North Tonawanda NY police frequency queation

[k2hz]

I strongly recommend AGAINST using that unless you are very careful for the reasons I described in my reply to the OP. The coax jumper is less risky than the direct adapters shown in that ad but you still have to be careful. If you drop the radio or anything roughly jerks the cable you are in trouble. The direct adapters are very bad if you attach a long rubber antenna and snag it on anything.

I speak from 60 years experience servicing 2-way radios and have seen too many damaged portables where someone used an improper adapter.
The stock rubber antennas are made with a base to take the strain. Any commercial quality radio with a BNC connector is usually OK with a good flexible jumper but not some of the very long ham antennas on the market.

Good catch! Sorry, I may have sent you the wrong link. It looks like that and I am checking for the correct one. The key is the adapter base screws down flat against the flat raised area around the SDS SMA connect so it takes any strain placed on the connection. If you attach an SMA antenna or cable direct to the SDS100 connector any side strain can break the internal connection between the connector and the circuit board.

Any antenna made for the SDS100 has a flat surface on the connector that matches the surface on the radio and takes the strain. One you get the proper adapter, you can then use any BNC antenna or cable with no problem.

I got several adapters on ebay but I no longer see them listed. I don't use the stock Uniden rubber antenna so the adapter is used for everything. Here is a slightly different one that should work from Bearcat Warehouse:

SMA To BNC Adapter for SDS100

The BYYG1687001 converts your SDS100 antenna connection from SMA to BNC.

bearcatwarehouse.com

A flexible BNC to SMA jumper cable will work for connecting a base antenna if you are very careful about putting any strain on the jumper cable connection to the scanner.

 

[wtp]

and you could always have 90 degree male to female connectors depending on your situation.
i use M to F 90 degree F ones for the cables connections as the wife like to push every piece of furniture to the wall.

 

[Major146]

the sds-100 is a great scanner and hopefully the last one any of use will buy. The antenna connector takes a male SMA connector. They sell the adapters and cables on amazon. You will need a BNC to SMA male connector/cable. The sds-100 has a female SMA connector. In reference to program it do not try to manually program it by hand. All you will do is cramp your hands and probably type in something stupid wrong by a decimal and not hear anything. The niagara cty system and others like it have quite a bit of info that needs to be programmed into it. I can email you my favorites list if you want. Just use the uniden sentinel software which is free to program it. Just import the favorites list i send u into the sentinel program and write to your scanner. I have had the sds-100 for 18 months and spent a lot of time creating my lists. I have a favorites list for each county in WNY. My niagara cty list has over 2000 unit ids. My genesse cty list is at 900 unit ids so you get the picture. The one nice feature of these digital radio systems is when they key the mic the unit id number is also transmitted. The SDS-100 will receive and display the unit id number. The list i have shows name of the unit transmitting. So for niagara cty dispatch which uses numbers like 911100, 911101,911102 and so on my scanner says the word "DISPATCH". You get the idead

ikas, PM sent

 

[AZ645]

i never have a issue picking up genesee cty. The system comes in strong all the time. If i use just the omni x antenna i get 4 bars at -97 rssi. I also have a remtoronic 800 mhz hand held antenna that i stuck on my roof. I used exisiting rg6 cable that i had up there from a old directv dish. I added a signal booster to that line. When i connect the two feeds together the signal increase to 5 bars -79 rssi. I have been playing trying to get the orleans site but it is hit or miss. If you are in buffalo the genesee site should be doable for you.

Thanks, I'll have to give it a try, what signal booster are you using?

 

[lkas]

Thanks, I'll have to give it a try, what signal booster are you using?

i used a channel master ultra mini one one line and a similiar motorola on another line. The motorola is discontinued. They take f connector but i I used the exsisiting RG6 cable i had on the roof. At the other end i just got a adapter to go from f connector to sma connector. Some people say not to use RG6 cable for scanners but i find it works very well and it is already ran through the house.

 

[Major146]

Is the distortion that is talked about with trucked systems sound like a very slight warble with a little bit of a raspy sounding voice?

 

[lkas]

Is the distortion that is talked about with trucked systems sound like a very slight warble with a little bit of a raspy sounding voice?

it could be, being you are in niagara cty you should have no issues with reception of the niagara system. Your current scanner is receiving the same audio transmission from multiple towers at the same time. IT is confusing the scanner and that is where the issue comes in. The sds-100 fixes this issue and you should have no issues.

 

[W1KNE]

Is the distortion that is talked about with trucked systems sound like a very slight warble with a little bit of a raspy sounding voice?

Not usually. P25 distortion presents itself with broken decode (only hearing choppy bits and pieces of audio), no decode what so ever, or the scanner falsely IDing the TG as encrypted. It's common on a non simulcast receiver to only hear "parts" of the conversation. The actual voice is encoded into the digital signal. It's not audio distortion, it's digital signal distortion.

 

[Major146]

The SDS100 came today and I tried to use the Sentinel program to up load a Niagara County file one of the helpful people on this forum sent me. I just used the Zip code function so I could hear something but it really loaded a bunch of channels I am not interested in listening too. As the unwanted channels come up I have sent them to permanent avoid. Is there a way to step threw all the channels that I am scanning and permanently avoid them?
I was able to up load the Sentinel program from the Uniden site and after some maneuvering I got the Niagara County file into the Sentinel program but I am not sure I got it to load into the scanner. I can see it on the screen along with the full database that I think was loaded with the zip code function. I am able to turn off the full database and I think that it is now only scanning the Niagara County sites. When I turn it off and then back on in the morning will I have to do anything to get it to only scan Niagara County sites?

 

[k2hz]

The SDS100 came today and I tried to use the Sentinel program to up load a Niagara County file one of the helpful people on this forum sent me. I just used the Zip code function so I could hear something but it really loaded a bunch of channels I am not interested in listening too. As the unwanted channels come up I have sent them to permanent avoid. Is there a way to step threw all the channels that I am scanning and permanently avoid them?
I was able to up load the Sentinel program from the Uniden site and after some maneuvering I got the Niagara County file into the Sentinel program but I am not sure I got it to load into the scanner. I can see it on the screen along with the full database that I think was loaded with the zip code function. I am able to turn off the full database and I think that it is now only scanning the Niagara County sites. When I turn it off and then back on in the morning will I have to do anything to get it to only scan Niagara County sites?

Pressing AVOID twice when stopped on a channel during scan or manually selected will put it on permanent avoid. Pressing once is temporary. When the scanner is turned off and on permanent changes are saved but temporary avoids are reinstated.

When I first scan a new system I see what I am hearing and permanently avoid anything it stops on that is not of interest.

Anything permanently avoided can be reinstated later by selecting the channel and pressing AVOID once to toggle it back on.

 

[Major146]

OP here. For those that are following this thread. The new SDS100 is easier to understand than the old BCD325. It is very subtle but it has made a difference. I am still on the learning curve with this radio but I am able to better understand what is being said and how to use the scanner the more I use it. Thanks to all that have posted here to help me.

 

[k2hz]

OP here. For those that are following this thread. The new SDS100 is easier to understand than the old BCD325. It is very subtle but it has made a difference. I am still on the learning curve with this radio but I am able to better understand what is being said and how to use the scanner the more I use it. Thanks to all that have posted here to help me.

It sounds like you are off to a good start. The Sentinel software can have a bit of a learning curve but it can be a big help vs front panel programming which can be very frustrating.

 

[Major146]

BTW in the box for the SDS100 was included an adapter for the antenna. BNC to SMA.