Hi, I'm new to scanning and from the UK where we have no simulcast issue's. Ignoring the colour screen what does the Uniden offer more than the Whistler? In the UK the Uniden is £750 and the Whistler £490. I'm really only interested in DMR and need a scanner that is sensitive and selective. Which is the better scanner for this and is the Whistlers screen really that bad? Thanks.
Uniden sds200 v Whistler trx 2
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tvengr
Well Known Member
The Whistler TRX-2 cannot trunk track DMR. The SDS200 does trunk track DMR, however you will need the paid DMR upgrade to receive DMR on the SDS200. The TRX-2 receives DMR out of the box but does not trunk track and there is no upgrade to do so.
Ubbe
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Sensitive and selective, that would be the BCD536HP. The SDS200 are in some situations as sensitive but much worse in the selective department and even a disaster in high RF level environments.
The TRX-2 has a tad worse sensitivity than BCD536HP, but not much, but suffers from some kind of overload issue in VHF.
DMR decode are better in the TRX-2 and can decode really noisy signals but using the same antenna signal a Uniden will have less noise and the squelch in TRX-2 will need to be set much higher, so it will decode pretty much the same from the same antenna signal. Uniden still has some issues decoding DMR control channels and you have to spend another $50 for the DMR decoder. A SDS scanner are only intended for coping with simulcast systems as the x36 scanners have the exact same functions and features, if we disregard the color display, But the BCD536 has WiFi hotspot that your mobile phone can attach to and work as a remote client with iPhones or an Android phone that has an older firmware. If you have a TRX-2 connected to a PC you can do pretty much the same using Android Suite.
I do not really see the point in selling SDS scanners in Europe, considering the bad RF handling and higher cost compared to x36 scanners.
/Ubbe
The TRX-2 has a tad worse sensitivity than BCD536HP, but not much, but suffers from some kind of overload issue in VHF.
DMR decode are better in the TRX-2 and can decode really noisy signals but using the same antenna signal a Uniden will have less noise and the squelch in TRX-2 will need to be set much higher, so it will decode pretty much the same from the same antenna signal. Uniden still has some issues decoding DMR control channels and you have to spend another $50 for the DMR decoder. A SDS scanner are only intended for coping with simulcast systems as the x36 scanners have the exact same functions and features, if we disregard the color display, But the BCD536 has WiFi hotspot that your mobile phone can attach to and work as a remote client with iPhones or an Android phone that has an older firmware. If you have a TRX-2 connected to a PC you can do pretty much the same using Android Suite.
I do not really see the point in selling SDS scanners in Europe, considering the bad RF handling and higher cost compared to x36 scanners.
/Ubbe
Depending on your goals/needs (u did not specifically mention trunking), there are cheaper options.
1. inexpensive SDR and a pc with software
2. DMR handheld
3. DMR mobile
Any of these options can be implemented much more cheaply than a new SDS. In fact you can probably buy more than one actual dmr radio for the cost of a new scanner.
1. inexpensive SDR and a pc with software
2. DMR handheld
3. DMR mobile
Any of these options can be implemented much more cheaply than a new SDS. In fact you can probably buy more than one actual dmr radio for the cost of a new scanner.
Thanks for all the feedback. I want to scan the entire range offered using DMR predominantly here in the UK. The only two base stations available are the Whistler TX2 and the Uniden SDS200. I was really just concerned about raw sensitivity and selectivity between the two. I had not considered DMR trunking and overload.
Ubbe
Member
The small display can't hold all the information for a system, TG and users, so it will alternate between two screens, and you can set the time for each screen. The display light are very bright. The lowest setting equals a 536's highest setting. The text font are of about the equal size as the other scanners.
/Ubbe
What does that work out to in US funds?
The SDS-200 has a much slower scanning speed and analog reception in most bands is poorer than a TRX-2. For DMR and NXDN monitoring the TRX-2 is far superior. All IMO.
In UK too and although its not a base scanner, the Uniden UBC3600XLT is an option too. I have one and it has DMR built in (no need to buy extra license), it does the trunk tracking properly, and its £480 at the moment. Used with Proscan or something similar it would be a nice setup for home, with the added ability of taking it out and about if desired.
Ubbe
Member
It doesn't properly cover the 68-87MHz band. At the band edges it's maybe a 10uV sensitivity but in the middle it's almost dead.
It uses trunk search for DMR and NXDN trunked system, it searches the voice channels for the TG you are monitoring. If you monitor a TG call and the call goes to the control channel to rest and waits for next user to push his PTT, the TRX scanner will scan thru all voice channel until it finds the TG again, if the call have continued. When the delay for the TG times out it starts to monitor all TG's that you have programmed.
It works very reliable at a 100% rate and you also catch all private calls user-to-user that a Uniden scanner most often miss as it only checks the control channel. Many times a DMR call will stay on the same frequency and slot during the whole conversation as it needs a minimum time between the PTT pushes to go back to the control channel. So in real life use it catches more calls than a Uniden scanner. It works worse if it's a site with many active voice channels as it then needs to decode each voice channels data to see what TG are active on it. If there's no calls on a voice channel it just scans past it at a 80ch/s rate. You also do not need to worry about using the proper LCN values as TRX scanners doesn't use them.
The major issue with TRX-2 are it's squelch operation.
/Ubbe
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