Just purchased SDS200. Paid for programming for my area but didn't include transportation. On Sentinel pulled up USA, Oregon, Union and selected Oregon Department of Transportation to add to favorites. Saved to profile, however, it is not working on the scanner. (Used to my BCT8 which I could program a frequency directly into the scanner. So much easier for me to manage.) I don't understand sentinel and have reviewed all the instruction manual. If I add directly to the scanner I want it to scan through the frequencies not simply hold or lock onto that channel. This is so frustrating for me. Where we live I rely on my scanner in the winter for the passes from Boise to Pendelton for my husband's chronic Heart and kidney failure as well as dementia. If someone could walk me through the steps needed to add to my micro sd card with Union and Baker Counties or input directly to scanner for continual scanning. Thank you in advance. Kobers
Help with SDS200...please
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JethrowJohnson
I love P25
Did you check your Service Types? If Transportation is turned off in Service Types then it won't scan those channels.
By default only EMS Dispatch, Fire Dispatch, Law Dispatch, Custom 1, and Multi-Dispatch are enabled. You may need to enable other service types depending on what you want to hear. This is a common solution for "Why don't I hear ...." questions with the SDS scanners for new users.
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You do not mention anywhere that you wrote to the scanner. If you simply added it to Sentinel and did not then write to the scanner, then that is most likely the problem.
To not mess up what you paid to have programmed, hook the scanner up to the pc and select mass storage mode on the scanner when prompted. Then read the scanner into Sentinel to retain what's programmed in the scanner. Then add the Oregon Department of Transportation to which ever favorites list you want it in. Then when complete, write to the scanner.
After that when the scanner is up and running, use the menu on the scanner to enable the proper service types.
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ToddWilkinson
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I could make you an .hpe file to learn from
The Transportation Department uses service type Public Works. Make sure that is enabled.
That's one of the downsides of having a dealer program the scanner for you. All they are going to do is append the public safety agencies in your county.
You can manually enter frequencies in Sentinel by creating, or editing, a Favorites list.
Take a look at the Easier to Read manual for Sentinel.
Since the Transportation Department is in the database, do this:
Start Sentinel on your PC
In the upper part of the left side window in Sentinel, click on USA in the database section to expand the list of states.
Scroll down, and click on Oregon (your state) to expand the list of counties for your state.
Scroll down to your County, Uniden, and click on it to expand the three sub folders (Nationwide, Statewide, and County Systems.
Since the Transportation Department is a state agency, click on Statewide to expand that folder.
Now, click on the Transportation Department to expand the list of districts.
If you <Right><Click> on the line for District 13. you get a pop-up menu, which you can use to append that district to an existing Favorites list, or create a new one. As already noted, just be sure that your that the Public Works service type enabled.
Appending to a Favorites list is covered in the online manual.
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JethrowJohnson
I love P25
Is it working now?
Do you have location control turned on - and your lat/long set correctly?
Those service type settings in sentinel look reasonable. Have you written this to the scanner?
Yes, I have. Thank you!
Yes. Thank you.
hiegtx
Success!!! Thank you for the detailed and visual step by step instructions for me to follow. I was able to add ODOT to the favorites list, activate the service type for public works and write to the scanner. I ensured the service type was active on the scanner but when it starts scanning it automatically starts with custom 5 or 9 or ... How do I avoid this and just start with the favorites lists scanning?
If you would be so kind as to help with the last part of my elderly learning curve of adding individual frequencies since the ODOT steps are mastered. I want to be able to add the following:
155.8300 Fire
156.0450 ODOT
155.4600 Police/Law
155.5500 (unknown)
These are not in the Union or Baker County lists already in favorites and I am uncertain as to how to add frequencies and what items need to be entered for a new frequency and am afraid of messing things up.
Again, thank you so much for your previous help. Happy New Year to you this evening where at midnight we all celebrate my birthday...LOL Kobers
Let's start with the ODOT frequency, 156.045.
If you appended the ODOT District 13 as shown in the earlier post, then you have an Oregon D.O.T. system in a Favorites list. If you had it create a new list, then select that list in Sentinel. With the list selected, click on the small icon in Sentinel that looks like a Start with a pencil laying on it, (That's the icon to edit a Favorites list. Or, with your list selected, click on the drop-down Edit menu, & select Edit Favorites list there. If you appended the DOT channels to the list from your seller's programming, then select that list instead.)
In the Favorites Editor, look at your ODOT system.
You can add the 154.0450 to that system, either in the existing department, or a new one. For illustration, let's create a new Department.
Select the system. You'll see the current Department, ODOT District 13.
Click on the green plus sign to add another department.
You can name that whatever you want.
Now, select the new department by clicking in it's name in the left side window.
With the Department selected, click on the green plus sign to add a channel.
Here, the name has been entered as well as the frequency. If you know whether it's analog or digital, select that under the audio option column. If not, leave it as Search, and when the scanner picks up a transmission, you'll be able to see the CTCSS or DCS being used.
When you're done with editing, be sure & save the changes to your list.
Click on the drop-down File menu, & select Save.
If you forget to save it, Sentinel should ask if you want to save when you try to close the Editor window.
Welcome to RR. And at Midnight Happy New Year to you and Put another wrinkly on your birthday suit your another year old today.
Let's presume that you want to add these other frequencies to a new system. You can add them to the Favorites list your seller created when programming, or create a new list.
For illustration, we'll simply add them in a new system to this test list,
In the Favorites Editor, select the name of the list, then you'll see the existing system(s). Click the green plus symbol to add another system.
Your system type will be conventional, as these are apparently not from a trunked system. Give your new system a name.
Select your new system in the left side window, On the Right window, select the Departments tab and then hit the Plus sign to add a department.
Name the department whatever you want.
Select your new department, then you can add one or more channels by using the Plus button.
As before, give each channel a name, and enter the frequency. As with the ODOT channel above, if you know a CTCSS or DCS code, enter them by setting your audio to Analog, then choose the code from the list.
After entering one frequency, you can either add another to the same department by using the Plus symbol. Or, add them to a different system in your list, or create another new system.
Looking at your frequencies:
155.8300 Fire
155.4600 Police/Law
155.5500 (unknown)
Verify that 155.8300 Fire. That's not a licensed frequency in Oregon or Washington. Verify if it might, instead, be 155.82000/ 155.8275, or 155.8350.
This sounds like you have unintentionally added a search with scan. This can be checked and/or corrected in your Profile.
Click on the small icon that looks like a piece of paper with a pencil.
That accesses the Profile Editor.
In the Profile, look at the Scan selection tab.
Make sure that the Search with Scan is not checked. Also, if you select the Options button, that brings up the list of Custom Searchs. You can turn off (set to Avoid) any or all of them.
On the Custom Search tab, you can see what frequencies each Custom Search covers.
On the Search/Close Call tab, look at the Search keys:
You can set any of the Custom Searches to be accessed by the Search Keys on the keypad.
That let's you activate a specific search when scanning. That's done by pressing the Function key (for the SDS200, that's pressing the Scroll knob), then pressing key 1, 2, or 3. If you hit the function key while scanning, then (while Function was still active) hit key 1, 2, or 3, you may have unknowingly keyed up one or more of the searches.
This is the list showing the 155.8300 where I got the frequency in question. I will try inputting the departments and systems later today and try adding them per your detailed walk-thru. Thank you again!
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That would be awesome. Would love for this "old dog" to learn new tricks and understand more. Thanks.
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