After nearly a week with the SDS200 I finally had the time to find out what this thing is made of. I staged a series of comparison tests versus some other very capable, yet older and sometimes much older scanners, as well as my trusted Unication G4. To keep things fair all scanners were hooked up with identical jumpers, to the same Diamond Discone, with a 30' feed point, through a Stridsberg multicoupler, assuring that the same signal level reached all scanners, ideal for comparisons like this. The Unication G4 did battle sporting only it's stubby antenna.
The results:
Simulcast vs. the Unication G4. Parity. No other previous scanner was able to decode my home simulcast, RWC Simulcast G, properly (major bummer). Here you will see that the SDS200 does it just as well as the Unication G4 for five solid, unedited minutes, in HD video. The Unication reigns supreme no more.
UHF vs. the Realistic PRO-2006: As expected the PRO-2006 (my best UHF scanner) wins, but the SDS200 turns in a respectable and acceptable performance, better than some other digital scanners that I have tested (which will go unnamed here).
VHF comparison. Using both MURS from a local Walmart 1.25 miles away, and a few other VHF signals, we see that as with UHF, the SDS200 cannot match the BC780XLT (my best VHF scanner), but again turns in a respectable and acceptable performance.
AM Airband: While the SDS200 generally picks up the same signals that the BC780XLT picks up, there is more white noise with the SDS, and that's the main thing I'm illustrating in this video. If you can pick what is being said out of the white noise, you will see that they basically receive the same signals most of the time, and it's just that the BC780XLT does so with less noise. Again, this is respectable and acceptable, considering that the BC780XLT is one of the best airband scanners ever made.
Milair comparison: This test surprised me the most, as the SDS200 unexpectedly seemed to outperform the BC780XLT here. Caveat: This is a brief test, and I have doubts that further testing will confirm this situation, but for now things are looking good for the SDS200 with milair frequencies. A pleasant surprise for sure.
800 MHz smartzone comparison: The least exciting comparison, but that's not a bad thing. The SDS200 paced my dedicated smartzone scanner (WS1065) effortlessly. Note that the SDS100 with duck antenna did not fare well with this system, so this is a happy though undramatic result. This is an important system for me (Maricopa County Sheriff's Office). Other modern scanners like the 536 struggle on this ancient system regardless of antenna, for whatever unknown reason, so good reception of this system with the SDS200 checks one more important box for me.
SDS200 VS WS1065 Smartzone P25 Digital
And finally for those curious a quick look at the antenna / multicoupler setup.
My Setup
Bottom line: Overall, though no match for the best analog scanners in that arena, the SDS200 will still now easily assume the throne as king of all scanners in my view, due to it's wide-ranging capabilities, and it's ground-breaking simulcast reception, all while maintaining respectable analog capability, and surprisingly good milair reception.
**Additional: The infamous SDS200 "noise" is present but it isn't loud enough to be a bother. The keypad lighting is dim but acceptable in low light. There are no symptoms of screen flickering or other display anomalies. Audio has more treble on analog frequencies, with less bass tone than is heard with digital frequencies, but the difference is acceptable and the overall sound quality is good. Build quality seems very solid. As always the Uniden menu system is a joy to use, with plenty of options. Networking works very well and I use Proscan to stream to my computers without issue. The front facing LAN jack is less of an issue than I expected thanks to the 90 degree cable that I purchased.
All things considered, I honestly have no major criticisms of this scanner to share.
The results:
Simulcast vs. the Unication G4. Parity. No other previous scanner was able to decode my home simulcast, RWC Simulcast G, properly (major bummer). Here you will see that the SDS200 does it just as well as the Unication G4 for five solid, unedited minutes, in HD video. The Unication reigns supreme no more.
UHF vs. the Realistic PRO-2006: As expected the PRO-2006 (my best UHF scanner) wins, but the SDS200 turns in a respectable and acceptable performance, better than some other digital scanners that I have tested (which will go unnamed here).
VHF comparison. Using both MURS from a local Walmart 1.25 miles away, and a few other VHF signals, we see that as with UHF, the SDS200 cannot match the BC780XLT (my best VHF scanner), but again turns in a respectable and acceptable performance.
AM Airband: While the SDS200 generally picks up the same signals that the BC780XLT picks up, there is more white noise with the SDS, and that's the main thing I'm illustrating in this video. If you can pick what is being said out of the white noise, you will see that they basically receive the same signals most of the time, and it's just that the BC780XLT does so with less noise. Again, this is respectable and acceptable, considering that the BC780XLT is one of the best airband scanners ever made.
Milair comparison: This test surprised me the most, as the SDS200 unexpectedly seemed to outperform the BC780XLT here. Caveat: This is a brief test, and I have doubts that further testing will confirm this situation, but for now things are looking good for the SDS200 with milair frequencies. A pleasant surprise for sure.
800 MHz smartzone comparison: The least exciting comparison, but that's not a bad thing. The SDS200 paced my dedicated smartzone scanner (WS1065) effortlessly. Note that the SDS100 with duck antenna did not fare well with this system, so this is a happy though undramatic result. This is an important system for me (Maricopa County Sheriff's Office). Other modern scanners like the 536 struggle on this ancient system regardless of antenna, for whatever unknown reason, so good reception of this system with the SDS200 checks one more important box for me.
SDS200 VS WS1065 Smartzone P25 Digital
And finally for those curious a quick look at the antenna / multicoupler setup.
My Setup
Bottom line: Overall, though no match for the best analog scanners in that arena, the SDS200 will still now easily assume the throne as king of all scanners in my view, due to it's wide-ranging capabilities, and it's ground-breaking simulcast reception, all while maintaining respectable analog capability, and surprisingly good milair reception.
**Additional: The infamous SDS200 "noise" is present but it isn't loud enough to be a bother. The keypad lighting is dim but acceptable in low light. There are no symptoms of screen flickering or other display anomalies. Audio has more treble on analog frequencies, with less bass tone than is heard with digital frequencies, but the difference is acceptable and the overall sound quality is good. Build quality seems very solid. As always the Uniden menu system is a joy to use, with plenty of options. Networking works very well and I use Proscan to stream to my computers without issue. The front facing LAN jack is less of an issue than I expected thanks to the 90 degree cable that I purchased.
All things considered, I honestly have no major criticisms of this scanner to share.