General SDS100 questions

1. The red battery charging LED is flashing red. What does this indicate? The owner's manual doesn't mention anything about flashing.

2. Speaking of owner's manual, what is the latest downloadable .pdf manual? I have two; one is "SDS100om.pdf", and the other is "Uniden SDS100 Draft Manual.pdf". Is there a newer version? Both of these seem to contain errors.

3. With regard to the RSSI indicator, are there minimum and maximum values? I have never seen anything better than -40dBm.

W4KRR said:

3. With regard to the RSSI indicator, are there minimum and maximum values? I have never seen anything better than -40dBm.

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I'm running the Open Beta firmware now, but on both this release and the previous release I have never seen an RSSI better than -40dBm -- I think my best was about -78dBm. The systems I'm monitoring (3 simulcasts and a few others) routinely show RSSI above 100 and I'm copying them great. I'm in a rural area and the closest trunked P25 tower I monitor is 6 mi away. I can't give my credence to the actual stated RSSI given that in videos that others post I routinely see much better RSSI values.

Mike

W4KRR said:

1. The red battery charging LED is flashing red. What does this indicate? The owner's manual doesn't mention anything about flashing.

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That's the alert light, indicating traffic on a channel programmed with a visual alert. The charger light is on the right.

2. Speaking of owner's manual, what is the latest downloadable .pdf manual? I have two; one is "SDS100om.pdf", and the other is "Uniden SDS100 Draft Manual.pdf". Is there a newer version? Both of these seem to contain errors.

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Draft is not the final manual.

3. With regard to the RSSI indicator, are there minimum and maximum values? I have never seen anything better than -40dBm.

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-40 is about the strongest signal the SDS100 will show. "---" is the minimum, as in no signal. The lowest number I've seen is about -115dBm. It depends on RF noise levels.

There is a Draft Manual Version 2 on Scanner Master's site http://www.scannermaster.com/v/vspfiles/downloadables/Uniden SDS100 Draft Maunal.pdf

jonwienke said:

That's the alert light, indicating traffic on a channel programmed with a visual alert. The charger light is on the right.

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Yes, I know; this is definitely the charger (right) light flashing red.
Maybe it has something to do with insufficient power? Shortly after I got a message on the screen "low USB bus voltage".

If you're getting the Low USB Voltage error, you need to switch to shorter or heavier-gauge USB cable, or else a more robust port. The cable can't carry enough power to run the scanner and charge at the same time.

jonwienke said:

If you're getting the Low USB Voltage error, you need to switch to shorter or heavier-gauge USB cable, or else a more robust port. The cable can't carry enough power to run the scanner and charge at the same time.

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That was apparently it; the USB adapter I was using was only rated for .7 amps; I believe the manual recommends 1 amp minimum. I also switched over to a heavier USB cable.

If you want to charge and run, 2 amps. Current draw is about 1400-1500mA when doing both.