KB2GOM
Active Member
. . . the manual.
I'm sorry, but when you plunk down 700 bucks for a scanner, you ought to get a better manual than the 55-page guide that comes in the box. If I were grading this manual, I would give it a "C." For $700, you ought to get an A+ manual to go with your awesome scanner..
The "Controls and Indicators" section even says: "It is not a comprehensive list of all functions in all modes." Well, then, where is it? In addition, the information in the chart ought to be keyed to a diagram of the front panel of the SDS200, like many of the ham radio manuals. If I had to guess, I would say that this manual was written by an engineer had deep product knowledge but relatively little understanding of what an ignorant first-time user needs to know.
The process that should have happened is that a good writer should have interviewed one of Uniden's tech gurus at length about everything a user needs to know, while taking copious notes. The writer than crafts a user-friendly manual, and then -- and this is the key part -- they hand the manual and an SDS200 to someone who knows actually NOTHING about scanners to see if that person, using the manual, can get the scanner to work properly. Parts of the manual that are not clear will be unearthed, and after a couple of iterations, the manual will be what it needs to be.
Now you might be wondering where I get the cojones to say what I did above. Well, in the early 1980s I was working with a company that manufactured an electronic device used in data processing rooms at insurance companies. It was a good piece of gear, but they were experiencing an 80% failure rate on installation and wanted to see if they could fix that. The reason was that the users were doing the installation wrong.
I asked to see the manual, and it was awful; I mean, much, much worse than the Uniden manual. Then I did the process outlined above; interviewing the head engineer, taking lots of pictures, and pasting up a draft manual. Then I asked one of the company secretaries, who had no knowledge of what to do, to execute the installation of the equipment using only the draft manual. It worked; she pointed out some confusing areas; we made revisions, and, when the new manual was introduced, the failures on installation dropped to zero.
Why am I saying this? Because, in my view, Uniden did so great in the creation of the SDS200 (I am very impressed with this piece of equipment) that they should do equally great with their manual.
I'm sorry, but when you plunk down 700 bucks for a scanner, you ought to get a better manual than the 55-page guide that comes in the box. If I were grading this manual, I would give it a "C." For $700, you ought to get an A+ manual to go with your awesome scanner..
The "Controls and Indicators" section even says: "It is not a comprehensive list of all functions in all modes." Well, then, where is it? In addition, the information in the chart ought to be keyed to a diagram of the front panel of the SDS200, like many of the ham radio manuals. If I had to guess, I would say that this manual was written by an engineer had deep product knowledge but relatively little understanding of what an ignorant first-time user needs to know.
The process that should have happened is that a good writer should have interviewed one of Uniden's tech gurus at length about everything a user needs to know, while taking copious notes. The writer than crafts a user-friendly manual, and then -- and this is the key part -- they hand the manual and an SDS200 to someone who knows actually NOTHING about scanners to see if that person, using the manual, can get the scanner to work properly. Parts of the manual that are not clear will be unearthed, and after a couple of iterations, the manual will be what it needs to be.
Now you might be wondering where I get the cojones to say what I did above. Well, in the early 1980s I was working with a company that manufactured an electronic device used in data processing rooms at insurance companies. It was a good piece of gear, but they were experiencing an 80% failure rate on installation and wanted to see if they could fix that. The reason was that the users were doing the installation wrong.
I asked to see the manual, and it was awful; I mean, much, much worse than the Uniden manual. Then I did the process outlined above; interviewing the head engineer, taking lots of pictures, and pasting up a draft manual. Then I asked one of the company secretaries, who had no knowledge of what to do, to execute the installation of the equipment using only the draft manual. It worked; she pointed out some confusing areas; we made revisions, and, when the new manual was introduced, the failures on installation dropped to zero.
Why am I saying this? Because, in my view, Uniden did so great in the creation of the SDS200 (I am very impressed with this piece of equipment) that they should do equally great with their manual.