Remote Head???

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radioron231

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Why does Uniden not have a remote head option for the SDS200?? makes no sense to have the bulky radio they built. I don't have room to install such a large radio in my car and I want it to look clean and nice, not out of place. Its the only reason I have not purchased the SDS200.
 

fxdscon

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Why does Uniden not have a remote head option for the SDS200?? makes no sense to have the bulky radio they built. I don't have room to install such a large radio in my car and I want it to look clean and nice, not out of place. Its the only reason I have not purchased the SDS200.
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Uniden had a run at remote heads with previous models, but sales never met production costs.


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radioron231

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well with cars having less and less room I would like to think that they would reconsider. I would end up buying w or more myself.
 

KG4KHQ

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The RH-96 that Uniden sold was not a true remote head. Instead of detaching from the scanner itself, it was an accessory that connected to the scanner. The biggest drawback to it was the fact that one could not power on or power off the scanner with it. I also have a problem with mounting space in my vehicle so I use a Home Patrol 2 which fits perfectly and I like the display. That scanner though is starting to show it’s age and there is no upgrade to DMR and NXDN for it. I could go with a Whistler with their detachable head but I don’t care for their display. I personally wish that Uniden would release an updated Home Patrol. Given the current world situation and the fact that very little has been heard out of Uniden in awhile, I just don’t think we will see anything new for awhile, if ever.
 

cpfinlay

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The RH-96 that Uniden sold was not a true remote head. Instead of detaching from the scanner itself, it was an accessory that connected to the scanner. The biggest drawback to it was the fact that one could not power on or power off the scanner with it.
<snip>
I personally wish that Uniden would release an updated Home Patrol.

To truly power on/off, the umbilical cord would need to carry the current, right? Otherwise, there would be a parasitic current draw (albeit probably negligible) from the device in standby mode awaiting the power on command. Just thinking how that may make the umbilical cord rather thick.

Agree 100% on the HomePatrol. That's what I use for mobile operations. :)
 

radioron231

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I just find it hard to believe that we can buy a variety of ham radios or commercial grade radios with remote heads but we can not buy a modern digital scanner with a remote head. They need to create a scanner with remote capability and use more commonly available cat5 or cat6 cable to connect it. And it should have a power button too.
 

iMONITOR

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I don't know how big the market would be for a remote head. Uniden had one, Whistler still makes one. I can count on one hand how many time I've seen them in use in discussions or pictures here on RR.
 
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Why does Uniden not have a remote head option for the SDS200?? makes no sense to have the bulky radio they built. I don't have room to install such a large radio in my car and I want it to look clean and nice, not out of place. Its the only reason I have not purchased the SDS200.

I’m in a similar situation. Although I have a full size SUV (2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee), I need remote head capability. I carry a hand held scanner in the vehicle but it has the potential to become a missile in a panic stop. I have a remote head ham radio (Icom ID 5100A) installed already and could easily add a remote head for a scanner. I purchased an SDS100 last week and would purchase the SDS200 in a heartbeat if it had a remote head. The Whistler may be a good scanner but, the display is too small, for me, in a mobile environment. I like to be able to glance at the display and get info while driving.
 

garys

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The only way to have done this would have been do design it in from the start. By which I mean the only way to do it profitably would have been to design it in from the start. I'm going to guesstimate that an add on remote would go for around $250.00. That's on top of the cost of the radio itself. Which would put the total cost of the scanner well over $1,000.00 if you bought the scanner, remote head, and two digital upgrades.

Anytone made the same mistake with their 578 radio. I'd have bought one but I need a remote head ham radio due to space considerations. As it happened, I had space for one large radio in my new Tacoma and that's where the SDS200 went.
 

GlobalNorth

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Correct me if I am mistaken, but wouldn't it be relatively straightforward to build a receiver that could connect to Apple Car Play or Android Auto through a USB cable or through Bluetooth? It could be mounted in a console, a trunk, under a seat, etc. Put in a concealed VHF/UHF/UHF-T concealed receive only antenna and it would be a great package.

The touch screen controls would be nice too.
 

garys

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They tried something like that with "Siren" for the 536HP. It worked okay as a remove display, but for actually controlling the radio it never worked as well as it should. The Android version was mediocre, the iPhone version was worse as I recall.
 

GlobalNorth

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The 536 WiFi app was a feature, not a developed product that stood on its' own merits.
 
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