Read your manual, before asking here please

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jjbond

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I love this community, it helps so much as a new owner of the SDS100 and SDS200 to have people sharing their experience, and this community has a LOT of smart people in it, we're very fortunate. It was key to my purchase decision, and I'm happy to help where I can. That being said, 3 times in the last 2 days, I've answered a question asked by someone where I was able to answer their question simply be looking in the manual, like they should have, not going on Google to find the answer for them, which is bad enough. I'm talking about looking in the manual they should have read. I just noticed yet another STUPID question (I know, no question is stupid, yea there are stupid questions, those asked when the answer is in the manual) that was immedietly answered by someone saying "like it says in your manual on page *". :confused:

I'm not sure if it's laziness or what but please people, if you have a question, check your manual, then check the search function here, then check Google, then come back and ask if you still haven't figured it out. You'll probably find you answer there, and not be wasting anyone else's time and making yourself look lazy by posting it here.;) Do yourself a favor, download the PDF version of you manual and when you have an item that you can't figure out, search in the PDF for the name of the item, like maximum SD card size, or power cable orange wire :whistle:
 

noaim

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I love this community, it helps so much as a new owner of the SDS100 and SDS200 to have people sharing their experience, and this community has a LOT of smart people in it, we're very fortunate. It was key to my purchase decision, and I'm happy to help where I can. That being said, 3 times in the last 2 days, I've answered a question asked by someone where I was able to answer their question simply be looking in the manual, like they should have, not going on Google to find the answer for them, which is bad enough. I'm talking about looking in the manual they should have read. I just noticed yet another STUPID question (I know, no question is stupid, yea there are stupid questions, those asked when the answer is in the manual) that was immedietly answered by someone saying "like it says in your manual on page *". :confused:

I'm not sure if it's laziness or what but please people, if you have a question, check your manual, then check the search function here, then check Google, then come back and ask if you still haven't figured it out. You'll probably find you answer there, and not be wasting anyone else's time and making yourself look lazy by posting it here.;) Do yourself a favor, download the PDF version of you manual and when you have an item that you can't figure out, search in the PDF for the name of the item, like maximum SD card size, or power cable orange wire :whistle:

Your’re not forced to answer any question there is also people who can’t see the manual to read it and use computer software and this site to get answers. If the answers are in the forum it’s here to search. There is plenty of answers you can find on the internet and if we told everyone to go elsewhere this forum may not exist.


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Your’re not forced to answer any question there is also people who can’t see the manual to read it and use computer software and this site to get answers. If the answers are in the forum it’s here to search. There is plenty of answers you can find on the internet and if we told everyone to go elsewhere this forum may not exist.


There are exceptions to the rule and if I could not read the manual, I would tell you I couldn't when I asked for your help. I see many who say yeah I read the manual but I guess not that good must have missed that..
Obviously for them it is much easier to simply type out the question on the forum rather than be bothered with reading a manual.
Back when I used to install cable I cannot even tell you how many VCR's flashed 12:00 there were so, so many... Daunting really.. And as it looks, that mentality has not and will not stop any time soon...
Although I will admit I am not one as my manual is worn, torn, creased and has coffee stains on it and that's the PDF on the computer I'm talking about.. You really don't want to know what the paper one looks like!! (Me's thinks it should be taken out back and put out of it's misery!) :rolleyes:
 

jjbond

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Back when I used to install cable I cannot even tell you how many VCR's flashed 12:00 there were so, so many... Daunting really.. And as it looks, that mentality has not and will not stop any time soon...

Yup, back when I installed cell phones (yea in the 80's/90's before everyone had a portable), two-ways for Motorola etc I use to tell people to put the owners manual on the back of the toilet as that's the only place it'll get read. :)
 

wtp

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this is one of the reasons i help people in a personal message.
if you can't think of the question, how do you look for the answer ?
even the folks who read the "easy to read" manual need help after reading it.
it seems to generate more questions.
most of them are computers that get radio, it can get complicated.
 

jjbond

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even the folks who read the "easy to read" manual need help after reading it.
it seems to generate more questions.
Yea my point was more about common sense, in the manual, easy to figure out yourself with a little effort type questions, not people who obviously need extra help or who may not be able to read it as others have mentioned, those obviously deserve all the help we can give.
 

MisterLongwire

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Jen... you are getting good at working the radios. I agree with what ya said BUT there are those people that do nothing but whine or offer a bunch of unnecessary technical BSA nonsense. Makes me laugh how there can be threads of a group of people arguing the type and size of sd cards for these units. Totally ridiculous.
 

brettbolt

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The manual is a brief summary of some of the functions. It doesn't even have an index! That makes it very hard to find things. If it was a well written comprehensive manual with an index and examples, then there would be a lot fewer questions.

If someone asks a question about the SDS100/200 here, I think there are many people here happy to help (even if the manual devotes 3 words to it).

Bonus challenge: Find what "CON+" means in the manual. It appears on my display, but it isn't in the manual.
 

ratboy

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I can't think of any radio I've ever owned over the years, with a display, where there isn't a drawing of the display that tells you what all the icons are about, but the SDS200 doesn't. It's crazy. I found out what CON+ was because the database has it in the title, "connect plus". The SDS scanners are like if I didn't have a manual for my car, and had to just figure out what all the stuff does in the menus and how you set things up. Even after knowing the basics from having two older cars with earlier versions of the touchscreens, there are hidden things all over. And it's way easier than a scanner like the SDS is to figure out. I found a lot of things out about the SDS200 by searching and reading forum posts. There have been a few things the manual helped me on, but it seems very oddly formatted to me, and for the most part, of little use. At $700+, they could have popped for an index and a drawing of the front panel in both basic and detailed modes. Oh well, learning new stuff is supposed to prevent going senile, isn't it?
 

jjbond

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Again, for all those in the back of the bus who didn't hear me... my post is NOT about things like CON+ that are not in the manual..... it's about things that are, examples of I specifically stated... but whatever... moving on.
 

kwebster7327

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One can always choose to sit quietly if one can't/won't help. It won't kill you.

Speaking as someone with a dog eared "manual" and who has gotten several useful answers to dumb questions from this forum, if there was (a) a complete manual that (b) wasn't written from the point of view of someone who already understands the product intimately, the number of "read the manual" questions would be less.

The state of the manual reminds me why you should never solely rely on the engineers to write the documentation.


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eaf1956

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One can always choose to sit quietly if one can't/won't help. It won't kill you.

Speaking as someone with a dog eared "manual" and who has gotten several useful answers to dumb questions from this forum, if there was (a) a complete manual that (b) wasn't written from the point of view of someone who already understands the product intimately, the number of "read the manual" questions would be less.

The state of the manual reminds me why you should never solely rely on the engineers to write the documentation.


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So exactly how is someone who doesn't understand the radio supposed to write a manual about using the radio?

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kwebster7327

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We have always given responsibility to a writer who is assigned to the engineer. As someone who has been through the process a few times, I have always learned something I never thought of about my own design from the writer.


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TailGator911

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Ask any questions in the search query box and nine times out of ten there's your answer, as it has been asked before and can be found in a thread already established. The only time I ask a question in here is when all other options are exhausted. That's what's great about this place. It's an information clearinghouse, Radio Encyclopedia.

JD
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56FB666

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Sometimes the manual doesn't tell everything. Sometimes the manuals "lie" in other words the thing mentioned in the manual does not work on the device and so on there are a million reasons to make "stupid questions". When no answer is found on Google or YouTube Someone who owns a responsible device can tell the answer and hopefully the answer is not to read the manual.

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buddrousa

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Does the owners manual tell you how to roll the window down on your car? Does the owners manual tell you how to drive your care? (and that is obvious from the idiots on the road.) Does your cell phone manual tell you how to text and drive? No you figured that out on your own.
 
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