SDS150 or SDS200

[FrankGartner]

I owned a couple older scanners back in the day and would love to get back into this hobby. 2 questions I need to address first:

1.) My last scanner was installed in my truck. These days I see myself listening mainly at home, but I would love to take a radio with me too. I was about to pull the trigger on a SDS200, until I read here on the forum, that several owners of the new SDS150 get more stations in due to better sensitivity than the SDS200. That paired with Bluetooth and cellphone app options, as well as GPS tracking for the few travels I do, sounds amazing. On the other hand, I like the form factor and larger display of the SDS200 better.

Will there be an SDS250 this year?

Would love any suggestions and considerations.


2.) I'm in Manatee County. According to this list:

Florida Sheriff Agencies - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

I can read this info: "P25 PII Manatee - Sarasota Counties P25 Sheriff's Office Dispatch is clear. However, certain TGs are Encrypted"

What are TGs?

When I listen to an online broadcast for my PD, I can hear dispatch, and I THINK I can hear LEOs responding. That would be fine and enough for me.

According to many comments on the web, many PDs in Florida went fully encrypted. Will Manatee County PD and Fire follow soon?

 

[Ubbe]

Historically Uniden have always released a portable scanner model first and then after a while the mobile version where released. We are just in the beginning of the year so it will probably be a mobile version this year. The world economics and politics are turbulent right now and tariffs have made US citizens living more costly so Trump will probably need to back down on tariffs that will then favor Uniden with their scanner producing plant in Vietnam and there will be no need to postpone the release of the mobile version into next year.

/Ubbe

 

[bearcatrp]

You won't go wrong getting the 150. Its beefier. Built in GPS. Beats the snot out of my SDS200 I had.

 

[werinshades]

If the database is up to date, it doesn't look like much encryption on this system and quite a bit to listen to:

Manatee-Sarasota Counties Trunking System, Bradenton, Florida

Manatee-Sarasota Counties Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

Think of talk groups as channels/frequencies of the old days.

If you think your monitoring will be primarily at home, the 200 should suffice. It depends on you and what you want to spend. Nothing official on the 250 or any other desktop type of scanner yet.

You might want to ask additional questions in the Florida forum, might have someone who monitors the same system and can provide additional details:

Florida Radio Discussion Forum

Forum for discussing Radio Information in the State of Florida.

forums.radioreference.com

 

[KK4JUG]

I would recommend the 150. It's the 200 and more: GPS, Bluetooth and even Waterfall (if you're so inclined). While I haven't done a meaningful comparison of the two, others have and the 150 seems to lead in most categories, including reception and, of course, portability. I have a 100, 150 and 200 but if I had to keep only one, it would be the 150.

 

[FrankGartner]

Thanks for taking the time and replying to my questions - much appreciated.

Historically Uniden have always released a portable scanner model first and then after a while the mobile version where released. We are just in the beginning of the year so it will probably be a mobile version this year. The world economics and politics are turbulent right now and tariffs have made US citizens living more costly so Trump will probably need to back down on tariffs that will then favor Uniden with their scanner producing plant in Vietnam and there will be no need to postpone the release of the mobile version into next year.

/Ubbe

The tariffs have been declared illegal by our highest court and they are supposed to be refunded. Trump enacted a new tariff right after, that one is 10% globally. This is MUCH lower than before. So in theory, prices of all imported products should come down very soon - but - importers and brands may not lower prices, because they now can make more profit.

It was the same with the price hikes when covid caused supply chain issues. Once the higher logistic costs came down, prices still stay up because companies can squeeze more money out of consumers.

Ever since that virus was a thing, things aren't right anymore, on many levels.

All that being said, I slept over my new scanner idea, and I realized that I want a new scanner now, and not wait for a potential SDS250.

Once a 250 comes out, I can still sell my current scanner on eBay. Or keep it lol That would allow me to have both, a station at home, and a handheld for the cars.

You won't go wrong getting the 150. Its beefier. Built in GPS. Beats the snot out of my SDS200 I had.

Ok. The question now is, what antenna(s) should I get? I'm in a HOA. I can install an antenna in my attic. Or will a screw-on antenna be plenty? Which one to get? I'd love to listen to air bands too.

If the database is up to date, it doesn't look like much encryption on this system and quite a bit to listen to:

Manatee-Sarasota Counties Trunking System, Bradenton, Florida

Manatee-Sarasota Counties Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

Think of talk groups as channels/frequencies of the old days.

If you think your monitoring will be primarily at home, the 200 should suffice. It depends on you and what you want to spend. Nothing official on the 250 or any other desktop type of scanner yet.

You might want to ask additional questions in the Florida forum, might have someone who monitors the same system and can provide additional details:

Florida Radio Discussion Forum

Forum for discussing Radio Information in the State of Florida.

forums.radioreference.com

Good call. That gives me the confidence to invest into a new scanner.

I would recommend the 150. It's the 200 and more: GPS, Bluetooth and even Waterfall (if you're so inclined). While I haven't done a meaningful comparison of the two, others have and the 150 seems to lead in most categories, including reception and, of course, portability. I have a 100, 150 and 200 but if I had to keep only one, it would be the 150.

Another owner suggesting the 150 - So be it.

Another factor is, that I can easily take a handheld into different rooms of my house. The SDS200 would end up in a housing of some sort.

 

[ratboy]

My 150 is just a better receiver than my 200's are, especially on analog VHF. It's not perfect, but it's pretty close. While it's not the equal to a couple of my other handhelds on VHF, it's close enough that I don't have to carry my BC125AT or other radio to hear most of the trains I want to listen to. EIther of my 200's, using a mag mount antenna cut for 160MHZ didn't hear much of anything. A defect detector a couple of hundred feet away was about the same as my 150 using the duck was about 2 miles away. My Yaesu VX-170 HT can hear the detector without an antenna on it parked at the tracks, the 150 without an antenna, the squelch breaks but you can't tell what the detector is saying. Of pretty much all my recent handhelds, the VX-170 has the best combination of sensitivity, volume, construction, and it can use a battery pack or AA batteries. If you don't transmit and keep the volume low, those AA's lifespan is in days not hours.

 

[KE5MC]

With BT and cell phone app. your phone becomes your new screen which can be a little bigger than the 150 or much bigger. Also it stay on unlike the 150 which depending on how setup goes off after several seconds until the next new reception.

P.S. I got the 150 and it's much better than my 100. Needing to make the time to sell the 100...

 

[Firebuff66]

With the app the 150 becomes a remote head scanner..Can't beat that