SDS100/SDS200: SDS100/200 VS HomePatrol 2

[Coastalfrank]

Hello all,

I am looking for others input on a situation that has me scratching my head.
First a little about me, I have been an avid scanner enthusiast for 40 years and have a good amount of experience and understanding of antenna applications.
I have always been involved in analog transmission listening as that was way was the majority in my area and my local PD & fire were analog.
A few years back my local PD went to digital so my gear needed updating. I jumped into an SDS100 then soon after that an SDS200 then finishing off with a HomePatrol 2, now here is where I start scratching my head…….
I have a rooftop discone, a mini discone inside on a shelf, a mag mount Larsen, mag mount Larid, mag mount motorola an many others but those are my main go to antennas.
When I set up the sds100/200 and the HomePatrol 2, the homepatrol 2 always gets superior reception over the 100 and the 200. I have flip flopped antennas and the home patrol always comes out on top receiving much more than the SDS’s do with the same antenna.
I always figured the SDS’s would be the superior units but my experience is that although the SDS units are much more technical and refine able, the HomePatrol 2 always is the winner in reception which baffles me.
I have tweaked many settings to try to improve the SDS’s reception to no avail.
Dose anyone have any input or advice to help balance the reception strength and restore my faith in making my SDS units my go to. I really want to have equal or better reception out of the SDS units vs the HomePatrol 2.

 

[n1chu]

I have a HP-1 that I mounted on a motorcycle, complete with GPS and an amplified external speaker. The HP-P2 wasn’t out yet but the HO-1 did what I wanted for my local. A great radio and I imagine the HP-P2 is also. A post on the SDS series complained about the same as you have… it’s was back when the SDS’s first came out. The post answered why the BCD996P2 or the HP-2P seemed to have better reception. The poster put the SDS radios on the bench and determined the selectivity/sensitivity showed to be somewhat less than the non software defined SDS units. But the differences were so minor that the human ear couldn’t differentiate between the two… which means the practicality or real life differences were not measurable-both types were equal. And to this day I have taken issue with the bench findings. Our real life experiences contradict the lab findings as you have experienced. While my results with the SDS100/200 are wholly acceptable, I wait with interest any responses your post will generate… because I believe there are some unknown contributing issues that cause concerns relating to yours. If there is no real differences relating to selectivity/sensitivity, there must be other factors causing a degradation in the ability to hear what that older model has been hearing all along. Basic reasoning dictates any newer model that is replacing Uniden’s “flagship” offering should be better than its predecessor. The trouble with the “unknown issues” that may be affecting reception is that there are so many variables to consider… too many, without any one sticking out like a sore thumb… each monitoring station is specific in and of itself.

 

[Coastalfrank]

Thank you for the reply.
For instance, I have some towns transmitting 30 miles away and when the HomePatrol 2 is connected to my rooftop discone I receive clear transmissions from these towns that I programed in via sentinal and when I put the SDS 100 or 200 on same antenna with same towns also programed via sentinal, same rooftop discone antenna I just cannot get any of these towns.
I am familiar with squelch and with the SDS 200 on the discone I have put it to the lowest settings while towns are transmitting.......nothing.
Also I have also played with Global filters and found no difference.
It's frustrating as it's like the SDS units just cannot pull in the distant signals like the HomePatrol 2 can and in my opinion the HomePatrol series scanners I would classify as an enthusiast grade unit and I would grade the SDS models as a professional grade scanner so it makes no sense that the ability to pull in signals is inferior on the SDS's or is it I am doing something wrong ???
I am open to any input on this matter.
And thank You in advance, It's great to have a group with the same social filter that makes it so we can help each other out when questions arise.

 

[Ubbe]

The poster put the SDS radios on the bench and determined the selectivity/sensitivity showed to be somewhat less than the non software defined SDS units. But the differences were so minor that the human ear couldn’t differentiate between the two… which means the practicality or real life differences were not measurable-both types were equal. And to this day I have taken issue with the bench findings.

I don't know who did that testing but bench testing a SDS scanners shows what a disaster it is RF wise. It does not have a good receiver that can be used in all RF environments. It de-sense even with minor level signals and have multiple issues with internal interferencies from its own electronics.

SDS100 measurements

Video of test

/Ubbe

 

[n9mxq]

I have all three, and as Base radios the SDS-100/200 out performs the HP2 hands down with the stock antennas on all three.. As mentioned once you add an outside antenna they're about the same, but the SDS-100/200, with upgrades, is a more capable scanner.

 

[n1chu]

It seems there’s enough contradictory evidence to support both sides of the coin. Of course, we hear more of the dismal reports than the satisfactory ones, human nature to complain when we think something isn’t right, and not so inclined to post the happy experiences…

Check the SDS200 and make sure the antenuator is not activated…

…wondering why the stock antenna comparison to the outside discone has such different results?

 

[hiegtx]

Thank you for the reply.
For instance, I have some towns transmitting 30 miles away and when the HomePatrol 2 is connected to my rooftop discone I receive clear transmissions from these towns that I programed in via sentinal and when I put the SDS 100 or 200 on same antenna with same towns also programed via sentinal, same rooftop discone antenna I just cannot get any of these towns.
I am familiar with squelch and with the SDS 200 on the discone I have put it to the lowest settings while towns are transmitting.......nothing.
Also I have also played with Global filters and found no difference.
It's frustrating as it's like the SDS units just cannot pull in the distant signals like the HomePatrol 2 can and in my opinion the HomePatrol series scanners I would classify as an enthusiast grade unit and I would grade the SDS models as a professional grade scanner so it makes no sense that the ability to pull in signals is inferior on the SDS's or is it I am doing something wrong ???
I am open to any input on this matter.
And thank You in advance, It's great to have a group with the same social filter that makes it so we can help each other out when questions arise.

While the HomePatrol-2 might do better on some analog channels, the SDS100 is not deaf. At least, mine is not. While most of the public safety agencies in my county are on trunked systems, there are a couple of small towns, about 15 miles away, that are not on trunked. No trouble hearing them. When I'm visiting a friend in a more rural area, about 120 miles west, virtually all the counties & towns are on conventional (non-trunked) channels. I have no problem hearing activity in her county, as well as the neighboring ones.

For the Favorites list you are using on your SDS100 and/or SDS200, did you create your list by appending from the main database, or did you manually enter them via Sentinel? If manually entered, are you using location control on the list(s)? If manually entered, if you did not also enter the location details, those channels will be ignored by the scanner as 'out of range'. Also, if using location, have you verified that your location and range are set correctly in your profile?

Since you can hear these with your HP-2, that would indicate that your antenna, & coax, are not damaged.

With the SDS100 (or 200) connected to your external antenna, is there a channel that you can still hear on the HP-2? If so, try this:
With the SDS unit scanning, press the Channel soft key (the one under the lower right corner of the display. That puts the scanner on channel hold. (Make sure you press that when the scanner is not scanning a trunked system.)

With the HP-2 stopped on a conventional frequency, that's active, enter that frequency, including the decimal point, in the SDS scanner you want to check. Don't hit the enter key. Instead, after entering the frequency, hit the Channel key again. The scanner will be stopped on that frequency. If, with it stopped, you can hear the channel on both the HP-2 & the SDS scanner, then that would indicate a problem with the favorites list. Make sure that the system which contains this channel (on the SDS radio) is not locked out, If quick keys are used, make sure that they are enabled. Also verify that attenuate is not enabled, Also, remember that you can export the Favorites list used on the HP-2 into an hpe file (that's under the drop down File menu), then import that into the SDS version of Sentinel. While the HP-1 & -2 don't have all the bells & whistles, such as alert colors and quick keys, the base programming of systems is the same. Same channels and systems structure. When I purchased my first 436HP. I exported the list from my HP-2 & used it as a starter for the the x36HP scanners. (You can also export from the x36HP/SDS version of Sentinel & import into the HP-1 & -2 Sentinel version. The HP-1 & 2 don't have the extra features of the x36HP & SDS scanners, but, again, the basic core of favorites list programming is the same; The 'extras' from the later scanners, such as alert colors & quick keys will simply be ignored and not imported.

 

[Coastalfrank]

hiegtx thank you for this info, I will give your suggestion a try and your explanation was nicely written and easily understandable.​

 

[donc13]

Thank you for the reply.
For instance, I have some towns transmitting 30 miles away and when the HomePatrol 2 is connected to my rooftop discone I receive clear transmissions from these towns that I programed in via sentinal and when I put the SDS 100 or 200 on same antenna with same towns also programed via sentinal, same rooftop discone antenna I just cannot get any of these towns.
I am familiar with squelch and with the SDS 200 on the discone I have put it to the lowest settings while towns are transmitting.......nothing.
Also I have also played with Global filters and found no difference.
It's frustrating as it's like the SDS units just cannot pull in the distant signals like the HomePatrol 2 can and in my opinion the HomePatrol series scanners I would classify as an enthusiast grade unit and I would grade the SDS models as a professional grade scanner so it makes no sense that the ability to pull in signals is inferior on the SDS's or is it I am doing something wrong ???
I am open to any input on this matter.
And thank You in advance, It's great to have a group with the same social filter that makes it so we can help each other out when questions arise.

This is a wild ass guess....but what adapter(s) are you using to connect that discone to the various radios? I don't know what the antenna inputs are on the HP, I believe the sds100 is sma and I know the sds200 is bnc.

Is it possible the antenna connector adapters may be the issue?

 

[hiegtx]

This is a wild ass guess....but what adapter(s) are you using to connect that discone to the various radios? I don't know what the antenna inputs are on the HP, I believe the sds100 is sma and I know the sds200 is bnc.

Both the HP-1 & HP-2 have SMA antenna connections, but like all the other Uniden scanners using SMA, an SMA to BNC adapter is included when bought new.

 

[Shooter65]

Hello all,

I am looking for others input on a situation that has me scratching my head.
First a little about me, I have been an avid scanner enthusiast for 40 years and have a good amount of experience and understanding of antenna applications.
I have always been involved in analog transmission listening as that was way was the majority in my area and my local PD & fire were analog.
A few years back my local PD went to digital so my gear needed updating. I jumped into an SDS100 then soon after that an SDS200 then finishing off with a HomePatrol 2, now here is where I start scratching my head…….
I have a rooftop discone, a mini discone inside on a shelf, a mag mount Larsen, mag mount Larid, mag mount motorola an many others but those are my main go to antennas.
When I set up the sds100/200 and the HomePatrol 2, the homepatrol 2 always gets superior reception over the 100 and the 200. I have flip flopped antennas and the home patrol always comes out on top receiving much more than the SDS’s do with the same antenna.
I always figured the SDS’s would be the superior units but my experience is that although the SDS units are much more technical and refine able, the HomePatrol 2 always is the winner in reception which baffles me.
I have tweaked many settings to try to improve the SDS’s reception to no avail.
Dose anyone have any input or advice to help balance the reception strength and restore my faith in making my SDS units my go to. I really want to have equal or better reception out of the SDS units vs the HomePatrol 2.

Did you ever find a solution or resolution to the problem? I have an SDS200 and a HP1 that are programmed to the same Favs and neither of them catch every transmission. Sometimes the SDS200 picks up something that the HP1 misses and visa versa. They are on two separate antennas, neither of the units are mobile, their squelch is set to zero, they are monitoring the same talk groups on Project 25 Phase II, APCO-25 Air Interface Exclusive. Any clues or solutions to what gives?

 

[mc48]

Set the Squelch to 2, not zero, the HP1 is not P2 capable.

 

[Shooter65]

The

Set the Squelch to 2, not zero, the HP1 is not P2 capable.

HP1 does get most of the tx as does the SDS200 but about 40% of the time only one of them picks up the tx, the rest of the time both get them. Any advice or suggestions are appreciated. I adjust the squelch, thanks

 

[JoeBearcat]

It depends where they are respectively in the scan cycle. Minimize what you are scanning to maximize reception.

 

[IAmSixNine]

It depends where they are respectively in the scan cycle. Minimize what you are scanning to maximize reception.

I have had people ask me why i have several G4, SDS100 and commercial radios. I tell them simple, The more you scan the more you miss. So having some dedicated to busy channels and others dedicated to scanning means i am able to hear more and miss less.
With 1 device, the busier the systems are or the more system you scan, the more likely you are to miss stuff.