No warm fuzzy feeling

[dvendt]

Granted I have a 100 not a 200 but I set my squelch at 2 when I first got it and haven't touched it since. Does the squelch on the 200 drift that much?

 

[N4DJC]

Granted I have a 100 not a 200 but I set my squelch at 2 when I first got it and haven't touched it since. Does the squelch on the 200 drift that much?

It has nothing to do with the squelch. This is a grounding issue on a circuit board.

 

[w4amp]

i was planning on purchasing an SDR200 from Ham Radio Outlet on Monday (5/4/2020) but have changed my mind. I will live with my 996P2 until UNIDEN takes responsibility for marketing a product that clearly was not ready for prime time. The fix for the hum problem is ac heap patch to compensate for an engineering fubar. As a retired Motorola FTR, if I fixed a radio doing this, I would have been canned! To UNIDEN, take your lumps and fix the problem otherwise your reputation will not be much better that the cheap competition. And if I do decide to buy, it may be a BCD536HP. My friend let me borrow his BCD536 and so far, it is impressive!

So you are going to bash a radio that you have never owned?

If you are going to live with your other Uniden radio why do we even have to know?

 

[darkness975]

For those in a heavy simulcast environment, Good Luck.

 

[dvendt]

It has nothing to do with the squelch. This is a grounding issue on a circuit board.

I was refering to those complaining about the ethernet cable being to close to the squelch knob.

 

[N4DJC]

I was refering to those complaining about the ethernet cable being to close to the squelch knob.

My apologies

 

[dvendt]

My apologies

No reason to apologize. But thanks anyways. Your a gent.

 

[ratboy]

My SDS200 is on 24/7 and is connected to a computer UPS. So far, it's working great, zero issues other than the fact it's deaf as a rock on VHF. I have a half dozen old scanners that I use for trains, etc, so it's not a big deal. Kind of sad considering how expensive it was/is.

 

[buddrousa]

Not sure what the difference is but my SDS100's and SDS200 hear the same traffic as my 996P2's 536's 436's 325P2's 15x's on Anolog UHF and VHF, DMR and NXDN and P25 all sharing the same antenna at the same time (Stridsberg Multicouplers) and my SDS's are a little hotter receiver as noted by less popcorn on Analog.

 

[werinshades]

If anyone is having issues receiving analog transmissions, change the Modulation to FM (it defaults to Auto), set the Volume Offset to +2 or +3 (to compensate for the audio difference), try adjusting the Filters (Globally first...if that makes a system worse, try adjusting at the Site/Department level instead) and see how it goes. It won't hurt to try, and if makes it any worse try IFX setting on the specific frequency (Can't be applied globally like filters). If all else fails, return to previous settings. I have these settings on my analog systems and the SDS outperform my 536hp on the same antenna.

Many here are overwhelmed or not patient enough to try any of the suggestions on these forums. This might not be a turn on the scanner and all is working right away, but may need some tweaking to perform to your satisfaction. It's $650-$700...get the most out of it.

 

[N4DJC]

Not sure what the difference is but my SDS100's and SDS200 hear the same traffic as my 996P2's 536's 436's 325P2's 15x's on Anolog UHF and VHF, DMR and NXDN and P25 all sharing the same antenna at the same time (Stridsberg Multicouplers) and my SDS's are a little hotter receiver as noted by less popcorn on Analog.

We tend to handicap ourselves with poor antennas and blame it on the radio, I know I do

My BC125AT with a Diamond is awfully good on the rail frequencies.

 

[N4DJC]

If anyone is having issues receiving analog transmissions, change the Modulation to FM (it defaults to Auto), set the Volume Offset to +2 or +3 (to compensate for the audio difference), try adjusting the Filters (Globally first...if that makes a system worse, try adjusting at the Site/Department level instead) and see how it goes. It won't hurt to try, and if makes it any worse try IFX setting on the specific frequency (Can't be applied globally like filters). If all else fails, return to previous settings. I have these settings on my analog systems and the SDS outperform my 536hp on the same antenna.

Many here are overwhelmed or not patient enough to try any of the suggestions on these forums. This might not be a turn on the scanner and all is working right away, but may need some tweaking to perform to your satisfaction. It's $650-$700...get the most out of it.

The complexity of the SDS series is initially intimidating for a lot of us. It's a very capable scanner and requires quite a bit of work to find the best settings.

 

[werinshades]

The complexity of the SDS series is initially intimidating for a lot of us. It's a very capable scanner and requires quite a bit of work to find the best settings.

I've seen the same complaint for every new scanner. I can think back when some posted the 996 series was "too complicated", and now it's considered a "good introductory digital scanner(s)."

 

[iMONITOR]

The complexity of the SDS series is initially intimidating for a lot of us. It's a very capable scanner and requires quite a bit of work to find the best settings.

That's what makes our hobby fun and interesting. If all you had today is a scanner like the one in your Avatar it would be pretty boring, right?

 

[N4DJC]

That's what makes our hobby fun and interesting. If all you had today is a scanner like the one in your Avatar View attachment 85802 it would be pretty boring, right?

It wasn't boring then...we stayed up late many a Saturday night listening to all the rambunctious activity, after “The Midnight Special“ was over of course.

 

[ratboy]

We tend to handicap ourselves with poor antennas and blame it on the radio, I know I do

My BC125AT with a Diamond is awfully good on the rail frequencies.

I have a Yaesu VX170 and it kills on railband. And the battery lasts a LONG time. A bunus is you can use it as a weapon if needed. It's one solid little radio.

 

[iMONITOR]

We tend to handicap ourselves with poor antennas and blame it on the radio, I know I do

It's more like the manufactures handicap their scanners with poor antennas. The rubber duckies they supply with a handheld scanner perform poorly in just about any band. A Radio Shack RS-800/Remtronics 800MHz or Diamond RH77CA antenna hardly cost any more to make than the junk antenna they supply. In fact they could include both for a minimum increase in cost.

Has anyone annalized the rubber duck antennas that are supplied with scanners from Whistler and Uniden? It would be interesting to see if they're optimized for any band at all.

 

[Ubbe]

They are optimized to certain bands. Upman did a comparison test of the signal levels at different frequencies with different antennas.
His blog are taken down where he presented the test results and it also seems that you no longer can search for Upmans posts here at RR.

/Ubbe

 

[belvdr]

They are optimized to certain bands. Upman did a comparison test of the signal levels at different frequencies with different antennas.
His blog are taken down where he presented the test results and it also seems that you no longer can search for Upmans posts here at RR.

/Ubbe

I can see and search for Upman's posts on RR.

His blog is in the archive:

Wayback Machine

web.archive.org

 

[jonwienke]

Has anyone annalized the rubber duck antennas that are supplied with scanners from Whistler and Uniden? It would be interesting to see if they're optimized for any band at all.

I tried the Uniden antenna on my VNA, and it sucks on pretty much every band. Don't have a Whistler antenna for comparison.