New Uniden Scanner announcement at SEMA 2025

[dave3825]

Not everyone sits at their pc with their scanner when listening. My 436 lives in my truck. If these handhelds had WiFi that would be awesome not to mention less wear and tear on connections used for programming, or sd card socket for those who take the card out and use in card reader. The technology is out there, just wish Uniden would utilize it.

 

[vagrant]

I would be pleased if this has the BT remote control and speaker functionality my 2018 Icom R30 has - TBD
…and the GPS - ✅
…and the Li-ion removable battery - ✅
…and the same P25 receive sensitivity - TBD
…and USB programming/charging - ✅
…and a battery case to use AA batteries - TBD

At times I really do enjoy keeping my R30 on a belt, or concealed in a bag, while controlling it with my phone and listening via BT earbud. Just some random guy looking at his phone.

( That’s an Android tablet and a BT speaker simultaneously connected to my R30 on the other side of the house at the external antenna connection )

 

[Scannerlive]

Not everyone sits at their pc with their scanner when listening.

I understand that, but it's a portable scanner. And are you really programming it that often?

My 436 lives in my truck. If these handhelds had WiFi that would be awesome not to mention less wear and tear on connections used for programming, or sd card socket for those who take the card out and use in card reader. The technology is out there, just wish Uniden would utilize it.

Why would you take the SD card out? Just use the USB-C cord. I've been programming with a plug for nearly a decade now with the old-style USB and none have shown wear or tear.

 

[W1KNE]

An actual SD card slot on the side would be a huge improvement over the flimsy SD holder now used on the SDS100. I've had to repair it at least once in the field. Also improvement in overall QC would be nice. How many SDS100 had to be sent back for cold solder joints or other issues. (i.e. the SDS200 w/ the poorly grounded display). But ultimately, the best fix would be to have the SDR design be better. In the IF stage would make so much more sense than the RF stages.

I understand that, but it's a portable scanner. And are you really programming it that often?


Why would you take the SD card out? Just use the USB-C cord. I've been programming with a plug for nearly a decade now with the old-style USB and none have shown wear or tear.

Yes. I have programmed mine 3 times in this month alone. Some of us do mostly searching and travelling.

Because historically the USB read write speed via the USB cable has been slow. It reads much faster when the SD card is in an SD card reader.
Which is basically a non thing with the SDS 100 and that crappy SD card holder design they use.
Also SD cards fail. So replacing one is almost guaranteed if you have the scanner over a certain time. I have replaced almost all of mine at least once.

 

[Scannerlive]

I understand replacing the SD card every few years - I don't understand the hassle of taking it out every time to save yourself 30 seconds.

But you do you

 

[wa8pyr]

Its funny, I was sitting in a conference room just a few weeks ago at Uniden‘s HQ in a meeting with the America’s President and the Uniden team didn’t say a damn thing to me about this. Not a peep. lol.

And you're surprised????

In my experience they've never let the cat out of the bag until a product is nearly ready to hit the shelves. They probably enforce the death penalty for stool pigeons....

 

[KevinC]

They probably enforce the death penalty for stool pigeons....

Snitches get stiches.

 

[dave3825]

I understand that, but it's a portable scanner. And are you really programming it that often?

Cant speak for others, but I like my stuff as up to date as possible. I program when ever there is stuff to add or stuff that was changed.

Why would you take the SD card out? Just use the USB-C cord. I've been programming with a plug for nearly a decade now with the old-style USB and none have shown wear or tear.

I do not take it out but there are people who do because there are people that have USB/cable issues and for them the card reader is their only option. Hey, what ever works for them.

As far as USB C, the 436 does not have that (and what it does have keeps loosening) but hopefully mine will soon. Mine is well out of warranty and it would be a nice addition.

 

[Ubbe]

Don't look at his profile picture guys

I wonder if the speaker has been improved on, judging by the fact it's seems to be a little bigger

SDS100 speaker grill has 3 ribs and 150 has 5 and are taller in that area, so for sure a bigger speaker are used, probably a BCD436 one (and others) to use Unidens current parts portfolio.

That profile picture show both the SDS100 and 150 side by side on the same digital frequency but the 150 have half the signal strength judging by the signal bar at low left and 3 bit errors while the 100 has full signal and 0 bit errors. I have to assume when comparing performance that both use the same antenna or it otherwise would be no point in doing a comparison. So it's probably due to interference from GPS and BT like UpMan where afraid of.

Differences as stated by some articles are GPS and bluetooth and the battery design and its charge cradle. So no point in keeping the SDS100 production going as everything else seems to be the same.

/Ubbe

 

[garys]

I update my SDS scanners programing at least monthly, sometimes more often. I don't know if that's the norm, but radio systems seem to keep evolving requiring updating.

OTAR would be nice, but is not a deal breaker for me.

It's too bad that the Siren app was a dud. An Android based app that replicated the controls of either SDS scanners would be a 21st Century thing.

 

[cheif]

Will the SDS150 have AGC to fix the audio.

 

[trp2525]

For those who might like to watch a video, Scanner School just released a video this morning on the SDS150 on their YouTube channel:

 

[CollinsURG]

I like the drop-in charger, but here's the problem as I see it ... with the problems we're having with SDS100 battery swelling and if the SDS150 uses the same battery, who is going to trust the drop-in charger. On the other hand, if the SDS150 changes to a different battery design, I am going to need to restock up on batteries (I currently rotate among four batteries on the SDS100). Looking closely at the bottom of the picture, there is a drop-in charger guide slot and and some type of square port or rubber boot at the boot left corner that's not on the SDS100.

On a nostalgic note, I sure miss Paul Opitz, he would have at least already changed his avatar and the guessing game would have started weeks ago


EDIT: I see I missed the previous post where it said the SDS150 may have a battery "pack" instead of the old SDS100 battery, queue up the egg-on-face emoji. Yep, guess I would need to stock up on new batts.

I can't explain the SDS100 battery swelling. I can say that I have 3 Hand Held HAM radios, two HH VHF marine, one HH aviation radio. They all have attached Lithium Ion batteries and charging cradles. None of them have ever swelled and all are up to 5 years old.

 

[CollinsURG]

SDS100 speaker grill has 3 ribs and 150 has 5 and are taller in that area, so for sure a bigger speaker are used, probably a BCD436 one (and others) to use Unidens current parts portfolio.

That profile picture show both the SDS100 and 150 side by side on the same digital frequency but the 150 have half the signal strength judging by the signal bar at low left and 3 bit errors while the 100 has full signal and 0 bit errors. I have to assume when comparing performance that both use the same antenna or it otherwise would be no point in doing a comparison. So it's probably due to interference from GPS and BT like UpMan where afraid of.

Differences as stated by some articles are GPS and bluetooth and the battery design and its charge cradle. So no point in keeping the SDS100 production going as everything else seems to be the same.

/Ubbe

I would hope it is a difference in S meter calibration and not actual signal. Might it also be that the SDS100 is measuring total signal including adjacent signal other than just the target frequency that is being decoded that isnt the GPS or BT?

 

[CollinsURG]

I can't explain the SDS100 battery swelling. I can say that I have 3 Hand Held HAM radios, two HH VHF marine, one HH aviation radio. They all have attached Lithium Ion batteries and charging cradles. None of them have ever swelled and all are up to 5 years old.

One note about the SDS100 battery. I no longer connect the scanner to external power and always charge batteries in the charging cradle. So far, no more swollen batteries. So far for me. I don't know about anyone else's experience.

 

[KK4JUG]

One note about the SDS100 battery. I no longer connect the scanner to external power and always charge batteries in the charging cradle. So far, no more swollen batteries. So far for me. I don't know about anyone else's experience.

I deleted this post because I was referring to the wrong model.

 

[buddrousa]

My 2 SDS100's only charge to 4.2 volts then turns green and stops charging unlike my 436 that is time charged.

 

[RandyKuff]

Agreed...

When the batt reaches 4.2volts (SDS100) and a predetermined minimum current draw they stop charging...

 

[Dewey]

My 2 SDS100's only charge to 4.2 volts then turns green and stops charging unlike my 436 that is time charged.

It's very easy to understand the turns green part, but are you sure about the "stops charging". I'm not arguing the point, just very curious. If that is how it works, then why the need for the charge timer? Also, there's no mention of a trickle charge or charger.

 

[RandyKuff]

It's very easy to understand the turns green part, but are you sure about the "stops charging". I'm not arguing the point, just very curious. If that is how it works, then why the need for the charge timer? Also, there's no mention of a trickle charge or charger.

You overcharge a LION batt and they can explode...