SDS100 Silent Channels

[xawen]

Hey all. I have a new SDS100 upgraded from a bcd436hp. I loaded all my favorites from the 436, but I'm having an issue with the local SmartZone Type II system. The scanner is stopping on several of the talkgroups like there's a transmission. But, there's no audio. These are groups that I know are active (fire dispatch) and I hear them normally on the 436. Many of the other talkgroups on the same system are working normally.

I'm not sure where to even start troubleshooting why they're silent. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

[tvengr]

Which SmartZone Type II system are you trying to monitor?

 

[xawen]

It's the MD Anne Arundel system (Anne Arundel County Trunking System, Annapolis, Maryland - Scanner Frequencies). I did just realize it's the Analog talkgroups I'm having issues with. If I hold on them and wait long enough, I do get intermittent transmissions. Wondering if it's just a signal issue. The 436 never had any issues at all, but these TGs could have a bit of static at times. Is it possible that the SDS100 thinks they're too weak and is muting them?

 

[jonwienke]

What is your squelch setting?

 

[xawen]

What is your squelch setting?

At the moment it's 0. The radio stops on the tgid, shows a signal, but no audio.

 

[jonwienke]

That's your problem. Squelch 0 will hang the scanner on any analog frequency--you've turned squelch completely off. Normal setting is 2 or 3.

 

[xawen]

So far I've tried it with squelch set to 0, 1, 2 and 3. I'm not seeing any difference between those settings, except it trying to tune some weak frequencies in my FL that are no good in this location. But that does raise a good question. On the 436, if the squelch was too low it would get hung on weak analog channels. But when that happened, it would put the audio through the speaker even if it was static. Is there any way to get the SDS100 to do that? It seems to be stopping on the right channels (I'm running it next to the 436 right now), it's just muting them.

 

[jonwienke]

Have you tried listening with headphones?

 

[xawen]

I have now . Same results with headphones.

 

[jonwienke]

What frequencies does the system use?
Never mind, I just saw the system link.

What antenna are you using?

 

[xawen]

The main one I'm having trouble with is this one. But as I listen longer, I'm noticing the same behavior on convential frequencies (an airport near here on 119.4, 118.05 and 257.8). For all of those, it is stopping (at the same time that the 436 is playing audio) but not playing anything.

Just caught your edit. Using the stock antenna.

 

[jonwienke]

OK to recap:
On analog channels, the SDS100 is stopping scan, showing signal, but no audio is heard. Digital channels work normally. Correct?

 

[xawen]

OK to recap:
On analog channels, the SDS100 is stopping scan, showing signal, but no audio is heard. Digital channels work normally. Correct?

Yes, exactly right.

 

[jonwienke]

I hate to say it, but it sounds like a scanner problem. I can't think of any scanner setting that would cause that, except maybe a negative volume offset that you put only on the analog channels. But I suspect you'd know if you'd done that.

 

[xawen]

For completeness, I should point out that I'm also having this issue: SDS100 won't update past firmware 1.05.01

 

[jonwienke]

IMO that's another indication something is possibly wrong with your scanner. Try changing the SD card to see if that fixes things--a bad card can trigger all sorts of weird problems. But if it doesn't fix everything, I would send it to Uniden while it's still under warranty.

 

[xawen]

I hate to say it, but it sounds like a scanner problem. I can't think of any scanner setting that would cause that, except maybe a negative volume offset that you put only on the analog channels. But I suspect you'd know if you'd done that.

Yeah, I definitely don't have any offsets in there. Especially considering I do, infrequently, get a bit of audio from those analog tgids. I have only seen that happen on the County SmartZone though.

 

[jonwienke]

Try a different card and see if that changes anything. If not, send it in.

 

[xawen]

Try a different card and see if that changes anything. If not, send it in.

You are an absolute rock star! That solved both issues.

 

[jonwienke]

Sweet. I honestly wasn't hopeful that would fix the problem, but I figured it was worth a shot. Glad it worked out for you.