I am an excited new owner of an SDS150! I just had it on a couple hours, but here's a very preliminary review.
-P25 ONLY RECEPTION - Improved over SDS100 - That's a huge deal for me! I live within 2 miles of an antenna for a 700mhz P25 system. On the SDS100 this system would interfere with other P25 systems on the same band, particularly weaker systems that other devices would pick up easily. So far the SDS150 receives those systems as good, if not better than the my Unication pager and BK Radio. I have to come within a mile of that tower now before the interference occurs, and even then some transmissions pop through. Changing modulation to NFM seems to make somewhat of a difference. And the issue Uniden is working on the SDS100 where Phase 2 transmissions randomly come in garbled or are completely lost I have not had so far on the SDS150. That's big. More scientific testing to follow! I also am getting a 500mhz P25 Harris system some 31 miles away only my BK Radio could receive. Nicely done! 👏 Again I'll be putting the SDS150 through it's paces in the coming days.
AUDIO QUALITY - Yes it's definitely true, the SDS150 is quieter than the SDS100 at the same volume level. On the road it is a little harder to hear. The SDS150 speaker also sounds a bit scratchy at or past Volume level 11, so I don't want to push it too much for fear of blowing the speaker. It might just have a little too much low level bass.
SCAN SPEED - Scanning speed seems a bit slower on the SDS150 as opposed to the 100. When monitoring 1 P25 system, I'm noticing quite a few transmissions coming in a step late versus my portable, especially when the system is busy. Occasionally when attempting to scan 2 or more P25 trucked systems the scanner skips over 1 system. I have also seen the scanner stop on an incorrect voice frequency when attempting to scan 2 or more P25 systems before correcting itself. I'll be sending some debug files to Uniden about it. For now, toggling that system off and on again fixes the problem.
DISPLAY SCREEN - The display screen on the SDS150 is just a little brighter and the colors more defined than the SDS100. The screens are the same size on each.
WATERFALL - I am happy the SDS150 already comes with the waterfall feature. Once you learn how to use it, it is a great tool.
HEAT - So far the back of the SDS150 and the antenna connector do not get nearly as hot as the SDS100 does.
ODD BEHAVIOR - Out of the 10 times or so I have turned the unit on today, 2 times there was absolutely no reception when it turned on. Either on the local P25 system I was monitoring, or in search mode. 0 reception. Turning the scanner off and on again fixed this. I ran the scanner for about 90 minutes with no changes. Again, something I'll be sure to get some debug files to Uniden. So far, no big deal.
Overall I am really liking the new scanner! My initial grade on the SDS150 is a 4.5 out of 5. Much, much more testing to follow! And I haven't even explored the Bluetooth and app just yet!
Who else is willing to share their review of their new SDS150?
-P25 ONLY RECEPTION - Improved over SDS100 - That's a huge deal for me! I live within 2 miles of an antenna for a 700mhz P25 system. On the SDS100 this system would interfere with other P25 systems on the same band, particularly weaker systems that other devices would pick up easily. So far the SDS150 receives those systems as good, if not better than the my Unication pager and BK Radio. I have to come within a mile of that tower now before the interference occurs, and even then some transmissions pop through. Changing modulation to NFM seems to make somewhat of a difference. And the issue Uniden is working on the SDS100 where Phase 2 transmissions randomly come in garbled or are completely lost I have not had so far on the SDS150. That's big. More scientific testing to follow! I also am getting a 500mhz P25 Harris system some 31 miles away only my BK Radio could receive. Nicely done! 👏 Again I'll be putting the SDS150 through it's paces in the coming days.
AUDIO QUALITY - Yes it's definitely true, the SDS150 is quieter than the SDS100 at the same volume level. On the road it is a little harder to hear. The SDS150 speaker also sounds a bit scratchy at or past Volume level 11, so I don't want to push it too much for fear of blowing the speaker. It might just have a little too much low level bass.
SCAN SPEED - Scanning speed seems a bit slower on the SDS150 as opposed to the 100. When monitoring 1 P25 system, I'm noticing quite a few transmissions coming in a step late versus my portable, especially when the system is busy. Occasionally when attempting to scan 2 or more P25 trucked systems the scanner skips over 1 system. I have also seen the scanner stop on an incorrect voice frequency when attempting to scan 2 or more P25 systems before correcting itself. I'll be sending some debug files to Uniden about it. For now, toggling that system off and on again fixes the problem.
DISPLAY SCREEN - The display screen on the SDS150 is just a little brighter and the colors more defined than the SDS100. The screens are the same size on each.
WATERFALL - I am happy the SDS150 already comes with the waterfall feature. Once you learn how to use it, it is a great tool.
HEAT - So far the back of the SDS150 and the antenna connector do not get nearly as hot as the SDS100 does.
ODD BEHAVIOR - Out of the 10 times or so I have turned the unit on today, 2 times there was absolutely no reception when it turned on. Either on the local P25 system I was monitoring, or in search mode. 0 reception. Turning the scanner off and on again fixed this. I ran the scanner for about 90 minutes with no changes. Again, something I'll be sure to get some debug files to Uniden. So far, no big deal.
Overall I am really liking the new scanner! My initial grade on the SDS150 is a 4.5 out of 5. Much, much more testing to follow! And I haven't even explored the Bluetooth and app just yet!
Who else is willing to share their review of their new SDS150?
