Discouraged New User.

[Spamoli14]

Just want some feedback before I return my radio. I haven’t used a scanner in 25 years since my sportcat 150. Wanted to get back into it so I purchased a sds100. I went on sentinel and got everything up to date. Everything I’m picking up are cities 15+ miles away - no my city or any neighboring cities. Are the days of picking up local police departments dead, should I just return radio and call it quits? I’m in the westside cleveland suburbs. Looking for Westlake, Bay Village, Rocky River, Fair View & Avon. Maybe I’m not setting up my radio right but if I could get some direction that would be awesome.

 

[rcid1971]

Westshore PDs are TG 13611 and are very active.

Could be a programming issue?

 

[jdolina]

Did you create a favorite list or are you scanning from the full database i.e. zip code scan? Are you using location control and what is the distance you have set? I would suggest creating a favorite list with what you want and turning off location control. You would need MARCS and Lorain 5-city systems to get what you want. Only add the sites which you can receive at your location and the talk groups that you want. I have an SDS 100 dedicated to the same things you mentioned and a few more around my area and it is always busy. There is a learning curve with the SDS/BCD scanners don't give up.

 

[amcferrin90]

Could be a lot of things!! Might check which service types are turned on and off. Set your location by zip code. If using the full database (default), press the system hotkey to lock the current system. Then press the same hotkey and scroll the knob to find the system you want to monitor ie: Five Cities or Ohio MARCS. That will hold that system. That should get you scanning. From there you can filter the department you want to scan. That's the basics and pretty different than what you used to use.

Like the other person said, I'd create a favorite list in Sentinel, drag down the stuff you're interested in. Load it in and then turn on just that favorite list (menu, set scan selection, select lists to monitor, turn on/off what you want).

 

[rcid1971]

Avon PD is MARCS
Avon Lake PD is 5-Cities

 

[n3obl]

You have to realize these day with trunking vs the old days where you just plugged in some freqs and away you went. There is a lot of on configuration now.

 

[W8KIC]

Just want some feedback before I return my radio. I haven’t used a scanner in 25 years since my sportcat 150. Wanted to get back into it so I purchased a sds100. I went on sentinel and got everything up to date. Everything I’m picking up are cities 15+ miles away - no my city or any neighboring cities. Are the days of picking up local police departments dead, should I just return radio and call it quits? I’m in the westside cleveland suburbs. Looking for Westlake, Bay Village, Rocky River, Fair View & Avon. Maybe I’m not setting up my radio right but if I could get some direction that would be awesome.

Westshore Law Dispatch (TG 13611) is where you'll find Bay Village, Westlake, Fairview Park, North Olmsted & Rocky River PD Dispatch. I've also heard additional PD traffic for Rocky River Ch 3 (TG13582) Law Tac, which is somewhat unusual these days as more and more Tac channels have gone the encryption route. And don't forget about GCRCN, which carries dispatch traffic for all 5 CPD districts, Euclid PD, East Cleveland PD, Garfield Heights PD, Maple Heights PD, Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, University Heights and several other agencies, which right off the top of my head should register but I'm drawing a blank. Lol! Cleveland's 4th and 5th districts provide the most action, although the 3rd has it's share as well. We're extremely lucky here in Northeast Ohio to have as many unencrypted dispatch channels still available to us for listening, although there's no guarantee for what the future may hold. Finally, DON'T return that SDS 100 as a result of the usual frustration that goes along with learning anything new that's technology related. Most of us know exactly what you're going through when learning how to program these rather sophisticated scanners. Patience is definitely your best friend. Good luck!

 

[Enforcer52]

Check your PM, upper right side in menu bar.

 

[RT48]

I live in North Olmsted and can hear everything you mention. Here's a couple favorite lists to get you started. Unzip the file and import the lists using Sentinel.

 

[W8UU]

Just want some feedback before I return my radio. I haven’t used a scanner in 25 years since my Sportcat 150. Wanted to get back into it so I purchased a sds100 ...

Like many older dudes, I mourn the loss of VHF and UHF analog in public safety. So easy to monitor. Just program the frequency in your scanner (or buy the crystal, if you're operating vintage equipment) and BOOM, there you go.

If you're in Ohio, just count on everything in the public safety world being on MARCS (or a locally-owned P25 700/800 system) now or in the future. The $$$$$ money for the infrastructure has already been spent. If your local agencies aren't on board yet, they will be soon.

With that said, you did but a great radio to monitor the trunked stuff. There's a steep learning curve to understanding (a) how trunked systems work and (b) all the things you need to know and program into your scanner to hear what you want without overloading the scan lists with unnecessary data.

I have the SDS-200 and learned by trial and error. The Radio Reference group is probably the best resource any scanner user could ever have. So much knowledge here. I had to accept that the public safety communications world had moved forward without asking me for my opinion first.

You've already spent the money for a great scanner. Now you need to fiddle around with your data fields to start receiving what you want to hear. It's all part of the fun of scanning in the 21st century - or that's what I keep telling myself!

P.S. I have a table full of analog scanners that can be used as door stops, wheel chocks, or boat anchors, if anyone is interested.

 

[EAFrizzle]

I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but many of us find ProScan to be easier to use than Sentinel. It has a free 30-day trial to see if you like it.


The Easier to Read Manual for the SDS scanners is also helpful.

 

[wa8pyr]

Just want some feedback before I return my radio. <snip> Maybe I’m not setting up my radio right but if I could get some direction that would be awesome.

Have you tried the Zip Code option? Punch in your Zip code and set the Range to Zero. That should cull out some of the distant stuff.

Also, there are quite a few active scannists in the Cleveland area; maybe you could reach out to them and someone could meet up with you to walk you through the radio.

As W8UU said, while there is quite a learning curve with the new stuff, it's really a worthwhile and fun hobby once you get the hang of it.

P.S. I have a table full of analog scanners that can be used as door stops, wheel chocks, or boat anchors, if anyone is interested.

You do have a railroad there in town. The analog scanners work great for that. Also FRS and GMRS. Probably a lot of that down there....

Don't forget airplanes, although I'm not sure pedal-power airplanes on a dirt field have radios.

To be fair, I have a couple Pro-2004s and a couple Pro-2006s I can't seem to bring myself to get rid of...

I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but many of us find ProScan to be easier to use than Sentinel. It has a free 30-day trial to see if you like it.

ProScan is excellent, as is ARC536. Sure do wish you could do firmware and database updates with those, but Sentinel is the only game in town there....

 

[W8UU]

You do have a railroad there in town. The analog scanners work great for that. Also FRS and GMRS. Probably a lot of that down there....

Don't forget airplanes, although I'm not sure pedal-power airplanes on a dirt field have radios.

To be fair, I have a couple Pro-2004s and a couple Pro-2006s I can't seem to bring myself to get rid of...

FRS and GMRS are hit and miss. Occasionally some off road four-wheelers using lots of profanity as they blaze new trails through the woods. You hear kids playing on FRS bubble-pack radios if they're really close. The biggest treat is monitoring 462.725 MHz in the mornings and afternoons. Wellston City Schools uses that channel to coordinate bus movement and parents picking up their kids. I don't believe they think anyone else can hear them and what they say. I'll leave that right there for your imagination to fill in the blanks.

I've tried listening to the railroads. Occasional brief voice traffic and lots of data bursts. Watching paint dry is more interesting -- at least when I tried to monitor them. I don't have anything that'll receive the AM VHF aircraft band. The Jackson County James A. Rhodes International Airport has a unicom frequency. No control tower or person on duty there. I'm sure you can hear the jets passing overhead to Columbus, Huntington, Charleston, Dayton, Cincinnati, and everywhere else. That might be neat to hear.

Most of our local businesses went to cell phones. The community repeater industry is dying on the tower. B&C doesn't offer that service here anymore and Lloyd's (Motorola) out of West Virginia is closing them down right and left. The more active business repeaters are DMR/MotoTrbo, so my analog scanners are, once again, door stops.

I can pick up three NOAA weather channels here on the hilltop -- at least until someone decides they're a waste of tax money and shuts them down. So (for now) there's that ...

 

[sprman1955]

Dont forget low band 25-50 mhz still a lot of analog stuff on it..

 

[W8UU]

Don't forget low band 25-50 MHz still a lot of analog stuff on it..

It would have to be skip. I have the only active VHF low band license within a 25 mile radius.
LOW Low band. 29.73 MHz, baby!

 

[sprman1955]

Yes it would be skip.I will give a listen on 29.73 is it AM or FM ?

 

[dryfb]

If you're in Ohio, just count on everything in the public safety world being on MARCS (or a locally-owned P25 700/800 system) now or in the future. The $$$$$ money for the infrastructure has already been spent. If your local agencies aren't on board yet, they will be soon.

Afaik Erie County and Seneca County are both adamant (for the most part) about never going MARCS, or at least Seneca Co is, and I think those may be the last 2 almost-all-conventional holdouts, everything but North Central EMS in Erie CO and OSP in both counties is conventional.

OP, if you're ever itching to listen to analog public safety you may be able to hear the west side Erie Co fire repeater. Super high profile, has a few departments on it. Listed as Groton Twp FD in the database. Maybe Vermilion and Vermilion Township FDs as well but I have no idea how good their repeaters are, it doesn't interest me to listen to them when I'm in Sandusky. During the morning (like 6-9), you may be able to hear a lot of Erie Co stuff. I can pick up Delaware Co buses on the Seneca Sheriff frequency from Seneca Co in the summer during the early morning every so often, band ducting and whatnot can be pretty cool.

 

[W8UU]

Yes it would be skip.I will give a listen on 29.73 is it AM or FM ?

FM. 100 watt GE Delta SX base into a Decibel Products DB 205 co-linear antenna at 40 feet. I'm getting 30-40 miles simplex in the hills of southeastern Ohio.

 

[W8UU]

Afaik Erie County and Seneca County are both adamant (for the most part) about never going MARCS, or at least Seneca Co is, and I think those may be the last 2 almost-all-conventional holdouts, everything but North Central EMS in Erie CO and OSP in both counties is conventional.

Athens and Jackson Counties said that 10 years ago, then the state gave the Sheriff's Offices a bunch of free used MARCS mobiles and eliminated their user fees. That's all it took. One by one, the other agencies in the county started hopping on board. Sometimes the freebies work, and other times it takes a change in elected officials, but eventually it will happen. There are a lot of grants tied into radio interoperability -- with the Ohio MARCS system being the clearly recognized "best choice" to fulfill that requirement.

 

[Jphila20]

The sad part is all they have to do is flip and switch and bye bye.