scannersnstuff
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Where do you see scanner development going, especially with the passing of Paul Opitz ?. Has development dead ended. Are the sds100/200 as far as it can go ?.
The future of scanner development
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nd5y
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I doubt that Uniden or Whistler will release any new high quality products in the future for a lot of reasons.
doctordialtone
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When the technology warrants new scanners, they'll be developed, just like the past 50 years.
ecps92
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Only the people behind the secret curtain who have signed NDA's with the vendors will actually know the answer, but can't share it
scannersnstuff
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Yes, I know this,but conjecture ?.Only the people behind the secret curtain who have signed NDA's with the vendors will actually know the answer, but can't share it
MStep
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If you currently have an SDS 100 or 200, assess what features that you feel you would like that are not included with the radio. Except for the fact that Uniden charges extra for "keys" to unlock types of digital modes, I think that the SDS series is currently up-to-date with the technology that is legally available to monitor and that they work rather well on conventional and trunked systems.
The P25RX-II, developed by Todd at Blue Tail Technologies, seems to be the only entity that is both actively experimenting with systems and technologies that may not be covered by the current breed of Uniden and Whistlers scanners.
The late Paul Opitz at Uniden had the imagination and dedication to bring to fruition through a corporate structure the types of products that were ahead of their time. Hopefully Whistler may be working on something new, or perhaps I'm just here "whistling in the wind".
Todd, at Blue Tail, seems to be on a track more akin to Paul's. I can envision a time where the RX-II will simply slip into a console which will provide an LCD type display, a volume and squelch control control and a scan and manual button.
The "outlier" in the scanner equation is AOR, who certainly has the technical know-how to build a more traditional scanner, as opposed to the current crop of communications receivers with limited scan functions. But sadly, issues with their portable DV10, which remained unacknowledged and unaddressed for so many years, has tainted the company's reputation. It hangs there, like the proverbial albatross of The Ancient Mariner.
That is my current assessment of the scanner situation. with all the usual FWIW and YMMV fine print thrown in for good measure.
scannersnstuff
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I certaintly think that the sds100/200 are the cream of the crop. When Whistler set out to compete with the simculcast issue, they acknowledged that they did not have the necesarry talent, and scrapped the development. I wish I had the resources for both scanner's,but where I am, it's overkill.
I'd be looking towards Unication to provide the next toy that we are all drooling over. They have done well with the G series pagers, but the question remains can they import that same technology into a device to monitor more than one system at a time like the Uniden, or Whistler scanners do. Unication tends to market their products toward public safety, so not sure if they would see it as necessary to design a receiver capable of working like the scanners we know today. If they did produce such a animal then I think it would be very interesting.
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Likely the pager market is more lucrative than the scanner market. Many departments across the US migrating to P25 they surely have plenty of sales. Although if they did decide to make a scanner I’d be more apt to buy a Unication.
Inexpensive SDR technology coupled with software developments that equal or exceed the latest and greatest hardware that is currently available. I bet that Uniden and Whistler are all done with their lines of scanners. On the hardware side, P25RX devices, Airspy and SDRPlay type devices will rule, while on the software side applications like OP25, SDRTrunk, SDR#, and DSD+ will rule. Apps on mobile phones and tablets will lend to portability.
Conjecture of course!
Conjecture of course!
I agree, however how essential is it for them to monitor more than one radio system at a time? Most of the pagers are likely being used to monitor the department that they work or volunteer for, I don't know if "professional" users of the pagers would have the same needs/wants as a scanner user. I think Unication has the ability to produce a great fuctional scanner, however I just don't know if they would see the sales revenue from such a venture. Also with a lot of departments making the move to P25 and other systems (DMR & NXDN), encryption is on the rise and why jump in and try to get a piece of the market that may be pointless anyway.
That is a good posibilty, maybe Uniden or Whistler could produce the next SDR instead of a traditional scanner? Maybe its time for them to think outside the box.
N8IAA
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Everyone is replaceable. Just because one man past away doesn't mean Uniden is going to give up and fold. New talent comes out of schools and colleges every year. With this talent there is imagination.
There will be new technology with radios and with it there will be scanners to listen unless everything in the world becomes encrypted.
I would not be surprised someone is working on the newest and greatest digital format.
Internet and wifi based radios will be the new norm in the future. Will we be able to listen? Maybe
Even with this type of technology I can't see it completely replacing over the air radio.
We shall see when it happens.
There will be new technology with radios and with it there will be scanners to listen unless everything in the world becomes encrypted.
I would not be surprised someone is working on the newest and greatest digital format.
Internet and wifi based radios will be the new norm in the future. Will we be able to listen? Maybe
Even with this type of technology I can't see it completely replacing over the air radio.
We shall see when it happens.
N8IAA
Member
Paul was a unique individual. There has been no one since his passing.
Uniden hasn't any updates/upgrades to the newer scanners. Those that keep hoping will have a long, long wait.
Uniden hasn't any updates/upgrades to the newer scanners. Those that keep hoping will have a long, long wait.
MStep
Member
I first must admit I have no first-hand experience with Unication devices, but with Uniden and Whistler's saturation of the scanner market, unless Unication can come up with something completely unique in either a desktop or portable scanner-type device, those bases are already covered. As I pointed out in another post, I don't really see anything "missing" from the SDS lineup; no real void that a company like Unication could jump into. At least, not at the price point of the current $600-700 USD scanners.
It's fun to conjecture, and it's always a pleasant surprise to be proved wrong in one's hypotheses. The shortage of semiconductors, lack of talent and imagination, Icom's "denial" of DMR and their discontinuance of the Icom R30 are all ominous signs. It certainly seems, that for the time being, we have reached a dead-end.
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CrabbyMilton
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Time well tell. FORD continued to build cars and trucks after Henry Ford passed away. 100 years ago there were likely those that said that everything that has been invented will stay the way it is. 100 years ago, trains were powered by steam engines and now several generations of diesels have proven themselves. Same with airliners where gasoline piston engines were the norm. Now, who can argue how much better jet engines are. You get the idea and can apply it to just about anything.
Oh, wait, isn't the SDS series SDR?????
They are but doesn't it feel like a lot of untapped potential for these radios was left on the cutting room floor after Paul passed? It seems to me that many of the latest models of radios, to include the IC-R30, IC-R8600, and the SDS series have either dwindling or outright non-existent firmware updates which is concerning given the cost and the potential of them. Meanwhile the Airspy and SDRPlay devices have at least periodic firmware updates. Software as I mentioned in my previous post is also constantly updated. Apps are being developed and/or updated for use with tablets and phones connected to these and other devices via an On The Go cable. Multiple MHz of spectrum can be viewed simultaneously with point click and tune capability for those of us that like to search for new frequencies, and the displays can be viewed on as large of a monitor as you can afford. Decoding of just about every digital mode is available in software and the audio quality of some of them is outstanding. More so now this all lends to more "at home" use than portable use but I think it's only a matter of time.
Hopefully there will always be something to search for and listen to, and it is interesting to consider the means by which it'll be done, but I'd speculate at this point that the scanner, and likely the desktop and portable receiver as we know them, are approaching end of life.
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