Guys, I was kidding about the Autozone filter thing. Trying to make a little light on my situation. BUT! Stand by, we may have something here, I will post soon with positive results!
SDS100/SDS200: Lost on SDS200
- Thread starter Stroked96
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Yes, have done all that, Sentinel, Proscan Paid, work fine. Cool to be able to see scanner on big screen!
Thanks to all your replies, and Rob, you nailed it! Turning off that Global Filter has produced results! I actually heard intelligible audio on this thing. Now to set my FL to what I want to hear and skip the boring stuff and evidently play with settings that I shouldn't have to. Probably will start fresh with Sentinel, choose what I want, load it, SET FILTER OFF! Try again and will let you all know how it goes.
Thanks again to all of you. Maybe this damn near $1000.00 venture will be a keeper. Wife keeps asking what that noise is.
Some audio is still a bit weird sounding, but not garbage like it was on the 436.
Mike
Thanks again to all of you. Maybe this damn near $1000.00 venture will be a keeper. Wife keeps asking what that noise is.
Some audio is still a bit weird sounding, but not garbage like it was on the 436.
Mike
Excellent! Sounds like you're on the right track!
Excellent!
Note that the filter can also be set per site. I just checked my SDS200, and I'm using "Wide Auto" on the local site for the state's P25 system.
So I'm not even sure how the "Site" part works. In Simulcast the sites or towers all transmit the same signal,using same control channels,no? Do I need to specify a site or has the scanner determined that for me based on location? After turning off the Global Filter it seems to be working great,thank you!
I do know I listened to Nelson Peak before they went P25. Not sure the site I'm on now.
Mike
If the Global Filter setting is working, then the Site filter should be of no concern! I just mentioned it because I saw it in the scanner's menu. My current location isn't in range of any simulcast systems, so I have no first-hand experience with them.
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Hello All,
I have a Uniden SDS-200, and have had it at least 5 years. Pretty much listened to whatever it played from the settings it was sent with 5 years ago or longer. Last week decided to get it up to par. I downloaded Sentinel and updated firmware and the RR list. I made a favorite with the MARRS, MOSWIN and a few others I like, but still cannot get what is on the SCANNER RADIO app. Which is KCPD, KCFD and KCEMS. They are there as far as the RR codeplug, but nothing. I have tried SCANNING, ID SCANNING and ID SEARCH, but still can't get them. I have attached my Favorites, if someone can tell me what I am doing wrong.
I have a Uniden SDS-200, and have had it at least 5 years. Pretty much listened to whatever it played from the settings it was sent with 5 years ago or longer. Last week decided to get it up to par. I downloaded Sentinel and updated firmware and the RR list. I made a favorite with the MARRS, MOSWIN and a few others I like, but still cannot get what is on the SCANNER RADIO app. Which is KCPD, KCFD and KCEMS. They are there as far as the RR codeplug, but nothing. I have tried SCANNING, ID SCANNING and ID SEARCH, but still can't get them. I have attached my Favorites, if someone can tell me what I am doing wrong.
Just downloaded and looked at your favorites. You have a LOT programmed in, so first thing I think is "the more you scan the less you hear." In the Kansas City area on both sides of the state line, most if not all police are encrypted. No radio will pick that up. The fire departments for Johnson County KS and KCMO are still mostly in the clear - Johnson County, KS fire tac channels are encrypted but dispatch is still in the clear - and they operate on the MARRS system.
I've picked up a few things on the MOTONET CP+ system although a lot of it is concrete companies so not something I'm overly interested in.
You should be able to pick up the KHP Troop A (and possibly Troop B if you want to add it in) on KSICS but you don't have any sites entered in so it won't pick up anything.
With MARRS, MOTONET CP+ and KSICS, I would get rid of the sites you can't pick up. On MARRS, I'd only program in Johnson County KS and KCMO Simulcast sites, and for KSICS, I have programmed in the Olathe site. Motonet CP+ I've only used the Kansas City (Ch 50) site. By getting rid of the other sites, you spend less time scanning stuff you can't pick up anyways and have less chance to miss something on the stuff you CAN pick up. Same, in theory, would apply to the MOSWIN system, but I have never tried listening to that so I don't know which site to recommend using.
The other stuff you have programmed in I've never tried listening to so I don't know how active they are.
My final piece of advice would be to split things into multiple favorites, for example, a favorite for Johnson County KS, another one for Kansas City, MO and a third for MOTONET and then turn them on and off individually depending on what you want to listen to.
If you like, I can send you my favorites for Johnson County and KCMO MARRS, MOTONET CP+ and KSICS to give you an idea of what you SHOULD be able to hear on your scanner.
Sorry my reply is kind of lengthy, but hope it helps!
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No problem. I am in Independence Mo, so would like to have mainly MO stuff. I am just wondering how that app called Scanner Radio which is free to download on iPhone and Android gets all the KCPD, KCFD and KCEMS that my scanner doesn't. It is run by ProScan so someone knows how to get those departments. Give it a try, download it and then pick Kansas City Regional Public Safety or hit Nearby at the top and it will take you right to the option, that thing just runs non-stop!!! I don't get any of those calls. BTW, I accidentally downloaded the full list into my favorites, I actually only have MARRS, MOSWIN, MOTONET, JACKSON CO AND MO DEPT OF PUBLIC SAFETY in it and I trimmed all of the far away stations out of it, so it is not a big database to scan.
J-Wrock is in your area, so he would be much more familiar with the systems in your area than I would be, since I'm limited to only looking at what is in the database. His offer to share his Favorites list would be something I'd suggest you try.
As was noted, KCPD is mostly encrypted. While, apparently, some of the talkgroups are entered in the Calls platform, it's merely playing the encrypted transmission, not clear audio that you could understand. Your scanner will simply ignore encrypted transmissions, so you would not hear anything on the scanner, nor will it stop on talkgroups or conventional channels that are encrypted.
As noted, you have far too many sites programmed. Your Favorites list is not set to use location control, so the scanner is trying to "hear" each of the programmed sites. The SDS100 & SDS200 have what's been referred to as a "housekeeping" pause for each site as it is encountered. This causes a slight delay, described variously as 0.5 to almost a full second pause as the scanner tries to acquire the signal, then evaluate whether there is activity that could (or should) be monitored based on the TGIDs programmed, or active (if ID Search is in use). That results in missed calls as the scanner may be tied up going through sites outside your area of interest, with just enough signal strength for the scanner to try and use them.
Also verify which service types you have enabled in your profile. By default, when the scanner is received, as well as when Sentinel is first installed, only Dispatch service types are enabled for public safety agencies. That would be Law Dispatch, Fire Dispatch, EMS Dispatch, & Multi-Dispatch. You should also enable the Tac & Talk service types for these (Law Talk, Fire Tac, etc.) Custom 1 is also enabled, as that is the default service type for manual channels or talkgroup entries.
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This is my actual favorites list. Somehow what I attached before was a full database. The different groups this one I had also trimmed down to just my area so I don't have a large amount to scan. All those service types you mentioned appear to be on.
Still looks like you have more sites than you need, but I'm not 100% certain if that is causing you not to be able to hear anything. Here is my favorites list for the MARRS (public safety) system for the KC metro. It includes Johnson County, KCMO and Wyandotte County so you should pick up quite a bit, especially during the day tomorrow. Let me know if this works and I'll continue looking through your favorites list... I'm about to load it into my SDS 200 to see what I get. Try to have your scanner scan ONLY this favorite for a bit rather than trying to scan everything, just to see if things work 
Also, just to confirm, you do have the favorite set as Monitor and Download: Yes in Sentinel? I would assume so or you would get a "Nothing to Scan" message, but I thought I'd ask. And you aren't getting any messages on the screen of the scanner, correct?
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I will give yours a try later today when I get done with work and I wasn't able to find the screen you sent shot of. But I have heard a new one this morning since I turned on ID Search. Highway Patrol Division of Drug and Crime Control Operations: Blue (CH11). Haven't heard that one before. It was pretty active. When it first landed on it I almost hit avoid because it was a scrambled sound but it went into voice and continued to after that.
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The screen I sent was from the Profile Editor in Sentinel and can be accessed by clicking on the icon at the top that looks like a notepad with a pencil (circled in the picture below).
After looking at your favorite list in more detail, you just have too much programmed in at once; both in terms of too many systems on one favorite and too many sites in each non-conventional system. On my scanner, when I'm in Kansas City, MO, I will turn on the KCMO MARRS favorite; when I'm in Kansas, I'll turn on the Johnson County, KS MARRS favorite. If I decide I want to listen to air or rail traffic, I'll turn off the MARRS favorites and turn on the respective favorite. Yes, the scanner can receive a lot; but it can only listen to one system at a time. From what I understand, the apps use software that can listen to multiple transmissions at once, buffer them, and post them online so everything comes through. I've never set up an online feed so I'm not fully aware of how they work.
Hope that makes sense and helps out. When I first moved to Kansas City, I grabbed everything for Kansas City from the full database and uploaded it into my new (at the time) scanner (a BCD 436HP). It took me several months to figure out that I needed to trim things down and to decide what I was most interested in listening to. I had switched from an old Bearcat 250 to the 436, so there was a large learning curve on my part! Even now, ten years later, I'm still adjusting my scan lists and favorites on a regular basis as my interests shift and encryption creeps around.
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Yep, they were both on. So, two more questions.
1. I have made a number of favorites as you can see the one I sent is named Independence 3 because I made up some favorites like you said for different systems but when I sent to scanner, it only sent Favorites 3, so I put everything back in Favorites 3. Can I have more tha one favorite on the scanner? Or do I have to program every time I want to hear a different system?
2. I noticed when it is in ID SEARCH at least 3 new TGID's have come up with no name or any info. Does the scanner automatically save those or is there a way to save it when they come up?
Thanks for all the help!! I am a ham and I have all kinds of radios on DMR, D-Star, P-25 and Fusion (YSF) and I have programmed all of my codeplugs for them without much difficulty, and they transmit. This thing should not be so complicated as just a receiver!!
Jeff Hendricks
KE0SRL Amatuer Radio
WRVL804 GMRS Radio
1. I have made a number of favorites as you can see the one I sent is named Independence 3 because I made up some favorites like you said for different systems but when I sent to scanner, it only sent Favorites 3, so I put everything back in Favorites 3. Can I have more tha one favorite on the scanner? Or do I have to program every time I want to hear a different system?
2. I noticed when it is in ID SEARCH at least 3 new TGID's have come up with no name or any info. Does the scanner automatically save those or is there a way to save it when they come up?
Thanks for all the help!! I am a ham and I have all kinds of radios on DMR, D-Star, P-25 and Fusion (YSF) and I have programmed all of my codeplugs for them without much difficulty, and they transmit. This thing should not be so complicated as just a receiver!!
Jeff Hendricks
KE0SRL Amatuer Radio
WRVL804 GMRS Radio
If you are running a trunked system with "ID Scan" selected, you will only see the talkgroups that you have programmed in your Favorites list. That's presuming that you do not have them, or the Department that contains them, set as "Avoid".
In "ID Search mode", you will see all talkgroups on a given system that have activity, regardless of whether or not they are programmed in. (Programmed TGIDs that are set as "Avoid", of course, will not come up as the scanner ignores them.)
The scanner does not save those unidentified, "new", talkgroups. For the system that covers the majority of my county, as well as a number of adjacent counties, I run one scanner in ID Search mode to find new TGIDs as they are added to the system; these are logged via ProScan. If I am seeing "new" quite regularly, especially if they appear to have a lot of activity, I'll set the scanner to record all activity. then, after capturing samples of the 'new' TGIDs being used, I can review the recordings to help identify who is using them, and for what purpose.
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