SDS100/SDS200: SDS 200 programming question

[galligan122]

I have had my SDS 200 for several weeks now and love it. One minor issue I’ve ran into is I have a large system programmed, the Indiana SAFE-T. With this comes multiple sites, TG ID’s, NACS, etc. I’ve noticed that I receive some sites far away, but I think they just have the same control channels, so even though I’m “picking up the site” I’m actually just picking up a site with the same cc as one within my range. I guess I need to pay attention to the NAC know for sure.

The next issue, and my main question I’ve ran into is some county systems have the same talk group ID as the SAFE-T system, causing an incorrect display on the scanner as to the actual agency being received. For instance I am actually hearing Howard County on their county system, but the scanner shows I’m hearing another agency on the other side of the state because they share a TG ID. I can’t think of any workaround for this, and was wondering if anyone could shed some insight. I know I could “avoid” the channel but weirdly sometimes I get a stronger signal and catch more traffic on whatever frequency is on the SAFE-T than Howard Counties own site so I don’t necessary want to.

 

[RMason]

With this comes multiple sites, TG ID’s, NACS, etc. I’ve noticed that I receive some sites far away, but I think they just have the same control channels, so even though I’m “picking up the site” I’m actually just picking up a site with the same cc as one within my range.

You may want either delete or avoid the sites that are out-of-range. Alternatively, you can use location control to avoid scanning distant sites.

I’ve ran into is some county systems have the same talk group ID as the SAFE-T system, causing an incorrect display on the scanner as to the actual agency being received. For instance I am actually hearing Howard County on their county system, but the scanner shows I’m hearing another agency on the other side of the state because they share a TG ID

Do you have SAFE-T and Howard County programmed as separate systems? If properly programmed, the two systems should be independent of each other.

 

[tvengr]

If the same talkgroup ID is used in 2 different systems, that will not cause the problem you are describing. It must be a programming error. You can set the scanner to use or ignore the site NAC in both the profile editor in Sentinel and the scanner menu. If you are receiving those out of range sites and they have a site NAC, site NAC is set to ignore. Change it to use site NAC.

 

[ofd8001]

I'd urge you to use Location Control, which is a setting in the System Options for the Favorites List. That way the scanner "weeds out" stuff too far away to hear and thus improves scanning efficiency.

You are correct about state wide systems using the same control channel and voice channel frequencies multiple times. The same thing happened back in the days of conventional scanning because the frequency spectrum is limited.

As noted above, your solution is to program Howard County and SAFE T as separate systems. If you have Howard County and SAFE T programmed into one big system, you probably are not getting the most efficient scanning possible. The only reason to not would be is if there is some kind of "interconnection" with Howard County and SAFE T, which I sort of doubt given duplication of TGIDs. But strange things happen.

 

[galligan122]

You may want either delete or avoid the sites that are out-of-range. Alternatively, you can use location control to avoid scanning distant sites.


Do you have SAFE-T and Howard County programmed as separate systems? If properly programmed, the two systems should be independent of each other.

Thank you for the reply. I went through each site in the system and kept each one that I was showing as getting data from a cc. I realize now I have duplicates because some are just another site with the same cc after I look closer. I need to do some more work on this to get rid of those too.

I do have then as separate systems in the scanner. This particular site also pulls in correct TG’s from the SAFE-T system, but then misreads some TG’s. Maybe I need to set NAC to ignore and maybe that will solve my issue but I’m not sure.

 

[galligan122]

I'd urge you to use Location Control, which is a setting in the System Options for the Favorites List. That way the scanner "weeds out" stuff too far away to hear and thus improves scanning efficiency.

You are correct about state wide systems using the same control channel and voice channel frequencies multiple times. The same thing happened back in the days of conventional scanning because the frequency spectrum is limited.

As noted above, your solution is to program Howard County and SAFE T as separate systems. If you have Howard County and SAFE T programmed into one big system, you probably are not getting the most efficient scanning possible. The only reason to not would be is if there is some kind of "interconnection" with Howard County and SAFE T, which I sort of doubt given duplication of TGIDs. But strange things happen.

Thank you! I will do this. Makes 100% sense.

 

[galligan122]

If the same talkgroup ID is used in 2 different systems, that will not cause the problem you are describing. It must be a programming error. You can set the scanner to use or ignore the site NAC in both the profile editor in Sentinel and the scanner menu. If you are receiving those out of range sites and they have a site NAC, site NAC is set to ignore. Change it to use site NAC.

Thank you for the reply! The issue is 1 TG ID but it is shared between Howard county and a Safe-t agency. I’ll set NAC to ignore and see if it solves my issue

 

[ofd8001]

I prefer this option to Avoiding or Deleting things too far away. You may venture somewhere and bring your scanner. All you'd have to do is enter a different zip code and let the scanner adjust itself.

 

[galligan122]

I'd urge you to use Location Control, which is a setting in the System Options for the Favorites List. That way the scanner "weeds out" stuff too far away to hear and thus improves scanning efficiency.

You are correct about state wide systems using the same control channel and voice channel frequencies multiple times. The same thing happened back in the days of conventional scanning because the frequency spectrum is limited.

As noted above, your solution is to program Howard County and SAFE T as separate systems. If you have Howard County and SAFE T programmed into one big system, you probably are not getting the most efficient scanning possible. The only reason to not would be is if there is some kind of "interconnection" with Howard County and SAFE T, which I sort of doubt given duplication of TGIDs. But strange things happen.

Thank you for the reply! I will give this a shot

 

[RMason]

I do have then as separate systems in the scanner. This particular site also pulls in correct TG’s from the SAFE-T system, but then misreads some TG’s. Maybe I need to set NAC to ignore and maybe that will solve my issue but I’m not sure

Are you receiving Howard County traffic on the SAFE-T system? Or are you receiving a distant SAFE-T talkgroup on the Howard County system? Please give an example of a talkgroup showing the issue.

What site (and system) is receiving the incorrect talkgroup?

I do see that some frequencies are listed on both the Howard County and SAFE-T systems. For example 851.2 is shown on Howard County Simulcast site and SAFE-T Connersville site (there may be are more)
Howard County:

1 (1)	001 (1)	Simulcast	851.200c	851.3375c	852.125c	852.325	852.600	852.850	853.2125c	853.2875c
			854.0625c	854.4875c

SAFE-T

1 (1)

038 (26)

Connersville

Fayette, IN

851.200

851.450

851.8875c

852.3875c

853.725c

853.725

I want to say that once you resolve the scanning of distant sites, this issue may go away.

 

[tvengr]

I’ll set NAC to ignore and see if it solves my issue

You need to set the scanner to Use Site NAC to eliminate the out of range sites using the same control channel frequencies on the SAFE-T system. That has absolutely nothing do with the same talkgroup ID on 2 different systems. Which SAFE-T Talkgroup ID are you hearing on the Howard County system: There is no way you can possibly receive a frequency in Fayette County from Howard County unless you experience a phenomenon known as ducting. Please attach your Howard County favorites list file so we can take a look at it. Go to the File tab in Sentinel and click on Export to hpe file (Favorites List). You will need to zip the exported file to be able to attach it. Click on Attach files and open the zipped file.

 

[pb_lonny]

I personally like turning on and off sites, as needed / I am I range of them.

 

[galligan122]

I have realized that the Batesville site, which is showing that I’m receiving data from Clay County, has flashing on the screen the same site number and NAC as the Howard County site. So I’m actually receiving the Howard county tower, on the SAFE-T system, even though the site isn’t actually a SAFE-T site.

The scanner is then associating received TG ID’s it’s pulling from the Howard County site with the ones known to be in the SAFE-T system, causing my issue.

 

[tvengr]

Batesville is in Franklin and Ripley Counties, both of which are out of range of Clay County. You will not be able to receive any of those counties from your location. The Kokomo SAFE-T site in Howard County uses a different site NAC than the Howard County system site. I believe you are confusing the Sysid on the SAFE-T system with the Site NAC on the Howard County system. Both happen to be 734 but are 2 different animals. The site NAC of the Kokomo SAFE-T Howard County site is 6B7. Make sure that you have the scanner set to use site NAC. That will eliminate the false sites using the same control channel frequencies. Please attach your Howard County and SAFE-T favorites list files so I can take a look at them.

 

[Ubbe]

There's lots of intermod issus with SDS scanners. You can hear one strong signal on many other frequencies than the one they are actually transmitting on. You have to use IFX and different filter settings to try and avoid as much as possible from those problems. If the signal are strong enough then always use the Attenuator setting for that site.

SDS100.mp4

drive.google.com

/Ubbe