SDS200 likes or dislikes
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jvaillancourt
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YES!!!! That was my issue. I was putting the scanner IP and not the computer IP and now it works!! Thanks for the help.
I have had a SDS200 for a couple months, it is so good I won't bother listing the things I like because I don't want to write a novel. So it will be just easier to write about the few things I don't like. Things that could be better...this is not a gripe session but nothing is perfect.
1. Now this is getting picky but don't laugh. I don't like the inaccuracy of the built in clock. The time keeping ability could be better. We can all understand that it's not supposed to be an atomic clock. It's a freekin scanner!! But mine is fast about 12 seconds a week so I reset the time very week. If it were somewhere along the lines of about plus or minus two seconds a week it would be better.
2. Could use a setting that would allow you to put an avoid on trunking sites per departments. Unless I'm wrong, there's no way to do that. I scan the Utah Communication Authority which has most of the public safety on it (Motorola Type II SmartZone Omnilink) for all of central Utah.
I had a problem with one city department ( Provo Fire and PD talkgroups ) where if I happened to pick them up on one particular site, it could be so loud and scratchy on the interference that sometimes I'd practically rip my headphones off my head. If it stopped on Provo TGs and on that certain site. Any other site for Provo was fine.
So what I had to do was delete that Provo department group from UCA and then create another favorite just for Provo separately and put an avoid on just that site. Any other department usually sound good on that site so that's why I did not want to put an avoid on that site for the entire UCA system! So that site can still work for anything else but my special Provo favorite can't stop on that site, it scans past and uses better sites. Don't know if I miss anything for Provo without that site but I don't care. I don't want to blast my eardrums with that noise. I tried IPX filter on the control frequency for that group but it didn't do anything.
1. Now this is getting picky but don't laugh. I don't like the inaccuracy of the built in clock. The time keeping ability could be better. We can all understand that it's not supposed to be an atomic clock. It's a freekin scanner!! But mine is fast about 12 seconds a week so I reset the time very week. If it were somewhere along the lines of about plus or minus two seconds a week it would be better.
2. Could use a setting that would allow you to put an avoid on trunking sites per departments. Unless I'm wrong, there's no way to do that. I scan the Utah Communication Authority which has most of the public safety on it (Motorola Type II SmartZone Omnilink) for all of central Utah.
I had a problem with one city department ( Provo Fire and PD talkgroups ) where if I happened to pick them up on one particular site, it could be so loud and scratchy on the interference that sometimes I'd practically rip my headphones off my head. If it stopped on Provo TGs and on that certain site. Any other site for Provo was fine.
So what I had to do was delete that Provo department group from UCA and then create another favorite just for Provo separately and put an avoid on just that site. Any other department usually sound good on that site so that's why I did not want to put an avoid on that site for the entire UCA system! So that site can still work for anything else but my special Provo favorite can't stop on that site, it scans past and uses better sites. Don't know if I miss anything for Provo without that site but I don't care. I don't want to blast my eardrums with that noise. I tried IPX filter on the control frequency for that group but it didn't do anything.
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Ubbe
Member
It could be that the system has one voice frequency on that local site reserved for Provo fire and PD so it always will be available for them even if the whole site is busy with less important calls. And only that frequency on the site have interference problems.
I think you ment to say that you set IPX to all the voice frequencies as it doesn't help doing it to the control frequency.
You should update to the latest firmware and Sentinel, if you haven't done that, and try each filter setting to that site and then switch to IFX and try all filter settings again. One combination of settings should be able to solve that problem, if you haven't got a local interfering source at that frequency. Try to see on the display what the frequency are when it gets scratchy with that particular TG and see if the same frequency are used with other TG's. Then program that frequency as conventional analog and listen to it if it sounds ok and also set squelch to 0 and listen if there's some sort of interference there in the background noise.
If you have a portable scanner you could enter that voice frequency and try and search for the interfering source around the house but if it's somewhere outside it's probably not much to do about it.
/Ubbe
Thanks but I only see an actualy frequncy on the display when the scanner is receiving a conventional frequencies. I possibly could set up the display to show trunk frequencies though. I'll give that a try.
Here are "Don't likes" because, as was stated previously, there is too much I love about these to list....
-Lack of a decent "Audio Gain Control" (Some units/stations talking are much louder than others, to the point you have to quickly reach for the volume control) This is done with much lesser priced scanners with decent success. ....And on audio, with an external (non amplified) speaker, it is not nearly as loud and clear as the 996P2.
-Lack of a true "Remote head" ...I would purchase at least a couple if they were made, by Uniden or otherwise. The 996XT remote heads lacked full ability of an actual head, and it wasn't as tall/boxy as the SDS200, so I would reasonably think the selling point would be much better for a '200 remote head (that doesn't use a plug-in that will basically fall out of the socket with minimal effort, that the 996XT's would do)
-The display is great on the SDS200, but the brightness is lacking, compared to many other scanners. Would love it to be brighter for daylight use, inside a vehicle. The SDS100 can easily be seen at full brightness in the same setting, where the SDS200 is noticeably dimmer at full brightness.
-The indicator light only staying on for a few seconds. If there are patent issues about it, then at least do like the 996 series, and have the background light up in the desired color, if programmed that way. (Suggestion for future update?) And some more color options for text, maybe? A lot of them are pretty odd, and are scattered randomly (?)
-Otherwise, I love the SDS200.
-Lack of a decent "Audio Gain Control" (Some units/stations talking are much louder than others, to the point you have to quickly reach for the volume control) This is done with much lesser priced scanners with decent success. ....And on audio, with an external (non amplified) speaker, it is not nearly as loud and clear as the 996P2.
-Lack of a true "Remote head" ...I would purchase at least a couple if they were made, by Uniden or otherwise. The 996XT remote heads lacked full ability of an actual head, and it wasn't as tall/boxy as the SDS200, so I would reasonably think the selling point would be much better for a '200 remote head (that doesn't use a plug-in that will basically fall out of the socket with minimal effort, that the 996XT's would do)
-The display is great on the SDS200, but the brightness is lacking, compared to many other scanners. Would love it to be brighter for daylight use, inside a vehicle. The SDS100 can easily be seen at full brightness in the same setting, where the SDS200 is noticeably dimmer at full brightness.
-The indicator light only staying on for a few seconds. If there are patent issues about it, then at least do like the 996 series, and have the background light up in the desired color, if programmed that way. (Suggestion for future update?) And some more color options for text, maybe? A lot of them are pretty odd, and are scattered randomly (?)
-Otherwise, I love the SDS200.
One thing that could be improved is make the audible alert tones go through the speaker or especially the headphone output. I listen at night on my nights off and I had to take away all of my tone alerts because the tones apparently have their own separate speaker and they were waking my wife up! I work graveyard and stay up all night on my nights off too because changing my sleeping pattern to night sleeping again does not work for me. So the regular audio is heard on my headphones but then the alerts are audible. Someone at Uniden did not think that one through. Or at least make is selectable so the audio of the alerts could be as they are now or only through the headphones.
"-Lack of a decent "Audio Gain Control" (Some units/stations talking are much louder than others, to the point you have to quickly reach for the volume control) This is done with much lesser priced scanners with decent success. ....And on audio, with an external (non amplified) speaker, it is not nearly as loud and clear as the 996P2."
I agree with this, the volume offset is supposed to compensate for this and it does to some degree but this problem is that when they change dispatchers, one might have been talking loud and with his/her mouth close to the microphone but the following dispatcher might talk very quietly. Some of them sound like they're whispering! So any attempt to use the volume offsets for me has been met with limited success because of loud or soft speakers on dispatch that change all the time and rarely speak with the same volume.[/QUOTE]
I agree with this, the volume offset is supposed to compensate for this and it does to some degree but this problem is that when they change dispatchers, one might have been talking loud and with his/her mouth close to the microphone but the following dispatcher might talk very quietly. Some of them sound like they're whispering! So any attempt to use the volume offsets for me has been met with limited success because of loud or soft speakers on dispatch that change all the time and rarely speak with the same volume.[/QUOTE]
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The only major dislike I have so far is that I don't have one!
I wish the SDS200 had a default volume setting when you turn the scanner on. Right now when I turn it on I then have to sit there and wait for all my scan lists to load, then turn up the volume to 10. It would be nice if there was a setting in Sentinel to have it just go directly to volume 10 when the device is turned on.
The SDS100 has this, are your sure you haven't overlooked it in Sentinel?
I'm not by a computer, otherwise I would look it up for you.
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It doesn't set the volume at power-on. It sets the volume after writing from the PC. On power-on, it sets the volume to whatever the physical volume control is set to.
I'm ready to add a SDS200 to my SDS100 and was wondering if anyone knows a authorized retailer who's willing to unbox the radio, make sure it works and has no hum prior to shipping, has anyone found a seller like that? I wonder if the local HRO will allow you to do it. Is the hum issue there as soon as you power on like a 60 cycle AC hum would be or do I need to have it all programmed and scanning a system etc.?
And yes I know, they'll probably try to fix it with firmware/tried to fix it with firmware but if what I read was correct, that all that does it turn off the amp between call, it means that crappy buzzy audio is still added on top or behind the voice call and that's not a fix so trying to find a clean one to begin with.
Thanks all.
Jen
And yes I know, they'll probably try to fix it with firmware/tried to fix it with firmware but if what I read was correct, that all that does it turn off the amp between call, it means that crappy buzzy audio is still added on top or behind the voice call and that's not a fix so trying to find a clean one to begin with.
Thanks all.
Jen
I went in person to Universal and he unboxed it and plugged it in, no hum
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[/QUOTE]
I also have realized that in a trunking system, at least an analog one anyway, another thing that changes the volume level of voice is whichever site a department dispatcher is happens to broadcast on. Not that the dispatcher sets this, it's done by computer control of course. But yes, you might get your sherriff on one particular site tower and it sounds about right and the next transmission might come in on yet another different site but this time the very same dispatcher is blasting your eardrums out. Then the next time yet another site might be the broadcasting site and this times it's too low to hear almost. I get most of my local police, fire and EMTs through three different sites, kind of a roll the dice kind of system around here.
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