SDS100/SDS200: Tone-Out performance

[dgoodson]

I've been fiddling around a bit lately with using the Tone-Out feature on my SDS200 and have this situation:

I'm monitoring a nearby rural county fire channel (155.805 MHz) that uses QC2 tones with everyone using B=389.0 Hz but each department (about 10 of them) having their own A tone. There is typically a dispatch at least every couple hours, often more frequent, but rarely less frequent. I've got good signal strength with RSSI generally about 100 or less. One department in particular is the most active and usually gets several tone-outs per day. If I monitor the channel normally, I get excellent reception.

My SDS200 will detect only one or two, sometime zero tone-outs per 24 hours and I have no explanation as to why so few. I am logging with ProScan and the detected tone frequencies match what is published and what I have programmed. I've had legitimate detects on the most active department, but only a couple over several days, far fewer than I think would be normal.

For a time (several hours or more) I set it up in search mode (A=0, B=0) and got no hits at all.

I monitored a different nearby county (typically more active than the first) in search mode for the better part of a day and got no hits whatsoever which seems completely unreasonable.

I've used tone-out monitoring on my BCD325P2 just fine, but this is the first time I've set up the SDS200. I am at wits end as to why I feel like I am missing so many tone outs.

Any ideas appreciated...

 

[ofd8001]

I presume you have all three parameters (receive frequency, Tone A and Tone B) set. . .

Then you need to go Menu>Tone-Out for and scroll to select the channel you want to "act" as a tone and voice pager.

If you have Weather Standby active or possibly Close Call, that might interrupt the process, or anything else that might interfere with receiving.

 

[mc48]

Try changing the global filter in the profile for the 200.

 

[dgoodson]

I presume you have all three parameters (receive frequency, Tone A and Tone B) set. . .

Then you need to go Menu>Tone-Out for and scroll to select the channel you want to "act" as a tone and voice pager.

If you have Weather Standby active or possibly Close Call, that might interrupt the process, or anything else that might interfere with receiving.

Thanks, I'm good with all that

 

[buddrousa]

Are you running the SDS200 Tone Out Stanby only?

 

[dgoodson]

Are you running the SDS200 Tone Out Stanby only?

Yes. I am not aware of any other option

 

[ofd8001]

If you listen to the dispatch frequency, no tone-out or tone control, are you hearing activity? It seems weird sometimes getting tone outs and other times not getting them.

 

[buddrousa]

We have had users that came here asking for help that setup tone out and expected it to work during regular scanning.

 

[dgoodson]

If you listen to the dispatch frequency, no tone-out or tone control, are you hearing activity? It seems weird sometimes getting tone outs and other times not getting them.

Yes, I hear regular traffic "loud and clear" with good, clean tones and no distortion.

Another weird, subtle thing... when in Tone-Out Standby mode the SDS200 display shows an entry for Battery Voltage which does not apply to the SDS200 desktop radio. That tells me Uniden likely imported this code from another model (maybe the SDS100) and just dropped it into the SDS200 program without fully vetting it. I realize the two radios are essentially identical, but still...

Also, I suspect there are not a lot of folks who would use such a robust and expensive radio as the SDS200 to monitor tones, so perhaps my observations are more prevalent and just haven't been noticed and reported by others. When you're in Tone-Out Standby mode and get nothing but silence, I don't think its neccesarily intuitive to think you're missing tones, and it can be difficult to definitively confirm!

 

[dgoodson]

We have had users that came here asking for help that setup tone out and expected it to work during regular scanning.

I'm not that guy!

I did wonder it Tone-outs were ignored if the frequency being monitored was "Avoided" in the favorites list(s), but I checked for that scenario and it did not seem to affect my observations.

 

[mc48]

I use my one of my 200's for tone out and it works as expected with no problems. The display showing battery Voltage can be removed by editing the display and has nothing to do with radio operation. RSSI readings around 100 is not very good at all and is most likely the issue.

 

[dgoodson]

I use my one of my 200's for tone out and it works as expected with no problems. The display showing battery Voltage can be removed by editing the display and has nothing to do with radio operation. RSSI readings around 100 is not very good at all and is most likely the issue.

Thanks, good info

 

[ofd8001]

Yes, I hear regular traffic "loud and clear" with good, clean tones and no distortion.

Another weird, subtle thing... when in Tone-Out Standby mode the SDS200 display shows an entry for Battery Voltage which does not apply to the SDS200 desktop radio. That tells me Uniden likely imported this code from another model (maybe the SDS100) and just dropped it into the SDS200 program without fully vetting it. I realize the two radios are essentially identical, but still...

Also, I suspect there are not a lot of folks who would use such a robust and expensive radio as the SDS200 to monitor tones, so perhaps my observations are more prevalent and just haven't been noticed and reported by others. When you're in Tone-Out Standby mode and get nothing but silence, I don't think its neccesarily intuitive to think you're missing tones, and it can be difficult to definitively confirm!

There are several features/settings unique to one "family" of scanners that are not found in their "relatives". Another thing is length of alpha tags in mobile versus portable, scanners.

Yeah, the SDS line of scanners is pretty sophisticated for being used just as a tone and voice receiver. I can't remember the last time I actually used that feature and I'm a fire guy who lives by tone and voice paging. (Scanner is a good back-up though).

 

[Quint-1-29]

I’ve been working for a couple of months on PC-side QCII / two-tone decode (conventional and digital audio), so I’ve been living in this same problem space. Radio Tone-Out and PC decode both miss pages for different reasons—your SDS200 symptoms sound familiar.

A few things that bite SDS / x36 Tone-Out specifically (even with a strong conventional signal like 155.805):

1. Stay on the channel (don’t scan past the page)
Tone-Out only “hears” what the radio is actually receiving. If that channel is in a scan list and the radio is off on another system when A starts, you lose the page even with great RSSI when you’re parked on it. For a test: hold / priority on that one channel only for a day and compare.

2. Search mode (A=0 / B=0) is not the same as “catch everything”
On some Uniden setups, search is picky or effectively useless for real QCII. Your zero hits in long search sessions are frustrating but not unheard of. Better test: program one known A + shared B for the busy department (exact published Hz) as a dedicated Tone-Out, not search.

3. Shared B, many A’s
Your layout (common B ≈ 389.0, department-specific A) is normal. You generally need one Tone-Out entry per A (same B), not one entry that magically covers all 10. Misses on “other” departments are expected if only one A is programmed.

4. Timing / length
Short A, quick B, or talkover right after the tones will drop radio Tone-Out more often than a human ear or a continuous PC decode path. If ProScan is logging matches, check whether those logs are radio Tone-Out events or audio/analysis from the PC—they’re not always the same path.

5. SDS vs your old 325
Different DSP / Tone-Out implementation. “Worked fine on a 325” doesn’t mean the SDS will match hit rate on the same channel. Worth a side-by-side: 325 held on 155.805 vs SDS held on 155.805 for the same shift.

6. Confirm it’s really conventional QCII on the air
If anything is patched/digital or the “tones” are degraded, the radio’s Tone-Out can starve while you still “hear” the dispatch by ear. Your published A/B matching when it does hit is a good sign the frequencies are right—so the issue is more often hold/scan, programming, or detect window, not wrong sheet Hz.

What I’d do for 48 hours
• SDS: single channel hold on 155.805
• One Tone-Out: busiest dept A + 389.0 B (exact)
• Log every page you hear by ear vs every SDS alert
• Optional: 325 on the same channel the same way

If ear/325 catch many and SDS still gets 0–2/day on hold with a correct pair, that’s useful data (SDS Tone-Out limitation / settings). If SDS suddenly matches when held, it was scan/hold all along.

Curious what others with SDS200 + multi-dept shared-B QCII are seeing for hit rate vs a 325/996.