How good is sds100

[govermentcheese]

How good is this scanner.
I have the psr800. I am in Berrien county Michigan. For some reason my current scanner not receiving much. I am really close to a new uniden sds100. Are they really that good.

 

[KK4JUG]

How good is this scanner.
Are they really that good.

Yes.

 

[KevinC]

If you have P25 simulcast you will get much better reception with the SDS-series scanners. For conventional P25 and non-simulcast Phase 1 trunking I prefer the GRE-based scanners.

 

[wtp]

you do have a good tower picked out i hope.
i do not see simulcast on it.
Michigan's Public Safety Communications System (MPSCS)

3 (3)	004 (4)	Sumnerville	Berrien	851.4125	851.8125	851.9125	852.125	852.4125	853.5875c	853.9125c
3 (3)	005 (5)	Coloma	Berrien	851.0375	852.4875	852.7875	852.9875	853.4875	853.6375c	853.9875c
3 (3)	006 (6)	Sawyer	Berrien	851.2375	851.775	852.075	852.275	852.6625c	852.750c
3 (3)	009 (9)	Watervliet	Berrien	769.43125	771.13125	771.85625	852.1625	852.325c	852.625c	854.4875
				856.0125c
3 (3)	038 (26)	Grand Beach	Berrien	851.0625	851.1375	851.750	851.9875	853.175c	853.7875c
3 (3)	040 (28)	St. Joseph	Berrien	851.3875	851.8875	852.3875	852.600	852.6875c	853.700c	856.2125

 

[Ubbe]

Regarding pure reception quality from non-simulcast transmissions it could be problematic as it is very location dependent. Sensitivity are good comparable with most other scanners but selectivity and handling of other transmissions within a 10Mhz windows and any strong transmitters can totally ruin reception if the different filter settings doesn't help.

SDS100.mp4

UBCD3600.mp4

drive.google.com

/Ubbe

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Search the forum choosing prefix "SDS100" and you'll unearth thousands of threads with user feedback. Not going to repeat what's been mentioned countless times. Doesn't appear to me simulcast distortion would be a factor on any of the sites listed for Berrien County on MPSCS as they're single-cell (only exception being Sawyer with two cells though a different frequency map per cell). Although the system is Phase-II capable, talkgroups for your county are listed as FDMA (mode "D") so unknown why your PSR800 isn't doing the job for you. I counted 6 sites for your county so be sure to scan the site closest to you for the best results

 

[palmerjrusa]

Regarding pure reception quality from non-simulcast transmissions it could be problematic as it is very location dependent. Sensitivity are good comparable with most other scanners but selectivity and handling of other transmissions within a 10Mhz windows and any strong transmitters can totally ruin reception if the different filter settings doesn't help.

SDS100.mp4

UBCD3600.mp4

drive.google.com

/Ubbe

Yep, the filter settings (whatever they're doing) can make a huge difference, i.e. signal vs. no signal...

 

[govermentcheese]

How good is this scanner.
I have the psr800. I am in Berrien county Michigan. For some reason my current scanner not receiving much. I am really close to a new uniden sds100. Are they really that good.

Does anyone know how I find out what my area operates under. Motorola or LTR or P25..

 

[Ubbe]

Yep, the filter settings (whatever they're doing) can make a huge difference, i.e. signal vs. no signal...

Filters are 10MHz wide and the Off setting has it working as a normal filter as in Unidens other scanners +/-5MHz, the signal received are in the middle of the filters bandwidth. Other settings will have the signal moved to either edge of the filters bandwidth +9/-1MHz at one settings and +1/-9Mhz at the other and then also halfway to the edge at the Wide settings.

If there are an interfering signal at +2MHz you use the +1/-9MHz filter to block it. But that will open up the whole -9MHz range for other signals to possible interfere with reception. It has an amplifier LNA at the input that sits before the filter settings and are automatically detecting the signal level from the whole bandpass frequency range, 760MHz-1300MHz in the highest band, and reduce its gain and sensitivity when any strong signals are detected within that band, like a cellular tower. So highly location dependent.


/Ubbe

 

[govermentcheese]

I am trying to reset my gre 800 to working again. Just 2 weeks ago scanner was working fine. Now it picks up only limited police and ambulance. Not like it was. I have tried to reapply frequencies with no luck. I am thinking it is just a setting in the menu settings. Does anyone out here know where I can go on the internet to help me with the correct settings. Or should i do a factory rest. Thanks for any help..

 

[jgorman21]

Unless you are familiar with Uniden DMA scanners the SDS 100 can be a challenge to say the least! it’s not “right out of the box” “user friendly” etc etc. I got mine almost two years ago. Thanks to a lot of really nice people on here helping me, I’ve gotten it to the point where it works “ok!” Yes. It’s real “pretty” and “flashy” but… For the price point (for me) it should be a lot easier to use. It was the first “Bearcat” aka Uniden I purchased in years. I think it’ll be awhile…

The GRE’s were good radios. I still use and love my PSR 500. It “hears” a lot of things that the SDS 100 cannot. But it doesn’t do simulcast of course!

I have a Unication G5 that works magnificently on my local simulcast systems. Yes it’s a pager. Yes it has “limitations” for some folks. But it works very well for me!

Go slow. Be patient. As they say YMMV!

 

[palmerjrusa]

Filters are 10MHz wide and the Off setting has it working as a normal filter as in Unidens other scanners +/-5MHz, the signal received are in the middle of the filters bandwidth. Other settings will have the signal moved to either edge of the filters bandwidth +9/-1MHz at one settings and +1/-9Mhz at the other and then also halfway to the edge at the Wide settings.

If there are an interfering signal at +2MHz you use the +1/-9MHz filter to block it. But that will open up the whole -9MHz range for other signals to possible interfere with reception. It has an amplifier LNA at the input that sits before the filter settings and are automatically detecting the signal level from the whole bandpass frequency range, 760MHz-1300MHz in the highest band, and reduce its gain and sensitivity when any strong signals are detected within that band, like a cellular tower. So highly location dependent.

View attachment 150643
/Ubbe

Thanks for all that great information!

 

[palmerjrusa]

Unless you are familiar with Uniden DMA scanners the SDS 100 can be a challenge to say the least! it’s not “right out of the box” “user friendly” etc etc. I got mine almost two years ago. Thanks to a lot of really nice people on here helping me, I’ve gotten it to the point where it works “ok!” Yes. It’s real “pretty” and “flashy” but… For the price point (for me) it should be a lot easier to use. It was the first “Bearcat” aka Uniden I purchased in years. I think it’ll be awhile…

The GRE’s were good radios. I still use and love my PSR 500. It “hears” a lot of things that the SDS 100 cannot. But it doesn’t do simulcast of course!

I have a Unication G5 that works magnificently on my local simulcast systems. Yes it’s a pager. Yes it has “limitations” for some folks. But it works very well for me!

Go slow. Be patient. As they say YMMV!

Own a Unication G5 pager.

Agree, it has limitations as a scanner, but for folks only interested in one or two systems in a difficult simulcast area it would be fine.

My G5 is an incredible little performer and it's commercial grade construction with great battery life.

 

[jgorman21]

Own a Unication G5 pager.

Agree, it has limitations as a scanner, but for folks only interested in one or two systems in a difficult simulcast area it would be fine.

My G5 is an incredible little performer and it's commercial grade construction with great battery life.

Agree wholeheartedly. I’m probably in the minority as far as being underwhelmed with the SDS 100!

 

[cherubim]

I tried out an SDS100 and was not impressed with its poor reception on most bands and slow scanning speed. Then there is the whole convoluted user interface carried over from the 436/536 series but now with an extended display and pretty colors that do nothing but distract the user and drain the mediocre stock battery.

The SDS series are beta-level products that should never have been released to the public in their current from.

 

[Ubbe]

I tried out an SDS100 and was not impressed with its poor reception

It's a scanner aimed to specifically handle simulcast systems. UPman mentioned that if you do not have simulcast issues then it's probably better to get another portable. It's currently running at half scan speed but hopefully it can be rectified in an upcoming firmware release, together with improved digital decode quality, that may or may not, include a shorter time needed to spend on each digital system.

The power needed for the display isn't much compared to what the whole scanner needs. It's a 20 minute increase over a 6 hour period, 5%, if you never activate the display compared to have it on permanently, and even less down to 2%, depending of how active systems are, if you have it under squelch control.

/Ubbe

 

[palmerjrusa]

It's a scanner aimed to specifically handle simulcast systems. UPman mentioned that if you do not have simulcast issues then it's probably better to get another portable. It's currently running at half scan speed but hopefully it can be rectified in an upcoming firmware release, together with improved digital decode quality, that may or may not, include a shorter time needed to spend on each digital system.

The power needed for the display isn't much compared to what the whole scanner needs. It's a 20 minute increase over a 6 hour period, 5%, if you never activate the display compared to have it on permanently, and even less down to 2%, depending of how active systems are, if you have it under squelch control.

/Ubbe

Yep, I actually did the experiment and was surprised how little difference it made to battery life turning the display off...

 

[KM6CQ]

Regarding pure reception quality from non-simulcast transmissions it could be problematic as it is very location dependent. Sensitivity are good comparable with most other scanners but selectivity and handling of other transmissions within a 10Mhz windows and any strong transmitters can totally ruin reception if the different filter settings doesn't help.

SDS100.mp4

UBCD3600.mp4

drive.google.com

/Ubbe

 

[KM6CQ]

Thank you.

 

[govermentcheese]

I got my scanner back. After upgrade seems to work great..