SDS 100 Scan Times

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jake_Braker

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Is there any way I can increase the scan times on my SDS 100? It switches from NC Viper to Charlotte UASI to the Gaston Conventional frequencies extremly slowly. Is there a way I can speed these up because it feels like my 996P2 is a lot faster.
 

hiegtx

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Is there any way I can increase the scan times on my SDS 100? It switches from NC Viper to Charlotte UASI to the Gaston Conventional frequencies extremly slowly. Is there a way I can speed these up because it feels like my 996P2 is a lot faster.
Make sure that you don't have any filter set as "Auto". That slows down scanning by trying every combination to see what works best, but it's not saving it & will go back through them again the next time that department comes up.

Also, limit the number of sites that you are scanning on both the Charlotte system, as well as Viper. Each site scanned adds to the scan time, as it takes the SDS100 up to 1.5 seconds to evaluate the control channel on each site. Only keep the minimum number of sites that are needed to monitor your specific agencies.
 

jake_Braker

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Make sure that you don't have any filter set as "Auto". That slows down scanning by trying every combination to see what works best, but it's not saving it & will go back through them again the next time that department comes up.

Also, limit the number of sites that you are scanning on both the Charlotte system, as well as Viper. Each site scanned adds to the scan time, as it takes the SDS100 up to 1.5 seconds to evaluate the control channel on each site. Only keep the minimum number of sites that are needed to monitor your specific agencies.
What filters are you talking about? I don't see anything in the FL's edit screen
 

Ubbe

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What filters are you talking about? I don't see anything in the FL's edit screen
Filters are set at the site level for trunked systems and at departments for conventionals.

SDS scanners have a 45ch/s scanrate for conventional channels. That's probably half of what the 996 can do. It also has a long delay when doing huge frequency shifts and seem to always happen going to and from vhf-low, compared to other scanners.

/Ubbe
 

hiegtx

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You'll only see filters in Sentinel if you have the model type set to either SDS100 or SDS200. That selection is on the drop-down Tools menu (click on Target model).

You can pick a setting and use it as "Global" (all sites (trunked) and departments (conventional), and any system or site that is set to "Global" for the filter will use whatever you set for Global. (In Sentinel, edit your Profile. The global filter value can be set on the Miscellaneous tab.)

Regardless what you set as "Global", you can use a different filter on individual sites or conventional departments, including setting their filter as Off. (You could also set the Global as off, but use a different setting for specific systems & sites.)
 

jake_Braker

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You'll only see filters in Sentinel if you have the model type set to either SDS100 or SDS200. That selection is on the drop-down Tools menu (click on Target model).

You can pick a setting and use it as "Global" (all sites (trunked) and departments (conventional), and any system or site that is set to "Global" for the filter will use whatever you set for Global. (In Sentinel, edit your Profile. The global filter value can be set on the Miscellaneous tab.)

Regardless what you set as "Global", you can use a different filter on individual sites or conventional departments, including setting their filter as Off. (You could also set the Global as off, but use a different setting for specific systems & sites.)
Awesome thank you! I'm sorry about all the questions, just got my 100 yesterday and it's my first time using sentinel
 

trentbob

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Awesome thank you! I'm sorry about all the questions, just got my 100 yesterday and it's my first time using sentinel
All good advice here, your main concern now is the fact it's a slow scanning radio. As far as filters go they don't slow your scanning down unless you were to use Auto filters as has been mentioned because they sample every filter on every object. I would say forget about filters right now at this stage of the game. If you have problems on specific systems or conventional frequencies you can explore filters at a later date. Filters should always be applied on the radio itself so you can use real time results of noise level and RSSI.

Filters were added after the radio was released in firmware updates so the only real information you're going to get is from the multitude of threads regarding filters. Right now your Global filter is set to normal for a reason as a default. Don't be concerned about filters now.

Same goes for system hold time, unless you've already gone in and changed it, by default all systems are at zero. Down the line that could help with clipped transmissions and before the filters, was very valuable, the filters took care of a lot of the problems system hold was used for.

It is a slow scanner secondary to the SDR chip that is used so it has been said. Also an early firmware update slowed scanning down even more to improve performance. Be careful not to load up favorites lists with too many systems and sites along with conventional items.

The less you scan the more you hear.
 
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