Question about monitoring CLMRN with Uniden SDS200

[FFMedic1148]

I’m hoping someone can maybe give me some advice on how to improve my Uniden SDS200 setup.

last month I bought a brand new Uniden SDS200 scanner because I wanted to simply test it out and see what the hype was all about. The general consensus was that the SDS series was the best for decoding simulcast phase II.

I live about ten miles east of Hartford and like to monitor CSP Troop C, DEMHS, DEEP, and State Fire. My current favorite list currently scans five departments and twenty talkgroups. I was impressed and for a base application in my house stationary it works great. At that time I only had the Troop C tower programmed in as it was always full bars on the display with stock antenna.

Yesterday I moved the scanner into my car and put it into my Havis console. I am pairing it with a PCTEL 800mhz antenna NMO mounted on my vehicles roof.

I then programmed in addition to the Troop C tower, Troop H, Troop D, and Troop K tower sites. I do a lot of driving from the Hartford area up I84 into Woodstock and down through Coventry/Bolton area, so these are the sites that would make the most sense.

I noticed after awhile that the scanner is missing some traffic. It seems to get confused on which tower to “affiliate” with as there are 4 to choose from. My understanding however, was that the IQ Technology in this scanner excelled in that area (deciding which tower had the best signal and jumping to it)

I might add that out of the twenty talk groups I monitor only 4 - 5 of the talkgroups are generally active. The rest are talkgroups that are secondary/ emergency / special purpose channels.

Is there anything in the scanner menu I should possibly play around with or change for mobile application? Any help and advice is appreciated!!

Thank you.

 

[nhfdcadet]

Only thing I could guess is that its just not getting a great signal, I have a G5 which I use to monitor CLMRN because it scans and my state radio doesnt, but thats another issue.
Anyways, when I drive out 384 to rt 6, and follow rt 6 through bolton, andover, coventry, etc, I find that it goes out of range a lot, I don't really know how the unit's "thought process" works when selecting a channel to monitor

 

[doctordialtone]

Of all my scanners, my SDS200 has the worst receiver. I monitor CLMRN on 4 scanners and the SDS misses a LOT of traffic. Both out of range and no reception.

Sorry, but I can't make any suggestions.

I would suggest a 996P2.

Good luck!

 

[FFMedic1148]

Only thing I could guess is that its just not getting a great signal, I have a G5 which I use to monitor CLMRN because it scans and my state radio doesnt, but thats another issue.
Anyways, when I drive out 384 to rt 6, and follow rt 6 through bolton, andover, coventry, etc, I find that it goes out of range a lot, I don't really know how the unit's "thought process" works when selecting a channel to monitor

Thanks for your response that is interesting. I too have a state radio to compare it to. Oddly enough in some areas I’ve had the state radio pick up and the scanner doesn’t and other times the state radio will be quiet and I’ll get more on the scanner. I didn’t know if there was something in the menus on the SDS I should play around with that could maybe help.

 

[FFMedic1148]

Of all my scanners, my SDS200 has the worst receiver. I monitor CLMRN on 4 scanners and the SDS misses a LOT of traffic. Both out of range and no reception.

Sorry, but I can't make any suggestions.

I would suggest a 996P2.

Good luck!

I actually had two 996P2’s and missed a lot of traffic with those as well. Was hoping the SDS200 would be night and day. Anything in the menus I could adjust to see if it helps any?

 

[doctordialtone]

I actually had two 996P2’s and missed a lot of traffic with those as well. Was hoping the SDS200 would be night and day. Anything in the menus I could adjust to see if it helps any?

You can tinker with filters.

Here is a long discussion about filters.

I didn't see any difference, so I don't use any. I heard they slow scanning even more.

 

[cg]

How do you have the different sites programmed in? How do you turn the different sites on and off?
You can try to ID a few locations that have issues and sit nearby and try to figure out which site is best.
Also, I found the filter didn't make much of a difference as long as AUTO was not selected.

chris

 

[dimab]

I’m hoping someone can maybe give me some advice on how to improve my Uniden SDS200 setup.

last month I bought a brand new Uniden SDS200 scanner because I wanted to simply test it out and see what the hype was all about. The general consensus was that the SDS series was the best for decoding simulcast phase II.

I live about ten miles east of Hartford and like to monitor CSP Troop C, DEMHS, DEEP, and State Fire. My current favorite list currently scans five departments and twenty talkgroups. I was impressed and for a base application in my house stationary it works great. At that time I only had the Troop C tower programmed in as it was always full bars on the display with stock antenna.

Yesterday I moved the scanner into my car and put it into my Havis console. I am pairing it with a PCTEL 800mhz antenna NMO mounted on my vehicles roof.

I then programmed in addition to the Troop C tower, Troop H, Troop D, and Troop K tower sites. I do a lot of driving from the Hartford area up I84 into Woodstock and down through Coventry/Bolton area, so these are the sites that would make the most sense.

I noticed after awhile that the scanner is missing some traffic. It seems to get confused on which tower to “affiliate” with as there are 4 to choose from. My understanding however, was that the IQ Technology in this scanner excelled in that area (deciding which tower had the best signal and jumping to it)

I might add that out of the twenty talk groups I monitor only 4 - 5 of the talkgroups are generally active. The rest are talkgroups that are secondary/ emergency / special purpose channels.

Is there anything in the scanner menu I should possibly play around with or change for mobile application? Any help and advice is appreciated!!

Thank you.

could this be a simple issue of the scanner having to jump to each site, and between those jumps is when you're missing transmissions? since the scanner doesn't stay on a single site when it finds a good signal. by design it will scan through all the sites, one after the other.

 

[cg]

It could be settings, system programming, poor reception, interference, simulcast issues, phase 2 issues or any combination of them all. The reason why a 996P2 works well in some locations and poorly in others. Why a SDS scanner can out perform or underperform.
Some folks program all the system frequencies in one Site, some use the built in database, some manually change sites, some use a GPS to turn them on and off. Some use ID Search, some use ID Scan.

You want to try to figure out what, if anything, improves or hurts reception. Computers, cellphones, cell sites, mountains, trees with wet leaves, rain, etc. Where is your antenna mounted and what blocks the signal? Is the coax pinched, run past interference producing electronics in the vehicle, poorly connected?

Every radio install is different, even ones mounted side by side. Different connectors, locations, etc.

chris

 

[darkness975]

I’m hoping someone can maybe give me some advice on how to improve my Uniden SDS200 setup.

last month I bought a brand new Uniden SDS200 scanner because I wanted to simply test it out and see what the hype was all about. The general consensus was that the SDS series was the best for decoding simulcast phase II.

I live about ten miles east of Hartford and like to monitor CSP Troop C, DEMHS, DEEP, and State Fire. My current favorite list currently scans five departments and twenty talkgroups. I was impressed and for a base application in my house stationary it works great. At that time I only had the Troop C tower programmed in as it was always full bars on the display with stock antenna.

Yesterday I moved the scanner into my car and put it into my Havis console. I am pairing it with a PCTEL 800mhz antenna NMO mounted on my vehicles roof.

I then programmed in addition to the Troop C tower, Troop H, Troop D, and Troop K tower sites. I do a lot of driving from the Hartford area up I84 into Woodstock and down through Coventry/Bolton area, so these are the sites that would make the most sense.

I noticed after awhile that the scanner is missing some traffic. It seems to get confused on which tower to “affiliate” with as there are 4 to choose from. My understanding however, was that the IQ Technology in this scanner excelled in that area (deciding which tower had the best signal and jumping to it)

I might add that out of the twenty talk groups I monitor only 4 - 5 of the talkgroups are generally active. The rest are talkgroups that are secondary/ emergency / special purpose channels.

Is there anything in the scanner menu I should possibly play around with or change for mobile application? Any help and advice is appreciated!!

Thank you.

I take my SDS100 and BCD325P2 mobile now and then. It seems to pick up a good deal of traffic in my opinion. The new CLMRN is a very finicky system. If you look at some of my past threads I was pulling my hair out trying to get it to work properly from my apartment. It got even worse when they switched to Phase II. In the end, it came down to a specific antenna, a custom CLMRN favorites list with certain features set up, and location of the antenna.

Despite all of this, there are days that reception is noticeably worse (on other systems too not just CLMRN). Wind, leaves, rain, bird crap, and whatever else can all affect reception.

In the end, I pick up the most traffic by running multiple units. All of them have the same systems programmed, but they are enabled and disabled depending on their strengths. The SDS100 with the remtronix antenna and the SDS200 with a mini discone are the best at picking up CLMRN from home, for example. So I have the system enabled on both of those. Because of the issue with signal strength, even though I have CLMRN programmed into my BCD325P2 I don't have it enabled when at home because it would be wasted time since it won't pick it up.
Units like my HomePatrol II are really only used for monitoring my local FD and EMS and the PD, Fire, and EMS of the neighboring town. I could probably get a better antenna for it to make it perform a little better but at this point why bother.

My $0.02

 

[N1SQB]

It has to be a programming issue.. I have my SDS200 up to date and programmed to only monitor the CLMRN. I have a BC 325P2 manually programmed. The p2 dances circles around the SDS200. I believe if I program the 200 manually like my P2, it will improve. I don't have the time to program it manually and may just outright sell it and stay with the P2. So it may be a programming issue with your SDS200 as well. just my 2 cents worth.

Manny

 

[FFMedic1148]

You can tinker with filters.
Here is a long discussion about filters.

I didn't see any difference, so I don't use any. I heard they slow scanning even more.

So quick update - In settings under "Edit site" - "Set Filter" from the factory this was set on "Global". I changed it to "Auto" and drove around for a couple of days and then set it to "Wide auto" (Not sure what this actually means or what the difference is) But I am getting noticeably better reception!

And a side note to this when Attenuator is set to "On" my signal bars went completely away. When I set it to "Off" It goes back to full bars for me.

could this be a simple issue of the scanner having to jump to each site, and between those jumps is when you're missing transmissions? since the scanner doesn't stay on a single site when it finds a good signal. by design it will scan through all the sites, one after the other.

I was thinking the same thing. I have found that for where I am there is almost no need for the Troop K, H, or D sites. I have since "Avoided" those in my settings for now as the Troop C site covers a good portion of the area I am in.

After doing this and changing my filter settings to "Wide Auto" I see much better performance.

It has to be a programming issue.. I have my SDS200 up to date and programmed to only monitor the CLMRN. I have a BC 325P2 manually programmed. The p2 dances circles around the SDS200. I believe if I program the 200 manually like my P2, it will improve. I don't have the time to program it manually and may just outright sell it and stay with the P2. So it may be a programming issue with your SDS200 as well. just my 2 cents worth.

Manny

In case you are able to give any programming input this is how my "Codeplug" is set up.

How do you have the different sites programmed in? How do you turn the different sites on and off?
You can try to ID a few locations that have issues and sit nearby and try to figure out which site is best.
Also, I found the filter didn't make much of a difference as long as AUTO was not selected.

chris

This is a screenshot of how my "codeplug" is setup. Before, it was scanning all four sites back and forth so I think that potentially was a big part in why I was missing traffic.

That is interesting that you said yours didn't make much of a difference as long as AUTO was not selected. I found that between "Global" "Auto" and "Wide Auto" - Wide Auto has improved my reception greatly. I haven't messed around with the other filter options yet.

 

[dimab]

One more experiment to try - in a single site, like your troop C, add the primary control channel for site C and the primary control channel for another site like troop D. if my thought is correct, the scanner will still scan just the troop C site in your setup, but will lock onto which ever CC it finds first, and not scan across both CCs, still eliminating switching sites but giving you wider coverage as you travel. when you lose coverage from the first CC, it'll just find the next one and lock onto that one.
I'm setting up my SDS100 this way, and it seems to be doing what I expected so far.

here is an example of how I set this up - 1 site with various site control channels. for my needs, all of these sites carry the traffic I need, so I don't care which site I'm locking onto.

 

[FFMedic1148]

One more experiment to try - in a single site, like your troop C, add the primary control channel for site C and the primary control channel for another site like troop D. if my thought is correct, the scanner will still scan just the troop C site in your setup, but will lock onto which ever CC it finds first, and not scan across both CCs, still eliminating switching sites but giving you wider coverage as you travel. when you lose coverage from the first CC, it'll just find the next one and lock onto that one.
I'm setting up my SDS100 this way, and it seems to be doing what I expected so far.

here is an example of how I set this up - 1 site with various site control channels. for my needs, all of these sites carry the traffic I need, so I don't care which site I'm locking onto.
View attachment 110347

Thank you for your response, good idea! I will have to do this and compare results!