SDS100 First impressions!

[allend]

Looks like a really nice radio. And to the people that ordered one and received one enjoy but I will just wait for the base model to be released and just enjoy my Motorola APX 8000.

Lets get the ball rolling on the base model and lets double time it. I know its in the process but I believe Uniden absolutely needs to make this right at this point. They do not want to go back down that road from three years ago.

Come on Uniden lets release some news soon.

 

[jasonhouk]

The buttons on the keypad look to be slightly raised from the operating platform, if so, I love the keypad layout and the fact that they are lighted! Also, there is a pronounced little knob on the '5' button - what is that for? A reference point like a calculator? Again with the curious questions hah....

Correct, just a raised dimple for orientation.

Houk

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[jasonhouk]

SMA/BNC adapters are notorious for damaging SMA antenna connectors if there is any bend or strain on the connection. That RS antenna looks a little top-heavy on the adapter there, also wondering about the water-resistant antenna seal gasket and if it is still employed once after market antennas are connected via adapter? Is it a seal only with the stock antenna, or is the gasket inside the main port and seals once a fitting (adapter) is tightened? Just curious...

JD
kf4anc

Sealed only with the stock antenna and the included sma-bnc adapter to my knowledge.

Houk

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[CanesFan95]

I strongly suspect that the sales of Unication pagers are dropping significantly. Why spend $679 for a device that can only monitor one trunked system at a time, and is limited to two frequency bands, when the SDS-100 is a real scanner that performs comparably receiving simulcast, receives every frequency legally allowed between 25 and 1300 MHz, can monitor multiple trunked systems, decodes a far wider variety of digital formats, and costs less to boot?

Another issue with the Unications is the lack of a scan delay and lack of a hold / scan resume button.

 

[jasonhouk]

I noticed when unboxing my Pilot Production Unit and sent my inquiry to the beta team and I'm awaiting a response.

Houk

Doesn't look like it would meet the JIS4 (IPX4) standards now that the screw is missing.

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[RF23]

That theory could be verified by grounding the antenna input to see if the signals are still received.

That occurred to me too, but I remember seeing warnings in Uniden owner’s manual about being careful NOT to ground the antenna (or something like that), so I suppose we will need to look into that first.

Anyone else remember any such warnings?

 

[iMONITOR]

Attached

Looking at the picture it appear the keypad is a one piece membrane keypad, rather than individual keys, is that correct?

 

[jasonhouk]

Correct.

Houk

Looking at the picture it appear the keypad is a one piece membrane keypad, rather than individual keys, is that correct?

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[iMONITOR]

That occurred to me too, but I remember seeing warnings in Uniden owner’s manual about being careful NOT to ground the antenna (or something like that), so I suppose we will need to look into that first.

Anyone else remember any such warnings?

It used to be that the ground side of the earphone jack was not truly common grounded to the circuit board. Instead they had a resistor in series to limit the volume level so as not to risk damage to the users hearing if the volume was turned up too high. People using an external speaker complained that the audio level was too low to drive the speaker. The workaround was to put a jumper sire from the ground of the antenna to the ground of the earphone jack, to bypass the limiting resister. For a quick fix, some just formed a paperclip round both the outer metal of the BNC antenna connector to the outer ring of the earphone jack. Later due to design changes some people claimed they burn out something on their main board by doing so. The workaround only worked on older scanners. I'm not sure when this change took place, so I would not try that.

There should be no problem grounding the outer barrel of the antenna connector, as most of the outdoor antennas connected to the scanner would be grounded and pass that on via the coax and connector.

 

[jonwienke]

That occurred to me too, but I remember seeing warnings in Uniden owner’s manual about being careful NOT to ground the antenna (or something like that), so I suppose we will need to look into that first.

Anyone else remember any such warnings?

No. It's required to ground outdoor antennas, and there's no possibility of damage, unless you touch the center conductor with a significant static charge.

That warning would only apply to a transmitter, where shorting the antenna connection could damage the RF output amplifier.

 

[jasonhouk]

Be very leery of any cheap car power adapters. I had one, just for testing purposes thst caused so much noise that all but a local powerful FM radio station was washed out. Even when using the supplied cord with a ferrite.

My day to day power adapter for my mobile is a Anker Power Drive 2 and I'd highly recommend it.

Houk

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[wise871]

I noticed when unboxing my Pilot Production Unit and sent my inquiry to the beta team and I'm awaiting a response.

Houk

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Uniden will send everyone a free plug or screw to fill the hole so it meets IPX4 standards. LOL

On a serious note, how can the unit meet the standards with the hole?


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[KevinC]

Uniden will send everyone a free plug or screw to fill the hole so it meets IPX4 standards. LOL

On a serious note, how can the unit meet the standards with the hole?


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I would imagine a piece of foam stuck on the inside of the case would maintain it's rating. It's IPx4, so it's only splash resistant.

 

[iMONITOR]

The hole is for an internal microphone so Paul can gather feedback from actual users for marketing data.

 

[markjrenna]

The hole is for an internal microphone so Paul can gather feedback from actual users for marketing data.

That made me laugh out loud literally!

 

[milcom_chaser]

Perhaps some RTV compound to fill in the hole. Not sure what that does to the warranty...

 

[milcom_chaser]

The hole is for an internal microphone so Paul can gather feedback from actual users for marketing data.

Apple and NSA has been doing that for years...

 

[wise871]

I know we’re all kidding but I m curious of the reason for it and why the beta units had screws and the production units don’t.


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[KevinC]

Perhaps some RTV compound to fill in the hole. Not sure what that does to the warranty...

Sure, why not. We had to add the missing C1 cap to the 436 ourselves, so why not fill all the holes in the case of the SDS100 as well.

 

[One13Truck]

All updates installed, rebooted and still receiving MARCS with no antenna!

Houk

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Looks great!!! Care to share your setups for the detailed conventional and detailed trunk in the display customizer in Sentinel?

I know it's a YMMV thing based on what you want/need to see. But I just downloaded the sentinel update and like your setup there. It'd be a nice base to start from and tweak from there..... Hey, if I have to wait to get mine I need SOMETHING to keep me busy while I wait!!