I am having issues with my SDS100 it has stopped receiving my P25 frequencies and talk groups. I updated the programming and the db but still not working. Is anyone else having this issue ad how can I fix it?
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Ubbe
Member
You can often get a clue if you remember if you did something to the scanner just prior to when it stopped receiving P25.
Do you only monitor one P25 system and nothing else? Can you check some analog channels, like WX, if it still receives? Maybe the antenna connector have come loose or a cold solder joint issue if you didn't do any programming or setting changes before it failed to receive. What do you see if you enter the control channel of the nearest P25 site in the system, push Channel, enter frequency, push Channel. Any signal strength indication, even when you move the scanner to another room or go outside?
/Ubbe
Do you only monitor one P25 system and nothing else? Can you check some analog channels, like WX, if it still receives? Maybe the antenna connector have come loose or a cold solder joint issue if you didn't do any programming or setting changes before it failed to receive. What do you see if you enter the control channel of the nearest P25 site in the system, push Channel, enter frequency, push Channel. Any signal strength indication, even when you move the scanner to another room or go outside?
/Ubbe
Did you "read from scanner" via Sentinel before "writing to scanner" when making programming changes? Are you seeing the favorites list containing your P25 frequencies in Menu > Manage Favorites Lists? If so, is said favorites list set to monitor? (Menu > Set Scan Selection > Select Lists to Monitor. Are all applicable service types turned on? ("tag" column in RRDB) Quick keys if you set them at the FL, system, site and/or department level turned on?
I reprogrammed the radio with only my favorite list and the digital signals keep showing but no sound at all it continuously scans the digital site frequencies. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong and still very new to this radio.
Did you manually create your Favorites list, entering systems, sites, departments, etc, manually through the keyboard? Or did you either append systems from the main Sentinel database, or import them via software such as ProScan or ARC536?
Export your Favorites list and post it so that we can take a look & help you solve any problems. To do that, click on the drop-down File menu in Sentinel.
Select "Export to hpe file (Favorites lists)
Sentinel will generate a pop-up window with all your lists displayed. Pick the list you want,
Then, you'll get a box for you to choose which systems to export. Make sure all of them are checked, & press OK to proceed.
Sentinel will generate the *.hpe file and give you the option where to save it. (The default name will be that of the source Favorites list, but you can, instead, use a different name.) Note where the file is being saved. (The default is usually the Documents folder, but you can save elsewhere if you want.)
Once your file is saved, open Windows Explorer (called File Explorer on some Windows versions).
Find your saved file.
You want to compress it to a Zip file. You cannot attach an hpe file to a post, but you can do that with a Zip file. (If you don't see the 'Compress' choice, you should see, instead, "Send To". Use that, which will pop-out a menu on where to send it. One of the options will be to compress the file. Use that.)
Once you have the Zip file created, you can attach it to a post. Then we can open it & see what might need changes or adjustments.
This is my current favorite list I am adding these through the Sentinel software.
Looking at your list:
For the three channels in your St Francois County conventional system, you do not have location data entered. all the fields are 0 degrees for both latitude & longitude. That corresponds to a location in the Atlantic Ocean, off the west coast of Africa.
The range is set as zero miles as well.
The same pattern exists for the single department in your MOSWIN system:
Again, latitude & longitude are both at zero, and the range is zero as well.
For the Lawrenceton site (in MOSWIN), you do have the correct location entered.
You have your list set as using location control.
However, those items with blank locations would be skipped. You are scanning the Lawrenceton site, since it has a location & range. (Have you entered your correct location in your Sentinel Profile?
You indicate that you entered these via Sentinel, but it appears that you took the basic data for the conventional channels for your county, then entered them manually, instead of appending from the database. If appended, you would get the correct location. Since they were manually entered, your service types are tagged as "Custom 1". That is the type that comes up as default for all manual entries, whether conventional channels or talkgroups. Your MOSWIN talkgroups are also tagged as Custom 1, again apparently a manual entry. Custom 1, as well as public safety dispatch service types are set as enabled when you first get the scanner and/or install Sentinel. For Public Safety, you also need the related Tac and Talk service types. (Such as Law Talk, Fire Tac, EMC Tac, Multi-Tac.
To use your list as is, simply turn off location control for that specific list. Should you decide that you preferred using Location, then be sure that all the needed fields are entered.
Attached is a more complete version of your file. I imported via ProScan, since that pulls the location details as well as the frequencies (both conventional & for sites) as well as talkgroups & the descriptions for all. I have left location control enables, which will work now, as long as your correct location is entered in your profile.
For the conventional channels in your county, I imported all of them. You can, of course, set ones you want as "Avoid", or simply delete them.
You can append conventional systems directly in Sentinel, which will also contain your location info. Find the agency you want, in the folder for your county in the main database, then <right><click> on it to append to the Favorites list of your choice, or create a new one.
For Trunked systems, those can also be appended. While you can append a single department, if you are careful, Sentinel will also append every single site of the system. You can either let location control ignore them, manually set them as Avoid, or delete the ones you don't want.
Be sure that you have all of the public safety service types enabled, as mentioned earlier in this post.
I have updated with all correct locations and service types, however I am only receiving the conventional channels and still nothing from the MOSWIN site frequencies. I’m still struggling to figure out what I may be missing. I’m wondering if something may be wrong with the radio. I purchased it brand new about a year ago and still trying to figure it out because I had them all working before.
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Did you simply correct your original file, or did you try the one I created?
I did correct the original file, however I am going to try the file you sent me as well and I will let you know if it works.
One other possibility:
There is not a MOSWIN site in your county. The site you selected (& that I used as well) is in a neighboring county, Ste. Genevieve. It's possible that the talkgroups for your county are not carried on the Lawrenceton site. Two other sites in your area are Ironton & Cherokee Pass/Frederictown.
edit:
Added those two sites
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I would suggest becoming very familiar with the custom band search feature. Basically search the VHF band, 150-162. If the scanner finds a control channel it will stop and hang for a while, and you should see "DAT" be displayed. That's actually the most accurate way to determine what control channels can be heard at your location.
I used the file you sent me and all conventional channels are working but still nothing on the MOSWIN sites St. Francois county always used the Lawrenceton site for the longest time, however I have moved further north into Leadington so I'm wondering if i need the imperial site or festus area sites. I used to be in the Farmington area. The radio does stop on the frequencies for MOSWIN from time to time with no audio and the Dbm coming in around 95.
What sites are closest to your current location?
It looks like Lawrenceton and Imperial may be the closest to my location in Leadington possibly the Shirley tower
ToddWilkinson
ScanMN
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- Dec 2, 2021
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Zip program it
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