CES vs Uniden

[AA4BK]

I disagree with some of the opinions here (as will many others, I guess, because everyone's got their own opinions). But I don't think the problem is the complexity. These are complex devices. I'm glad they are, because if they were overly simple I wouldn't own one. I want that level of control. I want the ability to adjust filter settings, for example, and change modes, channel spacing, etc. That's all good, as far as I'm concerned.

Now, I do agree that things like not explaining what the filters actually are a problem. Uniden should explain how they work and what they do. Do that, and provide reasonable defaults (they already do provide reasonable defaults) and it should be fine. If someone wants the control and knows how to use it, they can make decent decisions. If someone doesn't know what the filters do, though, it's hard to know where to even begin other than trial and error.

I would also agree that fixing bugs of some level of significance should be the highest priority. I would think that after that, though, once they get to features, Phase 2 control channel support would be very high on that list. It's not something hitting me personally, either. I'm just noting we don't have that support and I think that's something that will likely need to be fixed soon, given that P25 is a major driver of purchases for these radios.

Lastly, the comments asking Uniden to do something about encryption are just silly. Mathematically, and legally, there's nothing they can do. They're doing the best they can do already, which is skipping over that traffic. My opinion, or anyone else's, on whether that should even be a problem, is irrelevant. The encryption exists, there's nothing Uniden can do about it, and they're already doing things right.

 

[buddrousa]

I have 996p2 536 436 325p2 sds100 and sds200
T3 DMR is not plug and play you have to put forth great effort to GET THE LCN and enter them correctly as T3 does not use a conventional Trunking channel list.
The Control Channel broadcast the user defined list
that they made up for their system.
This is the map to the system.
This is like me saying a town and you go to it with out a map or google.

 

[scanfreqer]

I just hope I get my SDS 100 back from the repair shop.LOL

 

[cg]

Well, I will at least say welcome to the RadioReference forums Mr Sullivan. Nothing like jumping into the deep end right away.

chris

 

[garys]

You have to do that with any DMR or even NXDN system. I've spent a lot of hours with my SDR/DSD Plus set ups listening and figuring out LCN, Color Codes, RANS, etc. As did others.

A lot of that information ended up at both Scan New England and here.

I may have read it incorrectly, but it seems that even with the correct information TIII DMR doesn't work properly on the HP or SDS scanners.

I have 996p2 536 436 325p2 sds100 and sds200
T3 DMR is not plug and play you have to put forth great effort to GET THE LCN and enter them correctly as T3 does not use a conventional Trunking channel list.
The Control Channel broadcast the user defined list
that they made up for their system.
This is the map to the system.
This is like me saying a town and you go to it with out a map or google.

 

[buddrousa]

I beg to differ I have a 996p2 325p2 536 436 sds200 sds100 all working on 2 different T3 systems 1 800 and 1 UHF system with no problems it took me a week each to get them working and I have no problems. I have 1 sds200 running beside a admin radio on one system testing and it works 100% so it is a setup problem.

 

[garys]

Is there a post with how to do this, and if not why not start one?

I beg to differ I have a 996p2 325p2 536 436 sds200 sds100 all working on 2 different T3 systems 1 800 and 1 UHF system with no problems it took me a week each to get them working and I have no problems. I have 1 sds200 running beside a admin radio on one system testing and it works 100% so it is a setup problem.

 

[kb5udf]

At my location(s) office and home the filter settings on my SDS make no difference as to my problems and attenuate does not help either. I do not have an RFI issue other then the cell towers, which I can see on my sdr's are massive amounts of signal until about 768 mhz. At first it was only a few towers around my hometown the exhibited this, now, more and more of them do so.

 

[AA4BK]

I read a write-up on it a few months back, I forget where it was, but they were saying the effective power output of a common cell tower can easily be 2500 watts or so. If that's the case, that's an awful lot of front-end load on any receiver anywhere close to that transmitting antenna.

 

[fxdscon]

I read a write-up on it a few months back, I forget where it was, but they were saying the effective power output of a common cell tower can easily be 2500 watts or so. If that's the case, that's an awful lot of front-end load on any receiver anywhere close to that transmitting antenna.

-
A lot less, according to the FCC here:

Human Exposure to Radio Frequency Fields: Guidelines for Cellular Antenna Sites

At a cell site, the total radio frequency (RF) power that can be transmitted from each transmitting antenna depends on the number of radio channels (transmitters) that have been authorized by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the power of each transmitter. Although the FCC permits...

www.fcc.gov

.

 

[AA4BK]

From that it looks like only 5-10 watts per channel, although I'm not sure how many channels are transmitting simultaneously. I'm also not sure it's as simple as multiplying the transmit wattage by the number of simultaneous channels. But I feel a lot better about being anywhere near cell towers after seeing that article. Thanks!

 

[Ubbe]

A lot less, according to the FCC here:

Human Exposure to Radio Frequency Fields: Guidelines for Cellular Antenna Sites

At a cell site, the total radio frequency (RF) power that can be transmitted from each transmitting antenna depends on the number of radio channels (transmitters) that have been authorized by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the power of each transmitter. Although the FCC permits...

www.fcc.gov

.

What's this strange statement from FCC? ERP are Effective Radiated Power.
"An ERP of 100 watts corresponds to an actual radiated power of 5-10 watts, depending on the type of antenna used"

/Ubbe

 

[buddrousa]

It has been posted here several times that you have to find the LCN's for the entire system and enter them you miss 1 and the system will not track correctly there are several different members here also that have written software that will list LCN's after you figure out 1 to 2. Using an USB SDR the and the LCN Finder are just some of the tools required to find your starting point. Like I said I spent several hours and drove several miles and spent countless dollars working on this after reading several comments posted here in this forum that are still here to read SEARCH IS YOUR FRIEND.

 

[marcotor]

Why am I not surprised after his first post, the flood of missives telling them how to run the company by all of the RR business and marketing "experts"

 

[cg]

The Tier III issues are not present for every system.
Probably have a half dozen systems that work fine. Others don't.
Large Tait system doesn't work.
Hytera system that is near me does not trunktrack with Uniden scanners. Doesn't matter what you do, I have tried dozens of ways. They use the odd dialing scheme, could be that, could be some non standard function.

 

[garys]

There's a Hytera system in Boston at the Convention Center. Actually, it has three sites, but that's beside the point. I and others were making some progress figuring it out before the pandemic, but I haven't been in that area lately to listen.

IIRC without looking at my notes, DSD Plus showed a different LCN than the Uniden scanners. I think it was divide the DSD LCN by half and then subtract 1 to enter it into a Uniden scanner.

Maybe I'll get back to it sometime this winter or spring. The Convention Center seems to be back to normal operations.

The Tier III issues are not present for every system.
Probably have a half dozen systems that work fine. Others don't.
Large Tait system doesn't work.
Hytera system that is near me does not trunktrack with Uniden scanners. Doesn't matter what you do, I have tried dozens of ways. They use the odd dialing scheme, could be that, could be some non standard function.

 

[bearcatrp]

If unidont tries to fix the software, would be nice if using the zip code scanning, the scanner with say 10 miles of zip code would identify all frequencies within those 10 miles, look at what services are selected, then put all those frequencies in a temporary bank and scan those frequencies only instead of scanning there entire database and skipping over what’s not selected in the services selected.

 

[dave3825]

f unidont tries to fix the software, would be nice if using the zip code scanning, the scanner with say 10 miles of zip code would identify all frequencies within those 10 miles, look at what services are selected, then put all those frequencies in a temporary bank and scan those frequencies only instead of scanning there entire database and skipping over what’s not selected in the services selected.

It does not scan the entire database. When you enter a zip code, it only loads what's within the range set and what overlaps your range. It actually shows you what states it loads when you enter a zip.

 

[dave3825]

If you want to see exactly what gets set to scan when doing a zip code search, open Sentinel, go in profile and check Scan Full Database, then do, Add Channels On Range. Set a zip and a radius. Set service types. Tell it new favorites list. Let it do its thing. When its done you can see exactly what its going to scan..

 

[buddrousa]

Maybe is stead of rewriting the software and firmware maybe you should learn how to use the functions the scanner already has built in it.