SDS 200 Hierarchy :: Explain It Like I'm 5!

[kudzu_kid]

Sorry folks,

I'm old and medicated. Can someone please explain the programming taxonomy / hierarchy of the SDSXXX radios? I have a SDS200 and tend to confuse myself between the differences of a Profile or a FL (Favorites List). I have that manual made easy book - but there's nothing - even in the glossary that really breaks it down for an idiot (ahem... Yeah, I know, idiots shouldn't buy good scanners, right? Send flames to /dev/null).

What should be in a Profile? (like stuff I listen to at home? Then another for stuff I might listen to at other locations - e.g.: vacation, work, etc.)?

What is in a Favorites List? (perhaps stuff I want to listen to within that particular profile?)

What's a good way to lay things out? I primarily listen to local govt (police, fire, animal control, etc.) and railroad.

NOTE: I've got the scanner up and running just fine and have successfully added a few things via Sentinel (fairly cumbersome IMHO).
I come from the Bearcat 800XLT days... LOL I've got the local systems - compliments of the Radio Ref database. But I want to understand better what delineates a profile vs Favorites List. I've got several profiles in varying degrees of geographical scope & service. E.g.: I live in a more suburban area and when I listen to the metro area (PD & Fire, particularly) - it'll never shut up - so I seldom enable them - but have a Profile for them. Is that logical / correct?

I've got a diagram attached (JPG) but not sure if my understanding is correct / Kosher.

If I'm running two favorites lists and they have some

Please help a kinesthetic learner out!

Any hints, tips, mnemonics appreciated!

 

[MStep]

I think you've got the general idea. My post does not really address the hierarchy of system setups-- others can probably do that more clearly than I can, but rather to offer you some moral support and words of encouragement and perhaps a few quick hints and tips, as you requested.

The design of the SDS series was ahead of its time when introduced, and the idea was to give the listener the maximum amount of flexibility in programming. It's almost like an unfinished musical symphony, since the designer and head engineer for Uniden (Paul Opitz, RIP) passed shortly after its introduction. There are ports on the radio that were never defined; some of those engineering concepts went to the grave with Paul. The SDS series have been described in some posts as the world's most interesting electronic puzzle box.

As you are likely now aware, you will have to pay Uniden extra fees to unlock some of the specialized digital modes--- they are already built into the unit--- you have to buy programmable keys specific to the electronic serial number of your unit to unlock those modes. You only need them if those modes are used in your area, and these are not "decryption" keys, they just add additional reception modes to your radio. These keys do not unlock encrypted systems.

Until you get a better handle on the radio, I would stay away from stuff like Quick Keys that can turn on/off systems within the radio. I keep it simple by using Favorites Lists to essentially accomplish the same thing.

The only other thing I would advise is to go to your state's special section here on Radio Reference and perhaps find others in your immediate area that might be able to get together with you to offer some tips.

Yes, if you have the same frequencies or systems duplicated across several favorites lists, you will hear them over and over again as each list is accessed. One key/concept which is very useful is the "Avoid" key--- one press for temporary avoid (avoided until you power the radio off and then on again-- I use this function quite a bit) and permanent avoid, which is 2 sequencial presses of the "Avoid" key, a function which I rarely use.

All the information you seek is either here on RR, or in the instruction manuals, and while some concepts are not clearly explained, at least they give you some insight into what the unit is capable of.

Best of luck in your endeavors--- the SDS200 is a great receiver, well worth the patience required to master many of its versatile functions.

 

[ofd8001]

There are several methods you can take to arrive at your destination. One option, which I used in the beginning, was to have a "Home" Profile, then a "Travel" Profile. (Actually two travel profiles, one for going up north, the other for going south.)

That became a pain having to swap out SD Cards (each Profile was on its own SD card).

Now I have numerous Favorites Lists and assign them to Startup/Configuration Keys. (Favorites Lists can be assigned to several different startup keys.)

So now i have a "Home" (1) startup/configuration key, a "North" (2) startup/configuration key and then a "South" (3) startup/configuration key. (I also assign all Favorites Lists to startup key 0, just so I can turn everyone on.)

Then owing to what I'm doing, I'll power down the scanner, then hold the appropriate startup key and power up the scanner.

A GPS unit is also very helpful so it will turn on/off "stuff" depending on where I am. Still I like startup keys rather than relying on GPS because at power up, the scanner loads just a few things, rather than everything only to be turned off by GPS. A time saver.

 

[JethrowJohnson]

Like @MStep said, you seem to have a pretty good understanding of it already. Profiles hold Favorites Lists, Favorites Lists hold Systems, Systems hold Departments (and Sites if it's a trunked system), and Departments hold Channels. There's a bunch of different ways you can set it up, but for an example I'll show you how I have mine programmed (mine is a BCD436HP but it's designed pretty similar to the SDS200 as far as programming goes). I don't use multiple profiles, just favorites lists, and I organize them by county. My county is always scanned, and I just use the other ones as needed for interop incidents.

List 0: WASHINGTON COUNTY
System 0: WASHINGTON COUNTY
Dept 0: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Dept 1: FIRE/MEDICAL
Dept 2: CITY
System 1: OHIO MARCS-IP
Dept 0: WASHINGTON COUNTY (84)
Dept 1: OSHP DISTRICT 7
Dept 2: WASHINGTON COUNTY (84) STATE CORRECTIONS

And then I have Noble, Athens, Morgan, and Monroe counties in Ohio, and Wood, Pleasants, Jackson, Wirt, and Ritchie counties in West Virginia. Next I plan on programming the statewide mutual aid channels for Ohio and West Virginia, and then the nationwide ones, but I haven't gotten to that just yet.