SDS100/SDS200: Questions regarding my SDS100

[Facsimile]

Hello,

I have had my SDS100 for a week now. I have been enjoying it a ton even though I live in a county that has public safety fully encrypted. I have skimmed through the "Easier to Read SDS-100/200 Digital Scanner Manual," but thought it might be more beneficial to ask here as well for a complete understanding. Listed below are my questions with the assumption that all communication is digital:

1. I have noticed a few times where I will be listening to a dispatcher and whomever replies, sounds like they are eating the mic. I can understand a few English words but the dispatcher appears to understand it all. Obvious speculation. Is the dispatcher hearing what I am hearing? If so, why or why not?
   • Why are some communications annoyingly soft at Volume 15 and sometimes ear-shattering at Volume 1? Are those communicating hearing what I am hearing?
2. What exactly is "Site?"
   • Is it the transmitter location? Sometimes the site is farther away than my location. I can hear the communication on the site outside of my county site. Could someone come up with an analogy for the function of a site?
   • When using Sentinel, if I say add the fire dispatch for my city, the amount of sites that get added are counties and cities located in the entire state. It takes quite a while to scan through all the sites. I started deleted the sites that are ridiculously far away, but wanted to double check if that is best practice.
3. Any recommendations to amplify the audio output from the speaker? 50% of the time I find myself holding the speaker right up to my ear at maximum volume. Is there a reverse-attenuation setting I'm missing from the menu?

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

 

[nessnet]

1. What exactly is "Site?"
   • Is it the transmitter location? Sometimes the site is farther away than my location. I can hear the communication on the site outside of my county site. Could someone come up with an analogy for the function of a site?
   • When using Sentinel, if I say add the fire dispatch for my city, the amount of sites that get added are counties and cities located in the entire state. It takes quite a while to scan through all the sites. I started deleted the sites that are ridiculously far away, but wanted to double check if that is best practice.

You don't show your location, so we can't look to see what system(s) you are trying to monitor.
I am going to assume trunking, because of the encryption.
If conventional, see "tower" below.

A "site" can be different things, depending on what 'kind of' site it is.
In trunking, it can be either a single transmitter site ('tower') or, if it is simulcast, a group of 'towers' all putting out the same control channel and the same channel grants - all at the same time.

You can look in RR to see, or tell us what systems you are trying to monitor and we'll tell you.

 

[wtp]

from another one of his posts,
I live near Fort Wayne, Indiana.

 

[nessnet]

from another one of his posts,
I live near Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Simulcast?
FCC Callsign WPPX487 (ALLEN, COUNTY OF)

 

[ofd8001]

#1: If you are listening to a simulcast system, the dispatcher may hear a little more clear audio. The equipment on the system is more costly than a scanner so the distortions are greatly reduced. As far as "ups and downs" of user volume, the dispatchers gotta contend with that too and say bad words under their breath.

#2: A site is the location of the transmitter. In the case of simulcast systems, typically found in metropolitan areas, it could be a number of transmitters covering a given area. But they all use the same frequencies so they are given the name of the county (usually).

Scanning all the sites in a state system, as you guess, is unnecessary. No reason to listen to something too far away to receive. My recommendation is to set Location Control to On for your Favorites List, being sure you have your zip code entered correctly. Let the scanner do its thing and turn on/off sites and departments that are out of range/too far away.

Deleting sites would work, but you run the risk of deleting a critical site. Leaving on the sites in place is good if you go on a trip somewhere in state and want to listen to that area (changing zip code of course).

 

[nessnet]

Scanning all the sites in a state system, as you guess, is unnecessary. No reason to listen to something too far away to receive. My recommendation is to set Location Control to On for your Favorites List, being sure you have your zip code entered correctly. Let the scanner do its thing and turn on/off sites and departments that are out of range/too far away.

Yes, location control to on, but I would recommend manually entering your lat/long vs zip code. (or, get a GPS for the radio). This will tell the radio more precisely where you are at.

Also, remember, in trunking, the radio 'listens' to each "site" (control channel) for X amount of time (even if set to 0), before moving on to the next. The more sites you scan, the longer it takes for the radio to cycle through and as they say - "the more you scan, the less yoiu will hear".
Only scan the sites near you in order to lessen the risk of missing something.

 

[Ubbe]

I have worked on different digital systems and I can tell you that it sounds much better in a professional portable or mobile radio than in any scanner or PC program like DSDplus. It's even better at the dispatcher positions, at least the ones I'm familiar with, as audio level variations are hardly noticed and the dispatch operator doesn't need to touch his volume control.

Unfortunately SDS scanners lack any sort of automatic volume control, that most other scanners have, that will make matters worse regarding users different modulation levels. Some users have their mic at their lips others have it in their lap or in its hanger while transmitting and that creates those huge audio level differences. Generally speaking digital systems are much more sensitive to using proper audio levels than analog systems that are more forgiving and users might have picked up a bad habit during their time on a previous analog system.

/Ubbe

 

[n1chu]

As all the questions seem to have been accurately answered (I learned a couple of things myself!), I can only add a conclusion…

Scanners are at best a compromise. That being said, they do a great job accessing the many different bands and modes of the commercial systems used by our first responders, marine, aviation, military, etc. (And don’t forget about Amateur Radio, commonly known as Hams or the Ham Band.) But, while the commercial systems all follow the FCC parameters for the various types of systems in use, they all get “fine tuned”, customized, to the end users liking. A low volume level mobile unit with a higher volume level dispatch center may be by design. Or, it could simply be shoddy work by the company who installed and set up the system, which, we as scanner enthusiasts have to live with. Scanners are designed in an attempt to satisfy the need to hear all within FCC limits and as such they loose something. While they do a great job with offering us the ability to vary the way we program, they can’t get every aspect of it right, at least not as good as the commercial systems can. This is not to say that scanners are sub par to commercial offerings. They are simply designed for multi-band, multi-mode reception and loose a little something in the process. Scanner manufacturers also have other considerations such as cost that play a part in how well their scanners stack up against their competitors and the commercial offerings.

I’ve seen US military field units include them in their collection of radio gear. I’m told they are primarily used to monitor comm traffic in the country they expect to be operating in. I asked a marine detachment how they acquired the funds to buy the scanners (because the military usually has their gear built to their specs) and was told they avoided all the red tape by using petty cash instead of submitting all the required documentation and waiting a year for approvals, then another year for manufacturing. They most certainly are a cheaper alternative to buying the commercial gear.

One example is how they are/were used in the volunteer fire service when mutual aid companies (adjacent towns) need to communicate with an adjacent town and do it on the cheap. Both departments can buy multi-band scanners and place them in their apparatus. “cross-talk” and hear each other. (My town borders with 6 adjacent towns. There are VHF Low band, VHF High Band, UHF, and 800MHz systems in the mix. Each town now has the ability to communicate with their mutual-aid partners as they all run commercial gear on the respective bands. But it wasn’t always that way. Previously, some utilized scanners to accomplish the need. So, scanners, while they may be a compromise, can accomplish great things at a fraction of the cost of the commercial gear, at least until funds can be found to buy the expensive stuff! And going forward, any sub-par performance will be further reduced each time a new scanner offering comes to market, hopefully!

 

[Facsimile]

Wow, thank you all for the education! You all explained it very well and I thank you for that. The only follow up question is how can I verify Location Control is working appropriately? For example, I added a town next to my current location. The town will show up when location control is set to off but when on it doesn't. This makes sense if it were outside of my set range of 20 miles, correct? Problem is, the town is only 11 miles away.

Well interestingly enough, as I typed this I found out that they area I was trying to listen to was in a different state even though it was within the range I had the Location Control set to. My favorites list that I was scanning only had one state programmed. Thanks to all of you I have learned a lot!

Does Location Control or "Set Range" work with the "Full Database?"

 

[Brales60]

What are you using as an antenna?

 

[Facsimile]

What are you using as an antenna?

Just the stock antenna right now. Upgrading to Remtronixs next week.

 

[hiegtx]

Wow, thank you all for the education! You all explained it very well and I thank you for that. The only follow up question is how can I verify Location Control is working appropriately? For example, I added a town next to my current location. The town will show up when location control is set to off but when on it doesn't. This makes sense if it were outside of my set range of 20 miles, correct? Problem is, the town is only 11 miles away.

Well interestingly enough, as I typed this I found out that they area I was trying to listen to was in a different state even though it was within the range I had the Location Control set to. My favorites list that I was scanning only had one state programmed. Thanks to all of you I have learned a lot!

Does Location Control or "Set Range" work with the "Full Database?"

Location Control & a Range setting will work when scanning the main database, or Favorites lists that are set to use Location Control.

Remember that the 'actual range', in determining which sites & departments are scanned, is actually the sum of the range you set, plus the range (from the database) for the department and /or for the site (on a trunked system). If a circle for the range setting you chose intersects with the range circle for a specific department, then that department and site would be scanned.