Customers say
Customers find this scanner to be a great handheld device that works particularly well for Indycar races, with a compact size that makes it convenient to use. The programming interface receives mixed feedback, with some finding it easy to use while others consider it a programming nightmare, and opinions on value are divided between those who consider it worth the price and those who find it completely worthless. The scanner’s frequency accuracy and sound quality receive negative feedback, with customers reporting poor signal reception and low volume levels, while the battery life is criticized for draining quickly.
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A quick rundown of this product’s key features:
LISTEN IN AND STAY INFORMED! The Uniden Bearcat SR30C is a very affordable 500 channel hand-held scanner with loads of features in a convenient compact design.
LISTEN TO OVER 32,000 FREQUENCIES: Get started listening right away with convenient pre-sets for the most popular searches. Frequencies are preset in ten service banks, Non-Digital Police/Fire/Emergency, NOAA Weather reports, Marine, Racing, Civil Aircraft, Ham Radio, Railroad, CB Radio, and other bands. This makes it easy to find channels that interest you.
PC PROGRAMING lets you program your scanner using your PC. Close call RF capture technology instantly tunes to signals from nearby transmitters and the Priority Scan function Scans the channels you have designated as priority channels. Memory backup keeps the frequencies stored in memory for an extended time if the scanner loses power
DELAY FUNCTION helps prevent missed replies during two-way conversations. Other features include keypad entry, Earphone Jack, key lock, battery low alert, battery save. The triple-conversion design ensures excellent Performance.
THREE POWER OPTIONS: #1- The included USB cable will power your SR30C from your PC or other USB power source, such as a smart phone USB charger (not included). #2 – Two AA alkaline batteries (not included). #3 – Two AA rechargeable Ni-MH batteries (not included). You can also charge rechargeable Ni-MH batteries in the unit using the USB cable.
EXCELLENT ENTRY LEVEL PORTABLE SCANNER This scanner is NOT for receiving DIGITAL communications (e.g. Project 25, DMR, NXDN). Some Police/Fire/Emergency/Public Safety Agencies in larger cities are switching over to DIGITAL Trunking communication systems. For Digital Scanners please look at other leading Uniden models such as the BCD436HP.
How can we help? Uniden’s Customer Support site is designed to conveniently walk you through product setup and troubleshooting.
Our Top Reviews
Reviewer: New England Senior Male
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Nice scanner
Review: 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.
Reviewer: jmowreader
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: NASCAR fan? This is all you need.
Review: 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.
Reviewer: Galvitron
Rating: 1.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Why did I do it?
Review: I was told by a co-worker not to get an Analog scanner since they no longer work around Richmond/Chesterfield Co in VA. Emergency and Police have gone encrypted and not digital. I was given so false info that oh yeah it should work. B.S. Uniden did send me info after I had already ordered it that it wouldn’t work after 2 comments stated that it should work even picking up Marine, Aviation broadcasts. All I heard was a picture clear signal for the local weather advisory. I pick up maybe a 20-30 second faint broadcast of some police signal then the scanner blew past it which wasn’t what I wanted it to do and I no longer heard that. I heard someone on a ham radio discussing something about North Korea and that signal was strong but it didn’t last long. It was damn difficult to try to program or place in a frequency to see if I could get anything else. It was a bunch of nonsense. I spent to much time on Amazon reading reviews good and bad and seeing what I could buy w/o a ham radio license and yada yada. After I sent it back, I went to Best Buy and purchased myself a $99 pair of Uniden walkie talkie’s for $79 since it was in the wrong place on the rack and there was no other location for where they were supposed to be. It was the last pair and they had to honor where it was placed. Haven’t opened it yet since it is a Father’s Day present to myself but it is better than racking my brain over analog, digital, encrypted nonsense.
Reviewer: Richard G. Amirault
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Doesn’t receive digital
Review: Doesn’t receive digital .. but you should not expect a police scanner at this price point to receive digital.It does what it does very well .. scans very fast .. receives air band well.Love the increase in technology over scanners from twenty or so years ago. Runs on two AA cells .. alkaline or NiMh Has Close Call Capture to find in use frequencies close by.What it doesn’t have is text labeling of the channels .. the slightly more expensive Bearcat has that feature.USB port for recharging or computer programming.RE: digitalMany police these days have gone over to digital. Some even went encrypted. Expensive scanners can receive digital, but NO scanner available to the general public will receive encrypted digital. Check your local police before buying if listening to the police is important to you.
Reviewer: Lianys cordero
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Walnut talkie
Review: Muy bueno
Reviewer: Robert
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Very hard to operate
Review: There are way too many options in the manual is excruciating long and to find how to operate this thing, save channels and switch to other frequencies is very difficult. It shouldn’t be this hard. The unit itself is nice. It’s very small fits in the palm of your hand does not get great reception like my other scanner does, but the price is relatively a little cheaper than my other scanner.
Reviewer: J
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Perfect radio for planespotting
Reviewer: Wynne Pruden
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: My mom is super happy with the purchase.
Reviewer: Neil Owen
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Works well and there are.a lot of videos available to help program it. Scans common bands without programming
Reviewer: Nigel Hoare
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Does as it is designed to. Good point is being able to program the scan banks.
Reviewer: JEAN-ROCK CÔTÉ
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Bon produit
Price effective as of Jun 30, 2025 00:41:15 UTC
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