SDS100/SDS200: Is scanner going bad?

[officer58]

Just curious, and if there is any information out there. How does a scanner act if it is going out or having issues. I know there's a lot of ifs and possible answers and diagnostics to do. In particular sds200. About 4-5 years old.
Thanks.

 

[tvengr]

There are an infinite number of possible problems. If you think your scanner is going bad, what is it doing now that it wasn't doing earlier. Be specific! A common problem is a bad SD card.

 

[officer58]

I had a Tram Super Discone antenna. Was doing a good job. I changed it out and put a new Diamond d300n up. And now I'm really having issues with reception, Sometimes not. I Put some thread lock on the elements and I'm thinking that could be the problem.

 

[ofd8001]

It might be a whole lot easier for us if you can give us some idea of what makes you think its going bad. As in symptoms.

 

[K9KLC]

And now I'm really having issues with reception, Sometimes not.

What kind of issues, what system, what frequencies? Normally if something is working and you change something else in the system and it's not as good as it was you need to look at what you changed not what you didn't change (which in this case is the scanner unchanged)

 

[mmckenna]

I had a Tram Super Discone antenna. Was doing a good job. I changed it out and put a new Diamond d300n up. And now I'm really having issues with reception, Sometimes not. I Put some thread lock on the elements and I'm thinking that could be the problem.

It would take a crap ton of thread locker to give you issues. The threads should have no issue biting through it.

If you put the new antenna up and now you are having issues, I'd expect a few different possibilities:
Your coax is damaged and moving it around made it worse.
You didn't waterproof it, condensation got in and corroded something.
Connector damage when installing the new antenna.
Better antenna = more signal = more interference and/or simulcast issues.
New antenna is bad.

Kind of hard to troubleshoot stuff like this over the internet. Visual inspection would be good, checking continuity, etc.

 

[Ubbe]

How does a scanner act if it is going out or having issues.

Compare with another scanner, or if you don't have that then buy a $30 SDR dongle so that you have something to verify with that it is a SDS200 issue or the antenna/coax/connector. A SDR dongle can be useful for a lot of other things so are not wasted money. A RTL-SDR are one of the popular ones and are easy to get working and also to get support from fellow users.

As already mentioned too much signal are not good for a SDS200 as it easily could get overloaded that will show as reduced sensitivity and dropping signal. Trying different filters settings, Normal, Inverse, Off and the rest of them could help.

/Ubbe

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

How's NOAA weather reception? If you still have the stock telescopic antenna, what results do you get with it while monitoring something local to you?

 

[laidback]

Are the problems still there with the stock antenna ?

 

[kc2asb]

As already mentioned too much signal are not good for a SDS200 as it easily could get overloaded that will show as reduced sensitivity and dropping signal. Trying different filters settings, Normal, Inverse, Off and the rest of them could help.

/Ubbe

+2 on this. I put up a higher gain antenna and found that my reception of known signals had degraded, but not all the time. Turns out the radio was getting overloaded (probably by pager signals) which resulted in reduced sensitivity. Reverting back to the old antenna solved the problem. One of the drawbacks of living next to RF Alley (aka NYC)

 

[officer58]

How's NOAA weather reception? If you still have the stock telescopic antenna, what results do you get with it while monitoring something local to you?

I do have the stock antenna on, trying exactly that, It seems, to be better . Sometimes not. I do get the weather ok. Before I changed antennas, I was picking up state police and a lot more. Now I don't get state police, and others. My coax is 100 of lmr600, (overkill I guess) going into 25' of lmr400, because lmr 600 won't fit into the antenna mast. So I do have one connector connecting those two.

 

[officer58]

I do have a cell tower that sits 300' feet away from my house.

 

[K9KLC]

I do have the stock antenna on, trying exactly that, It seems, to be better . Sometimes not. I do get the weather ok. Before I changed antennas, I was picking up state police and a lot more. Now I don't get state police, and others. My coax is 100 of lmr600, (overkill I guess) going into 25' of lmr400, because lmr 600 won't fit into the antenna mast. So I do have one connector connecting those two.

I'll ask directly then, are you trying to hear Illinois State police on StarCom 21? if so, which site? And I'll assume you changed nothing with the programming on the scanner correct?

I do have a cell tower that sits 300' feet away from my house.

It's possible switching to a higher gain antenna has also increased the noise in your system now.

 

[officer58]

I'll ask directly then, are you trying to hear Illinois State police on StarCom 21? if so, which site?

It's possible switching to a higher gain antenna has also increased the noise in your system now.

Yes On Starcom 21, Carbondale Troop 10.

 

[officer58]

I'm going to pull my antenna down today and check everything.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

I do have a cell tower that sits 300' feet away from my house.

Bingo

 

[K9KLC]

I'm curious did you change antenna locations? Is the coaxial feed longer now than the one you had originally?

 

[K9KLC]

Bingo

I agree with this, I think the cell tower is possibly causing your issues.

 

[officer58]

I'm curious did you change antenna locations? Is the coaxial feed longer now than the one you had originally?

No, same location. Same coax.

 

[officer58]

No, same location. Same coax.

I agree with this, I think the cell tower is possibly causing your issues.

I hate that, guess there's nothing I can do about that. ?