SDS100/SDS200: SDS scanning slow solution

[Clats97]

Hey, I have a Uniden HP2, 436HP, and SDS100. The speed they scan is in that order from fastest to slowest, based on my experience. The SDS100 was scanning quite slow. Definatley slower than any other scanner I have tried. I found a solution that has worked to speed up the scan speed by a bit.

First, disable global audio filter and set it to off. Open favorites, and manually turn the filter off for each site. Then, change the digital waiting time to 100ms from 400ms.

Flash to your scanner, and your scanning speeds should increase by a bit.

Hope this helps.

 

[belvdr]

There are several threads on this as well with similar solutions. Any auto filter will slow it for certain.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[u2brent]

The key to scanning faster on an SDS series scanner is to scan as little as possible in the first place. That's why we need more scanners...

 

[Brales60]

How much is in your FL? Your squelch setting will affect it as well. I have a bunch on my 200, and notice no issues with speed myself. Actually, I'm very happy with the scan rate.

 

[Clats97]

There are several threads on this as well with similar solutions. Any auto filter will slow it for certain.

Thanks for sharing.

Why do filters slow it down and what do they do?

 

[Clats97]

How much is in your FL? Your squelch setting will affect it as well. I have a bunch on my 200, and notice no issues with speed myself. Actually, I'm very happy with the scan rate.

14 systems in my "local" FL and 58 in my "main" fl. How does squelch affect scan speed?

 

[Clats97]

The key to scanning faster on an SDS series scanner is to scan as little as possible in the first place. That's why we need more scanners...

That's why I have 2 sdr dongles and 3 scanners lol

 

[a417]

Why do filters slow it down and what do they do?

gross oversimplification here - filters 'modify' or limit what the scanner attempts to process on each frequency, and that takes time.

That information is well documented in many threads here, and other places online.

 

[dave3825]

Why do filters slow it down and what do they do?

Search the Uniden forum. Someone just recently did a real nice write up about the filters. I can't put my finger on it this moment.

Edit. I found the pdf and am posting it. I can not remember the author.

 

[a417]

I can not remember the author.

Gotcha, buddy.

@fxdscon and it was in this thread.

tbh, this should be a sticky/wiki entry. It's good stuff.

 

[ka3jjz]

Actually we have a very extensive FAQ for the SDS scanners, and yes, the filters are covered in great detail with links to the many discussions, unlike the owner's manual and even, I think, the Easier to Read manual ...

SDS100 and SDS200 FAQ Page - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

Owners of these scanners would do well to bookmark this page- there's information linked in here that's very hard to find elsewhere (if documented at all)

Mike

 

[Clats97]

gross oversimplification here - filters 'modify' or limit what the scanner attempts to process on each frequency, and that takes time.

That information is well documented in many threads here, and other places online.

I see. Interesting! I'm gonna look into this. Thank you!

 

[Ubbe]

First, disable global audio filter and set it to off. Open favorites, and manually turn the filter off for each site. Then, change the digital waiting time to 100ms from 400ms.

SDS scanners are interfered easily from other signals and could need different filter settings that other scanners don't need. What filter to use depends of your unique location and the frequency you are monitoring. A 150MHz signal might need a Normal setting and a 166MHz signal could need a Invert setting of the filter and needs to be tested out what works the best. When it scans or search it could hesitate and stop briefly on a frequency and then continue to scan due to those interferences which will slow down scanning.

SDS100 scans at a 45ch/s rate which is half of what it used to be and what most other scanners are able to do. Hopefully it's a bug that where introduced a couple of years ago in a firmware upgrade that Uniden will sort out if they choose to release a new firmware update.

The digital waiting time are an audio mute timer that mutes the audio for that time when it stops on a signal and if you have set the Audio Type to All. If you have selected Digital only or Analog only it is not used. It is not related to scan speed.

/Ubbe

 

[Clats97]

SDS scanners are interfered easily from other signals and could need different filter settings that other scanners don't need. What filter to use depends of your unique location and the frequency you are monitoring. A 150MHz signal might need a Normal setting and a 166MHz signal could need a Invert setting of the filter and needs to be tested out what works the best. When it scans or search it could hesitate and stop briefly on a frequency and then continue to scan due to those interferences which will slow down scanning.

SDS100 scans at a 45ch/s rate which is half of what it used to be and what most other scanners are able to do. Hopefully it's a bug that where introduced a couple of years ago in a firmware upgrade that Uniden will sort out if they choose to release a new firmware update.

The digital waiting time are an audio mute timer that mutes the audio for that time when it stops on a signal and if you have set the Audio Type to All. If you have selected Digital only or Analog only it is not used. It is not related to scan speed.

/Ubbe

Wtf? 45cps? My 436 does 85. The sds was advertised as being 50% faster? Why the hell would they slow down the scanning rate? Its a 1100 dollar scanner

 

[iMONITOR]

14 systems in my "local" FL and 58 in my "main" fl. How does squelch affect scan speed?

Scanning 14 systems will cause a major slow down in scanning speed. Why so many? On a digital system scanning a lot of talk-groups won't slow scanning speed, but multiple system, especially 14 will have great impact on scanning speed. Also if your systems have different modes, ie: analog, digital, P25, DMR, NXDN, etc will slow things down.

 

[buddrousa]

That was designed to scan things no other scanner can receive.

 

[jgorman21]

Wtf? 45cps? My 436 does 85. The sds was advertised as being 50% faster? Why the hell would they slow down the scanning rate? Its a 1100 dollar scanner

It’s a whole lotta “jumping through hoops” To get it to behave decently. Honestly, I’m still working on it! It’s getting better and better. There are some great folks willing to help on here.

Patience and time is needed. Hang in there!

 

[Ensnared]

Initially, I frequently complained about my SDS 100 since it paled in comparison to my 436HP on scan speed. I fixed the problem. Now, it is faster than the 436HP.

Here is what I did: 1) set my global auto filter to "normal"; 2) set site NAC operation to "use site NAC"; 3) set delay to 4 seconds (my preference); 4) set hold time to 1 second.

Then, I stacked my conventional frequencies for LE in one favorite instead of stacking systems of conventional agencies; 5) started stacking my talk groups for specific agencies in combined lists.

The main thing that sped things up was the site NAC operation activation and adjusting hold time. I had the hold time set on 4 seconds.

Finally, I finally noticed if you set the conventional frequencies to "Auto."

This is the way I do it.

 

[Ubbe]

Wtf? 45cps? My 436 does 85. The sds was advertised as being 50% faster? Why the hell would they slow down the scanning rate? Its a 1100 dollar scanner

I believe it's a bug that happened as a mistake. The search rate are still some 90-100 steps a seconds so there's no reason to slow down scan. It went from 90ch/s to 45 at the same time that Uniden changed the debug mode from recording one event each millisecond to 2 millisecond intervals, half speed. The same clock timer where probably also used for setting the scan speed.

/Ubbe

 

[a417]

Here is what I did: 1) set my global auto filter to "normal"; 2)

Try setting the global auto filter to "off"