SDS200 and internal clock time

[wyomingmedic]

Perhaps this is common knowledge, but I had searched fairly intensely for the answer before testing myself and reporting the results. From what I can tell this isn't addressed in any literature I could find.

Problem: On my desk are three SDS200s. I know it's a first-world problem, but it was driving me NUTS that the clocks would never keep time accurately. I would set them all to within a second of each other, only to have them drifting wildly apart over the course of a week. A bit frustrating considering that I have 20 year old digital watches that keep time incredibly well.

Solution: I don't want to leave the scanners hooked up to a computer, but I wondered if they would get time updates from an attached GPS. And the answer is YES. If you want the clocks to stay synced and accurate, the scanners are smart enough to read the GPS data timestamps.

Now hopefully anyone searching in the future can find this thread and know what needs done.

 

[buddrousa]

My sds200 keeps time very well as do my 536's

 

[eaf1956]

Over the years I always hated when they added a clock to a scanner (albeit crystal days) because they never kept time very well.

 

[cmdrwill]

Can the "Clock" be turned off?

 

[wyomingmedic]

Can the "Clock" be turned off?

Oh yes. If only my OCD would allow such a thing.

 

[R8000]

My SDS200 clock is 21 mins fast and it doesn't bother me at all as I never look at it.

When there is activity, I am more interested in the talkgroup name more than anything else.

 

[djeplett]

I have to admit I haven't noticed if mine drifts much but if it did it must get a correction from my PC when I update the database or download daily recordings. I have never connected a GPS and it's always close to what the dispatchers say the time is when I'm listening to recordings.

 

[TNORRIS]

weird .. Mine has been running a week and matches my wall clock to the minute .. ?

 

[samcken]

Updated data base and favorites 3 days ago and my 200 is 4 minutes fast. HOWEVER . . . unless the time is automatically set whenever I hook the 200 to my computer, I have never done anything to set the clock since I have owned it. (Almost a year, bought new.)

 

[dougjgray]

You can replace the clock and date with other info on the sds 200 (what you dont know wont hurt you)

 

[MStep]

If my memory serves me right, you can just turn the clock color to black (or whatever background color you are using), and the numbers will just magically disappear. I have not noted any wild deviation in time on my 200. Now I'm wondering if the OP has found some "glitch" in the hardware (assuming that all three units have the same firmware) that is causing that "wild drift" that was referred to ???

For those without GPS capability, perhaps the next version of firmware can "read" the time from the computer which is being used to update the database in conjunction with some setting in Sentinel, and then write it to the radio.

This is the first time that I recall seeing anything mentioned about the SDS200 clock, although it's easy to miss a post once in a while. These SDS scanners just never cease to amaze me in the myriad of little niggles that keep popping up.

 

[freqseeker]

I found that my BCD436 and BCD536 both have a issue with the clock gaining time pretty fast (several minutes per month). The old Siren app would update the clock when started, I did that until the Siren app quit working for Android.
Knowing the radios were capable of syncing the clock I sent a note to Bob @ProScan for a suggestion to see if ProScan could have that feature. He replied that he would put it on the list. A few days later it was in a new release. Thanks Bob for the great support.

My two SDS200's and SDS100 seem much better. I just checked my SDS200 and it was less than one minute fast. The last time it was updated was in Sept. 2020. I set it with ProScan and will monitor. The BCD536 was eleven minutes fast over that same time frame. Poor clock accuracy has always driven me nuts as well.

 

[MStep]

I don't claim to know everything (or much at all) about the "technicals" of the SDS interaction with Sentinel, but if Bob at ProScan can do it, and it's not already implemented in Sentinel, I think we've come up with another great wish-list item for Joe Bearcat. It could very well be something that already exists in Sentinel that I am unaware of.

 

[ProScan]

I don't claim to know everything (or much at all) about the "technicals" of the SDS interaction with Sentinel, but if Bob at ProScan can do it, and it's not already implemented in Sentinel, I think we've come up with another great wish-list item for Joe Bearcat. It could very well be something that already exists in Sentinel that I am unaware of.

Setting the clock uses the protocol command DTM that requires the use of the serial port. Sentinel is not serial port capable so it's impossible to set the clock using Sentinel.

 

[MStep]

Setting the clock uses the protocol command DTM that requires the use of the serial port. Sentinel is not serial port capable so it's impossible to set the clock using Sentinel.

Thanks for that info Bob. It's amazing what entrepreneurs like yourself can do with your knowledge. I've read many great things about ProScan and the SDS series; in fact, I have version 11.3 that I used extensively with my 536. Just never updated or tried it with the SDS200--- yet! It's more an issue with lack of computer resources than anything else.

I've also got marlbrook's "eSPYonARD" program, also used extensively with my AOR DV1 in the past (actually from it's inception), but somehow for the kind of listening I am doing right now, it's pretty much just me interfaced with the receivers "hands-on".

Thanks again for the bit of information and continued success with ProScan. Amazing program!

 

[RandyKuff]

Oh yes. If only my OCD would allow such a thing.

On the SDS display settings you can remove the clock from the display (Using Sentinel) and change it to
something else or leave it blank...
The clock is only used to time and date stamp recordings anyway...

 

[eaf1956]

On the SDS display settings you can remove the clock from the display (Using Sentinel) and change it to
something else or leave it blank...
The clock is only used to time and date stamp recordings anyway...

Or if it gets too far off you can always update the time. Seems like a good time would be around time change periods. LOL I checked both of mine and they are correct with each other and with my cell phone. However, I might add that they are both on GPS and sometimes both connected to ProScan.

 

[RandyKuff]

Yep... ProScan will update the time too...
Not buying a GPS jiust to set the clock...

 

[eaf1956]

Yep... ProScan will update the time too...
Not buying a GPS jiust to set the clock...

I never got GPS to update the clock either. I really don't ever (ok Hardly ever) look at the time on the scanner anyway.

 

[RandyKuff]

Can't answer if the GPS updates the time or not... Don't use one... Don't need one... At least not for how I use my scanner's,,,