Scanner Master to Demo the new Uniden SDS100 at the Dayton Hamvention, May 18-20th

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iMONITOR

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It looks smaller than I originally thought. I was thinking it may have been a little bigger than the BCD436HP.
 

jonwienke

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International, yes, with frequency coverage according to Europe or Australia rules. No GOV/totally unlocked model though. BTW, UPMan is the Uniden Product Manager for Uniden USA's scanner lines, so he probably knows more than you on the subject. Just sayin...
 

hardsuit

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International, yes, with frequency coverage according to Europe or Australia rules. No GOV/totally unlocked model though. BTW, UPMan is the Uniden Product Manager for Uniden USA's scanner lines, so he probably knows more than you on the subject. Just sayin...

jonwienke = then its is possible for Ebay and Amazon scammers to sell International with Cellular Coverage. that was my original point.
 

mule1075

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Uniden doesn't offer International or GOV modes for sale ? because, any company that offers a GOV model usually gets them Sold on EBAY or Amazon.
I am almost sure no with the exception of models for Australia. And the guy who replied to you will most definitely know. Also you seem to be confusing scanners with communications receivers AOR,ICOM, etc that have the ability to scan a wide range and have unblocked and or government models.
 
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pinballwiz86

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Thanks for the pictures. The model is looking great! Might come out just in time for my birthday.
 

mule1075

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I've added some pics I took today at Dayton of the new scanner, together next to my 325P2 and a Unication G5 for scale. The scanner is light and feels good in the hand. Audio is about the same as the 325P2. The display is fantastic and you can customize everything on it. It works the same as the 436/536 but is SDR based. Battery will be a drop-in lithium. They anticipate FCC approval very soon with shipments starting at the end of June. Includes P25, and optional purchase is DMR and ProVoice. NXDN will also be supported but not sure if right away. SDR also opens the possibility of more formats in the future, maybe OpenSky!

Thanks for taking the time for a quick hands on review and the pictures. Greatly appreciated.
 

Thunderknight

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Analog Cellular, there is someone (likely Fed Agency), as there is a Signal but no discernable voice.

Perhaps you are picking up CDMA or LTE digital signals in what *used to be* analog cellular frequencies ranges. Because the cell carriers re purposed their analog spectrum for CDMA and LTE technologies as it is far more efficient.
The spectrum was not vacated...it was just vacated of AMPS.
 

INDY72

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Some folks just want to listen in on your phone calls, which is WHAT GOT THE REVISED ECPA in the first place due to certain government officials calls recorded by civilians. Yes it was recording of criminal activities, but still recordings of phone convos. Keep beating the dead horses of UNBLOCKED SCANNERS, and BREAKING ENCRYPTION going fellas. Please do. It gives some folks a good laugh, and more bait for the officials who like to encrypt everything to feed on. Now can we please get back on topic?
 

RF-Burns

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The biggest downfall to any scanner with the exception of the multi site distortion is the lack of quality audio and the cheap plastic its made from. If Uniden was smart they would include a powerful rich sounding speaker that doesn't sound tinny like every scanner currently produced.

The SDS100 has the ability to change the market and stop all of us from using Motorola and Harris radios for non affiliated scan. Paul I hope you listen to us and not only build a great performing scanner but a scanner we can actually hear with it on our hip and a belt clip that won't break by looking at it.
 

jonwienke

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Having cut holes in ~50 Uniden scanners to do GPS installs, I think I'm qualified to say that the plastic Uniden uses for its cases is actually pretty tough stuff. There's a reason you don't see very many photos posted of Uniden scanners with cracked or broken cases. I've seen a couple photos of a Uniden handheld with a broken SMA connector, but not photos of any of actual broken cases that I can recall.

As to audio quality, audio power directly affects battery life, and using the same audio power amp found in a mobile scanner would kill the batteries pretty quick. And the size of speaker required for decent bass response wouldn't fit in a handheld. Given that everything under 300Hz is filtered out by the radio to make room for DCS/CTCSS tones, there's not much point in a speaker with bass response anyway. That filtering is what makes the audio "tinny", rather than a conspiracy by all scanner makers to make scanners with crap audio.

You can verify this by plugging in high-quality headphones into your scanner. The low-end response doesn't change that much, except for digital audio, which cuts off at about 100Hz instead of 300Hz. (And as a result, some people complain about P25 and DMR being muddy or bassy.) The biggest difference you'll notice is that you can sometimes hear vestiges of higher-frequency CTCSS tones in the background of transmissions, which doesn't really add much to the overall experience.
 

RF-Burns

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As to audio quality, audio power directly affects battery life, and using the same audio power amp found in a mobile scanner would kill the batteries pretty quick. And the size of speaker required for decent bass response wouldn't fit in a handheld. Given that everything under 300Hz is filtered out by the radio to make room for DCS/CTCSS tones, there's not much point in a speaker with bass response anyway. That filtering is what makes the audio "tinny", rather than a conspiracy by all scanner makers to make scanners with crap audio.

I don't think anyone here would mind carrying a radio the size of a Motorola XTS2500 or a Motorola XTS5000 in weight or thickness if the battery life was good, the radio was free of LSM, and the radio provided excellent audio. Saying the audio amp and the speaker size are to big is an excuse and a poor one at that.

All commercial radios have clip on battery packs just like Uniden use to do back in the day. If Uniden would stop using AA batteries and actually use a lithium ion battery pack like commercial radios then power wouldn't be an issue. No one likes to carry a 436 now because of the horrible battery life. Now they are going to put a full color screen on the new SDS100 and still use AA Batteries?

Uniden and Whistler continuously drop the ball when they don't address the fundamental build issues with these radios that cost nearly the same as SOME commercials radios. I can buy ICOM's and some Kenwood radios for what the suggested retail price of the SDS100 will be and I don't even get a transmitter.
 

jonwienke

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Saying the audio amp and the speaker size are to big is an excuse and a poor one at that.

Just like saying that all scanners have crappy audio is a pointless and inaccurate generalization.

All commercial radios have clip on battery packs just like Uniden use to do back in the day. If Uniden would stop using AA batteries and actually use a lithium ion battery pack like commercial radios then power wouldn't be an issue. No one likes to carry a 436 now because of the horrible battery life. Now they are going to put a full color screen on the new SDS100 and still use AA Batteries?

It's already confirmed that the SDS100 uses a Li-ion battery pack. There are even photos of the battery pack here in the forums if you bother to look. Anything else you want to unnecessarily whine about?
 

INDY72

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"Having cut holes in ~50 Uniden scanners to do GPS installs, I think I'm qualified to say that the plastic Uniden uses for its cases is actually pretty tough stuff. There's a reason you don't see very many photos posted of Uniden scanners with cracked or broken cases. I've seen a couple photos of a Uniden handheld with a broken SMA connector, but not photos of any of actual broken cases that I can recall."

Hey Jon, I got the rare exception lol.. BCD396XT, Chipped Housing Top Left (Front) Corner. Kinda surprised me that the piece actually broke. The antenna cracked and peeled a good chunk off of the covering from a rather hard bang, but the SMA connector is fine, as is all interior parts. Just that one corner is now open to elements, so if I take this one out in the weather, it goes pocketed, or it gets wrapped up a bit. This scanner has been to a lot of action; construction site, couple of fire scenes, crowded buses... Just that one unlucky car door... :)
 

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jonwienke

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Everything has its limits. The scanner got slammed in a car door?
 

INDY72

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The antenna base, and corner of the scanner as I had to do a slam or get door hit by another vehicle that driver was panicking and trying to back out of a garage that was catching on fire. It seems not all of us went through Public Safety Driving Courses.... :roll: LOL. (Long story short: Was riding with a friend and noticed a house on fire, so we rode up to try to help the folks get out. Dude kinda did not bother looking as he floored his car to get it out of the garage. )
 
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jonwienke

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Given the weight of the door and the adrenaline involved, it's a pretty likely a significant crush force was applied to the case--much more than simply dropping it on to a hard surface (which I've done to mine, it landed on the RC77CA antenna and bent it a bit).
 
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