SDS150: SDS150 new firmware 3-27-26

[jasonhouk]

I highly recommend the following SD Card, purchased November 3, 2025 and had zero issues with the SDS100/200/150:

Samsung PRO Endurance 32GB

 

[MaineGuy]

The high endurance cards may be worthwhile:

 

[swiper1911]

I believe the best options for the SDS150 specifically, are either the SanDisk 32GB MAX ENDURANCE or Samsung PRO Endurance 32GB.
I'll be picking up a SanDisk myself after questionable performance from the stock SD card the SDS150 came with.

 

[MaineGuy]

I chose the less expensive 'High Endurance' model because I figured that the scanner wasn't going to be using the card as hard as a security camera would.

I know - thousand dollar scanner - cheaps out on the SD card....

The cards you mentioned are certainly a step or two up from my choice.

 

[xusmarine1979]

Yup I can see it good. I might give ordernone and give it a try. Mine acts a little wonky at times and maybe that will help.
By wonky I mean in addition to the occassional lost transmission issue (which has improved but still persists in rare cases) I also notice that even nearby P25 Phase 2 channels the reception sounds "skippy" or "choppy" on one out of every 10 transmissions. It's still copyable but somewhat

Yup, that's what it was doing with mine when the 100 would sit next to it and seemed to be fine. I admit, I was a little bummed out at first but glad it was a simple fix.

NOAA would come in, but was so noisy I figured it was just something at home or work messing with it. But with the new card it comes in perfectly clear with the noise below 500. I can even pick up further sites that my 100 can't.

 

[wa8pyr]

That's my point. Uniden needs to improve their check of data integrity if something have gone wrong with the data information that have been stored. Now it seems like users get no information that data are corrupt, the scanner just works in strange ways and you have to try and find out yourself by some random actions like reloading data or swapping SD cards and check if it made a difference.

OK, folks. Let's keep it on track here. This thread is about new firmware for the SDS150 and questions about it. Get out of the rabbit warren and get back to the topic at hand.

 

[policefreak]

Yup, that's what it was doing with mine when the 100 would sit next to it and seemed to be fine. I admit, I was a little bummed out at first but glad it was a simple fix.

NOAA would come in, but was so noisy I figured it was just something at home or work messing with it. But with the new card it comes in perfectly clear with the noise below 500. I can even pick up further sites that my 100 can't.

So after a few day's use with the new SD Card, have the improvements stayed?

 

[xusmarine1979]

So after a few day's use with the new SD Card, have the improvements stayed?

I don't want to hijack the thread, so if admin wants me to start a new one for this I'd be happy to.

Signal wise, it's fantastic on all bands. But the decoding/errors are still popping up but not as bad.

While in the same spot on my desk moments from one Pic to the other, listening to MARCS simulcast site versus a local analog system, you can see a huge difference in the noise levels. I'm assuming it's because of it being simulcast, but it's definitely not from overload because the analog one would have high levels as well.

 

[I_Am_Infinite]

SDS150 Audio

It was a challenge finding an active channel, hope this helps.

I did notice that over the weekend when I was within a mile from a simulcast tower, the errors did stay at zero.

All I know is my 100 really doesn't seem to have this issue in the same spot and antenna. Figured it just needs a processing tweak.

That's almost exactly like my 200 did that I talked about. Maybe its a similar issue. But i have only had 2 instances of it since the fw update. Its been doing really good for me, im very happy with the update. But exactly full bard and garbled. Those error are crazy high.

The last time I had garbled audio on my sds 200 I tried to stop it on the Gary PD Dispatch TG and when I hit pause on it, I guess it re acquired the CC no different than if you paused and changed TGs by turning the nob.

Well as soon as it re aquired the CC the audio came back perfect bo garbled at all. Like just making it re aquire the CC reset it like, then it was good on that exact transmission when it was just garbled like ur video. But again I have only had ot get garbled 2x since the update. No sticking on a VC showing a tiny signal but stuck. So ya im very happy with the sds 200 update.

Only thing that would of made that update or any future update better is adding TDMA CC decoding to the sds 100/200. This wud make me so happy.

I figure it shouldn't be to hard to fix because they cleaned it up for the others. 🤷‍♂️

 

[I_Am_Infinite]

Turn off Close Call so it will stay on the control channel all the time as opposed to leaving and coming back. Then maybe do another video so we can better see what's happening.

I see what ur saying but dont the Close Call thing show up at bottom as icon or something.

Idk I never used close call but tried that fx or ifx before and it has an icon on the screen

 

[I_Am_Infinite]

@xusmarine1979 just curious how come you have the frequency showing 2x, once by the DError and by sysId?

 

[jasonhouk]

I don't want to hijack the thread, so if admin wants me to start a new one for this I'd be happy to.

Signal wise, it's fantastic on all bands. But the decoding/errors are still popping up but not as bad.

While in the same spot on my desk moments from one Pic to the other, listening to MARCS simulcast site versus a local analog system, you can see a huge difference in the noise levels. I'm assuming it's because of it being simulcast, but it's definitely not from overload because the analog one would have high levels as well.

Could you please identify the brand of cable you are currently using? I observe that it is not the supplied cable included with the SDS150. Additionally, I notice that the screen silk printing on your SDS150 “Uniden” and “SDS150” is not visible.

 

[Ubbe]

75% to 90% of the firmware code are the base core that are the exact same in all Unidens SD card scanners, that includes scanning functions, favorite and database handling, QK, decoding of data and SD card management among other things, and if there's an issue with the base code in the first scanner receiving that upgrade then it for sure will also been seen when that firmware version are released for those other scanners.

Whistler has error codes displayed to the user for most issues that can happen and scanner then stops working and problem has to be fixed. I've never seen any kind or error warnings from a Uniden scanner, they just accept the fault and tries to operate as usual although decoding could have stopped or even reception are totally gone.

One issue are the handling of RAS systems, that if the scanner think it is a RAS systems it disables the error correction and data errors suddenly gets a spike and if one bit are received wrong that are the encryption flag then the system are skipped without notifying the user. So a bad error rate could be from the scanner going into RAS mode and missed transmission can be from a misinterpreted encryption flag in the datastream. This is happening from the base code in the firmware that are used in all SD card scanners. Uniden needs to include warnings that the read and write from SD cards are compromised and a clear indicator on the display that RAS have been detected and also that encryption have been encountered and a visual or audible indicator that the system then are skipped from being monitored.

/Ubbe

 

[xusmarine1979]

Could you please identify the brand of cable you are currently using? I observe that it is not the supplied cable included with the SDS150. Additionally, I notice that the screen silk printing on your SDS150 “Uniden” and “SDS150” is not visible.

Sorry about that, I was focusing more on the screen.

As for the cable brand, I'm not sure. A co- worker gave it to me to use at work for my phone and other stuff.

 

[xusmarine1979]

@xusmarine1979 just curious how come you have the frequency showing 2x, once by the DError and by sysId?

I think I overlooked it when I was adding other things by hand.

 

[xusmarine1979]

So after a few day's use with the new SD Card, have the improvements stayed?

Overall I'm pleased with the radio.

My commute is about 30 miles for work and it's mostly expressway. So I used the waterfall to watch 700mhz and also 800mhz just to see what pops up while heading home the other day, and I was surprised how well the 150 does with overload when going by cell towers. I'd say within 1,000 feet, maybe even less than that. Definitely an improvement over the 100's.

Then another day I parked on the county's site for MARCS and it was the same result while listening, so it didn't get bad until that short range. Normally the attenuation is on but was curious.

But listening all day especially while at work, the errors do occasionally still pop up and the audio garbles but not nearly as much and seems random. And the signal (Rem800 ant) is on par with my apx4000 at work which is also on MARCS.

I did order a card that Jason recommended and it should arrive today. I'll remove Sentinel and install fresh just to see if that helps.

An amazing job by Uniden, I have 3 100's and my 150. I got the 150 for the GPS for my commute to work and highschool baseball that occasionally we'll go into the surrounding counties.

Now with the greatly improved signal on the other bands I'm stoked to start listening to other things like air.

 

[I_Am_Infinite]

Could you please identify the brand of cable you are currently using? I observe that it is not the supplied cable included with the SDS150. Additionally, I notice that the screen silk printing on your SDS150 “Uniden” and “SDS150” is not visible.

Good catch.

 

[policefreak]

Overall I'm pleased with the radio.

My commute is about 30 miles for work and it's mostly expressway. So I used the waterfall to watch 700mhz and also 800mhz just to see what pops up while heading home the other day, and I was surprised how well the 150 does with overload when going by cell towers. I'd say within 1,000 feet, maybe even less than that. Definitely an improvement over the 100's.

Then another day I parked on the county's site for MARCS and it was the same result while listening, so it didn't get bad until that short range. Normally the attenuation is on but was curious.

But listening all day especially while at work, the errors do occasionally still pop up and the audio garbles but not nearly as much and seems random. And the signal (Rem800 ant) is on par with my apx4000 at work which is also on MARCS.

I did order a card that Jason recommended and it should arrive today. I'll remove Sentinel and install fresh just to see if that helps.

An amazing job by Uniden, I have 3 100's and my 150. I got the 150 for the GPS for my commute to work and highschool baseball that occasionally we'll go into the surrounding counties.

Now with the greatly improved signal on the other bands I'm stoked to start listening to other things like air.

That pretty much echoes my experience. On the new firmware I find the garbled/lost transmissions occurs on average 1 out of every 150 transmissions while scanning 2-3 700mhz Phase 2 systems simultaneously. I'm also experimenting with the scan order and I may be observing different behavior on the scanner between when the arrow is up or down. I'll be doing more testing.

 

[I_Am_Infinite]

Whistler has error codes displayed to the user for most issues that can happen and scanner then stops working and problem has to be fixed. I've never seen any kind or error warnings from a Uniden scanner, they just accept the fault and tries to operate as usual although decoding could have stopped or even reception are totally gone.

Wow I didn't realize that. Well I knew bout error code from Whistler, but didn't know that is how Uniden scanner's work.

 

[xusmarine1979]

Hey guys, it's been a couple of days since I've put in the new SD Card. I freshly installed Sentinel and started new.

Performance wise, the reception is absolutely amazing in comparison to the 100 on all bands and I love it.

I haven't been able to monitor any P25 single sites yet, I think AEP has a tower I'll give a try tonight just to see how it decodes. I normally don't use the list or display settings on the 100 so I apologize for the encrypted TG's and display.

In my video, this is the site I'm on. Ohio MARCS-IP: Multi-Agency Radio Communications Site: Summit County Simulcast

The 100 errors are at a minimum and the 150 is still behaving the same. The noise levels and signal seem to be pretty close, so I'm still stumped.

What are you guys seeing?