SDS100/SDS200: SDS100 Firmware 1.02.05a for Open Beta

[jonwienke]

The scanner refreshes internal memory variables and stuff approximately every 2 seconds. IIRC it's related to the data from the control channel (active transmission data, SysID, site ID, etc.) being broadcast in an endless loop, and the refresh happens at the beginning/end of the data loop. That's why everything but the frequency blinks periodically; the scanner is refreshing the data from the control channel.

Note that most channel data items stop blinking during a voice call--the scanner is not monitoring the control channel while monitoring the voice channel, so the SysID, Site ID, etc "freeze" to whatever value they had when the voice call started.

 

[W2GLD]

Tested Against:
2. EDACS system missing many comms.

Results: Appears Fixed

Ingham County, Michigan: https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=2849


Discussion: Performed a site-hold against their simulcast system with marginal signal (-100dBm) or there about. Was scanning the system in search mode and with a preprogrammed list of known talkgroups as well; the scanner was hitting on significantly more hits than ever and seems consistent when cross-checked against a Whistler TRX-1 and Unitrunker as well. I will post additional results over the weekend after extended testing.

Log file attached




Log File(s):
<log file name> : Which system this log is from and which problem is still occurring.

My updated report is this issue is nowhere near fixed; extended testing tonight on a very busy system yields the SDS100 missing over 50% or more of the conversations on this system compared to the Whistler TRX-1 and Unitrunker; very discouraged especially after dealing with the prolonged BCDx36HP issues since its launch...

 

[UPMan]

My updated report is this issue is nowhere near fixed; extended testing tonight on a very busy system yields the SDS100 missing over 50% or more of the conversations on this system compared to the Whistler TRX-1 and Unitrunker; very discouraged especially after dealing with the prolonged BCDx36HP issues since its launch...

Link to system? Log file? Need a complete report for this thread...nothing can be diagnosed from above.

 

[N6ML]

One thing to clarify: when looking at issue #1, it is normal for the RSSI, NAC, SYS ID, Site ID, and D-ERROR to blink on and off, or change to "---" every second or two as the scanner does its normal housekeeping whatever.

What I'm seeing, when holding on a system/site, or when scanning with only a single system/site, where the hold time for that system is a high number, is that those IDs hold steady for extended periods (10's of seconds), then, sporadically, there are periods where the IDs blink repeatedly, then they return to solid for another while. I don't think that that can be explained by periodic housekeeping, unless the scheduling of the housekeeping is based on something seemingly erratic.

If the RSSI value changes by more than 10dBm while the scanner is on the same frequency and the antenna is not moving, that is also an issue. But indicators other than the frequency blinking periodically during a site hold is normal.

I do see significant fluctuation in RSSI (>10dB). I'd put it down to some sort of interference, except I see it both at home and whilst out driving around...

 

[jonwienke]

What I'm seeing, when holding on a system/site, or when scanning with only a single system/site, where the hold time for that system is a high number, is that those IDs hold steady for extended periods (10's of seconds), then, sporadically, there are periods where the IDs blink repeatedly, then they return to solid for another while. I don't think that that can be explained by periodic housekeeping, unless the scheduling of the housekeeping is based on something seemingly erratic.

If you increase the system hold time the scanner does the refresh less often.

I do see significant fluctuation in RSSI (>10dB). I'd put it down to some sort of interference, except I see it both at home and whilst out driving around...

If you see fluctuations in the control channel RSSI, but not on the voice channel during a call, that is more likely a firmware issue than interference.

 

[mule1075]

If you increase the system hold time the scanner does the refresh less often.

For me it made a huge difference. Dumb me had my hold time set to 0. With the firmware and changed hold time I have seen a vast improvements. Will not be able to post a log until I get back to a PC.

 

[jonwienke]

For me it made a huge difference. Dumb me had my hold time set to 0. With the firmware and changed hold time I have seen a vast improvements. Will not be able to post a log until I get back to a PC.

For testing/logging purposes, it should be set to 0. Logs of the unit working correctly are not useful. They have to show a malfunction to be helpful in solving the malfunction.

 

[mule1075]

For testing/logging purposes, it should be set to 0. Logs of the unit working correctly are not useful. They have to show a malfunction to be helpful in solving the malfunction.

Understood I will keep that in mind. Thanks

 

[troymail]

For me it made a huge difference. Dumb me had my hold time set to 0. With the firmware and changed hold time I have seen a vast improvements. Will not be able to post a log until I get back to a PC.

It has been stated for a long time that a hold time of 0 is "normal" and should allow sufficient time for the CC to be fully sampled. Setting it to a higher value does seem to improve things but at the detriment of other things being scanned. Either the window allowed at 0 isn't really working as expected or there isn't sufficient/good quality signal during that time and increasing the hold time overcomes one/both (or other) issues.

 

[captainmax1]

Tested Against:
3. Some Harris P25 systems missing many comms
Fixed or Greatly Improved. Picks up everything now that my 436 receives on my local Harris P25 Phase 1 System: Monroe County Trunking System, Monroe County, Florida - Scanner Frequencies

 

[rbrtklamp2]

I have two SDS100 radios one with the current release and one with the beta release of firmware right now this is what I am seeing the back light does not stay lit for the duration it is set for I have the squelch setting set to fifteen seconds and it works fine on the the current release of firmware but the beta release has it shutting off after every transmission there is no delay. Also I am seeing the the RSSI and other settings fluctuate and flicker on and off when monitoring my local trunked systems site with both firmware versions. I am holding on a single site and system when seeing this behavior. Analog conventional has been very much improved with the beta firmware but still isn't quite there, definitely not on par with my 396XT it sounds like there is to much treble and not enough bass on conventional analog channels. Fire tone outs are very high pitched when analog almost piercing a little more bass on the analog side couldn't hurt also analog reception while improved is not as good as previous models. I will be running a debug mode on my local trunk system starting tomorrow and will post my debug logs I just wanted to introduce myself and the errors I am seeing this time right now. Debug logs will be coming from both the current firmware and the beta so the can be compared. Also I am missing transmissions as well when trunking my local site I receive about 85 to 90% of the traffic but it does frequently skip the response from a unit or will skip dispatch and I will hear only hear the unit respond this seems to be much improved with the beta firmware but not completely fixed as I said starting tomorrow I will be posting daily debug logs of what I am seeing. Just FYI I am monitoring tower 1-001 on the IL Starcom21 system most of the time.

Thank you all for your time and I look forward to working with all of you and especially UPMan to get these issues resolved.

 

[werinshades]

Also I am missing transmissions as well when trunking my local site I receive about 85 to 90% of the traffic but it does frequently skip the response from a unit or will skip dispatch and I will hear only hear the unit respond this seems to be much improved with the beta firmware but not completely fixed as I said starting tomorrow I will be posting daily debug logs of what I am seeing. Just FYI I am monitoring tower 1-001 on the IL Starcom21 system most of the tiime

Bob...I know we're both from Illinois and I was surprised to see you're having problems on the Starcom sites. I'm just a few blocks from Midway and was happy to see I was able to receive DuCom from Site 101 (NAC 145). I would double check settings as I'm receiving both sides of conversations, tone outs sound better than the 436 (couldn't get reception on 396xt unless I was out there) and the simulcast sites are no longer a challenge. The one thing I did change is I removed Site 102 control channels in the event it locked on there as conversations are limited. I did see some users who downloaded via their zip code had errant results and when they put the information in themselves, resolved reception issues.

In the Illinois forums, I started a thread titled "SDS100 and Starcom". It's also possible you're unit is bad as I read here somewhere a replacement unit solved all the problems.

The backlight issue...well UPMan explained that in yet another thread this morning, and it appears the "flicker than no illumination on next transmission" is the only bug. Everything else is by design. I hope you get this resolved and maybe update the database if any changes have taken place in DuCom land.

 

[AA6IO]

Did beta update yesterday. Slight, but not much change at "zero" hold. Wise in another thread talks about 1 sec hold making big difference. I tried it. Currently have 8 different trunking systems or sites running together with some analog systems, all using 1 sec hold on each. Marked improvement in what 100 picks up. Maybe this is the nature of an SDR scanner. But I'm confident that continuing firmware tweaking will improve things.

 

[UPMan]

Which issue?

 

[rbrtklamp2]

Hey Shades,
I have two as I said and they perform almost the same side by side with the exception of the one with beta firmware in it. The beta firmware unit handles conventional analog channels much better than the one with the public firmware release. As for LSM decoding it leaps and bounds better on both firmware releases compared to the X36HP line. So in don't think I have a defective unit but time will tell. I have serial number ending in 044 and 580 quite a difference between the two numbers but that's about it they both perform about the same. And the stock antenna is nothing to write home about but for testing purposes I feel the stock antenna is best used to get a feel of what the radio can do. I have hooked them up to the same disocone on my roof and got much better range. I just think the analog voice sounds a little tinny while digital voice sounds amazing so hopefully the analog voice problem can be dealt with via firmware upgrade all in all with the DMR and NXDN upgrade each radio cost me about 740.00 each and they both sound great on digital as I said it's just the conventional analog side of things I am seeing degraded performance in.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[kikito]

Item 1 - “P25 systems holding on site with good signal, but RSSI indication blanks and many comms are missed.”:

Results: Appears Fixed/Greatly Improved

System: https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=2447

Discussion:

Like mentioned above, it appears like is greatly improved and keeping up with the 436 on all transmissions for the past couple of days. I am holding on only one site. Haven’t tested much scanning multiple sites at once yet, since that was usually where I would see the biggest issue for me in that the SDS many times wouldn’t stop on a transmission already in progress that I was already monitoring on hold with the 436.

 

[kikito]

Item: 4. “Inconsistent backlight operation“

Results: Appears Fixed/Greatly Improved

System: https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=2447

Discussion:

According to how it’s been explained that the backlight settings are supposed to work by design, then I can say is working correctly as stipulated. Maybe not how I PERSONALLY would like it to work but as Uniden intended at this point. I’m NOT seeing the flickering issue and is nice that it doesn’t attempt to turn on the light even briefly when it encounters an encrypted transmission.

This is how I’m seeing it operate on my radio right now: No activity, screen is off, LED on top blinks every few seconds. Squelch opens, display comes on, and IF the transmission is shorter than the set delay, the screen turns off right away when the squelch closes. IF the transmission is longer than the set delay, then the screen turns off while the transmission still going after the delay timer runs out i.e. 5 secs. After the transmission ends and another one starts, then display would come back on and the same process above begins.

 

[spotsyrick]

Tested Against:

3. Some Harris P25 systems missing many comms.



Results: Greatly improved.............getting more TG's and more transmissions compared to before where I was receiving mainly the control channel.


Link(s) to system(s) checked:https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=8651

 

[mikeybus44]

I have some firmware for testing against some of the reported issues. Specifically, the items below.

1. P25 systems holding on site with good signal, but RSSI indication blanks and many comms are missed.
2. EDACS system missing many comms.
3. Some Harris P25 systems missing many comms.
4. Inconsistent backlight operation

To apply this test firmware, download http://info.uniden.com/twiki/pub/PartnerWeb/SDS100-beta/SDS-100_V1_02_05a.bin


Copy this file to the FIRMWARE folder on your SDS100, then reboot the scanner.

Sorry but where do I find this folder?

 

[N6ML]

Sorry but where do I find this folder?

When you connect your SDS100 to your PC via the USB-mini port, and tell it to use "Mass Storage" mode, it should appear as a drive in Windows. Open that drive, then the "BCDx36HP" folder, then you should see a "firmware" folder.