Why are there so many used SDS 200 radios for sale?

[trentbob]

Sounds a lot like Delco, I've always called it West-West Philly. They're still in the clear (for now) though looks like they're finally making movement to replace their antiquated T-band frequencies as discussed here...

Yep enjoy it while you can John. About a week before they threw the switch we had a shooting of a guy sitting in a car about a half a block from where I live. First cop on the scene was a sergeant and he immediately said this is a Class 5, notify the coroner's office.

Dispatcher said, well the squad's almost there. Only the squad declares a class 5 which is DOA... guys head was clearly blown off. Again literally a half a block from where I live... Half an hour later, a guy was shot in the stomach at a local fleabag welfare Hotel down the street, clearly related although news sources were given a press release that said they were unrelated. If this happened today, all I would hear is just a bunch of sirens.

 

[crippledchicken]

I think a lot of folks are afraid they will soon wind up with nothing more than a paper weight my city police are now encrypted and I'm expecting more encryption maybe the HPD.

 

[bearcatrp]

I think a lot of folks are afraid they will soon wind up with nothing more than a paper weight my city police are now encrypted and I'm expecting more encryption maybe the HPD.

One of the reasons to get the R30 since it does so much more than P25 digital. There is much more to listen to than the cops!

 

[fantasma25]

SDR radio is becoming more popular...and less expensive. Got me an SDRPlay Duo and I can listen from 1 khz to 2 ghz. Free software decoding for P25 and several other formats. All this for 250.00

 

[bearcatrp]

SDR radio is becoming more popular...and less expensive. Got me an SDRPlay Duo and I can listen from 1 khz to 2 ghz. Free software decoding for P25 and several other formats. All this for 250.00

Hard to beat that. Had a SDR setup. Not bad.

 

[GregOH]

But the thing about listening to police in most areas is that you have to listen for hours and hours to hear anything interesting. Instead, you hear many domestic calls, false burglar alarms, clearance codes, etc.. Certainly, the call volume for police has greatly increased since I started listening (a long, long time ago), probably due to everyone having a phone close by. But, so much of it is disturbance calls. I really don't want to hear about Billy Bob arguing with his woman. And I find it hard to believe that so many of you do like to listen to that. Maybe you hear better stuff in your local jurisdictions.

Traffic stops would be the bulk of it. I'd probably have them on avoid most of the time.

 

[StoliRaz]

SDR radio is becoming more popular...and less expensive. Got me an SDRPlay Duo and I can listen from 1 khz to 2 ghz. Free software decoding for P25 and several other formats. All this for 250.00

Uniden should make an SDS 300, it can look like the 200 but be SDR based, the screen can be the waterfall for search mode and also have a scan mode where one can save favorites that can be like a regular scanner. Have a built in LNA and ADS-B and add-on antenna for receiving weather images direct from NOAA satellites. Since many PD departments are going dark it would at least broaden the horizons a little.

I like to use my SDR on my cell phone, they could also make a handheld version like the SDS100 as well

I'll keep dreaming..

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Uniden should make an SDS 300, it can look like the 200 but be SDR based, the screen can be the waterfall for search mode and also have a scan mode where one can save favorites that can be like a regular scanner.

We had similar discussion on this thread

 

[johndeerefan52]

I sold mine last year, because I knew that any p25 scanner was good for me, and my interest in the hobby is lessening. Now I have a home patrol 1 that I paid $140 for.

That being said, if my area encrypted police, I would be done with my scanner. I don’t have any desire to listen to other service types. I think the anti police movement along with the riots last year drove departments to move much of the radio traffic to MDTs and MDCs so the data can be more secure. It has made our hobby less interesting in my opinion.

I find it interesting that people calling for police reform, aren't saying a word about encryption. I remember many moons ago, when I was a dispatcher and we first introduced 'scramblers' for channels needing temporary privacy, everyone from the media, to the ACLU attorneys, to grandma listening at home, were complaining LOUDLY to the government officials about us 'hiding' information from the public. So we were only allowed to use them for the most sensitive transmissions. And yet now, no one says a word about the radio silence that is taking over...

 

[iball]

And yet now, no one says a word about the radio silence that is taking over...

Because Twitter, Facebook, and the internet have replaced listening to scanners for a lot of people.
Not to mention it's more expensive to listen to the newer digital radios law enforcement is using as well as the presence of online scanners anyone can listen to with nothing more than a web browser. Now add in that people actually have to learn some pretty technical skills (for them) to program and fine-tune digital scanners. It's just a hobby a lot of folks aren't in to so most people have no idea that law enforcement is slowly encrypting *all* of their traffic to include basic dispatch.
There's a need for encryption on things like TAC channels and for certain units within larger police departments like SWAT or undercover anti-drug units and probably on a talk-around or two for reading off PII back to dispatch, but encrypting all of it is just silly and probably done by lazy IT/radio techs so they don't have to deal with a mix of encrypted and unencrypted. They're probably using the same key for all talkgroups/channels to be even lazier. I know. I'm a lazy, lazy man myself and remember my Army days of dealing with ANCDs to fill radios and some units required a different key for everything - command net, platoon nets, maintenance nets, battalion, brigade, crypto phones, etc. - while some units just used a single key for everything. I *hated* the ANCD and much preferred the KYK-13.

 

[buddrousa]

More expensive is not true some of the first PROGRAMMABLE scanners 10 and 16 channel in the late 1970's and early 1980's were $499.99.
$500 in 1979 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $1,920.12 today, an increase of $1,420.12 over 43 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 3.18% per year between 1979 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 284.02%.
So you see I can buy 3 SDS200's for the same I bought 1 16 channel in 1979.

 

[ki7be]

Also like myself I just got bored trying to take time and paying attention to the scanner. After all these years
the scanner is the last thing I need to listen to.
My stereo has become of far more interesting.
Photography more important than listening to the scanner.

Then realizing how much money I had tied up / wasted in my 2 SDS 200's and SDS 100, time for them to go.

Only radios in my world are my 900 MHz amateur equipment.

I DON'T MISS scanners. So it goes.......

What do you listen to on 900?

 

[Handyxena]

I just bought a sds-200 over the weekend, it replaced my bcd536hp and what a huge difference to the sound quality of the simulcast system I monitor in Milwaukee county

 

[ludek-brno]

Without firmware support, who would want that?
Unidene - wrap it up !!!

 

[buddrousa]

Why wrap up a good working product I run 2 SDS100's and 1 SDS200 and if I catch a good deal on a 2nd SDS200 I will buy it.

 

[jazzboypro]

R30 - IC-R30 discontinued in October?

Same here... I'm going to sell mine, once I find some time to put a listing together. I rarely use it.

forums.radioreference.com

Watch the second video half way down. Stated there the R30 is discontinued.

HRO as them in stock now but i remember reading somewhere that it was their las batch

 

[Jimru]

These two replies and here's my own..Some probably are doing away with the scanning hobby for one reason or another or just don't have time to listen to the scanner anymore and that's why they are selling it. In my area encryption is heavenly used for everyday use its mostly P25/DMR/NXDN encryption but thats a different story. I use mine to scan the Federal and Military to see what goes in the world.

Hi!
Just a note: P25/NXDN/DMR and so on are NOT encryption at all, but are digital modes. Encryption is a method of scrambling a message that makes it impossible for anyone NOT authorized to hear it to be able to listen in. There is a big difference in the two. If the digital modes you mentioned were meant to be encryption, we would NOT be able to receive them, not with a Uniden, nor any other brand of scanner. Again, digital modes of transmission are not encryption, please don't refer to them that way in these forums.

 

[CopperWhopper67]

I see them come and go quite a bit on eBay. One week, there will be 10 for sale, some weeks there won't be any. Same case with the 100. However, most people seem to be asking wayyyy over MSRP for their used equipment, when you can go over to one of the scanner stores and get a new one for MSRP. One seller was asking $1000 for a brand new 200. I offered him MSRP because I could get one at GigaParts, and the guy didn't budge. I instead found one gently used with a stand for a great deal so I wasted no time.

Furthermore, they are far from useless. The Big E has not swept the whole country. Like multiple areas of the country, the Sacramento Metro Area and its neighboring counties are very much in the clear, with many channels still analog. On top of that, we have so many SMR systems and misc trunks around here to listen to (with the exception of PG&E's stupid MPT-1327 system); the CalOES and nearly all statewide LE is analog. Plus, there is so much more that hasn't been identified.

I could definitely see how in some areas for some users, they would be not worth it, but for others (like myself) the powerful feature-set, insane customization, and the fact that it is one compact package is more than worth it.

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

Trust me its the encryption that is sweeping across the country faster than COVID has spread. Not only LE are going dark but FIRE is following at a slower pace. Look at Honolulu new P25 system. Fully encrypted across the board from a completely open EDAC system to fully encrypted for LE and Fire on the new P25 system.

My county is fully encrypted but at least I can use my discriminator tap and watch the calls go out on PDW POCSAG pager decoding software for FIRE. That's it for now anymore. Even more FIRE is becoming encrypted as time is evolving. Its at a very slow speed but its coming. It sucks in some very heavy states that love encryption now. It will not slow down either. If you follow the RR database you see what's happening at an alarming rate. More and more counties and cities when upgrading to Phase 1 or 2 digital all of their radios are coming with encryption boards and they are using no matter what now. Its a standard practice and its forced to happen.

 

[CopperWhopper67]

Trust me its the encryption that is sweeping across the country faster than COVID has spread. Not only LE are going dark but FIRE is following at a slower pace. Look at Honolulu new P25 system. Fully encrypted across the board from a completely open EDAC system to fully encrypted for LE and Fire on the new P25 system.

My county is fully encrypted but at least I can use my discriminator tap and watch the calls go out on PDW POCSAG pager decoding software for FIRE. That's it for now anymore. Even more FIRE is becoming encrypted as time is evolving. Its at a very slow speed but its coming. It sucks in some very heavy states that love encryption now. It will not slow down either. If you follow the RR database you see what's happening at an alarming rate. More and more counties and cities when upgrading to Phase 1 or 2 digital all of their radios are coming with encryption boards and they are using no matter what now. Its a standard practice and its forced to happen.

All the more reason to enjoy it in the present.