SDS100 Initial Review

[maus92]

Excellent, thanks. Is this a tower that would normally interfere with other scanners? I have noticed that some towers interfere and other don't. It seems to be towers of the "A" frequency block carrier that interferes with scanners in my area. Most of the ones in my home town that used to interfere don't anymore for some reason but when I go into other towns and in rural areas it can get very bad near cell sites. One time when I drove from Columbus, Texas down to Palacios on the gulf coast I had three scanners with me and they were deaf half the time. Same thing happened on the highway that goes from Sealy to Rosenburg, Texas. In Louisiana where I live I mainly get interference on Interstates and U.S. highways that have older cell sites.

"Cellular" systems operate on a wide variety of frequency bands. Only certain bands cause interference with public safety radios. I'm staring out my balcony right now at a cell tower 500m away with 3 sets of antennas, and I don't *seem* to have any interference (other than the usual simulcast distortion.)

 

[KI4ACI]

Mine came last night and I've been using a radio shack antennae from my 436. The reception and scanning speed are amazing especially with the RS antennae, a noticeable difference from the stock antennae. My unit is running warm as others have noted. I'm also using the fabric case from my 436 on the SDS100, fits well enough and I want some protection for such an expensive piece of equipment. I wonder if the case will make the warm unit too warm.

 

[SK63]

What the weight? Does it have that cheap plastic non sturdy feel to it as all other consumer scanners?

 

[Ubbe]

I don't see this setting anywhere in Sentinel. It should be in the system options tab, as it is on the radio itself. I guess it doesn't really matter since it doesn't really work anyway.

If you connect an RF test generator to a Uniden scanner which have AGC and modulate with a 1KHz test tone and then reduce the RF level to get some background hiss, you will notice that when the test tone are removed the background hiss audio level rises to the same level as the tone had.

Also if you compare an analog frequency with an old non-AGC scanner like a BC780 you'll also notice that the 780 have audio that goes from very weak to very strong while the AGC scanner evens out those differencies.

Uniden have choosen to use an AGC setting that do not give annoying pumping effects but still are effective but you do not notice it as it doesn't over exaggerate the effect.

The BCT15 have user settable AGC values and there you can increase the effect to get that tell tale pumping audio level.

I guess that as the AGC works as it does, no one gets annoyed over it, it's no point in disable it so it's always on in the SDS100?

/Ubbe

 

[AvidHiker]

What the weight? Does it have that cheap plastic non sturdy feel to it as all other consumer scanners?

The SDS (with the low capacity battery that's currently being offered) is actually a good bit lighter than the 436 with Ni-MH batteries, yet it looks much nicer and the build quality is significantly better, IMO. I actually prefer the lighter weight, and while I don't belt-carry, I'd imagine anyone that does would as well. My SDS100 weighs 275g with no antenna attached. The battery weighs 76g. Of course, if you're looking for the build quality of a duty radio, than that's what you should be shopping for.

 

[larrykoch]

First scanner that works on simulcast P25 system

Finally a digital scanner that works on our local simulcast system. I've been programming digital scanners since our county/city switched 16 years ago. I've programmed and tried almost every digital scanner on the market. There have been locations where every previous scanner has been unusable.

I've had the SDS100 for two weeks and I've driven every area where other scanner failed. The SDS works great. It is certainly pricey but it does work as advertised. I'm anxious to get the battery upgrade.

The only thing missing is the ability to lock and unlock the keypad without having to use the Sentinel software. I need the keypad locked when I'm carrying it but I also would like the option to use the quick keys to change systems when I'm in the field. Without this feature I give it 4 stars.

 

[jonwienke]

Keypad lock is not available, but quick keys work exactly the same as the 436.

 

[FoeHammer]

Has anyone had a good drop with this thing yet ? how durable is the case without any protection ? Water resistant is pretty nice feature , but I'm much more likely to drop it than drown it .

 

[jonwienke]

The SDS100 case is at least as robust as that of the 436, but I'm not volunteering my unit to do 25-foot concrete drop tests.

 

[eaf1956]

The SDS100 case is at least as robust as that of the 436, but I'm not volunteering my unit to do 25-foot concrete drop tests.

If you do make a video...

 

[RCjim]

Beta connector

Could you have imagined if I showed them this in my very first beta unit?!

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

That looks just like the balance connector on my drone lipo battery, wish they had used it I have several balance chargers. 1 cell to 6 cell depending on the connector size.

 

[mikeybus44]

Have you noticed any increase or decrease in analog conventional performance? I listen to NYPD in the 470 MHz range so that band is important for me too. I'm hoping there is no degradation in performance of non-simulcast systems.

I'm in Staten Island and I have had the 100 since early June and all I can say about the UHF reception of this radio is that it's atrocious.
Setting PL's, volume offsets, ATT..... switching the Diamond RH77CA with a Remtronix antenna with different SMA connectors and I still just don't get it.

Loads of background noise, the RSSI ranges anywhere from -45 into the low 100's.

My local NYPD zone channel doesn't even come in static or noise free. The FDNY 482 freqs while they have never been as good as the legacy 154 Mhz VHF freqs are worse when compared with the 436. I have all the volume offsets to +3 to bring the voices out ahead of the hissing and static.

I have my 436 and I use that for UHF because I just have to turn the 100 off after awhile.

I do all the firmware updates and nothing helps. I won't get into the P25 issues.

 

[wx5uif]

Mine is actually better on UHF than my 436.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[AvidHiker]

I'm in Staten Island and I have had the 100 since early June and all I can say about the UHF reception of this radio is that it's atrocious.

Yeah, it's not very good, tends to be quite noisy. If I need analog UHF, I just pocket my old Icom R2 or R6. They're more sensitive and much quieter.

I do all the firmware updates and nothing helps. I won't get into the P25 issues.

The SDS has been quite good on P25 for me, with the exception of some control channel lock issues with the latest firmware. I would expect that will get sorted out eventually.

Mine is actually better on UHF than my 436.

I find them to be comparable in analog, with the edge going to the 436, but most of my monitoring is digital now.

 

[bob-k]

My Battery burped

What observed voltage is typical for a "full" battery?

I go green 4.21 and 4.23 volts sir

 

[steelcty]

Mine will turn green after 20 to 25 minutes or so at 4.24v then drops to 4.22v.

 

[jonwienke]

I have all the volume offsets to +3 to bring the voices out ahead of the hissing and static.

That's a total placebo effect.

Volume offset has nothing to do with reception clarity. The scanner has 16 volume settings (0-15) and volume offset just changes the volume setting used for a given channel relative to the knob selection. So if you have the knob set at volume 5 with a +3 volume offset on the channel, what you hear is EXACTLY the same as if you set the knob to volume 8 with a 0 channel offset. The only thing you've accomplished is to make it impossible to set a volume of 0, and made settings 13-14 identical.

There is never a good reason to apply a volume offset to every channel. It makes zero difference to audio clarity, and reduces the number of usable volume settings you can catually use.

 

[werinshades]

That's a total placebo effect.There is never a good reason to apply a volume offset to every channel. It makes zero difference to audio clarity, and reduces the number of usable volume settings you can catually use.[/QUOTE

I use it all the time, have been using it on any Uniden scanner that has the feature and would rather have the option of a few extra decibels I can turn down, than not having them at my disposal. Currently on my SDS100, I have Volume Offset at +3 on all talk groups, analog systems etc. With digital being a little more quiet and less background noise than analog, everything sounds equal volume to me. It's user preference like many other features. I also have Priority ID set up in my trunking systems, which I find very useful in busier trunking systems where I still want to listen to other talk groups but Police and Fire are my priorities. As before...user preferences that I'm happy Uniden offers.

 

[jonwienke]

I use it all the time, have been using it on any Uniden scanner that has the feature and would rather have the option of a few extra decibels I can turn down, than not having them at my disposal.

But that's the thing, a +3 volume offset doesn't actually increase maximum volume. The maximum volume setting is still 15, so there is no difference between volume setting 12 with a +3 offset and volume setting 15 with an offset >= 0.

You're better off turning up the master volume 3 settings than applying a +3 volume offset to all your channels. The sound that comes out is exactly the same either way, and a 0 volume offset allows you to actually use all volume settings.

 

[werinshades]

But that's the thing, a +3 volume offset doesn't actually increase maximum volume. The maximum volume setting is still 15, so there is no difference between volume setting 12 with a +3 offset and volume setting 15 with an offset >= 0.

You're better off turning up the master volume 3 settings than applying a +3 volume offset to all your channels. The sound that comes out is exactly the same either way, and a 0 volume offset allows you to actually use all volume settings.

Correct...but if I need a few extra decibels and turn the Volume up to 15, I'm actually getting a little more volume if I need it. This has come in handy more than once for me over the years and haven't suffered any distortion. Like I said, it's user preference.