My first post here (as best I can remember! Been a dormant member for years!). Please be kind!
Last week I ordered a SDS200 from a dealer that is a major advertiser here. However, after reading several articles here about hum and flickering display problems. I have questions & comments about this and another subject.
In no particular order:
If this is such a known issue, I wonder what the odds are that the dealer will "QC" the unit before they ship it off to me (esp. since they're programming it before shipping to me)? I wonder what the real percentage of hummers and flickerers is?
Earlier today I called the vendor to check on the order. They advised me it would be about a week and a half - or two weeks before they shipped it, due to a backlog of programming orders.
After thinking about this for a bit, I'm thinking I can probably figure out how to download a customized file from here and upload to scanner in less than 2 weeks. So I'm tempted to tell them to forget programming it, just ship it overnight or whatever and let's be done with it! Are they really THAT problematic to program? Hint: I work in IT and have a fair understanding of tech in general, but no specific knowledge of DMA type scanners, so there's that. The last scanner I had was a yellow Uniden something or another. Looked like a HT but didn't xmit... Simple operation - just so many channels, you put in the freqs and that was that. No textual displays, systems, groups, etc. Bottom line question here is: Should I bite the bullet and shut up and wait ~2 wks, or say "Fughedaboudit! Ship it today!"?
I intend to buy the options (NXDN, DMR, ProVoice) from Uniden.
I know enough about human nature to know that, in general, most people aren't going to speak up in a public forum and say "I got my scanner last week, works great, no problems!". No one ever writes Ford and tells them their 2020 Edge runs like a top. No one calls Microsoft and says their Windows works flawlessly.
Without doing enough research I bought ARC536 thinking that was the de facto software of choice, only to discover ProScan seems to be preferred by many. Shame on me! Is it any good to have both applications, or can I do everything I'll want with ProScan?
Is there a nice way to decode DTMF? I see the vendor I bought the scanner from also sells something called "Multi Tone Decoder Software " which looks as if it'll work. But if there's another way that simple, easy, I'd love to know. I'm not opposed to building it myself if need be. I have a little experience with scripting, Raspberry Pi, Audrino, breadboarding, etc; and I wouldn't think that a major build. And I still have decent soldering skills, I would just be a bit tweaked if I paid $700 for a scanner I have to fix "out of the box".
I've come to realize what a truly great resource this site is.
Any hints, tips, comments appreciated.
Thanks all!
Last week I ordered a SDS200 from a dealer that is a major advertiser here. However, after reading several articles here about hum and flickering display problems. I have questions & comments about this and another subject.
In no particular order:
If this is such a known issue, I wonder what the odds are that the dealer will "QC" the unit before they ship it off to me (esp. since they're programming it before shipping to me)? I wonder what the real percentage of hummers and flickerers is?
Earlier today I called the vendor to check on the order. They advised me it would be about a week and a half - or two weeks before they shipped it, due to a backlog of programming orders.
After thinking about this for a bit, I'm thinking I can probably figure out how to download a customized file from here and upload to scanner in less than 2 weeks. So I'm tempted to tell them to forget programming it, just ship it overnight or whatever and let's be done with it! Are they really THAT problematic to program? Hint: I work in IT and have a fair understanding of tech in general, but no specific knowledge of DMA type scanners, so there's that. The last scanner I had was a yellow Uniden something or another. Looked like a HT but didn't xmit... Simple operation - just so many channels, you put in the freqs and that was that. No textual displays, systems, groups, etc. Bottom line question here is: Should I bite the bullet and shut up and wait ~2 wks, or say "Fughedaboudit! Ship it today!"?
I intend to buy the options (NXDN, DMR, ProVoice) from Uniden.
I know enough about human nature to know that, in general, most people aren't going to speak up in a public forum and say "I got my scanner last week, works great, no problems!". No one ever writes Ford and tells them their 2020 Edge runs like a top. No one calls Microsoft and says their Windows works flawlessly.
Without doing enough research I bought ARC536 thinking that was the de facto software of choice, only to discover ProScan seems to be preferred by many. Shame on me! Is it any good to have both applications, or can I do everything I'll want with ProScan?
Is there a nice way to decode DTMF? I see the vendor I bought the scanner from also sells something called "Multi Tone Decoder Software " which looks as if it'll work. But if there's another way that simple, easy, I'd love to know. I'm not opposed to building it myself if need be. I have a little experience with scripting, Raspberry Pi, Audrino, breadboarding, etc; and I wouldn't think that a major build. And I still have decent soldering skills, I would just be a bit tweaked if I paid $700 for a scanner I have to fix "out of the box".
I've come to realize what a truly great resource this site is.
Any hints, tips, comments appreciated.
Thanks all!