SDS100/SDS200: SDS100/SDS200 firmware update- greatly improved simulcast P25ii

[CellMasterK]

I've had both the SDS100 & 200 for over a year but never bothered to do an update. I listen to a simulcast P25ii system with the 100 running an indoor 700 mobile antenna and same on the 200 with an external 700 base antenna. The 100/indoor always outperformed the 200/outdoor which is counterintuitive but I figured it was an interference issue. It was disappointing to have that much time/money invested with poor results.

Recently I noticed a problem where the 200 would occasionally go totally deaf until I power cycled (?) so I updated firmware on both units from factory to whatever is current. To my surprise, now the 200/outdoor receives every call the 100/indoor receives. I have to do more testing but it seems like they fixed a major decoding bug in one of the many updates I was behind on.

I did a search and didn't mention of that...anyone else notice that improvement?

 

[n1chu]

I experience the SDS200 going totally deaf until I do a power cycle. I asked Uniden Repair if this was a known problem, never got a response and wasn’t going to return the scanner(s) at $90+ times 2 to get them back without a fix. So, I’ve learned to live with it. I wasn't aware of a fix by any new FW. For that matter, I am not aware of any FW update either. Currently running Main Ver 1.23.07 and Sub Ver 1.03,05 with the latest Sentinel Programming Software update. The SDS200 will go silent but only infrequently. I occurs on both my scanners, one in my vehicle and one in my house.

 

[trentbob]

I've had both the SDS100 & 200 for over a year but never bothered to do an update. I listen to a simulcast P25ii system with the 100 running an indoor 700 mobile antenna and same on the 200 with an external 700 base antenna. The 100/indoor always outperformed the 200/outdoor which is counterintuitive but I figured it was an interference issue. It was disappointing to have that much time/money invested with poor results.

Recently I noticed a problem where the 200 would occasionally go totally deaf until I power cycled (?) so I updated firmware on both units from factory to whatever is current. To my surprise, now the 200/outdoor receives every call the 100/indoor receives. I have to do more testing but it seems like they fixed a major decoding bug in one of the many updates I was behind on.

I did a search and didn't mention of that...anyone else notice that improvement?

Yes the one big update a little after Christmas that was supposed to improve Phase 1 and Phase 2 performance absolutely did for me!

 

[eaf1956]

I experience the SDS200 going totally deaf until I do a power cycle. I asked Uniden Repair if this was a known problem, never got a response and wasn’t going to return the scanner(s) at $90+ times 2 to get them back without a fix. So, I’ve learned to live with it. I wasn't aware of a fix by any new FW. For that matter, I am not aware of any FW update either. Currently running Main Ver 1.23.07 and Sub Ver 1.03,05 with the latest Sentinel Programming Software update. The SDS200 will go silent but only infrequently. I occurs on both my scanners, one in my vehicle and one in my house.

I run an SDS 200 on the feed 24/7 and it never loses reception. Also, my other SDS 200 runs pretty much 24/7 with no issue.

1.23.07 Main
1.03.06 Sub

 

[CellMasterK]

I experience the SDS200 going totally deaf until I do a power cycle. I asked Uniden Repair if this was a known problem, never got a response and wasn’t going to return the scanner(s) at $90+ times 2 to get them back without a fix. So, I’ve learned to live with it. I wasn't aware of a fix by any new FW. For that matter, I am not aware of any FW update either. Currently running Main Ver 1.23.07 and Sub Ver 1.03,05 with the latest Sentinel Programming Software update. The SDS200 will go silent but only infrequently. I occurs on both my scanners, one in my vehicle and one in my house.

Thanks for the validation Bill. I'm on the same firmware as you so I guess I can expect this to continue. As you said, it's not that often but still enough to be a nuisance because I don't know it's happening for hours if not a day or two. Oddly, it doesn't seem to happen to the SDS100.

Yes the one big update a little after Christmas that was supposed to improve Phase 1 and Phase 2 performance absolutely did for me!

Thanks, I just read the update log and I see what you're talking about. They're a little vague ;-) but I'll take the improvement!

I run an SDS 200 on the feed 24/7 and it never loses reception. Also, my other SDS 200 runs pretty much 24/7 with no issue.

1.23.07 Main
1.03.06 Sub

OK thanks that gives me some hope I guess.

 

[n1chu]

I run an SDS 200 on the feed 24/7 and it never loses reception. Also, my other SDS 200 runs pretty much 24/7 with no issue.

1.23.07 Main
1.03.06 Sub

Well, good for you. I just don’t hear anything when it happens. But I believe the scanner IS receiving a signal because the scanning has stopped and I catch myself looking at a display that’s stopped on a channel.

Thanks for the validation Bill. I'm on the same firmware as you so I guess I can expect this to continue. As you said, it's not that often but still enough to be a nuisance because I don't know it's happening for hours if not a day or two. Oddly, it doesn't seem to happen to the SDS100.

I used to keep my SDS200 on 24/7 and thought about using a timer set to shut off at 2am and turn back on at 2:01am. But I never bothered with it. What I do now is simply check the scanner when I suspect it’s been unusually quiet. I do this by selecting Menu>WX Operation>Weather Scan and listen for audio. If I hear the audio, it’s still good. If I don’t, I reboot the scanner.

What I find strange is you are the only other person who is experiencing this same issue, or at least has come forward and posted it. I wonder if our SDS200’s came from the same production run? I ordered 2 of the SDS200 before they were available, got put on a waiting list and got confirmation I would be included in the first batch of scanners Scanner Master would recieve. I believe that put my scanners in one of the early production runs. But looking at the serial number doesn’t help discern this. One of my SDS200’s has a serial #38426088001787-14C. If I am reading it correctly, the scanner was made in a production run that at least started in 2018.

 

[CellMasterK]

I used to keep my SDS200 on 24/7 and thought about using a timer set to shut off at 2am and turn back on at 2:01am. But I never bothered with it. What I do now is simply check the scanner when I suspect it’s been unusually quiet. I do this by selecting Menu>WX Operation>Weather Scan and listen for audio. If I hear the audio, it’s still good. If I don’t, I reboot the scanner.

What I find strange is you are the only other person who is experiencing this same issue, or at least has come forward and posted it. I wonder if our SDS200’s came from the same production run? I ordered 2 of the SDS200 before they were available, got put on a waiting list and got confirmation I would be included in the first batch of scanners Scanner Master would recieve. I believe that put my scanners in one of the early production runs. But looking at the serial number doesn’t help discern this. One of my SDS200’s has a serial #38426088001787-14C. If I am reading it correctly, the scanner was made in a production run that at least started in 2018.

In theory, mine should be much newer than yours but I bought it from a small shop so it's possible it was old stock. But I doubt that old.

Good idea about the weather. I have mine chugging away 24x7 in my home office, but it's buried in a closet and when I need to control it I use ethernet. The way I notice it, I look at the log and the only signal that comes up when failing is the conventional FD & EMT pager tests at night which are -50dBm...but the recorded audio quality will sound like -110dBm. P25ii won't show up at all in the log.

Right now I'm euphoric about the P25ii decode working better ;-) so I'll get aggravated about the dead receive when it happens again.

 

[eaf1956]

Well, good for you. I just don’t hear anything when it happens. But I believe the scanner IS receiving a signal because the scanning has stopped and I catch myself looking at a display that’s stopped on a channel.

I used to keep my SDS200 on 24/7 and thought about using a timer set to shut off at 2am and turn back on at 2:01am. But I never bothered with it. What I do now is simply check the scanner when I suspect it’s been unusually quiet. I do this by selecting Menu>WX Operation>Weather Scan and listen for audio. If I hear the audio, it’s still good. If I don’t, I reboot the scanner.

What I find strange is you are the only other person who is experiencing this same issue, or at least has come forward and posted it. I wonder if our SDS200’s came from the same production run? I ordered 2 of the SDS200 before they were available, got put on a waiting list and got confirmation I would be included in the first batch of scanners Scanner Master would recieve. I believe that put my scanners in one of the early production runs. But looking at the serial number doesn’t help discern this. One of my SDS200’s has a serial #38426088001787-14C. If I am reading it correctly, the scanner was made in a production run that at least started in 2018.

One of mine is 38426088001723 which is a little bit older than your 1787 the other one is 1004 which is much older. the last 3 digits are all that are different on one and the last 2 digits on the other. They are Both Z8 scanners with production dates of 2018 so at least the one 1723 scanner was probably in the same run as your scanner. I did have an issue at night when the Volume was LOW and not being loud enough to engage the UNIDEN amplified speaker, thought I was missing traffic even though volume was fine via LAN. I have since learned to keep the scanner Volume higher and adjust the sound via the speaker Volume Control. At that time the scanner would display TG info with no audio on some channels but not all because some TG's are louder than others.

 

[CellMasterK]

In theory, mine should be much newer than yours but I bought it from a small shop so it's possible it was old stock. But I doubt that old.

Good idea about the weather. I have mine chugging away 24x7 in my home office, but it's buried in a closet and when I need to control it I use ethernet. The way I notice it, I look at the log and the only signal that comes up when failing is the conventional FD & EMT pager tests at night which are -50dBm...but the recorded audio quality will sound like -110dBm. P25ii won't show up at all in the log.

Right now I'm euphoric about the P25ii decode working better ;-) so I'll get aggravated about the dead receive when it happens again.

@n1chu And it happened again, it was out for over a day before I noticed. I guess this will be "a thing" I have to live with. :-(

While I like your power down at 2am idea, I'm not sure that's a clean solution (?) because the scanner seems to write something to the database when you power it off. Kind of like shutting Windows off with the power switch.

 

[Ubbe]

@n1chu ...be the scanner seems to write something to the database when you power it off. Kind of like shutting Windows off with the power switch.

It always writes to a config file at power off where it stores the current settings of the scanner, where it is in the scan cycle and what options you have selected. You can manually turn the scanner off and then on again to save the current status to that file and it will use that at each power on if the 12v power suddenly disappears.

/Ubbe

 

[CellMasterK]

It always writes to a config file at power off where it stores the current settings of the scanner, where it is in the scan cycle and what options you have selected. You can manually turn the scanner off and then on again to save the current status to that file and it will use that at each power on if the 12v power suddenly disappears.

/Ubbe

Cool, so it's not as catastrophic as shutting off Windows with the power button.

As a side note, one thing I guess doesn't store is Temp Avoid status because I always have to redo those when I power cycle.

 

[eaf1956]

Cool, so it's not as catastrophic as shutting off Windows with the power button.

As a side note, one thing I guess doesn't store is Temp Avoid status because I always have to redo those when I power cycle.

That is why it is called TEMP Avoid

 

[CellMasterK]

That is why it is called TEMP Avoid

I hear ya

 

[Ubbe]

I guess doesn't store is Temp Avoid status because I always have to redo those when I power cycle.

Temp avoid are only stored in the scanners RAM memory and are lost at power off, as well as closecall hits.
You can double tap on the lockout button to make it permanent but then you'll have to remember which ones you have locked out so you don't start to wonder why you never hear anything from those locked out frequencies the next time you use your scanner.

I would like to see Uniden do a timed temp lockout. The display show "temp lockout" for a second or two but if you turn the select wheel during that time you can select between different amount of minutes and hours, 0-5min-30min-1hour-2hours-4hours. After that time it should automatically release the lock out. The number of temp lockouts are now limited to 255 and trying to do one more temp lockout will spit out the first one stored and it will be unlocked. Each lockout would need an additional time added to it, one byte 00 to FF to represent minutes so will take up some more memory but can probably be solved or the number of max temp lockout can be reduced to 200 to make more room for it. Each minute the processor increase all stored times by one, except the ones with 0 that have no time set to them. A 5 minute time will be stored as FA and when a time reach FF it is removed from the memory table.

/Ubbe

 

[CellMasterK]

Temp avoid are only stored in the scanners RAM memory and are lost at power off, as well as closecall hits.
You can double tap on the lockout button to make it permanent but then you'll have to remember which ones you have locked out so you don't start to wonder why you never hear anything from those locked out frequencies the next time you use your scanner.

I would like to see Uniden do a timed temp lockout. The display show "temp lockout" for a second or two but if you turn the select wheel during that time you can select between different amount of minutes and hours, 0-5min-30min-1hour-2hours-4hours. After that time it should automatically release the lock out. The number of temp lockouts are now limited to 255 and trying to do one more temp lockout will spit out the first one stored and it will be unlocked. Each lockout would need an additional time added to it, one byte 00 to FF to represent minutes so will take up some more memory but can probably be solved or the number of max temp lockout can be reduced to 200 to make more room for it. Each minute the processor increase all stored times by one, except the ones with 0 that have no time set to them. A 5 minute time will be stored as FA and when a time reach FF it is removed from the memory table.

/Ubbe

Agreed Ubbe, that's exactly why I don't use the permanent Avoid and a little more flexibility would be good.

I just re-Avoid those 2 "temp" channels when they become annoying after reboot. Not the worst problem in my life so I just deal with it.