SDS100 range setting

[SpaceForceCmdr]

Found a few old posts about this, but still a little unsure. I set my exact lat/long coordinates in the scanner. I don't really know how far away I can pickup transmissions, but should I increase the range setting so it scans more? I believe the default is 10 miles.

 

[ofd8001]

The easiest answer is: "Experiment with different values until you land on something that suits your fancy."

More complicated:

The global Range value kind of "extends" the range assigned to Departments/Groups/Sites in the database (or Favorites Lists if created). So if a Department has an assigned Range of 20 miles and you set the global Range to 10.0, you can be 29.9 miles away and the scanner will attempt to scan the Department, rather than having to be within that assigned 20 miles.

Now, whether you actually receive radio traffic is a whole 'nother thing. If a transmitter only has enough radio horsepower to go 30 miles and you are 40 miles away, setting your scanner to 50 miles will not "bring" the radio signal in.

Here is a way I use different Range values. For Departments, the RR rules require a Department's Range to be about the area of the jurisdiction. A city with a ten mile wide foot print will have a five mile range with the center point being the bulls-eye of the city. I'm about 40 miles away from a county which has a 30 mile range because that is its "foot-print". However, their transmitters have enough power so I can hear them that 40 miles away. So to receive that county, I've had to bump my Range up to 50 for that Department.

 

[SpaceForceCmdr]

Interesting, appreciate the info. So, the only downside to setting the range to max (50) is that it might scan a lot of stuff I can't hear?

 

[hiegtx]

Interesting, appreciate the info. So, the only downside to setting the range to max (50) is that it might scan a lot of stuff I can't hear?

All the range does is enable systems that are within the combined range of what your scanner's range, plus the Site or Department's range. See this for a more complete explanation of how it works.

How it Works: Location, Location, Location

 

[Ubbe]

It's problems using GPS scanning but it's better than nothing when doing car trips thru other countys and states.
Each radio site has a range set to it and each department of TG's also have a range. When you set a range in the scanner it will just be added to those ranges to increase their coverage.

If I look in the Ohio database and for a school or hospital their range are often set to 2 miles as it seems that their FCC license state that they are allowed to only use their system within their own premises, although they have their transmit antenna on a buildings roof and probably have a 10-20 mile range, but the database info are anyhow entered like that. Only when you drive by that place will the scanner enable that system in scan and after a minute when you have driven past it it will it be taken out of scan. You will never hear anything from those systems even if you have their service types enabled. If I look at hotels and casinos they have a 0.1 mile range set to them.

For public safety TG's their general range are set to the geographical area where they are supposed to be used. If you are outside of a county limit those TG's will never be scanned until you cross the border, even if you actually are well within their radio coverage.

If you have the ProScan software you can look at the range circles on a map to see what area they actually covers.

If you set your scanners range to 25 miles, that's probably what can be expected for a scanners coverage range, then if any site's transmitter are too weak to be received it will instantly be scanned past without any delay. Only if it is strong enough to open squelch will it hold for a while to try and decode the signal and you will probably start to hear those casinos, hotels, hospitals and university and schools but also a lot more of other distant systems like from the next county. A squelch setting of 2 might be a bit too noisy and more difficult to digitally decode so up it to 3 or 4.

If you travel thru the same locations regularly you probably should make a favorit list for each location and switch FL manually without location control, or perhaps edit range settings for systems to a value that corresponds to their actual scanner coverage and not what their FCC license says, and use the system types to filter what you would like to listen to.

/Ubbe

 

[SpaceForceCmdr]

That helps, thanks! Another quick question, when I set my location in the scanner, does it matter much what method I use? I originally tried zip code, but then I put in my actual lat/long since I figured that's more precise.

 

[ofd8001]

Manual entry is more precise. With zip codes, they use the middle of the zip code area. Ok for populated areas, but for large remote areas zip code areas cover a lot of ground.

 

[SpaceForceCmdr]

Cool, thanks! I see there is an auto method, too, but didn't try that.

 

[ofd8001]

Auto locate works only on P25 systems and is okay, but I don’t find it very useful. There are plenty other tools for finding locations.

 

[SpaceForceCmdr]

Thanks. I'll probably just stick with the manual location for now. I'm mostly using it at home at the moment.

 

[bearcatrp]

Best to start at 5 miles. Then bump it up 5 miles every couple days. Been doing this for years with proscan. You should hit a point of too many transmissions. When I hit that point, i back off 5 miles at a time until I get what I want. All depends what you want. Good luck.

 

[GadgetGeek]

Even setting the range to zero miles will still load up a bunch of channels in my area. Experiment.

 

[donc13]

Thanks. I'll probably just stick with the manual location for now. I'm mostly using it at home at the moment.

Get a gps and not worry about it. It's what I do with my SDS200 on the road or in the house. The Uniden GPS kit works great.