SDS200

[Bucketeer]

Hello Everybody,

My name is Tom, and I live in Central Florida, about 35 miles NW of Orlando. I am a SWL and used to be a scanner listener until track and encryption became standard. I have a Radio Shack PRO-2006, but about the only thing I hear is NOAA weather. It's pretty much a brick any more.

I've been looking at the Uniden Bearcat SDS 200. I have 2 questions.

1) I've read that you can program this scanner simply entering your Zip Code. Yes or No?

2) If you are able to program the scanner by entering your Zip Cope, does the SDS200 allow you to enter additional Zip Codes?

I'm mostly interested in monitoring Police/Fire/EMS. Thanks in advance for your comments.

 

[jtwalker]

1) You can get started with just zip code, but you'll likely find you want more control than this will allow.

2) Only one zip code at a time, but you can enter a range (distance) on how far out to look from the center of that one zip code.

You will need a Windows PC to keep the scanner updated, and the Sentinel software provided by Uniden at no additional cost.

 

[buddrousa]

Below I have listed your area and notes the SDS200 is a great scanner but no scanner does encryption.

Marion County, Florida (FL) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Marion County, Florida (FL)

www.radioreference.com

Lake County, Florida (FL) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Lake County, Florida (FL)

www.radioreference.com

Sumter County Public Safety System Trunking System, Bushnell, Florida

Sumter County Public Safety System Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

Sumter County Talkgroups

DEC	HEX	Mode	Alpha Tag	Description	Tag
1102	44e	DE	SC Fire	Fire	Fire Dispatch
1104	450	DE	SC Fire	Fire	Fire-Tac
1107	453	D	SumterHeloLZ	Sumter Helo LZ	Interop
1228	4cc	D	Sumter Hail	Sumter Hailing	Interop
1540	604	D	Sumter SO-1	Sheriff Dispatch	Law Dispatch
1601	641	D	Sumter FR-1	Sumter 1	Interop
1609	649	D	Sumter FR-2	Sumter 2	Interop
1610	64a	D	Sumter FR-3	Sumter 3	Interop
1611	64b	D	Sumter FR-4	Sumter 4	Interop
1612	64c	D	Sumter FR-5	Sumter 5

D is Digital E is fulltime Encryption e is parttime Encryption
T is P25 Phase 2 Digital E is fulltime Encryption e is parttime Encryption

 

[cpfinlay]

You can enter the zip code from the keypad as well as remove the service types you don't want to scan in order to limit it to what you want to monitor.

It's also easy to set up Favorites lists within Uniden's Sentinel (free), which you need to update firmware and apply the weekly RR database updates. You can PC to the scanner via USB or insert the scanner's uSD card into an appropriate card reader attached to the PC in order to program and update it.

It's my favorite scanner to date.

 

[mr10pt]

If you do purchase the 200, I would recommend NOT paying for programming. That will not help you when YOU want to make changes. This scanner/computer has a large learning curve if not computer savvy (like me), but you'll be amazed what you and the people here (plus forums) can help you with. Prior to purchasing the scanner you can download Sentinel (free) to play with. Set up your favorites list and other bells and whistles, and there are a lot of bells and whistles you can add if you like but not needed for just monitoring. I have not looked into your area (provided above) but if simulcast is mentioned, then the SDS200 is the way to go. Im older so I need a bigger display and bigger buttons with a louder speaker. As you advance, you can purchase ProScan (I'm a paid subscriber) so you can see/listen/control your private scanner while away from home providing you have internet service to stream.

 

[trentbob]

Even though you can only use one ZIP code at a time to listen to the database and scan at specified distance or range from your ZIP code which is basically estimating your longitude and latitude you can save different ZIP codes in a list in the radio and then go back to them and pick out the zip codes you want by having saved them.