road trip with SDS-200?

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IQ_imbalance

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Hi all. I've got a few questions about going on a long (multi-hour!) road trip w/ the SDS-200 and the GPS accessory. Will it automatically switch between available systems based on current location and range settings (as modified by which services have been selected....), or does it have to be prompted to do so? Also, would i be better off creating a favorites list based on the travel route or just let the radio do the selecting?
 

RBMTS

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It will automatically turn systems on/off as needed if you are monitoring the full database or favorites (with location on) while using the GPS. I strongly suggest you reduce down the "range" to just 5 or 10 miles. Otherwise you'll end up listening to towns and services that you may not know where they are at. I've traveled cross country and I usually set mine to just 1 mile so as to get rid of the noise from locations that I have no idea where they are at.

You'll find it will work great. Turn it on, set your services to monitor, and let it do its thing so that you can focus on driving..
 

hiegtx

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It will automatically turn systems on/off as needed if you are monitoring the full database or favorites (with location on) while using the GPS. I strongly suggest you reduce down the "range" to just 5 or 10 miles. Otherwise you'll end up listening to towns and services that you may not know where they are at. I've traveled cross country and I usually set mine to just 1 mile so as to get rid of the noise from locations that I have no idea where they are at.

You'll find it will work great. Turn it on, set your services to monitor, and let it do its thing so that you can focus on driving..
To add only slightly to comments of RBMTS, I would suggest that, just before your trip, you download the latest database update into Sentinel, then write the update to the scanner.
 

ofd8001

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I'd also suggest looking at the Set Scan Selection>Set Nationwide Systems and turning off those which you may not be interested in monitoring. They can take up a lot of scan time as infrequently as "real" transmissions occur. I've found they tend to pick up more garbage/trash/intermod and I'm pressing the Avoid button every couple of minutes.

You may want to try a "mini" road trip just to see how things go before the real deal which would help you discover any hiccups, etc.

You will find using a GPS to be really enjoyable on a trip. I consider a GPS device just about essential for any mobile scanner used for traveling.
 

jonwienke

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For long road trips, the main database and GPS are the best way to go. But you'll need to be picky about the service types you enable, set range to no more than 5 miles, and will probably want to turn off most of tbe nationwide systems. Otherwise the scanner will be scanning a lot of stuff and you'll miss traffic you might want to hear.
 

kruser

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I've always wondered how well the SDS models do when traveling after reading the threads about how location dependent the Filters and IFX settings can be.
As touchy as the filters are on mine here at home, I could see this being a small problem while traveling.

Anyone have any experience with needing different filter settings as they travel around the country?
 

ScubaJungle

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For this purpose here, I really, really wish that we were able to edit settings on the full database, such as ID search, etc. With ID Scan, I feel like I am missing most of the good stuff, since most places dont have most of the TGs logged, etc (there are some exclusions, mostly the big cities with a lot of members that contribute).
Regardless, Im interested in hearing how it goes, so keep us updated
 

WX4JCW

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I am a semi Driver as well, the GPS feature is awesome, I set my range generally to 0 as its what UPMan suggested and it is more efficient while traveling you will not notice systems changing for the most part as it is pretty seamless, usually, when you get about 30 miles from a state border it will do a database load like when you first turn the unit on, play with range values from 0-5 to see what suits you best
 

GTO_04

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For long road trips, the main database and GPS are the best way to go. But you'll need to be picky about the service types you enable, set range to no more than 5 miles, and will probably want to turn off most of tbe nationwide systems. Otherwise the scanner will be scanning a lot of stuff and you'll miss traffic you might want to hear.

Is there any way to break down the service type "Public Safety" into Fire/EMS and Law Enforcement? With the 436 GPS, I am told you can select Law Enforcement as it is not combined together with Fire/EMS. I programmed the SDS100 GPS for a friend traveling to FL and I have to say I am impressed with the GPS function!

GTO_04
 

kruser

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Is there any way to break down the service type "Public Safety" into Fire/EMS and Law Enforcement? With the 436 GPS, I am told you can select Law Enforcement as it is not combined together with Fire/EMS. I programmed the SDS100 GPS for a friend traveling to FL and I have to say I am impressed with the GPS function!

GTO_04
Public Safety does not exist as a Service Type in the SDS series. x36HP series or Home Patrol 1 and 2 models.

Fire is broken down into three Service Types.
LE is the same with three LE Service Types.
EMS also has it's own Service Type group with three selections just like LE and Fire.

It's fairly flexible in what you can do.

I don't scan with the full database so I don't know if you can change the service types assigned to an object but I'd suspect not.
Create a favorites list of what you want and then you can change the service type to whatever you want if the one assigned in the RRDB does not meet your needs.
 

GTO_04

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Public Safety does not exist as a Service Type in the SDS series. x36HP series or Home Patrol 1 and 2 models.

Fire is broken down into three Service Types.
LE is the same with three LE Service Types.
EMS also has it's own Service Type group with three selections just like LE and Fire.

It's fairly flexible in what you can do.

I don't scan with the full database so I don't know if you can change the service types assigned to an object but I'd suspect not.
Create a favorites list of what you want and then you can change the service type to whatever you want if the one assigned in the RRDB does not meet your needs.

So is it because I was scanning the full database that my scan selections are limited? I was wondering about that. For local scanning I did put in favorites lists for all the stae and local agencies so I handled that differently. That would explain the difference then.

GTO_04
 

kruser

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So is it because I was scanning the full database that my scan selections are limited? I was wondering about that. For local scanning I did put in favorites lists for all the stae and local agencies so I handled that differently. That would explain the difference then.

GTO_04
Even when scanning with the full database, you should still be able to turn service types on and off.
This can be done in Sentinels profile editor or directly on the scanner using its keypad and menus.

If some service types are not available to turn on or off when using the radios menus, that means you are not scanning or searching anything that contains those service types. This would apply for the full database and favorites lists. If you edit your profile with Sentinel, you can enable or disable every service type that exists. That can work to your advantage as you don't need to remember to check them in the radio if you enable a favorite list that has service types that are turned off by default.

Of course the service types being accurate all depends on if they were submitted accurately by the users.
 

Ubbe

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I don't scan with the full database so I don't know if you can change the service types assigned to an object but I'd suspect not.
In the HPDB folder in your SD card there's a hpdb.cfg file which is a text file you can read. In there it says what county number referes to which hpd text file.

In that file you have info that looks like this:
C-Freq CFreqId=179533 CGroupId=44576 Fire-EMS Dispatch Off 155040000 FM 3
C-Freq CFreqId=179541 CGroupId=44576 Hospital Cooms Off 155160000 FM 12

TGID Tid=166563 TGroupId=11979 Fire - Tactical 1 Off 29985 ALL 30

At the near end of the lines are a number that refers to the service type and you can edit that to say something else.
If a database update have changes that include your frequency or the talk group, then your data will be overwritten. Also if you reload the whole database the edit you did will be replaced by the new database. Any normal database update will not overwrite your edited service type.

Service types listed here: BCDx36HP: - Service Types by number

As you can see the Fire tactical TG have a service type as 30-Military which must be wrong and will not be scanned if you only have selected to scan the usual types like EMS and so on. The database probably have a lot of errors in it that could make it difficult to base your scanning solely on service types.

/Ubbe
 

GTO_04

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Even when scanning with the full database, you should still be able to turn service types on and off.
This can be done in Sentinels profile editor or directly on the scanner using its keypad and menus.

If some service types are not available to turn on or off when using the radios menus, that means you are not scanning or searching anything that contains those service types. This would apply for the full database and favorites lists. If you edit your profile with Sentinel, you can enable or disable every service type that exists. That can work to your advantage as you don't need to remember to check them in the radio if you enable a favorite list that has service types that are turned off by default.

Of course the service types being accurate all depends on if they were submitted accurately by the users.

Yes I was referring to the radio menus for the full database. I never had scanned the full database before this. But nevertheless I was surprised to see just "public safety" instead of law enforcement and fire/ems categories. Perhaps "public safety" was a default service type?

GTO_04
 

kruser

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Yes I was referring to the radio menus for the full database. I never had scanned the full database before this. But nevertheless I was surprised to see just "public safety" instead of law enforcement and fire/ems categories. Perhaps "public safety" was a default service type?

GTO_04
The only service type I've seen with the word "Public" in it is "Public Works"!
 

GTO_04

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The only service type I've seen with the word "Public" in it is "Public Works"!

What shows up on your scanner menu when you select "scan selection" for the full database? Thinking more about this, the SDS that I programmed was purchased used and who knows what they did when they set it up?

GTO_04
 

kruser

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What shows up on your scanner menu when you select "scan selection" for the full database? Thinking more about this, the SDS that I programmed was purchased used and who knows what they did when they set it up?

GTO_04
Under Set Nationwide Systems, there is one called Public Safety but that's not really a service type. I think it's just the frequencies considered common public safety freqs or channels that are often used nationwide. I don't think it would contain any specific local to you public safety systems or channels.

Directly under Scan Selection, I don't have much other than the option to Set Nationwide Systems and Select Lists to Monitor and Manage Quick Keys etc.
Yep, if this was someone else's radio, it is a guess how they may have set things up if you did not wipe the SD card and start fresh!
 
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