SDS100 Prerelease Discussion

[AvidHiker]

T...The Uniden has tinny audio (unless it was the recording mic and/or the car environment that caused that.) The Unication sounds better (just sayin'...not trying to start a war :wink - clearer audio and a little more bass. Thanks again for making the video.

Heh, if you think what comes out of your speaker (or any speaker) is even remotely comparable to the actual sound a smartphone was recording, you'd better think again. Just try it and see for yourself.

And a related point - until we get a side-by-side mobile test against a unication, you guys can't say a single thing about how they compare. We get it, unication is great, but any attempt to compare the 2 thus far has been pure, empty speculation. Even with my 436, I routinely copy transmissions on my local phase II simulcast that either HQ or patrol units claim were unreadable. Too many variables. Give it a rest.

 

[wise871]

Can someone PLEASE, PLEASE make a comprehensive video comparing the SDS100 to the Unication, APX and/or XTS (both simulcast performance and overall audio quality)?

Don’t think your going to see this happen until the scanner is released and a consumer makes a video. Beta testers are probably under strict guidelines they must follow. I’m sure they don’t want to lose their status as a tester by uploading a comparison video. Can you imagine the sales if the SDS100 performed poorly prior to release. From what I have seen it is doing a good job.


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[CanesFan95]

Would be nice to see it side-by-side with Unitrunker or DSD+ so you can know exactly when it should be receiving a transmission. It's hard to tell from the videos if it's decoding properly because it might be scanning multiple sites with multiple control channels which makes it sound like it's missing the first key-up in a conversation.

 

[WX4JCW]

Would be nice to see it side-by-side with Unitrunker or DSD+ so you can know exactly when it should be receiving a transmission. It's hard to tell from the videos if it's decoding properly because it might be scanning multiple sites with multiple control channels which makes it sound like it's missing the first key-up in a conversation.

That would be normal


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Jason WX4JCW
Unication G4, BCD536HP

 

[EricCottrell]

Don’t think your going to see this happen until the scanner is released and a consumer makes a video. Beta testers are probably under strict guidelines they must follow. I’m sure they don’t want to lose their status as a tester by uploading a comparison video. Can you imagine the sales if the SDS100 performed poorly prior to release. From what I have seen it is doing a good job.


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Hello,

I would not want to see anything until release anyway since the beta testers are not using production firmware and things could get better or worse at release. I am patiently waiting.

The radio is generating some buzz. I am interested in what the other USB port is for, but did not ask because I know the feature is not ready to be announced yet. I do have my theory, but will keep it to myself so everyone will be surprised if I am right, but not disappointed if I am wrong.

73 Eric

 

[APX8000]

I’m guessing discriminator tap. BUT, wouldn’t it be cool if it was for plugging in a remote head display ! Portable and mobile all in one unit, just have to buy the head unit.

 

[Markb]

Being that this is an SDR, IQ data output would be more likely than discriminator audio, no?

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[jonwienke]

I see zero point in a discriminator tap when you have I/Q data.

 

[UPMan]

So if you're conventionally scanning DMR frequencies and the scanner stops on an active transmission, why can't the brains of the scanner look at the data and go "oh, wait a minute, that's not a voice call", and then just resume scanning right away? I have a BCD996P2 that hangs on a local DMR frequency with LRRP data.

If it did that, you would not have the ability to note the frequency, color code, sys id, etc, that you would need to know in order to correctly program the DMR channel as either a DMR OFT or MOTOTRBO Trunked.


Basically, if it is doing that, you've not programmed the channel correctly. If it skips past, you'd never know to fix the programming problem.

 

[marksmith]

Baltimore City is definitely simulcast.... and I am pretty sure CMARC is also (although not as "bad").

Interesting. I don't know if this is right, but if it is, I am shocked. I have no LSM issues at all with these two. None.

My hp1 and hp2 as well as the 536, 436, and all my other phase 1 radios like the psr800 all decode these systems at 100%, and I am in Anne Arundel County.

I can monitor every single transmission from city fire and police, mayors protection detail, water dept, etc. perfectly with all my scanners. 5 bars, solid, and no missing transmissions or even any dropouts. No simulcast distortion or even a hint of it. Regularly follow fires, etc with perfect reception. I thought that isn't supposed to happen with current scanners and LSM sites.

CMARC comes in strong and clear as well, but there is seldom anything but Martin State fuel trucks that I can hear, other than the occasional cross-jurisdiction comms, or City when they have problems on their own system. Harford County cannot be heard at all from here. It is directional away from me.

Baltimore County comes in 5 bars but i only get an occasional partial tranmission. I need to go mobile to where I limit received towers or something to hear. In Baltimore County I can hear activity while mobile but I suspect not all.

Mark
536/436/ws1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others

 

[ur20v]

Loudoun County also has horrible Simulcast LSM here... I have a 536 here ... it has a terrible time with it. If I could also jump in the Beta, I can compare on the same antenna against the 536 or an Unication G5 or a MACOM Harris P7300.

I find it interesting you say this, as I'm in Loudoun county and primarily listen to LCSO and don't have a single issue with simulcast distortion with either the 436 or 536, even while mobile. Of course I'm 45 minutes from Aldie and haven't been there in 2 years, so I don't know what the reception is like there, either.

 

[redbeard]

The radio is generating some buzz. I am interested in what the other USB port is for, but did not ask because I know the feature is not ready to be announced yet. I do have my theory, but will keep it to myself so everyone will be surprised if I am right, but not disappointed if I am wrong.

I would love to be surprised by something new or interesting, but I think the best bet would be on I/Q output. After all it was part of the original leak, however innacurate it turned out (not) to be.

 

[ofd8001]

Don’t think your going to see this happen until the scanner is released and a consumer makes a video. Beta testers are probably under strict guidelines they must follow. I’m sure they don’t want to lose their status as a tester by uploading a comparison video. Can you imagine the sales if the SDS100 performed poorly prior to release. From what I have seen it is doing a good job.

I'd also presume that "Beta Testing" is to do a couple things: find the bugs you can so we can fix them before production and let us know how you like the scanner. Things are subject to being changed before final rollout.

 

[RadioDaze]

I’m guessing discriminator tap. BUT, wouldn’t it be cool if it was for plugging in a remote head display ! Portable and mobile all in one unit, just have to buy the head unit.

I would shell out good money for that.

 

[wrath]

I would shell out good money for that.

The ×96xt had it so it would be awesome if they reissued a device with that capability , but from what i remembernitvwasht s hot seller until it was discontinued, maybe if we all write fax and email how many we would buy , so they know if they have a market for the remote heads waiting, Kenwood did this with the 74 A on if they should make a mobile , it would be fantastic if uniden made these as a limited edition ( buy it only when buying a radio, or be left out) it could be a lucrative up sell on the ticket.

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[Voyager]

True, the R836 tuner chip on the SDS100 alone draws about 660 mW when it is active. Also the color display likely draws more power than the B/W display on the BCD436HP, especially since the color display can't be read when the backlight is off.

I don't know. There are some pretty efficient displays out there.

 

[Voyager]

I completely understand, really. But I think there are limited beta testers, and I think that we all should try to be less demanding of them. I've seen countless people post about how their simulcast system is worse than anyone's, and that they should be a beta tester to prove out the scanner. But to be honest, anybody experiencing simulcast issues is going to feel like their issues are worse than anyone elses.

I wonder how many of those people who are beta testers own/have access to Unications or commercial radios. If they don't have access to such, then they have to try and meet up with somebody who does have said equipment in order to do some comparisons. At that point it I'd think it would be asking a lot for them to do it.

I know that Jason Houk has been going way above and beyond, traveling to all sorts of places in Ohio, to give people an idea how the scanner performs on LSM systems as well as NXDN systems. I certainly can't expect him to do more than that.

Mike

UPMan has said in one of the first dozen SDS posts that they have a limited number of units since they are hand-built. But, he also said there are units across the country.

 

[Voyager]

Can you imagine the sales if the SDS100 performed poorly prior to release. From what I have seen it is doing a good job.

I'm surprised there are the videos that exist already. After all, it's a work in progress.

Here is the problem:

1. If it's not perfect yet, there will be the Unihaters who will say it s***s.

2. If it perfect, there will be the Unihaters who will say they are stalling the release due to (pick some made-up reason no matter how ludicrous).

There is even a thread picking what the flaws in the unit will be. If you tried that with Whistler (or Unication), you would be flamed beyond belief. But when you are the top dog, people will always be looking to take you down.

UPMan has said the current units in the field are hand-made engineering samples. You really can't compare that to a production sample since there will be variations that may not exist in the production unit.

What the videos show is that the SDS will be capable of at least the performance shown. It's probable the production units will be even better.

If you really want to know how it will be, you will have to wait for the production units. Even then, SDRs can be updated via firmware so virtually any flaw can be fixed post-release. That's just the nature of SDR.

 

[woodpecker]

So if you're conventionally scanning DMR frequencies and the scanner stops on an active transmission, why can't the brains of the scanner look at the data and go "oh, wait a minute, that's not a voice call", and then just resume scanning right away? I have a BCD996P2 that hangs on a local DMR frequency with LRRP data.

Its a quirk with all Uniden DMR scanners, Upman has confirmed they won't change it and won't even add resume as an option, their heads are buried deep in the sand.

It makes autonomous operation near impossible it will hang on custom search, scan with search or if you get a DMR signal on a conventional channel.

If, like me, you want this feature you'll have to stick with Whistler or AOR.

 

[jonwienke]

I don't know. There are some pretty efficient displays out there.

LCDs draw minuscule power. The backlight draws far more power than the LCD itself. A color backlight means 3 sets of backlight LEDs rather than one. So it's pretty likely that the SDS100 screen will draw more power than the 436 screen for that reason.