Anybody else have issues with terrible scanner reception just in the Barberton/Norton/New Franklin Area for the new Marcs IP system? I'm in that area daily with my mobile (WS1040) and I've tried different antennas including two external and makes no difference whether I'm moving or not. I know there's a tower in Barberton but for whatever reason that part of the county is horrible, at least for me. That area wasn't the best before when it was the 800 system but it's way worse now. The rest of Summit county I don't have too much of a problem except with the normal multicast distortion issues but it's 10 times worse in the Barberton area.
Summit County Marcs - Barberton Area
- Thread starter amanaman1
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mszabo2000
Member
I think two issues are affecting reception. First, the WS1040 doesn't decode CQPSK aka LSM very well. Second, simulcast overlap from the Clinton, Barberton, and Green sites.
Yeah I know the 1040 isn't the best for LSM but it is just that one corner of the county that I find sucks so badly. Must be the perfect storm of location between the other nearby sites but nothing seems to help. I know others have mentioned the unication G5 pager as an alternative but I also read mixed reviews on the new Uniden SDS100/200 as far as whether it really does handle LSM better. Any ideas if that is accurate?
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mszabo2000
Member
The G5 is one solution, I have a friend who uses one. The other is the SDS100 or SDS200. I've heard good reports on the SDS100/200. I believe fpo701 who is an admin here has one. You could message him for input.
xusmarine1979
Active Member
I've shared this in a few different places, but I've started posting some of my recordings from both the Summit and Stark systems on my SDS100. At times, even driving. So some recordings will be when I'm at work in Green, or home in Louisville or driving around. One in particular is the video of the Cleveland's post OSP. I was driving from Green to Louisville, east on State Street, locked onto Summit's site.
But I'll post more as things happen. I was really on the fence between the G5 and SDS and I simply went with the SDS because it can simply do more. And so far it hasn't skipped a beat. I'm still experimenting with the settings of the filters and whatnot but it blows my Pro 106 out of the water when it comes to these simulcast systems. I am very pleased with the SDS100.
Jonthescannerguy
But I'll post more as things happen. I was really on the fence between the G5 and SDS and I simply went with the SDS because it can simply do more. And so far it hasn't skipped a beat. I'm still experimenting with the settings of the filters and whatnot but it blows my Pro 106 out of the water when it comes to these simulcast systems. I am very pleased with the SDS100.
Jonthescannerguy
Thanks, that's good to know. I'll check those recordings out when I get home. For me it's primarily for mobile use and I was looking at the G5 but don't really want to lose the scanner functionality so the SDS100 does look more appealing. Now, if/when Whistler ever gets their version released that may be a viable option as well.
xusmarine1979
Active Member
I hear ya. This was my first Uniden so I wasn't sure what to expect. But I am not disappointed. I've always preferred handheld for mobility purposes.
Well I picked up a uniden SDS100 and my MARCS P25 LSM distortion issues, especially in the Barberton/Norton area, are gone! It's amazing how clear the audio is. Even stuff that I thought was coming in decent enough on the WS1040 is crystal clear on the SDS100 throughout the county. So for anyone in the Summit county area wondering if the SDS100 will handle the LSM distortion problem, yes it will, with flying colors. Even, with the stock antenna inside the car it does well. It's even better with my rs800 and even better yet with the external 800mhz antenna. Finally!! Now, for the kick in the shorts....I have to return it for an exchange because it won't charge the battery. Grrrr... I know they had issues in the past so hopefully this isn't a sign of bad things to come. Happy yet sad at the same time!
xusmarine1979
Active Member
Man, that's awesome and congrats! If you haven't messed with the filters yes, Wide Invert seems to work the best. But yeah I'll drive around with my Pro106 and SDS side by side and you just cannot compare. It truly is an incredible radio.
No I didn't mess with the filters yet and not sure what they do exactly as the horribly written manual doesn't even mention them, along with many other things either left out and/or not explained. Coming from the GRE style radios there is certainly a learning curve but thankfully I can generally figure things out, despite the manual. But that's half the fun......I think. Overall I like it, just wish it had audio gain leveling as the volume offset doesn't quite work the same way. I run the audio through my vehicle's stereo and a few times got blown away when some louder traffic comes through. Now I just have to wait to get the replacement unit back. All dressed up and no where to go!
xusmarine1979
Active Member
If you're familiar with the filter settings you'll see them within the site info. But I've experimented with all of them and wide-inverted seems to work best on Summit's system. I'm still not 100% sure what it does, but the digital error rates remain low if not 0 most of the time. But yeah I agree with the audio, I came from GRE/Radio Shack and their AGC worked great, I also do the very same connecting it into the car when I go to work. Some users you can barely hear and some tend to blow out the speakers. Hopefully Uniden can come up with something. But so far I'm a very happy camper!
They are not in the manual as they were implemented after the manual was printed. There have been several new improvements not in the manual. All have been mentioned or explained here.
Thanks. I even downloaded the newest manual (version 2) and it is still lacking so not sure when it was printed. I did pick up quite a bit of more useful info here so that's where I'll go from now on.
Make sure you've got analog and digital AGC enabled; it's not perfect (not as good as GRE/Whistler) but does help smooth out the differences between the SHOUTERS and whisperers.
I use a Motorola amplified speaker in the car and AGC definitely helped.
I'll agree with others that the SDS100 manual is not particularly helpful (putting it kindly). I have yet to find any mention of AGC at all, and many other features apart from the bare essentials hardly get honorable mention status.
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AGC can be enabled/disabled on the SDS100? Where?
Under the menu settings for each system; it's not a radio-wide setting.
I don't see any AGC settings under MARCS-IP Sys Options, nor under any individual MARCS site or Department. Quite elusive. Or is this something new with the latest firmware [which I haven't applied yet] ?
I just installed the latest firmware last week so I'm thinking maybe it's site-type specific as I didn't see that in the P25 (Marcs IP) site settings either. Unless they buried it somewhere? I am waiting on my replacement radio so I can't check it right now.
I'm not seeing a AGC setting for the SDS, but I did find while I was looking where I can program the site NAC. -never knew that was there! 
xusmarine1979
Active Member
I remember someone talking about it a while ago but I never did find it.
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