SDS100/SDS200: New SDS Firmware is here!

[teknishun]

On the local San Diego City system, discovered the "LOUD" radios are officers and firefighters using the "LOUD AUDIO" profile on their APX handhelds, thinking it means it will make the speaker louder, but instead it is maxing out the MIC GAIN! Should never let the option to change mic levels be left to inexperienced end users who cannot even figure out how to change zones.

I miss AGC scanner RX.

Paul

Harris County, Texas (TxWARN P25) Sheriff's Office is bad about this also. They have some units who will knock your socks off
when they transmit but the rest of the folks are at a reasonable volume.

QUESTION: On the SDS 100/200 where would the adjustment be made? Everybody uses the same TG so it couldn't be
done there. The actual radio frequency used is different each time as well because this is a trunk tracked system.
So....how does one get rid of the loud mouths?

 

[WX4JCW]

pro tip on these volume issues, its not the scanners, I tested this theory with an APX and they have the same issues

 

[donc13]

Harris County, Texas (TxWARN P25) Sheriff's Office is bad about this also. They have some units who will knock your socks off
when they transmit but the rest of the folks are at a reasonable volume.

QUESTION: On the SDS 100/200 where would the adjustment be made? Everybody uses the same TG so it couldn't be
done there. The actual radio frequency used is different each time as well because this is a trunk tracked system.
So....how does one get rid of the loud mouths?

To be honest, the volume control is your friend. Even with audio AGC circuitry, everything is not going to be a single volume.

I spent 26 years as a Denver cop, our own radio systems from VHF traditional 2 way system to EDACS UHF systems had "loud" folks and "quiet" folks on the air. I adjusted the volume so the dispatcher came in clearly and just left it alone after that.

 

[Ubbe]

pro tip on these volume issues, its not the scanners, I tested this theory with an APX and they have the same issues

I worked a lot with digital portables and mobiles and most of them have good receive AGC so that any wide variation of audio are not as noticable as it is to a scanner listener. At the dispatcher console those variations are almost completely gone. They have a very effective AGC circuit so that dispatchers don't even need to have their speaker volume control within reach.

System users don't notice those very loud radios enough that they feel they need to be adjusted as they don't suffer as much from them as scanner listeners do, especially SDS users as those scanners haven't got any AGC at all. Scanners would benefit from a good working AGC and also a compressor/limiter function to reduce the dynamic range of the audio.

/Ubbe

 

[Anderegg]

I worked a lot with digital portables and mobiles and most of them have good receive AGC so that any wide variation of audio are not as noticable as it is to a scanner listener. At the dispatcher console those variations are almost completely gone. They have a very effective AGC circuit so that dispatchers don't even need to have their speaker volume control within reach.

System users don't notice those very loud radios enough that they feel they need to be adjusted as they don't suffer as much from them as scanner listeners do, especially SDS users as those scanners haven't got any AGC at all. Scanners would benefit from a good working AGC and also a compressor/limiter function to reduce the dynamic range of the audio.

/Ubbe

the best part is this audio profile is the default for FD handhelds, so you get to listen to VU needle pegged firefighters YELLING into their handhelds and Captains sitting in the rig half asleep whispering back at the mic still clipped to the dashboard of the rig. The mobiles have normal audio mic gain profiles.

I would kill for usable AGC in the SDS.

Paul

 

[pro106import]

Same. I have one fairly weak system I can only monitor with the squelch set at 1 otherwise it skips it. Setting the squelch at 1 during scanning causes the radio to pause on almost everything for a few seconds slowing it down to a crawl.

No..I got your point. You're comparing an "improvement" I noted with a Phase 2 simulcast system decoding -60db range, with a system you're decoding in the -110db range. You want a $700 scanner to receive and have the features of a commercial grade radio, which didn't happen with this firmware upgrade. Will this be addressed later, I don't know? I posted my "finding" to others asking what/if any improvement is noted. That's where it ends for me, but you can continue to ask for this feature upgrade, and I hope you get it.

Just to update, the newest firmware update (12-2023) has corrected this problem! Works great now at squelch setting 2, even at -120db signals. Thank You @JoeBearcat if you had anything to do with it.

 

[kf6olc]

 

[XPS720]

I did install the waterfall on my 200, it looks very nice and I can see all FM From 96.4 to 99.3 . Now at the top is says " Upgrade Required" Where is this upgrade?

 

[kg4ehv]

I did install the waterfall on my 200, it looks very nice and I can see all FM From 96.4 to 99.3 . Now at the top is says " Upgrade Required" Where is this upgrade?

See page 1 here.

https://www.uniden.info/download/ompdf/SDS200Waterfallom.pdf

 

[KevinC]

I did install the waterfall on my 200, it looks very nice and I can see all FM From 96.4 to 99.3 . Now at the top is says " Upgrade Required" Where is this upgrade?

At the top of what? I suspect you are using some external way to view the WF.

 

[XPS720]

I did open my account at my.uniden.con and I now see the upgrade for Waterfall. I did get it and now I need to watch a set up. It is a great looking screen on my SDS200. I also found I needed NXDN keys for both scanners. Will the waterfall view on ProScanner Program as I only see a blue screen with a few words--no waterfall.

 

[phask]

I did open my account at my.uniden.con and I now see the upgrade for Waterfall. I did get it and now I need to watch a set up. It is a great looking screen on my SDS200. I also found I needed NXDN keys for both scanners. Will the waterfall view on ProScanner Program as I only see a blue screen with a few words--no waterfall.

If you mean ProScan (there is no ProScanner program)- as of NOW, it does nothing with Waterfall. I wouldn't be surprised if Bob adds support in the future—just my personal opinion.

 

[XPS720]

If you mean ProScan (there is no ProScanner program)- as of NOW, it does nothing with Waterfall. I wouldn't be surprised if Bob adds support in the future—just my personal opinion.

That is fine as the waterfall is great looking, Just wonder if I can enter an 900 DMR freq. as in 936....to 938.... FM or WFM?

 

[XPS720]

I did the upgrade and I clicked on waterfall /start I now see 89.2 to 106.5 . I see many falls but I hear nothing, is it my global setting?

 

[hexagon_keyhole]

I did the upgrade and I clicked on waterfall /start I now see 89.2 to 106.5 . I see many falls but I hear nothing, is it my global setting?

If the Span is above 2.88Mhz, you need to press Hold and then move the line in order to hear things.

https://www.uniden.info/download/ompdf/SDS200Waterfallom.pdf

 

[donc13]

A fix for recently released firmware now

Just checked at 5:30.pm.mountain time, it's not there yet but should be "today" as per @JoeBearcat posting today.

SDS100/SDS200: - SDS series waterfall being released

The SDS waterfall feature has been posted to the my.uniden.com website. Firmware, Sentinel and the Owner's Manual are being update as I type this. The firmware update will have marginally improved decoding on some digital modes. This firmware applies the following enhancements and bug fixes...

forums.radioreference.com

 

[JustLou]

Just to update, the newest firmware update (12-2023) has corrected this problem! Works great now at squelch setting 2, even at -120db signals. Thank You @JoeBearcat if you had anything to do with it.

Agreed. Squelch setting 2 now works well when scanning P25 systems. FWIW, I just installed the 2nd update (1.23.03) and I don't see any performance difference from last week's update (1.23.01).

 

[pro106import]

I lost my previous firmware file that I was using for testing purposes. I had it saved and moved it to install back in the radio, but forgot that Sentinel deletes it out of the folder when you update to the newest version. If anyone has "SDS-100_V1_23_01.bin" in their computer folder C:/ ProgramData/Uniden/ BCDx36HP_Sentinel/Updater - please PM me if you can share it with me. Thank You and Happy New Year

 

[W2GLD]

Well, I'd like to grab the updated version of the firmware which was released on 12/28/2023; however, I have been getting the following error message when trying to download via Sentinel.

"Updating unit failed, Operation is cancelled, The remote server returned an error: (425) Can't open data connection".

Been this was since yesterday, so I guess either the server is down, or the new firmware had other issues as was pulled..

 

[donc13]

Well, I'd like to grab the updated version of the firmware which was released on 12/28/2023; however, I have been getting the following error message when trying to download via Sentinel.

"Updating unit failed, Operation is cancelled, The remote server returned an error: (425) Can't open data connection".

Been this was since yesterday, so I guess either the server is down, or the new firmware had other issues as was pulled..

People also ask


How do I fix error 425?


Resolving The Problem

Any data connection type command (dir, put, get, and so on) fails with an FTP 425 message. The Microsoft® Windows® operating system on the PC is implementing a PC side firewall that restricts port 20 for the data connection. Ending and removing the PC side firewall resolves the issue.Jun 20, 2023