436, 536, and SDS100 owners

[918Dave]

I've been a scanner enthusiast for over 40 years and have enjoyed receivers from all competitors. I've never been a beta tester, nor do I worship any particular brand. I don't disbelieve the problems some are having with their units and I really do hope they find a solution to their issues. I live in South Glendale and monitor Glendale PD, Luke AFB and Phx Fire primarily. Recently while in Tucson I had the pleasure of monitoring Tucson PD, and I was parked under a parking garage next to the mall. I have a friend in North Glendale who is also pleased with his 100. So it really is perplexing as to the disparity among owners? I don't need a meal and I'm not kissing anyone's derriere. My SDS 100 rocks, so far, (fingers crossed) but it is NOT perfect. I still can't get it to make a waffle.

 

[N9JIG]

Has anyone in the Valley tried the new open beta firmware noted at https://forums.radioreference.com/u...100-firmware-1-05-00m-1-01-05s-open-beta.html

I was in Surprise last night at a hotel (AC broken) by the baseball park and the WV RWC site sounded great on the SDS100 and of course on the G5 (until the battery died, I forgot the G5 charging cable...). I am one of those guys who has not had major problems with the SDS100 around the area so this new firmware version has not really changed anything for me.

I also am wondering if there is some hardware issue happening since some people are having bad results and others good. I haven't heard of a bad batch of radios but I suppose anything is possible.

Also, would people be interested in meeting up at some place next Saturday for lunch to compare radios? Perhaps a Barro's Pizza someplace, the food is cheap, they don't mind a bunch of people coming in as long as they buy meals and we can stay pretty much as long as we want. Our GMRS club goes to the one at 67th & 101 often but I am willing to go to someplace else.

 

[K9JLR]

Has anyone in the Valley tried the new open beta firmware noted at https://forums.radioreference.com/u...100-firmware-1-05-00m-1-01-05s-open-beta.html

I was in Surprise last night at a hotel (AC broken) by the baseball park and the WV RWC site sounded great on the SDS100 and of course on the G5 (until the battery died, I forgot the G5 charging cable...). I am one of those guys who has not had major problems with the SDS100 around the area so this new firmware version has not really changed anything for me.

I applied the update immediately on Friday AM. I am finding with the latest firmware that analog VHF and UHF transmissions that are distant actually have less background noise with the audio. I can hear metro DPS up in Cave Creek, as well as the Phoenix FD VHF dispatch frequency (A1 - 154.19000 MHz), both with less noise than previous versions had on analog. I had never had any notable issues on P25 digital, besides some dropped transmissions on IL STARCOM TGs, and that issue was resolved on one of the very first firmware upgrades.

I rode with my stepbrother (DPS District 12 trooper) and heard several fire dispatches up in Yavapai County, as well as US Forest Service traffic up near Mormon Lake (Tonto NF), all on VHF analog, and those transmissions also had less noise than I was previously hearing (obviously I had DPS locked out because of his mobile).