SDS100/SDS200: SDS100 scan issue

[AngWay]

The problem is i have my fav list setup and i have both P25 trunked systems in it and coventional p25 and nxdn but it's not stopping on the p25 trunked sites when it's scanning i have the channels on sdrtrunk running and i have the same control channels in the sds100 and sdrtrunk will be playing traffic from the trunked system and the sds100 will just blow right through the trunked system. what is this?

 

[AngWay]

The problem is i have my fav list setup and i have both P25 trunked systems in it and coventional p25 and nxdn but it's not stopping on the p25 trunked sites when it's scanning i have the channels on sdrtrunk running and i have the same control channels in the sds100 and sdrtrunk will be playing traffic from the trunked system and the sds100 will just blow right through the trunked system. what is this?

I think i solved the problem what i did was i went in in sentinel and removed all the alternate channels that were with my P25 trunked sites, I have three of them and i took out all the alternates and just left the control channel for each one and now it stops every time when scanning and i have traffic on sdrtrunk playing . before it would just scan righ through them on the sds100. is this ok to do tho?

 

[wtp]

until the alternate is used as a control channel.
then you will hear nothing.

 

[AngWay]

until the alternate is used as a control channel.
then you will hear nothing.

Yeah true. but the reason it's picking it up now has to be because it's not having to scan through all those alternates. i can't think of any other reason.

I use a LNA with my SDR's i was wondering can a LNA be used with the SDS100? i don't think the sds100 has bias tee tho.

 

[hazrat8990]

You can split the signal from the LNA with one of those cheap y splitter cables from Amazon. I have a cheap surplus 850MHz LTR antenna hooked up to an LNA, that signal is split between my SDS200 and an RTL-SDR. I'm able to monitor an 800MHz site that is 30+ miles away, and blocked by several hills. The scanner shows full bars and -89dbm of signal, and the SDR shows a clean waterfall. Without the LNA, it doesn't even show up at all on either one. The LNA also helps the SDS pick up the two local VHF sites while using the 850MHz antenna

 

[AngWay]

You can split the signal from the LNA with one of those cheap y splitter cables from Amazon. I have a cheap surplus 850MHz LTR antenna hooked up to an LNA, that signal is split between my SDS200 and an RTL-SDR. I'm able to monitor an 800MHz site that is 30+ miles away, and blocked by several hills. The scanner shows full bars and -89dbm of signal, and the SDR shows a clean waterfall. Without the LNA, it doesn't even show up at all on either one. The LNA also helps the SDS pick up the two local VHF sites while using the 850MHz antenna

Is there a way on the sds100 to look at the signal strength with and without the LNA?

 

[Ubbe]

Is there a way on the sds100 to look at the signal strength with and without the LNA?

You go into the scanners menu and to display option/customize and set up one of the fields in the display to show RSSI signal strength. But it will also detect interference as a signal so much better to use digital error count from a digital system and the better quality of signal you get the lower the errors will be and will be easy to evaluate antennas and amplifiers.

Using signal strength you might be maximizing interferences and overload and not the actual signal you want to monitor.

/Ubbe

 

[AngWay]

You go into the scanners menu and to display option/customize and set up one of the fields in the display to show RSSI signal strength. But it will also detect interference as a signal so much better to use digital error count from a digital system and the better quality of signal you get the lower the errors will be and will be easy to evaluate antennas and amplifiers.

Using signal strength you might be maximizing interferences and overload and not the actual signal you want to monitor.

/Ubbe

Ok thanks for that i figured it out.

I was doing some reading and i was wondering is there a way to edit trunked systems in sentinel to make the sds100 scan faster? and also i have seen a lot of people talk about a website digitalfrequencysearch.com but that site does not seem to exist anymore but from what i have read there are some people who can import nothing but DMR or NXDN freqs into sentinel is there really a way to do that?

If you know anything or can point me in the right direction where i could find any type of tricks or tips when dealing with sentinel i would greatly appreciate it.
thanks

 

[Ubbe]

I was doing some reading and i was wondering is there a way to edit trunked systems in sentinel to make the sds100 scan faster?

Not really. It will always stay at least 1,5 sec on a control channel or higher if you set the hold time to 2 sec or higher. If it doesn't detect any conversations it will go to the next site in the system and again wait 1,5 sec and continue to all sites until it finds a conversation or run out of sites.

If it finds a conversation it will track and monitor it and when it ends it will exit from the system even if there are more sites in it. In its next scan cycle it will go directly to the last active site that had a conversation. To speed up scan, and possible miss some conversations, you can set avoid to all sites but the most active ones.

If sites are outside of your receive coverage they will be skipped in a few milliseconds if it can't detect any signal. I would think that for less important systems to you only use one site to scan but for the important ones you leave all the sites that you can hear in scan. For simulcast systems they will transmit all conversations on all sites so in that case you only need to scan one single site, the one with the best signal strength.

and also i have seen a lot of people talk about a website digitalfrequencysearch.com but that site does not seem to exist anymore but from what i have read there are some people who can import nothing but DMR or NXDN freqs into sentinel is there really a way to do that?

Sentinel can only import Unidens hpe files, so you will have to use some sort of program to convert to that format if you have a list of frequencies and TG's that you have found. ProScan and ARC have import functions that can handle different formats of data. If you use Excel you can enter your data and export to a csv format and ProSan and ARC can then use that data to program Uniden scanners.

From Excel you can usually simply mark a column of cells with frequencies and copy and then paste into Sentinels first line and it will automatically expand to the lines needed. The some goes for TG's.

If you have other scanners, like Whistlers, Icoms and AOR, you can also use that csv format from Excel. Some people only use Excel as their master database that they edit and then export from that to different scanner programs so they don't have to edit the same thing several times in different programs.

The site are still there and can create files formatted for Uniden and Whistler scanners:

Digital Frequency Search

/Ubbe

 

[AngWay]

Not really. It will always stay at least 1,5 sec on a control channel or higher if you set the hold time to 2 sec or higher. If it doesn't detect any conversations it will go to the next site in the system and again wait 1,5 sec and continue to all sites until it finds a conversation or run out of sites.

If it finds a conversation it will track and monitor it and when it ends it will exit from the system even if there are more sites in it. In its next scan cycle it will go directly to the last active site that had a conversation. To speed up scan, and possible miss some conversations, you can set avoid to all sites but the most active ones.

If sites are outside of your receive coverage they will be skipped in a few milliseconds if it can't detect any signal. I would think that for less important systems to you only use one site to scan but for the important ones you leave all the sites that you can hear in scan. For simulcast systems they will transmit all conversations on all sites so in that case you only need to scan one single site, the one with the best signal strength.

Sentinel can only import Unidens hpe files, so you will have to use some sort of program to convert to that format if you have a list of frequencies and TG's that you have found. ProScan and ARC have import functions that can handle different formats of data. If you use Excel you can enter your data and export to a csv format and ProSan and ARC can then use that data to program Uniden scanners.

From Excel you can usually simply mark a column of cells with frequencies and copy and then paste into Sentinels first line and it will automatically expand to the lines needed. The some goes for TG's.

If you have other scanners, like Whistlers, Icoms and AOR, you can also use that csv format from Excel. Some people only use Excel as their master database that they edit and then export from that to different scanner programs so they don't have to edit the same thing several times in different programs.

The site are still there and can create files formatted for Uniden and Whistler scanners:

Digital Frequency Search

/Ubbe

great thanks.

How would i go about finding the tower that a transmission comes from? like the exact place. i'm picking up this freqs and it's showing it's 3 counties over but that is so far i don't see how i can pick it up and i can do it with a rubber duck antenna. Here is the Link it's the

154.815

WRAH770

RM

001 NAC

Scott SO Disp

Sheriff Dispatch (High Knob)

P25

Law Dispatch

I would just like to know where i'm picking this up from . Thanks

 

[Enjoi19]

great thanks.

How would i go about finding the tower that a transmission comes from? like the exact place. i'm picking up this freqs and it's showing it's 3 counties over but that is so far i don't see how i can pick it up and i can do it with a rubber duck antenna. Here is the Link it's the

154.815

WRAH770

RM

001 NAC

Scott SO Disp

Sheriff Dispatch (High Knob)

P25

Law Dispatch

I would just like to know where i'm picking this up from . Thanks

Click on the license (which is the blue hyperlink in your post here)

 

[AngWay]

Click on the license (which is the blue hyperlink in your p

Click on the license (which is the blue hyperlink in your post here)

Ok thanks for that.