SDS100 Range.

[liamashton2322323]

What is the range on the SDS100? I know it kind of depends on your area.

From what I know, theres not really any big mountains around my area (Citrus County, FL). Maybe a few big hills, but the main problem might be trees and hills.
I am just wondering if I can hear the counties next to me or not.

 

[Enjoi19]

Too many factors at play to even throw a guess out there. Antenna, interference, transmitter power, terrain, weather, atmosphere conditions, all factor into what you may or may not hear. What one person says at their place in town may not work for you.

 

[liamashton2322323]

ok ty

Too many factors at play to even throw a guess out there. Antenna, interference, transmitter power, terrain, weather, atmosphere conditions, all factor into what you may or may not hear. What one person says at their place in town may not work for you.

 

[Ensnared]

What is the range on the SDS100? I know it kind of depends on your area.

From what I know, theres not really any big mountains around my area (Citrus County, FL). Maybe a few big hills, but the main problem might be trees and hills.
I am just wondering if I can hear the counties next to me or not.

Yes, there are many factors when you ask about range on receiver. However, I would prefer seeing which system is nearby & go from there. So, I am going to go look at your county & see if I can help you.

After I looked at the adjacent counties around you, I am seeing a lot of encrypted law enforcement talk groups and channels. For the most part, Florida has been locked up tighter than a drum.

First of all, let's see if you are using the stock antenna. It is not worth a plug nickel. However, I don't know what agencies you want to hear. I would imagine you are more likely to hear EMS/Fire over law enforcement.

You can try using the stock antenna & see if you can pick up the adjacent counties from you location. I did not see any trunked systems that overlapped with your county. Sometimes, larger trunked systems have multiple agencies on a statewide system for instance.

I would hate to send you out for a better antenna if there was nothing worth a crap to hear.

Oh, beforehand, you might need to set the range on the radio from the range of 0-50 miles. You can set a distance that is closest within this range. Use the zip code method to see if you can year. I would use the full DB as well.

Let me know.

 

[Computrguy]

I am in the same area and most LE is encrypted. Polk County is in the clear and can be hear up in OPs area with the stock antenna, at least it can on mine.
More specific info would help.
The stock antenna worked fine for me. I only recently upgraded to a mobile antenna and it is marginally better.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

I am just wondering if I can hear the counties next to me or not.

Keep in mind the antenna is an important piece of hardware for longer distance. Other factors come into play: Elevation, topography between you and the target station(s), transmit power of target station(s). No "one size fits all" answer to your question. Also not all RF environments are created equal so you'll need to experiment to see who all you can pick up. Get an antenna tuned for the bands you're looking to bring in. If you're looking for long distance DX get an outdoor antenna properly grounded and mounted as high as you can safely get it. I've got a Larsen tribander mounted on the peak of my roof and can pick up trunked radio systems from 30 miles away. VHF & UHF conventional from even further out than that & when tropo ducting is favorable a hundred or more miles out

 

[jtwalker]

I agree with above and I’ll throw out one thing:

Pretty good chance you’ll be able to receive neighboring counties unless you have tall hills or tall buildings between you and the nearest tower of the neighboring county.

I can receive all the counties that touch my county (Adams Co PA) except for Frederick Co MD because there are several decent mountains in the southern part of my county which are between me and Frederick Co.

YMMV