There is no fan in the radio. Its seems to be a normal sound when the radio is loading up the programming from the SD card. I guess this sound is within "specs". Trust me you are not crazy
SDS200 initial reviews
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There is no fan in the radio. Its seems to be a normal sound when the radio is loading up the programming from the SD card. I guess this sound is within "specs". Trust me you are not crazy
Added the SDS200 to my desk last night.
Love the bright display, customizable colors. Scanning performance is awesome compared to my BCD396xt handheld.
I'm going to try returning/exchanging it though, as I got one with the hum discussed. Definitely something internal, as I tried isolating the scanner away from everything else, and even took it down the hall to try a different power outlet. I can confirm hum in both the internal speaker and the audio out jack in back. I have not tested headphones yet. Hoping to get one of the good ones in the exchange, because everything else seems solid.
Love the bright display, customizable colors. Scanning performance is awesome compared to my BCD396xt handheld.
I'm going to try returning/exchanging it though, as I got one with the hum discussed. Definitely something internal, as I tried isolating the scanner away from everything else, and even took it down the hall to try a different power outlet. I can confirm hum in both the internal speaker and the audio out jack in back. I have not tested headphones yet. Hoping to get one of the good ones in the exchange, because everything else seems solid.
After playing with mine for a little over a week, here are my observations:
Agree with all the others on very nice audio. I agree it's better than the 536/previous models.
Reception - I've taken it on the road this week - listening to a bunch of different things. I'm very impressed with sensitivity on 700/800 systems - I seemed to receive them at similar distances as a "real" radio. P25 decoding from weak signals work great. I was able to receive some systems from >50 mi away (hard to compare since I usually run the 536 with gps all the time - I don't have my GPS yet).
I'm not as impressed with the simulcast "fix" that this scanner was supposed to fix. While it works much better than the 436/536 series, I still seem to miss some traffic on an analog Motorola 800 system where signal strengths are strong. The scanner was showing -60 to -65 dBm signal strength and traffic was being missed (compared to a commercial radio next to it). Maybe it was just overloaded with noise? I've tried turning ATT on that site, and still about the same performance. While outside the "ring of simulcast towers", the scanner seems to do pretty well. On another P25 simulcast system, it didn't seem to miss as much/any. Most of this testing was with a 5/8 wave 800MHz antenna on the outside of the vehicle.
VHF/UHF FM and air (AM) seems to work very well - no complaints there. I didn't notice much intermod/noise on VHF/UHF, but I'm not usually in "RF hell" like some of these other places.
Layout/Size/form factor: I don't have an issue with the LAN port in front, but agree it may be better in the rear - the front only has so much space to use! I'm also not fully sure what the USB A port is for...maybe a WiFi/Bluetooth adapter in the future? The scanner is slightly taller but not as wide as the 536/996 series. It's awkward to have in a vehicle without mounting for temporary use, but that's what handhelds are for!
Close call works seemingly as well as previous models. I'm slightly disappointed to see the "RF power plot" option in the Analyze menu gone, and would really like to see more options in the analyze or discovery menu. I really enjoy finding and figuring out new/unknown systems when travelling, but generally have to bring a computer for software discovery tools - this scanner is capable of all that (like the old HomePatrol Extreme upgrade), but sadly this isn't available.
Overall, still a great scanner. I'm happy with my purchase. I do wish there was a way to trade a digital voice license from one scanner to another as we continue to upgrade, but understand it would be hard to verify users were only using that license on a single device (maybe some sort of license you could check in/check out per scanner only while connected to Uniden web authentication? Now that would be cool!)
Agree with all the others on very nice audio. I agree it's better than the 536/previous models.
Reception - I've taken it on the road this week - listening to a bunch of different things. I'm very impressed with sensitivity on 700/800 systems - I seemed to receive them at similar distances as a "real" radio. P25 decoding from weak signals work great. I was able to receive some systems from >50 mi away (hard to compare since I usually run the 536 with gps all the time - I don't have my GPS yet).
I'm not as impressed with the simulcast "fix" that this scanner was supposed to fix. While it works much better than the 436/536 series, I still seem to miss some traffic on an analog Motorola 800 system where signal strengths are strong. The scanner was showing -60 to -65 dBm signal strength and traffic was being missed (compared to a commercial radio next to it). Maybe it was just overloaded with noise? I've tried turning ATT on that site, and still about the same performance. While outside the "ring of simulcast towers", the scanner seems to do pretty well. On another P25 simulcast system, it didn't seem to miss as much/any. Most of this testing was with a 5/8 wave 800MHz antenna on the outside of the vehicle.
VHF/UHF FM and air (AM) seems to work very well - no complaints there. I didn't notice much intermod/noise on VHF/UHF, but I'm not usually in "RF hell" like some of these other places.
Layout/Size/form factor: I don't have an issue with the LAN port in front, but agree it may be better in the rear - the front only has so much space to use! I'm also not fully sure what the USB A port is for...maybe a WiFi/Bluetooth adapter in the future? The scanner is slightly taller but not as wide as the 536/996 series. It's awkward to have in a vehicle without mounting for temporary use, but that's what handhelds are for!
Close call works seemingly as well as previous models. I'm slightly disappointed to see the "RF power plot" option in the Analyze menu gone, and would really like to see more options in the analyze or discovery menu. I really enjoy finding and figuring out new/unknown systems when travelling, but generally have to bring a computer for software discovery tools - this scanner is capable of all that (like the old HomePatrol Extreme upgrade), but sadly this isn't available.
Overall, still a great scanner. I'm happy with my purchase. I do wish there was a way to trade a digital voice license from one scanner to another as we continue to upgrade, but understand it would be hard to verify users were only using that license on a single device (maybe some sort of license you could check in/check out per scanner only while connected to Uniden web authentication? Now that would be cool!)
TailGator911
Silent Key/KF4ANC
I doubt that any company would roll out a feature that is not economically viable for them, and lose money. Uniden is a company not unlike others, always with a profit in mind. As my company would be, as your company would be. Like the sticker on my truck at the dealership telling me I got it 'at cost'...but not at their cost.
JD
kf4anc
JD
kf4anc
Can you tell us what the USB port in the front will be used for? The "master" port, that is.
Bill28227
Member
Does the SDS200 have the color identification light? For example, a red LED for a fire broadcast and a blue LED for the police?
Bill
Bill
Should be under SDS200 and Above the big knob.
ke0hfc
Member
Got mine today. Keypad back light is fine, no speaker noise. Running it with 12v off my HAM radio power supply. It'll sit here on my desk until the GPS puck shows up then it goes in the car.
Eng74
Member
Haven't had a screen this big on a base/mobile since the PRO-2053. One thing I wish is they did a cover for the LAN port, there is one on the USB so why not one for that big hole in the front of the radio?
W5RGP
Member
I had noise on my front earphone jack but not in the rear when plugged into he wall outlet
i have since moved it to my Alinco DM-330MV Power supply that runs my other 4 536's and a 996xt
and happy to report the noise is gone completely from both ports as well as the stock speaker
dfw1193
Member
Think I will move mine off the wall wart also.
Ah...so it could be a bad batch of power supplies (i.e. wall warts) and not the scanners themselves - maybe more who are having the problems with the hum/buzz/whatever can test it with something other than the wall warts and see if they get the same results? A little troubleshooting 101 here! Good to know.
It's not the wall wart - have the same "hum" using a 12v power supply, and 12v from my Jeep.
ColdnFrosty
Member
Not the AC adapter. I've also tried the cigar lighter plug and a couple power supplies. Hum still there.
Using which power cord?
OK. Are you using the 3 wire power cable when connecting to power supply or vehicle power? Or another?
12v power supply: used the 3 wire power cable; 12v in Jeep: supplied cig ltr adapter. I.E 3 different cables using 3 different power sources, two input methods to the radio.
OK, that’s what I was wanting to find out. Thought maybe there was a chance it was one of the power jacks on the back but you tried both.
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