Uniden has announced a firmware update for the BCD160DN and BCD260DN scanners that adds support for decoding APCO P25 Phase I and Phase II digital voice transmissions.
The update allows these scanners to decode P25 digital communications that they previously couldn't handle, provided the transmissions are not encrypted.
However, there is an important limitation: these scanners do not support trunk tracking.
While they can receive transmissions from P25 trunked radio systems, they cannot follow talkgroups (TGIDs) or automatically follow conversations as they move between frequencies. Individual P25 voice channels must be programmed manually.
For those of us in Tasmania keeping an eye on the TASGRN, this means the update is unlikely to make any practical difference. The TASGRN is a trunked radio network, and without trunk-tracking capability, these scanners cannot follow talkgroups and conversations across the network in the way a dedicated trunk-tracking scanner can. The fact that around 98% of voice traffic on the TASGRN is encrypted, also makes monitoring this less of a priority for radio scanning enthusists.
In short, the update adds P25 decoding, but it doesn't turn the BCD160DN or BCD260DN into a trunk-tracking scanner. If your main interest is monitoring the TASGRN, this isn't the upgrade you've been waiting for.
The firmware update is available through Uniden's BC-VUP Firmware Updater, with BCDx60DN SS Version 2.00 or later required for configuration. Both utilities require Windows.
No word on an update for the EU UBCD160DN or UBCD260DN at this stage.
