SDS100 problem P25 II

[mnuzum]

Hello everyone. Long post, sorry...

So I have been out of the scanner hobby for a bit (3-4 years) and recently discovered with the changes to the systems in central OK, the change to P25 phase II, etc., my old scanner no longer does me any good...that I could figure out... now all I get is dead air. I had (have) a Grecom PSR500 that served me well for years but life got busy and I rarely turn it on anymore. So I decided about a week ago to upgrade, and long story short, I chose the Uniden SDS100. I paid to have one county programmed so I didn't have to worry about it and could just turn it on and go... Well, I received it yesterday and out of the box it was working great and I could hear all the agencies I wanted (plus a few others that I didn't) and I read the manual and figured out how to temporarily avoid a channel, and a few other things. Well this morning I decided I wanted to add some stuff that wasn't pre-programmed, mostly non first responder channels. So I tried to add them using the Sentinel software. Well, I thought I knew what I was doing, turns out I have no clue and in the process I wrecked the setup of OK county that I paid for, and wiped out everything on the scanner and in Sentinel. I accidentally wrote over the file on Sentinel thinking I had saved a separate copy. Long story but I lost all the talkgroups etc and have spent the last 12+ hours trying to re-do it, with about 1% success.

I am so frustrated with reading the manual, the threads on the RR forums, etc. and trying everything I can and getting nowhere I am ready to box it up and ship it back for a refund. I am usually pretty computer literate, and scanner literate, and understand simple software packages but I am at a loss on Sentinel and this scanner. I am now certain I am making it harder than it needs to be...

So I normally don't post things or ask for help, I am usually a figure it out myself type of guy, but I am throwing in the towel. In 30+ years of scanning as a hobby off and on I have never been stumped like I am today. Can anyone out there, and hopefully someone with a SDS100, please help me get this thing back to where I can use it? I would gladly pay someone to help me, or redo it for me, and I'll never touch anything except the power button again!

If I just need to suck it up and figure it out, tell me and I will...eventually. Or maybe I'll box it up and ship it back for a refund.

All I want to get back mainly is the usual stuff...OCPD, OCFD, OCSO, OHP, Edmond PD & FD (I live in Edmond) and have the ability to lock or unlock and listen to the other metro area departments/agencies from time to time plus be able to figure out how to add and listen to other things should the urge hit. I have had limited success after wiping the scanner out at getting back a few things but mostly NOT the things I want.

Thank you in advance and sorry for such a foolish post. I should be able to figure it out but this one has me totally at a loss and I feel like a total idiot.

 

[buddrousa]

Study the videos below you will get the hang of it.

Uniden SDS100 Manual Entry Programming | Tips & Tricks
Uniden SDS100 - How To Program A P25 System Manually

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sds100

 

[timhir25]

There is nothing wrong with asking for help. There are some smart people here in the RR that will help. I also know
the feeling of being frustrated with scanners. Do you know that you can buy a pre-programmed sd card from Undien
Bearcat Warehouse or from ScannerMaster if all else fails.
Tim

 

[toad99]

My SDS scanners are programmed very simply, for OKWIN, City of Oklahoma City, ECOECN, surrounding counties, and statewide. That adds up to 5 favorite lists. How do you want your scanner set up? By system (like mine), by agency (OKC, Edmond, OK county, OHP, etc), or by service (PD, FD, etc). Creating favorite lists, which will be selectable from the keypad, is the key to using one of these scanners, just like using a scan list on your PSR500. I would be willing to do some one on one with you and get you going.

 

[hiegtx]

Hello everyone. Long post, sorry...

So I have been out of the scanner hobby for a bit (3-4 years) and recently discovered with the changes to the systems in central OK, the change to P25 phase II, etc., my old scanner no longer does me any good...that I could figure out... now all I get is dead air. I had (have) a Grecom PSR500 that served me well for years but life got busy and I rarely turn it on anymore. So I decided about a week ago to upgrade, and long story short, I chose the Uniden SDS100. I paid to have one county programmed so I didn't have to worry about it and could just turn it on and go... Well, I received it yesterday and out of the box it was working great and I could hear all the agencies I wanted (plus a few others that I didn't) and I read the manual and figured out how to temporarily avoid a channel, and a few other things. Well this morning I decided I wanted to add some stuff that wasn't pre-programmed, mostly non first responder channels. So I tried to add them using the Sentinel software. Well, I thought I knew what I was doing, turns out I have no clue and in the process I wrecked the setup of OK county that I paid for, and wiped out everything on the scanner and in Sentinel. I accidentally wrote over the file on Sentinel thinking I had saved a separate copy. Long story but I lost all the talkgroups etc and have spent the last 12+ hours trying to re-do it, with about 1% success.

I am so frustrated with reading the manual, the threads on the RR forums, etc. and trying everything I can and getting nowhere I am ready to box it up and ship it back for a refund. I am usually pretty computer literate, and scanner literate, and understand simple software packages but I am at a loss on Sentinel and this scanner. I am now certain I am making it harder than it needs to be...

So I normally don't post things or ask for help, I am usually a figure it out myself type of guy, but I am throwing in the towel. In 30+ years of scanning as a hobby off and on I have never been stumped like I am today. Can anyone out there, and hopefully someone with a SDS100, please help me get this thing back to where I can use it? I would gladly pay someone to help me, or redo it for me, and I'll never touch anything except the power button again!

If I just need to suck it up and figure it out, tell me and I will...eventually. Or maybe I'll box it up and ship it back for a refund.

All I want to get back mainly is the usual stuff...OCPD, OCFD, OCSO, OHP, Edmond PD & FD (I live in Edmond) and have the ability to lock or unlock and listen to the other metro area departments/agencies from time to time plus be able to figure out how to add and listen to other things should the urge hit. I have had limited success after wiping the scanner out at getting back a few things but mostly NOT the things I want.

Thank you in advance and sorry for such a foolish post. I should be able to figure it out but this one has me totally at a loss and I feel like a total idiot.

The videos that budd linked are a good place to start. Creating your own Favorites list, with what interests you, in your area, is the best way to scan what interests you.

But since you indicate that you have Sentinel installed, try this to at least get a jump start.
Upgrade the database in Sentinel, if you have not already. When the scanner is shipped, and/or Sentinel is first installed, the databases are likely to be well out of date. Getting the Sentinel database up to date is among the first steps you need to take.

Once you have the Sentinel database up to snuff, review the Service Types that you have active in your Sentinel profile. When shipped, the only Public Safety service types enabled are for Dispatch: Law Dispatch, Fire Dispatch, EMS Dispatch, and Multi-Dispatch. You also need to active the related Tac and Talk service types. i.e. Law Talk, Fire Tac, Law Tac, etc. To access your Sentinel profile, select Edit Profile under the Edit drop-down menu, or click on the icon that resembles a piece of paper, with a pencil on it. That is under the V of the View drop-down menu.


Once you have done that, make sure that your correct location is set in your Sentinel profile. You can do that either by using your zipcode, or entering your actual latitude & longitude coordinates.
Set a range. That determines which Systems, Sites, and Departments are enabled based on the range from your location. Remember that the range used is actually the sum of the range you set, plus the range of the system. A range of 10 to 20 miles would encompass most everything withing range from your location. See this page for a more complete explanation on how range is used in your scanner:
How it Works: Location, Location, Location

In your Sentinel profile, set the scanner to use the Full database.


Connect your programming cable to the scanner & your PC, and when prompted on the scanner, select Mass Storage Mode.
Now, select Write to Scanner under the Scanner drop-down menu, or click the icon just under the Update drop-down menu.


This will write the updated database to the scanner, with the Public Safety related Service Types enabled, and sets the scanner to use those and your location & range settings when scanning.

These steps will give you something to listen to while you view the suggested videos, and begin to build your own customized Favorites lists.

 

[mnuzum]

Thanks everyone for the input. I haven't sifted thru all of it yet but I am getting basic things down. I'm all ears for more tips and tricks. I should have stopped yesterday after 6-7 hours of frustration. Stepping away (and sleeping) helped clear the mind pollution.

hiegtx, I did update the firmware and master databases almost as soon as I unpacked it. I am now working on the location settings and will go from there. Thank you and I will likely have more questions once I get this basic stuff down.

I think the location settings is a huge part of what was throwing me off, it was set for a 30 mile range and explains why I was getting PD dispatch from cities well out of the area I want to hear. I set the range to 10mi. I can always tweak it from there. But that made a huge difference.

The other thing I am having a hard time with, and this isn't a Sentinel problem is with the OKWIN and the whole P25 upgrade and all that. So what is used and what isn't anymore? Or are all of these in some capacity? I feel like some of this is redundant but as I mentioned I have been out of the hobby for a while and I'm a little behind on all of the changes and who still uses what.



Toad99,

My SDS scanners are programmed very simply, for OKWIN, City of Oklahoma City, ECOECN, surrounding counties, and statewide. That adds up to 5 favorite lists. How do you want your scanner set up?

I'm thinking your way sounds good, but I will need to learn how to add other things but I want to be able to enable/disable quickly and I just haven't gotten that far in the process yet. Getting closer but I have work to do.

 

[toad99]

The OKWIN P25 system is the only one you should use for programming favorite lists.
The East Central Oklahoma Emergency Communication Network (ECOECN) is how I monitor the OK County sheriff.
The OK County sheriff's own system is not good, the seem to have a real issue with open mikes and such.

One thing that seems to confuse a lot of people about Sentinel is profiles vs. favorites lists.
Favorite lists are global; if you had several HP scanners, the same favorites lists are available for each one.
Be sure to assign a quick key to each favorite list so you can toggle it on and off. You can have 99 lists.

The profile is scanner hardware specific, you set up which favorites that you want to upload and monitor, service types that you want to hear, and which quick keys are enabled. I have 4 different profiles for my 4 scanners, but they all use the same favorites lists.
If you add or edit a favorite list, that will affect all you scanners regardless of the individual profile.

Also, updating the master database does not update or change favorites. That is something that you will have to do.
Fortunately, the OKC area is pretty stabilized now, so not much change is happening.

 

[mnuzum]

Toad99,

Thank you for the advice on the OKWIN P25. I assumed it was the right one, but with my last 24 hours of struggle and knowing what assume does...lol

I also did just experience the open mic on OCSO dispatch so I set it to avoid. The ECOECN is spot on right now.

Now I am on to favorites and profiles...

And just for fun this morning I turned on my old PSR500 to see what all I had saved on it and it is picking up the same traffic as my SDS100...but the PSR500 was not picking up a thing at all since January. interesting

 

[toad99]

Of course, don’t forget the Oklahoma City Metro Public Safety system, it’s the new P25 Phase 2 system, for your OKC police & fire. Your GRE won’t pick that one up. I also monitor Logan County (sheriff, Guthrie pd & fire, and others) via the Guthrie OKWIN site. The Guthrie site comes in just fine. Seems that Logan County is still part of the Wild West, from some of the stuff I’ve heard.

 

[CORN]

Hello everyone. Long post, sorry...

So I have been out of the scanner hobby for a bit (3-4 years) and recently discovered with the changes to the systems in central OK, the change to P25 phase II, etc., my old scanner no longer does me any good...that I could figure out... now all I get is dead air. I had (have) a Grecom PSR500 that served me well for years but life got busy and I rarely turn it on anymore. So I decided about a week ago to upgrade, and long story short, I chose the Uniden SDS100. I paid to have one county programmed so I didn't have to worry about it and could just turn it on and go... Well, I received it yesterday and out of the box it was working great and I could hear all the agencies I wanted (plus a few others that I didn't) and I read the manual and figured out how to temporarily avoid a channel, and a few other things. Well this morning I decided I wanted to add some stuff that wasn't pre-programmed, mostly non first responder channels. So I tried to add them using the Sentinel software. Well, I thought I knew what I was doing, turns out I have no clue and in the process I wrecked the setup of OK county that I paid for, and wiped out everything on the scanner and in Sentinel. I accidentally wrote over the file on Sentinel thinking I had saved a separate copy. Long story but I lost all the talkgroups etc and have spent the last 12+ hours trying to re-do it, with about 1% success.

I am so frustrated with reading the manual, the threads on the RR forums, etc. and trying everything I can and getting nowhere I am ready to box it up and ship it back for a refund. I am usually pretty computer literate, and scanner literate, and understand simple software packages but I am at a loss on Sentinel and this scanner. I am now certain I am making it harder than it needs to be...

So I normally don't post things or ask for help, I am usually a figure it out myself type of guy, but I am throwing in the towel. In 30+ years of scanning as a hobby off and on I have never been stumped like I am today. Can anyone out there, and hopefully someone with a SDS100, please help me get this thing back to where I can use it? I would gladly pay someone to help me, or redo it for me, and I'll never touch anything except the power button again!

If I just need to suck it up and figure it out, tell me and I will...eventually. Or maybe I'll box it up and ship it back for a refund.

All I want to get back mainly is the usual stuff...OCPD, OCFD, OCSO, OHP, Edmond PD & FD (I live in Edmond) and have the ability to lock or unlock and listen to the other metro area departments/agencies from time to time plus be able to figure out how to add and listen to other things should the urge hit. I have had limited success after wiping the scanner out at getting back a few things but mostly NOT the things I want.

Thank you in advance and sorry for such a foolish post. I should be able to figure it out but this one has me totally at a loss and I feel like a total idiot.

Check your PM

 

[mnuzum]

Of course, don’t forget the Oklahoma City Metro Public Safety system, it’s the new P25 Phase 2 system, for your OKC police & fire. Your GRE won’t pick that one up. I also monitor Logan County (sheriff, Guthrie pd & fire, and others) via the Guthrie OKWIN site. The Guthrie site comes in just fine. Seems that Logan County is still part of the Wild West, from some of the stuff I’ve heard.

I think that is part of my issue. I am trying to figure out what I am hearing from what system. ECOECN is pretty straightforward, but OKWIN P25 and the OKC Metro Public Safety System P25 Phase II have me all messed up. I try to pay attention to the Talkgroup ID's and all that but it sometimes happens so fast and then I have scans from cities way far from me and I am not fast enough to hit 'avoid' before they go away.

When I set up my old scanner it just worked and now I am scanning so many things I don't know which to avoid and which to let thru and which are redundant or completely unnecessary on the SDS100.

I'm just throwing this out there as an example to wrap my head around this so humore me here everyone...but say for example I want to listen to Cimarron Electric's two frequencies in Kingfisher County and nothing else...I want to block out OKWIN, OKC Metro, ECOECN, etc.

I just want to be able to add them to a fav list and if I turn everything else off I hear only these channels. How do I do that with Sentinel and the whole fav vs profiles thing and not hear it in my fire or police or EMS lists? Cause right now what I get is I 'avoid' it in one fav list but it scans in another.

I'm really not trying to be difficult, I am honestly trying to understand. I want to 'love' Sentinel software and this scanner but perhaps my brain is too tied in with the old 'channels and banks' mentality? That stuff was easy for me.

 

[buddrousa]

Your best option is to build and scan your own list if you are not at this time.
So I think if I understand it now you are scanning by ZIPCODE?

 

[mnuzum]

Your best option is to build and scan your own list if you are not at this time.
So I think if I understand it now you are scanning by ZIPCODE?

I tried it by ZIPCODE but it had too much other stuff so then I learned to dial it down by radius so I went to 10 mi instead of the 30mi it was set to originally. That helped a lot but then I tried to do it by setting my GPS coordinates and a 10 mile radius but I still have channels scanning that, to me, aren't exactly nearby.

So each time I power on my scanner it adds the full database for Oklahoma, then Nationwide, then my favorites. I know for sure I have locked out or 'avoided' Kingfisher County at least 3 times but as my scanner scans I still see it on the screen. So I am scanning channels I thought I blocked. Like just now MWC EMS dispatch came up but I have blocked it every way I can find, but I still get it somehow. Same for Canadian Co and Logan Co.

 

[TexTAC]

Hit Menu button, select “set scan selection”, select “select lists to monitor”, and toggle full database off. That way you are only scanning your favorites. Next time you connect to sentinel read from scanner to save those settings in sentinel.

Also, when you avoid a channel/dept/system if you only press avoid once it is temporarily avoided and will not be avoided when you turn on/off the scanner. Press avoid twice to permanently avoid.

 

[buddrousa]

Press MENU
Select SET SCAN SELECTION
SELECT LIST TO MONITOR
TURN OFF FULL DATABASE
This should only leave you with LIST turned on.

 

[toad99]

If you wanted to monitor only those two frequencies, to the exclusion of everything else, you would make a favorites list with just those two channels. Assign a quick key to the list, and then when you deselect your other favorite lists (with their quick keys) and activate the new list, that's all you will hear. However, the more favorites lists you have, the more deselecting/selecting you will have to do.

If you had 20 lists, for example, and they were all selected for monitoring, and you wanted to select list #21 exclusively for monitoring, it would be much more convenient to set up a "startup key" for that scenario. A lot quicker than deselecting 20 lists. Startup key selection is part of the programming for a favorite list in Sentinel.

I do that with my scanners, so startup key 0 is for all of the public safety channels in my area (5 favorite lists), and startup key 1 is for aircraft. That way, if I use startup key 1, only aircraft is monitored, and everything else off. If I use startup key 0, the other 5 lists are monitored, and aircraft is not.

Another way to control favorite list monitoring is by going to Menu/Set Scan Selection/Select Lists to Monitor.
You can see exactly what lists are being monitored and select/deselect them one at a time. Some people use this method instead of quick keys, they find the menu method faster and you don't have to remember which quick keys are for what.
If you had a bunch of favorite lists, this would probably the the best method.

Be sure that "Full Database" is OFF under Select Lists to Monitor.

 

[mnuzum]

Got it. That was my issue I am 99% sure. Full database was set to on. I'll tinker with it more tonight after work.
Thank you everyone for helping this extreme SDS100 noob get this figured out.

As if this wasn't enough at one time now I have to get my weather station back to normal. After the storm and extreme cold last week I lost several data sets. But that is a discussion for a different site and forum! lol

 

[toad99]

As far as trunked radio systems that have multiple sites go, if you don't use location control, then the radio will check every site in the system for activity, which can slow down scanning performance. In the case of OKWIN, you certainly don't want to check every one of the sites every time that system is accessed, so you can either delete the sites that are not close to you (in your case, everything except the OKC site and maybe Guthrie), or use location based scanning, and set your range to 10 miles, for example.
That would allow your 100 to work anywhere in the OKWIN system, completely automated if you used the optional GPS receiver.
I just use location control and leave all the sites intact. Even if you deleted unwanted sites, as soon as you appended some new department to the system, all the sites will repopulate anyway.

I have had to actually avoid the OKWIN sites in Norman, Tecumseh, and Chickasha since I can't seem to tweak the range just right to prevent these sites from being scanned (from my location). The OKC and Guthrie sites generate enough traffic for me. The Guthrie site allows you to monitor the OHP as far away as Perry and Enid.

When you set up location control, be sure you don't screw up your latitude and longitude, or you probably won't hear anything.
You can have several preset locations stored, for places that you might visit frequently. You would select Menu/Set Your Location/Edit Location/ (then select one of your stored locations)/Use Location. If you used the GPS receiver, this would all be automatic.

When you use location control for a system, the range set up in any of your preset locations will override the "Set Range" selection under the "Set Your Location" menu.

In Sentinel, Location Control is part of a profile. You set up your location, range, and preset locations under the "Location Settings" tab. Be sure to set up location control here, so your settings will be reloaded into the scanner whenever you write any updates to your favorites lists.

 

[N0ZQR]

So you’re saying it’s better to use avoid than delete if you don’t use location control. Or do I miss understand .
Ron

 

[toad99]

So you’re saying it’s better to use avoid than delete if you don’t use location control. Or do I miss understand .
Ron

If you delete a site, and then append some new department to the system from the database, any deleted sites will be restored. So just avoid unwanted sites, if you don't use location control. The avoid flag won't change if you append new stuff.

Also, if you have changed the system name so that it's different (shorter and more readable) from the name in the database, appending to the favorites list will add an entire system using the name in the database. You can then cut and paste the new departments to your original system, and then delete the new system.