and warns you if not.
• Read replaces the editor with no warning about unsaved changes, so save first.
• Only what’s on the Programmer screen is written. Settings it doesn’t have a column for, such as location control, most alert settings, tone-outs and Discovery, are set on the scanner or in Sentinel afterwards.
• Wi-Fi remote control on the BCD536HP is separate. The Programmer uses the USB cable.

Squawker Online: Exporting to a File

Squawker Online lets you search UKAFG’s frequency data, tick or multi-select what you want, and download it in the format your software needs. The search tool is at ukafg.co.uk/squawker-online-search. For these scanners use Uniden-x36 HPE, which the site describes as for the Uniden SDS100, SDS200, 3600, 436 and 536 (imported with Sentinel, Proscan or Butel).

What’s in the file: a conventional-only Favorites List whose departments are created automatically from the result’s User field (for example an airfield or ATC unit), with each channel’s full name, frequency and mode. It contains no trunked systems, quick keys or alert settings. After importing, add quick keys, service types and alerts in Sentinel or on the scanner, and check the departments and channels before writing them.

Squawker Online also exports to other formats you can use with Uniden and non-Uniden software:

• Uniden-BCT15X HPE – 16-character names, for the BCT15X (Proscan or Butel).
• UBC125XLT – CSV for Scan125. Capped at 500 rows.
• RadioScan – XLS for the Android RadioScan app; always exactly 500 rows.
• Whistler – text file, imported with “Import Text File”.
• CHIRP – a CSV for any radio CHIRP supports; likely amateur repeaters get extra repeater fields automatically.
• Icom IC-R6, IC-R8600 and IC-R15 – CSVs for the matching Icom cloning software.
• CSV and Excel – six columns (User, Description, Short Name, Frequency, Channel, Mode) for spreadsheets or any software that imports CSV.
• Copy – CSV text on the clipboard.
• SDR# XML and SDRPlay S1B – for SDR software.

Use the small info button next to the export buttons for current import instructions. Full details are in Exporting to Scanner Software, Exporting to CSV, Excel & Clipboard and Exporting to SDR Software (SDR#, SDRPlay).

The Other UKAFG Tools Export Too

• Common Scanner Frequencies – see Exporting Common Scanner Frequencies
• WTR Business search – see Exporting Your Results – WTR Business
• Amateur Repeater search – see Exporting Your Results – Amateur Repeaters
• Active Mil – see Exporting Active Military Frequency Data

Exporting From Squawker PC

Squawker PC’s Export Panel offers file exports for the current selection, including Uniden HPE (the x36 format used for this scanner family), CSV, Excel, SDR# XML, SDRPlay S1B, UBC125XLT/C, RadioScan, Whistler, Alinco and CHIRP, plus Copy. Remember:

• Selection rule: if your Multi-Select list has anything in it, every export uses the whole list and ignores the ticks in the grid. See How Your Selection Feeds Exports & the Programmer.
• Filenames: most formats save to a fixed filename (the HPE export is export.hpe), so exporting twice overwrites the first unless you turn on Prompt for Rename. See Exporting to Files – What Each Format Does and Export Settings – Configuring Where and How You Export.

See also The Export Panel – Programmer & File Exports.

Tips for a Good Result

• Location Control. A zip/postal-code location only works for the US and Canada. For a list you’ve loaded yourself, turn Use Location Control off unless its departments have locations, or they’ll be ignored. See BCD436HP/536HP Managing Favorites Lists, Location Control & Scan Selection.
• Enable the service types. Loaded channels default to Custom 1. If you hear nothing, check the service types first – see BCD436HP/536HP Setting Your Location, Range & Service Types.
• Enable your list in Select Lists to Monitor and give it a quick key. See BCD436HP/536HP Scanning: Quick Keys, Startup Keys, Scan Order & Priority.
• Check modulation after loading. Airband should be AM.
• Keep a backup of a working set-up before every write.