Airspy R2 or Uniden SDS 100/200

[scannie]

I want to buy a Airspy R2 or Uniden SDS 100/200

Does anyone have experiences with both model?

What about the sensivity over the whole frequency area?

Advice is much apprechiated.

 

[dave3825]

What exactly are you looking to do?

 

[scannie]

Aircraft, marine, local communication in the Netherlands.

 

[Ubbe]

Sensitivity are one thing, that you measure from a signal generator without anything else interfering. Selectivity and overload resistance are another that depends very much on the local situation. SDS scanners where designed to handle simulcast transmissions, that almost exclusively are a US phenomena, and in some cases SDS have problems with both selectivity and overload issues if the situation isn't optimal. BCD436/UBC3600/BCD536 have the exact same features but better RF performance. Airspy R2 use the same R820 chip for the receiver as RTL-SDR and most other USB dongles.

/Ubbe

 

[ScanNEIN]

Do the dongles receive a simulcast Atlas 700 MHz System as good as an SDS, or are there issues?

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Not really comparing apples to apples here. The Airspy requires a computer and software to operate, whereas the the SDS100/200 don't (yes a computer & Sentinel, Proscan, etc help tremendously but they aren't required). Will this be a mobile or fixed operation?

Do the dongles receive a simulcast Atlas 700 MHz System as good as an SDS, or are there issues?

Can't speak specifically for the Airspy but I have very few issues receiving simulcast systems in my region (USA) using my SDRPlays and SDRTrunk. As far as scanners go the Uniden SDS100 or SDS200 are the only scanners designed to properly mitigate the ugly effects of simulcast distortion as is well documented here on the forums

 

[dave3825]

Both are good for simulcast but scanner will only let you listen to 1 thing at a time and whiles its stuck on that one thing, you miss other things.

Sdr dongle with Sdrtrunk lets you record multiple talk groups (trunked systems) (or conventional freqs that fits in the bandwidth) simultaneously and you can play back with options using Trunking recorder or rdio scanner.

 

[ScanNEIN]

Both are good for simulcast but scanner will only let you listen to 1 thing at a time and whiles its stuck on that one thing, you miss other things.

Sdr dongle with Sdrtrunk lets you record multiple talk groups (trunked systems) (or conventional freqs that fits in the bandwidth) simultaneously and you can play back with options using Trunking recorder or rdio scanner.

If I wanted to monitor 2 different systems and some conventionals and listen live, would traffic all come through at the same time and actually be covering each other?

 

[dave3825]

Depends. If you use sdrtrunk and all fits in the r2's bandwidth, you can select listen live (only hear 2 at same time((left + right speaker) or set all of interest to record and playback thru the browser using trunking recorder.

Trunking Recorder - Recording audio from trunked radio systems monitored by Unitrunker, SDRTrunk, ProScan, and DSDPlus

Recording audio from trunked radio systems monitored by Unitrunker, SDRTrunk, ProScan, and DSDPlus

www.scannerbox.us

 

[ChrisABQ]

SDR dongles are far superior to any scanner. In my location, simulcast is not an issue, but the SDR's with SDRTrunk record all calls through the system and play them in order received. Using Trunking Recorder, you can stream to any computer, any phone, listen to any TG and go back and replay any call for as many days as you allow calls to be stored. There are many vids on YT, just check them out. Setup is not that difficult.

 

[CanesFan95]

It depends on the software. OP25 has excellent P25 audio decode. DSD+, not so much.