Not really a review, just some observations on having used the SDS100 for three days.
LSM simulcast was never an issue for me; however, I am noting issues that several others here have reported. Mainly, that overall, the SDS100 doesn’t hear as well as my BCD436HP. This mainly seems to be an issue on 800MHz P25 trunking systems. DMR and NXDN (UHF band) performance seems to be about on par with the ‘436.
As an example, I have some P25 trunking systems that I can monitor on my BCD436HP with little or no issues that I can’t receive on the SDS100. This is whether I use the factory antenna, the Radio Shack 800MHz duck antenna, or a Diamond RH77CA. This particular system is the Fort Lauderdale, Florida P25 Phase 1 trunked system. I can receive it okay on the BCD436HP. The only way I can receive it on the SDS100 is to (1) Hold on that system, and (2) turn the squelch setting to zero. If I don’t do these things, and just attempt to scan it along with other systems, it will just scan right on by and never stop on this system at all.
Along with the Fort Lauderdale Florida system, there’s Plantation, Florida, P25 Phase 2. I can connect my BCD436HP and the SDS100 to the same outside antenna using a Stridesberg multicoupler, and the ‘436 will receive the system; the SDS100 will not even lock onto the control channel.
I have no issues with the Broward County Motorola analog Smart Zone system. This is likely because I have a tower about two miles from me, so probably not a fair comparison.
The Miami-Dade county Harris P25 Phase 1 system has never been receivable from my location (about 22 miles north) with any scanner I have ever tried, and the SDS100 is no exception. This is even using an 800 MHz yagi antenna pointed in the appropriate direction. However, my Unication G4 will receive Miami-Dade when connected to the same 800MHz yagi antenna. (With my BCD396XT, I couldn’t even receive the Miami-Dade system even within a mile of Miami-Dade County).
Then there’s VHF high band. Testing on NOAA weather frequencies, the BCD436HP receives four NOAA stations on an external antenna. The SDS100, using the same antenna, only receives two.
I would ask if the beta testers noted any of these issues during testing. Maybe the receive sensitivity wasn’t considered an issue? And I believe that very few people received a “defective” unit; I believe that this is just the way this design performs. I would hope that a firmware upgrade could fix, or at least improve, these issues.
But I like the form factor, the customizable color display, and the amount of data able to be shown on the display.
LSM simulcast was never an issue for me; however, I am noting issues that several others here have reported. Mainly, that overall, the SDS100 doesn’t hear as well as my BCD436HP. This mainly seems to be an issue on 800MHz P25 trunking systems. DMR and NXDN (UHF band) performance seems to be about on par with the ‘436.
As an example, I have some P25 trunking systems that I can monitor on my BCD436HP with little or no issues that I can’t receive on the SDS100. This is whether I use the factory antenna, the Radio Shack 800MHz duck antenna, or a Diamond RH77CA. This particular system is the Fort Lauderdale, Florida P25 Phase 1 trunked system. I can receive it okay on the BCD436HP. The only way I can receive it on the SDS100 is to (1) Hold on that system, and (2) turn the squelch setting to zero. If I don’t do these things, and just attempt to scan it along with other systems, it will just scan right on by and never stop on this system at all.
Along with the Fort Lauderdale Florida system, there’s Plantation, Florida, P25 Phase 2. I can connect my BCD436HP and the SDS100 to the same outside antenna using a Stridesberg multicoupler, and the ‘436 will receive the system; the SDS100 will not even lock onto the control channel.
I have no issues with the Broward County Motorola analog Smart Zone system. This is likely because I have a tower about two miles from me, so probably not a fair comparison.
The Miami-Dade county Harris P25 Phase 1 system has never been receivable from my location (about 22 miles north) with any scanner I have ever tried, and the SDS100 is no exception. This is even using an 800 MHz yagi antenna pointed in the appropriate direction. However, my Unication G4 will receive Miami-Dade when connected to the same 800MHz yagi antenna. (With my BCD396XT, I couldn’t even receive the Miami-Dade system even within a mile of Miami-Dade County).
Then there’s VHF high band. Testing on NOAA weather frequencies, the BCD436HP receives four NOAA stations on an external antenna. The SDS100, using the same antenna, only receives two.
I would ask if the beta testers noted any of these issues during testing. Maybe the receive sensitivity wasn’t considered an issue? And I believe that very few people received a “defective” unit; I believe that this is just the way this design performs. I would hope that a firmware upgrade could fix, or at least improve, these issues.
But I like the form factor, the customizable color display, and the amount of data able to be shown on the display.