Hi there,
How do you use the squelch on the sds100? I have tried just about everything that I could think of....Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks for the help in advance.
Are you asking how to adjust the Squelch function (that question had been answered already) or asking more like "When and why would you use the Squelch function and how should it be set on my scanner?"
The squelch is used to adjust when your radio will start to receive and decode a signal. By that I'm saying that when you set the squelch too tight (generally set the control too much to the clockwise position) it takes a lot more signal before your radio will let the signal be passed to the speaker. When you set the squelch too thin (generally set the control too much to the counter-clockwise position) your speaker will open when too little signal is present and you'll hear static. Often you want the squelch set just beyond the point where you no longer hear static from your speaker. This assumes that you're listening to an analog signal and have no tone decode set on your radio.
If you have tone decode set on your scanner while listening to an analog signal, setting the squelch will still do the same function, but there's one more step in when the speaker starts making sound. The tone decode function will still stop the audio if the indicated tone isn't being decoded. This can happen if you have the squelch set too thin (the static signal is passed to the decoded but since the correct tone isn't there the speaker will still be quiet). If you have the squelch set to tight the radio may have enough signal to decode the correct tone, but the signal level is too low for it to pass through the squelch circuit.
How and if the squelch affects digital signals depends on your radio's design so you'll need to check your manual for the answer on how it handles digital signals.
One other thing to remember is the squelch setting often affects the scan function. With a tight squelch, your scanner may resume scanning during a transmission because the signal has dropped below the squelch setting threshold. Conversely with a thin squelch setting your scanner may remain on the channel even when no transmission can be heard (or has too much static to be understood).
