SDS100/SDS200: SDS100 Regrets

[SierraTangoAlpha]

There are maybe a dozen or so people on this forum whose posts can be taken at face value. Jon Wienke is one of them. I would pick my battles very carefully.

I don't join forums to battle anyone. I came here to get some help with a problem. Thankfully the members have been uniformly polite and understanding to a person with a new radio. 2020 has been a year of changes and challenges for everyone it is not my intention to be combative,rude,or unproductive in any way. I have taken the time to post that for now the radio is working and I am functioning reliably at a base level. I have got the pointers I need for the time being and the rest I will have to learn with practical experience ie making changes and making mistakes and then fixing them. I can understand people getting frustrated because dealing with issues can be that way..its how we deal with them that matters. Try and remember the human being behind these posts. We all needed help at some point in our lives and were blessed with people. with the grace knowledge and humility to provide it. Have a safe and happy holiday season. 73's from the great white north

 

[SierraTangoAlpha]

That's really not necessary. You can always read the scanner if you have to reinstall Sentinel. If the SD card in the scanner takes a dump, just buy a new one, reset user data and write to as usual.

In other words, you already have a backup.

I come from a background where 2 is 1 and 1 is none..so having a spare copy of the SD card is cheap insurance when travelling with limited data availability.

 

[jonwienke]

Really....is that your most helpful response? ''have clearly never tried updating multiple lists'' really? Is that your attitude to tell me what I have tried to do? Thanks for your charitable and helpful response. Jonathan@Unidenscanners.com. I am sure your company would be proud of you.

I stand by what I said, as it is not possible to embed a favorite list inside another favorite list, either in the scanner menu, or in any software program made for the x36 or SDS series of Uniden scanners. If you create multiple lists, write them to the scanner, and then check the Set Scan Selection \ Select Lists to Monitor menu, it is easy to confirm that fact. Favorite lists are always separate entities--siblings to each other, and never parent/child to each other. What you're complaining about isn't just inaccurate, it's impossible.

Also, I'm not an employee of Uniden. I'm an independent offering mods and aftermarket accessories for Uniden scanners.

 

[jonwienke]

I sympathize with the sub-node Favorite "phenomenon." It happened to me the very first time I used Sentinel:

+MyFavorite
-ANewFavorite

I was able to fix it by deleting and starting fresh. Later down the road I tried to repeat it and couldn't. To my recollection it had something to do with a padded space or a special character in the Favorite name. I'm wondering if an update didn't fix it. I tried to reproduce it here this morning but couldn't, but I'm using an existing file, not a new one. My ambition to reproduce it beyond what I just tried is low.

But yes, absolutely I had a newly created Favorite in Sentinel appear as a subnode under a parent Favorite when starting out with a new file and it drove me a bit batty till I did the nuclear option.

No, you absolutely did not. You have the Favorite Lists container. Everything under that node is a Favorite list.



Everything under a Favorite list is a SYSTEM, and not another favorite list:

Weather Forecasts & Alerts is not a favorite list, it is a conventional system in the Weather favorite list.

Departments (groups of channels) fall under systems, and channels fall under departments. For trunked systems only, sites are shown under the system they belong to, listed after all of the departments.

CMARCS is a system in the Maryland favorite list, with 10 departments and 3 sites. Channels are listed under departments, and site frequencies are listed under sites.

It is not possible to alter this hierarchical structure in any software program or the scanner menu under any circumstance. Any claim to the contrary is inaccurate and incorrect.

 

[ApexMark]

No, you absolutely did not. You have the Favorite Lists container. Everything under that node is a Favorite list.

View attachment 95790

Everything under a Favorite list is a SYSTEM, and not another favorite list:
View attachment 95791
Weather Forecasts & Alerts is not a favorite list, it is a conventional system in the Weather favorite list.

Departments (groups of channels) fall under systems, and channels fall under departments. For trunked systems only, sites are shown under the system they belong to, listed after all of the departments.
View attachment 95792
CMARCS is a system in the Maryland favorite list, with 10 departments and 3 sites. Channels are listed under departments, and site frequencies are listed under sites.

It is not possible to alter this hierarchical structure in any software program or the scanner menu under any circumstance. Any claim to the contrary is inaccurate and incorrect.

Wow.

That's pretty vicious. I'm not sure why you had to launch out at me like that. I said it happened as a bug when I first used Sentinel with my first scanner. Now it seems I'm being called a liar.

I don't have a dog in this fight so I'm not interested enough to dig back through old folders or hard drives to find screenshots which prove it, which clearly says it had to have been a bug in an earlier version of Sentinel. I've no idea why anyone would think I dreamed up that fantasy.

I've written a ton of GUI's which use the TTreeView control since they were first introduced in Windows. You can ask me or anyone on my team of dozens of GUI developers how often they've subclassed that control in order to bypass the frequent hierarchy bugs which can get introduced due to the myriad of ways the tree can be built from a plain text file like the .cfg file Sentinel uses if care isn't taken when using all the calls which are offered to build out the tree...a mess like:

AddNode()
AddChildNode()
AddSubNode()
AddParentNode()
AddTreeNode()

etc etc etc. My guess is it was a simple parsing error of the plain text file which introduced it under special circumstances, e.g. padded whitespace or a special character, or the first line of a new datafile with those situations.

Was it ever intended by Uniden? Of course not. Was it ever offered as a feature in any other software? Not to my knowledge. But to say it is patently impossible for a TTreeView control to ever have that happen under any circumstance is simple ignorance. To write a post like yours is pretty vicious. I've never blocked a thread before in RR but after I reply here, sir, I'll block this one.

 

[N8IAA]

Really....is that your most helpful response? ''have clearly never tried updating multiple lists'' really? Is that your attitude to tell me what I have tried to do? Thanks for your charitable and helpful response. Jonathan@Unidenscanners.com. I am sure your company would be proud of you.

He is his own company. But, he is proud of himself.

Oh, and, I'm sure I'll get blow back for that statement.

 

[gmclam]

I like the SDS100 a lot. I didn't find it difficult to program.

I also like it a lot. And also didn't find it difficult to program. But many people see it as a radio where you enter a zip code and you're ready to go. Then there's talk of firmware and/or DB updates. It gets deep pretty fast, especially for someone expecting to just enter a zip code. What seems to derail many is the need to select desired service types.

Once I understood the organization of System/Site/Department/Channel it became much easier.

Agree. But the manuals do NOT do a good enough job illustrating this. I design h/w and code f/w & s/w so this is not complicated to me.

I personally find the original manual very adequate and almost never used the "easier to read" manual, which I frankly don't find that much easier. The hurdle, I think, is the channel organization and quick keys/number tags (I wrote something about these at the bottom).

I am looking at it from the point of view of someone totally new (especially to Uniden terminology) and expects the manual to "take them by the hand". A lot could be accomplished with nothing more than a PICTURE of the radio with callouts to each and everything there is (what are the buttons on the side?, which is the power button?, what's the difference between the two separate USB connections on the side?, which way do I pull the battery clip and which way does the compartment open?).

My biggest complaint overall lies with the Sentinel software, which looks like it was written in the early 90's using Visual Basic or Delphi. And it's strictly modal, which is just lazy programming. It was probably written on the side by someone rather than by professional software developers. And I don't think it's been updated in forever. But it works, and is adequate and we don't live all day in it so it's ok.

Bad software could be written today just like stellar software can be written in the 90s (or any decade). It does look like a separate person coded the Favorites Editor though, which is why it is not intergrated as a single program.

 

[jonwienke]

Wow.

That's pretty vicious. I'm not sure why you had to launch out at me like that. I said it happened as a bug when I first used Sentinel with my first scanner. Now it seems I'm being called a liar.

I never called you a liar, don't put words in my mouth. But mistaken is pretty likely, given that it only supposedly happened once the first time you ever used Sentinel, and it's never been a confirmed Sentinel bug in any version since at least 2015, if not earlier. Certainly not the current one.

And I've done programming with tree view controls, so I'm familiar with the requirements to get the tree to structure correctly. Favorite lists are each in their own separate file; creating a new list creates a new file, so keeping them separated is a lot easier than mixing them together.

 

[GregOH]

I'd be ok if I could buy an SD card ready to go that I could just start manually adding a system and tgid's to because I'll admit, I don't know where to begin with the use of Sentinel.

 

[maus92]

I'd be ok if I could buy an SD card ready to go that I could just start manually adding a system and tgid's to because I'll admit, I don't know where to begin with the use of Sentinel.

Go to Youtube, search on "uniden sentinel" - there are several videos that show you the basics.

 

[buddrousa]

Greg put the card in a reader start Sentinel
Under scanner clear user data
After that copy you profile that you use in your scanner now you have a perfect copy spare.

 

[SierraTangoAlpha]

I'd be ok if I could buy an SD card ready to go that I could just start manually adding a system and tgid's to because I'll admit, I don't know where to begin with the use of Sentinel.

I just put a 32GB Sandisk MicroSD into the scanner (predictably I broke the sliding metal lock off(managed to replace it ok) I put the card in and wrote my favourites list to it and the regular database. It worked first time like a charm and now it is recording up to 30 second snippets of any calls it monitors for later review. The memory card lock is very delicate I must say but with some gentle manipulation its back in place never to be removed again I might add

 

[GregOH]

Greg put the card in a reader start Sentinel
Under scanner clear user data
After that copy you profile that you use in your scanner now you have a perfect copy spare.

So if I have a card reader for a digital camera and the driver disc for it, would that work?

Insert disc>>> install drivers>>> plug in card reader with card inserted>>> open Sentinel once it's downloaded?

I'll have to use another family members pc, because mine is Linux and I don't dare even try to get the software to work with it.

 

[buddrousa]

Just a cheap sd card reader

 

[SierraTangoAlpha]

I am using a Mac with a Windows 10 Virtual Machine, I plugged a card reader in to the USB C Port Dongle and then plugged it in to Windows 10 opened Sentinel and copied the database and the favorites file to the card. Then put the MicroSD into the scanner in place of the one that was in there. Plugged the scanner into the computer and with Sentinel running updated the Database and rewrote the favourites list to the scanner again. Apart from the Sliding memory card lock it was pretty seamless..I got 2 x 32GB Sandisk Micro SD cards for $21.00 from Walmart..eventually I will copy the database to the other one and have 3 back ups for travelling with

 

[Scannernitwit]

Hello everyone.

Recently I posted on the Uniden Prospective Owners site commenting on my decision not to purchase the SDS 100.
The last page or two here on SDS100 Regrets have postings that reflect much of my reason. Too complex for me, a very casual, low experience user.

From what I read, some of you are Electrical Engineers, Computer Programmers, long time scanner users etc.
Serious enthusiast that contribute much to the forums. (That's why I am here!)
However, I recognize that communication technology will only get more complicated and the devices to monitor it equally complicated.

Cost and complexity, a niche market and other issues will likely lead to the end of casual scanner listening.
(I hope I am wrong.) There is also the issue of encryption...

I spent a lot of time on forums, watching YouTube, reading manuals and I payed attention to advice I was given. Just trying to look-up abbreviations found in the manuals was timely. (Yes, Google is my friend!) Regardless, the impression I got is that the SDS100 is well over my head and the scanner continues to have problems.

Undoubtedly with some effort I would eventually learn, but for me, it would not have been fun.

I did take a look at my neighbors Uniden HP2; it struck me as flimsy and not suitable for daily house to truck use. My previous scanner, (the one at the bottom of Boston Harbor) was a BCD396XTprogramed by a colleague. When it worked, it worked great, but any problem caused a lot of grief.

A couple of days ago I purchased a very basic BC125AT. That scanner is nitwit proof!

Scanner Master recommended the Uniden 436HP.
After the holidays, I will consider this option.
If I am to be dumfounded trying to use a scanner I may as well save some money!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Take care,

Kevin

 

[SierraTangoAlpha]

Hello everyone.

Recently I posted on the Uniden Prospective Owners site commenting on my decision not to purchase the SDS 100.
The last page or two here on SDS100 Regrets have postings that reflect much of my reason. Too complex for me, a very casual, low experience user.

From what I read, some of you are Electrical Engineers, Computer Programmers, long time scanner users etc.
Serious enthusiast that contribute much to the forums. (That's why I am here!)
However, I recognize that communication technology will only get more complicated and the devices to monitor it equally complicated.

Cost and complexity, a niche market and other issues will likely lead to the end of casual scanner listening.
(I hope I am wrong.) There is also the issue of encryption...

I spent a lot of time on forums, watching YouTube, reading manuals and I payed attention to advice I was given. Just trying to look-up abbreviations found in the manuals was timely. (Yes, Google is my friend!) Regardless, the impression I got is that the SDS100 is well over my head and the scanner continues to have problems.

Undoubtedly with some effort I would eventually learn, but for me, it would not have been fun.

I did take a look at my neighbors Uniden HP2; it struck me as flimsy and not suitable for daily house to truck use. My previous scanner, (the one at the bottom of Boston Harbor) was a BCD396XTprogramed by a colleague. When it worked, it worked great, but any problem caused a lot of grief.

A couple of days ago I purchased a very basic BC125AT. That scanner is nitwit proof!

Scanner Master recommended the Uniden 436HP.
After the holidays, I will consider this option.
If I am to be dumfounded trying to use a scanner I may as well save some money!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Take care,

Kevin

I still have an XL125 bought in Europe as an Airband Scanner, its a super easy way to get comfortable with UNIDEN. Owning it made the 325P2 not as much of a leap. Sadly the guy who sold me the P2 had wiped it clean so I had to start from scratch programing EDACS systems manualy by hand until I found Radio Reference and bought some sofware. I still love to have flightradar24 running and try and capture the voice communications of aircraft in my area.Having fun and learning about radio is the thing. People are here to help if you need it and thats the best thing about it. Theres a saying in skydiving..learn from other peoples mistakes because you will never live long enough to make them all yourself
Have fun

 

[GregOH]

Hello everyone.

Recently I posted on the Uniden Prospective Owners site commenting on my decision not to purchase the SDS 100.
The last page or two here on SDS100 Regrets have postings that reflect much of my reason. Too complex for me, a very casual, low experience user.

From what I read, some of you are Electrical Engineers, Computer Programmers, long time scanner users etc.
Serious enthusiast that contribute much to the forums. (That's why I am here!)
However, I recognize that communication technology will only get more complicated and the devices to monitor it equally complicated.

Cost and complexity, a niche market and other issues will likely lead to the end of casual scanner listening.
(I hope I am wrong.) There is also the issue of encryption...

I spent a lot of time on forums, watching YouTube, reading manuals and I payed attention to advice I was given. Just trying to look-up abbreviations found in the manuals was timely. (Yes, Google is my friend!) Regardless, the impression I got is that the SDS100 is well over my head and the scanner continues to have problems.

Undoubtedly with some effort I would eventually learn, but for me, it would not have been fun.

I did take a look at my neighbors Uniden HP2; it struck me as flimsy and not suitable for daily house to truck use. My previous scanner, (the one at the bottom of Boston Harbor) was a BCD396XTprogramed by a colleague. When it worked, it worked great, but any problem caused a lot of grief.

A couple of days ago I purchased a very basic BC125AT. That scanner is nitwit proof!

Scanner Master recommended the Uniden 436HP.
After the holidays, I will consider this option.
If I am to be dumfounded trying to use a scanner I may as well save some money!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Take care,

Kevin

I haven't had my SDS100 very long and it's not that hard to do things like ID Search, Direct Scan and adding TGID's to a system that's already in place by hand (takes longer to edit the name than anything) however, if I knew for sure a 325P2 would work for me without simulcast issues, I'd probably rather have it.

 

[Scannernitwit]

Having jumped out of perfectly good aircraft myself I fully understand the skydiving analogy.

 

[SierraTangoAlpha]

Having jumped out of perfectly good aircraft myself I fully understand the skydiving analogy.

89 Jumps...2 reserve rides...my 20th jump was my first malfunction..bag lock...no hesitation punch right punch left..the second time was more of a situation..line broke on opening...descending turn at about 50mph... got to a 1000' trying to ''fix things'' 1000 decision height cut away.. they heard me scream on the ground...I had a firelite ram air reserve that gave me ground skim like unreal..made me want to jump a smaller parachute...but I CANT..I am 6'4 250...without gear on...lol..love aviation and skydiving to this day..the word DOOR still gets my heart pumnping.. being an ex infantry leg..I never asked questions,...and just ran through the procedure..once the decision is made do the drill..no questions asked...IS IT SQUARE? CAN YOU LAND IT? NO? CUT IT AWAY and get something you can deal with.. PULL with stability and altitude lest the ground rise up and smite thee... Oh yeah..