I recently purchased the Uniden Bearcat SDS 100 radio, portable unit. I had requested to have it pre-programmed for my area of Woodbridge, NJ as well as in zip code 10306. When scanning I am receiving some signals, overall so far its doing its thing. I have the manual, have not started reading it yet. Also, I am an experienced Scanner listener and have had multiple scanners for the last 35 years. I'm also into CB, SSB, Shortwave listening and the like. I used to hold an amateur radio technician class license that did expire many years ago. I am considering re-testing and becoming licensed again. The thing is with the SDS 100 at this point for me is to basically if this makes any sense, is to know how to turn off and on a channel bank. That's the way it was done with the older Analog scanners, the SDS 100 as we all know is a digital scanner, lots of features, lots to learn and understand. I guess I need an expert, just have not made the time to start reading, which I will do, very soon, because its a bit frustrating. I knew how to operate all my older scanners, they were great fun, especially my Uniden BC200 XLT from back in the day, also my Realistic 2036 was a fun radio as well. Appreciate any help, thanks, Stephen!
Scanning in Woodbridge, NJ and Middlesex County
- Thread starter Sidebander
- Start date
The following excerpts from the SDS100 easier to read manual may be beneficial to you to be able to understand how the memory system works. Much more involved than simply turning on and off banks like on the scanners of yester year...
See also the FAQ wiki linked below:
SDS100 and SDS200 FAQ Page - The RadioReference Wiki
Thankyou for your help.The following excerpts from the SDS100 easier to read manual may be beneficial to you to be able to understand how the memory system works. Much more involved than simply turning on and off banks like on the scanners of yester year...
See also the FAQ wiki linked below:
SDS100 and SDS200 FAQ Page - The RadioReference Wiki
wiki.radioreference.com
MiCon
Mike
And there's the key. Your radio & scanner history sounds like mine. The older scanners were fun. The newer scanners are more trouble than they're worth. Every day someone is posting "Why is my radio doing this"? "How do I program this scanner?" "Is anyone else having this problem?" "I need help with this scanner". If someone wanted to give me an SDS 100 or 200 I wouldn't take it. I don't need the frustration. It's not fun anymore.
<>< Mike
The issue with today scanners is the fact that technology has become more complex while supposedly making our lives easier. It does take some getting used to, to understand exactly how to make today’s scanners work like the ones of yesterday year. I have an SDS 100 that I use for Woodbridge along with the entire state, and the SDS 100 is definitely a very powerful radio. It takes some time to learn everything with it, and to also play around with the different settings. I have to admit that Uniden sentinel programming is a bit of a challenge to use at first. Once you understand it, everything can then be programmed so that you can turn banks on and off like a scan list.
So for example, on my SDS 100, I have Edison as Bank 1. That is the Edison talk groups on the Middlesex County 700 system, and only those talk groups, set to Scan mode. I also have a conventional system set up in Bank 1 as well which encompasses both trunk and conventional frequencies, similar to how the BC296D was set up 20 years ago. The SDS will scan the trunk system first, then it will go to the conventional system.
One thing you have to remember with the SDS series of scanners is that you have a FL key, which is your Bank key. Then you also have a System key, which is the actual trunk radio system or the conventional system that you are programming. Last, you have the Department key, which is the Group key. So to simplify this, on Bank 1 of my SDS 100 scanner, FL key (Bank) 1 is all of Edison. The system key I have assigned as 0 for the Middlesex County trunk system. And then each department, I have programmed separately. So Police is group key 1, fire is group key 2, EMS is group key 3, OEM is group key 4, DPW is group key 5, and all others is in group key 6 (Events, etc). If I want to turn off the Police group key because the police are encrypted, then I simply press 3.0.1, and that will turn off the police group key. If I want to turn off an entire bank, I would just press 1 and the entire Edison bank will be turned off. Then in Bank three, I have all of Middlesex County P25 trunk radio system program. Each town is given a separate department key. I also have various County departments separated to my personal preferences. So for example, I have OEM in one department key, hazmat in another group key, Carterette as another group key, so on and so forth. what this does is, if there’s something going on, then I can focus just on either that town, or I can actually lock out an entire department, such as the county services bank, which I have all of the miscellaneous talk groups in. And within each department, that’s where I have the actual talk groups on the trunk system program, and then the frequencies would be programmed on the conventional system type. And then I have them separated by department type as to how I want it programmed.
Like I said, it does take a lot of pre-programming and structuring in order to program everything the way that you wanted to. Simply downloading it the way it comes in off of the database can be confusing, and if you’re using just the ZIP Code, it gets even more confusing. It’s scanning way too much that that you don’t need the scan. So that’s why it takes a little bit of trial and error to actually sit down and review some of the YouTube videos on the Sentinel programming software and really go over everything and try to be patient with it. Once you learn all of that, then things become easier, and then you can really have the scanner programmed the way that you want it to be, and programmed in such a way that it mimics the traditional scanner type from 20 years ago.
So for example, on my SDS 100, I have Edison as Bank 1. That is the Edison talk groups on the Middlesex County 700 system, and only those talk groups, set to Scan mode. I also have a conventional system set up in Bank 1 as well which encompasses both trunk and conventional frequencies, similar to how the BC296D was set up 20 years ago. The SDS will scan the trunk system first, then it will go to the conventional system.
One thing you have to remember with the SDS series of scanners is that you have a FL key, which is your Bank key. Then you also have a System key, which is the actual trunk radio system or the conventional system that you are programming. Last, you have the Department key, which is the Group key. So to simplify this, on Bank 1 of my SDS 100 scanner, FL key (Bank) 1 is all of Edison. The system key I have assigned as 0 for the Middlesex County trunk system. And then each department, I have programmed separately. So Police is group key 1, fire is group key 2, EMS is group key 3, OEM is group key 4, DPW is group key 5, and all others is in group key 6 (Events, etc). If I want to turn off the Police group key because the police are encrypted, then I simply press 3.0.1, and that will turn off the police group key. If I want to turn off an entire bank, I would just press 1 and the entire Edison bank will be turned off. Then in Bank three, I have all of Middlesex County P25 trunk radio system program. Each town is given a separate department key. I also have various County departments separated to my personal preferences. So for example, I have OEM in one department key, hazmat in another group key, Carterette as another group key, so on and so forth. what this does is, if there’s something going on, then I can focus just on either that town, or I can actually lock out an entire department, such as the county services bank, which I have all of the miscellaneous talk groups in. And within each department, that’s where I have the actual talk groups on the trunk system program, and then the frequencies would be programmed on the conventional system type. And then I have them separated by department type as to how I want it programmed.
Like I said, it does take a lot of pre-programming and structuring in order to program everything the way that you wanted to. Simply downloading it the way it comes in off of the database can be confusing, and if you’re using just the ZIP Code, it gets even more confusing. It’s scanning way too much that that you don’t need the scan. So that’s why it takes a little bit of trial and error to actually sit down and review some of the YouTube videos on the Sentinel programming software and really go over everything and try to be patient with it. Once you learn all of that, then things become easier, and then you can really have the scanner programmed the way that you want it to be, and programmed in such a way that it mimics the traditional scanner type from 20 years ago.
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