SDS100/SDS200: Official Performance Report Google Doc

[Machria]

No skewed opinions in that spreadsheet at all!!

LOL!! Seriously guys? 10's and 9's for 1 particular radio, and 3 and 4's and an occasional 6 for all the others. Are the Russians doing the judging?

 

[Radiogreg]

This is the second copy of the radio. The first one has poor sensitivity especially noted on VHF-UHF. Second copy works much better. Performance on the Centre County, PA system, the Washington County, MD system and the Dauphin and York County, PA systems is more than decent. It seemed to work well on a short visit to the Phase II PG County, MD system (with the North and South programmed as separate favorites) The only major problem that I've noticed is the fact that the radio does not stop on certain talkgroups although when manually dialed into those groups reception is just fine.
Question: Is there a location to learn manual programming on the "fly.?" Also, how to program an "open" bank, essentially to monitor all traffic on a system? Thanks!

 

[hiegtx]

This is the second copy of the radio. The first one has poor sensitivity especially noted on VHF-UHF. Second copy works much better. Performance on the Centre County, PA system, the Washington County, MD system and the Dauphin and York County, PA systems is more than decent. It seemed to work well on a short visit to the Phase II PG County, MD system (with the North and South programmed as separate favorites) The only major problem that I've noticed is the fact that the radio does not stop on certain talkgroups although when manually dialed into those groups reception is just fine.
Question: Is there a location to learn manual programming on the "fly.?" Also, how to program an "open" bank, essentially to monitor all traffic on a system? Thanks!

For programming steps, probably your best first step is on the Easier to Read Manuals site. Look at the link for 436HP/536HP Sentinel version. Other than the added options for display on the SDS100, and the NAC field entry for trunked systems, programming is pretty much the same for all of these scanners. If you are missing certain talkgroups, are the service types enabled? And, if using location control, are the MIA TGIDs in their own manually created department? or in a department with other IDs that are normally received without issue?

There is no "open bank" option on the DMA scanners. Open bank was what was used on the older Radio Shack scanners, such as the Pro-97 or Pro-96/-2096. For the Uniden scanners, if you want to hear all active talkgroups on the system, then set the system to "ID Search" instead of "ID Scan".

ID Search will stop on any active talkgroup it finds, except for TGIDs that have been locked out (avoided) or that are in a Department that has been set to Avoid. If the ID is programmed, then you'd see the TGID as well as the text tag programmed. If active (and not locked out as noted), but not programmed, then you'd see only the TGID when the scanner stops on it. If the ID was programmed, but it's Service Type was not enabled, it would also be skipped, regardless of whether ofr not set to 'Avoid'.

ID Scan will scan only the TGIDs that are programmed in the system on the scanner, that are not avoided, and are not in a Department that has been avoided. As above, the Service Type would need to be enabled, regardless of Avoid status.

 

[rbrtklamp2]

This is the second copy of the radio. The first one has poor sensitivity especially noted on VHF-UHF. Second copy works much better. Performance on the Centre County, PA system, the Washington County, MD system and the Dauphin and York County, PA systems is more than decent. It seemed to work well on a short visit to the Phase II PG County, MD system (with the North and South programmed as separate favorites) The only major problem that I've noticed is the fact that the radio does not stop on certain talkgroups although when manually dialed into those groups reception is just fine.
Question: Is there a location to learn manual programming on the "fly.?" Also, how to program an "open" bank, essentially to monitor all traffic on a system? Thanks!

What do you mean by second copy of the radio? Are you saying the first batch was tainted and that's why some of us are having difficulties with V/UHF? If so I would think this maybe something Uniden would set up a repair campaign for as both of my SDS100s seem to suffer on the UHF and VHF bands. Thanks in advance for any insight into your statement of the second copy of the radio.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Radiogreg]

To rbrtklamp2,
The first radio had a sensitivity on VHF and UHF of (estimated 5mv). It worked on the local Phase 1 system but with 9 sites I could pick it up on a paperclip. Since my service monitor remains pack away following relocation I estimated sensitivity based on reception of WX radio, Amateur repeaters (both bands) with comparisons to known radios. My second radio (or copy) seems to perform similar to a Radio Shack PRO 96. Good enough for general use but not so sensitive as to be prone to overload (front end saturation.) BTW. The folks at Scannermaster made the trade-out painless. A positive business experience.

 

[Grego]

I live in western Washington state. Our area is heavy in P25 Phase II. I have a BCD436HP and the reception varies from site to site with some distortion in most transmissions. I have not seen any comparisons between the SDS 100 and the 436 in Phase II. Help?

 

[Citywide173]

You could make a Google form that would or would not require login. The form would then link to the spreadsheet. It would be a different layout, as each row would be for a specific system, but you could put formulas in to average out the overall numbers and have each system with averages display in its own tab. It would mean starting from scratch. I'd be more than happy to design the form and speadsheet if you like.

 

[Finnesotan]

UPMan - Could the SDS200 be included in this report spreadsheet or separate thread perhaps? Just a thought, although it seems to be substantially equivalent to the SDS100 on simulcast based on forum feedback to date. No complaints here with both units on simulcast in MN.

 

[metsmetsmets]

I live in western Washington state. Our area is heavy in P25 Phase II. I have a BCD436HP and the reception varies from site to site with some distortion in most transmissions. I have not seen any comparisons between the SDS 100 and the 436 in Phase II. Help?

I compared the 436 to the SDS100. Local P25 Phase II was heavily distorted on the 436 and comes in way more clearly on the SDS100. While the SDS100 isn't always perfect, it's much much better.