SDS200 Issue

[edelaney]

I live in St Louis, Mo and scan fire since all PD went to encryption. I have had the radio on 24/7 365 for two years. I pickup St Louis City FD fairly well,I live in south St Louis County. My problem is the county fire channels have stopped working. The come in fine on my HP 1&2. They are digital. I only have control channels programmed. I have looked at talkgroup IDs and avoids and all are set correctly. I am stumped. I have a Remtronix on the back of the set and have tried a Yagi antenna. Any suggestions?
Thank you in advance for any help.

 

[dave3825]

I pickup St Louis City FD fairly well

My problem is the county fire channels have stopped working.

The come in fine on my HP 1&2. They are digital. I only have control channels programmed. I have looked at talkgroup IDs and avoids and all are set correctly. I am stumped.

If its been working all along, and still works on the HP 1&2, then something is either avoided or missing in the 200. Have you matched the control channels in the 200 against whats programmed in the HP's? And the same with the tg's? Do you see the site itself scanning on the 200?

 

[edelaney]

If its been working all along, and still works on the HP 1&2, then something is either avoided or missing in the 200. Have you matched the control channels in the 200 against whats programmed in the HP's? And the same with the tg's? Do you see the site itself scanning on the 200?

Yes everything matches up and I do see the control channels scanning. It is frustrating as hell. All favorites are on the only avoids are STLFD EMS channels.

 

[edelaney]

Yes everything matches up and I do see the control channels scanning. It is frustrating as hell. All favorites are on the only avoids are STLFD EMS channels.

Yes I see the sites as there are multiple.

 

[dave3825]

So if you see the control channels scanning on the 200, do you have the correct service types enabled on the 200? What are your range settings on the 200?

 

[n1chu]

Can you hear any of the WX frequencies? Yes? (If No you may have a repair issue.) If, once you have determined all settings are correct, try overwriting that system with what you have in your programming software. If that doesn’t work, recheck your settings once again. But try this first if you are running an external speaker, try disconnecting it… can you hear now?

 

[RJDII]

I have the exact same issue with a system. I am using an SDS200 also.

 

[Brales60]

I know this sounds simple, but you didn't accidentally move the squelch?

 

[mc48]

Try these items. Set the 200 to ID search, try site hold on the nearest site, Analize the sites to look at the signal activity and decode quality.
Did you set the radio to use NAC and have the wrong or missing info.

 

[baker50021]

Check the squelch and set it to 3.

 

[Ubbe]

Easiest way to check are to enter the frequency manually then there will be no restrictions from service type or NAC.

Push Channel button to stop scan, then enter the control channel frequency and then push Channel again. Turn down squelch to 0.
If you only hear noise then you probably have a sensitivity issue. If you hear no audio then turn the control wheel to change the frequency and then back again to the correct frequency to restart the decode process. If it stays silent you are successfully decoding the control channel.

If the scanner decodes the control channel it then has to be a setting issue in the systems programming.

Keep listening to the noise if it doesn't mute the audio and move the antenna and if that doesn't help then enable IFX, Function+7. Next thing to try are to go into the scanners menu and go to Srch/CloCall Opt and try different filters and push menu after each filter change to go back up to the frequency display and check if you can hear the control channel data signal. If the signal are strong enough it will mute the noise and start to decode the data. If one filter type works then use that for the sites programming.

/Ubbe

 

[Theo]

Check the squelch and set it to 3.

2 is more common.

 

[hiegtx]

I live in St Louis, Mo and scan fire since all PD went to encryption. I have had the radio on 24/7 365 for two years. I pickup St Louis City FD fairly well,I live in south St Louis County. My problem is the county fire channels have stopped working. The come in fine on my HP 1&2. They are digital. I only have control channels programmed. I have looked at talkgroup IDs and avoids and all are set correctly. I am stumped. I have a Remtronix on the back of the set and have tried a Yagi antenna. Any suggestions?
Thank you in advance for any help.

If you are using quick keys, make sure that the keys are enabled. Not necessarily on or off, but enabled so that the scanner will use them. Favorites lists quick keys are set in your Profile.

Looking at a Favorites list in the Favorites Editor, select the list name.and you will see the option t look at the quick key status:


Department & Site Quick Keys are enabled by selecting the system name in the Editor.


For any of these screens, you can <right><click> in the blank area on the right side of the QK numbers. The right click gives a pop-up to set either all the QKs on (enabled), or set all as off (disabled).

If its been working all along, and still works on the HP 1&2, then something is either avoided or missing in the 200. Have you matched the control channels in the 200 against whats programmed in the HP's? And the same with the tg's? Do you see the site itself scanning on the 200?

If your HP-1 & HP-2 work, but the SDS200 does not, then, as suggested, there is some sort of differene between the list used on on the HP-1/HP-2, and the one loaded in the SDS200.

You can export your list from the Sentinel version for the HP-1/-2 into an *.hpe file. Then, you can import that file into Sentinel for the SDS200. Try that, and see if the 200 receives everything expected with the list from the other scanners. While the HP-1 & HP-2 do not have all the features of the SDS series, such as quick keys, filters, and alert LED settings, the basic programming for systems, sites, and departments is the same in both fanilies of scanners.