SDS100/SDS200: SDS100 issues

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Maddogz4

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I have had my SDS100 since last Friday. I really like the unit itself but I am having reception issues and looking for some help. I first tried my unit in upper lower Michigan in Iosco/Ogemaw county area. I can hardly pick up anything on the new scanner but my BCD436HP picks up the transmissions with no problems. I was listening to the MPSCS. I have tried everything that I can think of, I even locked onto two several known good sites (Ogemaw police dispatch for example) and BCD436HP was crystal clear but nothing on my SDS100 even with the squelch set at zero. I have tried using zip code and GPS coordinates as well. I have all my sites on as well. I have had the scanner on for hours and once in awhile I will get a hit but its very faint and distorted. I have tried changing delay time and attenuator off or on just to try. I also have a home in lower Michigan and I am having the same problem, can not pick up anything and this is a large metro area. I see sites coming in at 5 bars and lock on them but can not hear anything and also when I do get a hit its also very faint and distorted. Even the weather is very distorted and loosing transmission but crystal clear on my BCD436HP. I did see a post where there was a bad antenna connection that the user soldered and it really helped, not sure if thats whats going on with my unit. I even swapped antennas from one unit to the other and made no difference. I am just not sure what to do at this point and hoping someone can give me some direction.
 

IAmSixNine

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I would ask around the forums if anybody with an SDS100 is close to you.
Ask for a meet up and test another unit side by side.This will help eliminate your unit as being defective vs an over load or local interference.
If you meet someone and your unit has issues and theirs works great then you have a defective unit. If you meet and both get similar results your unit is probably suffering from over load of interference.
Just my 2 cents.
 

phask

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Run Analyse - see what signal strentgh, etc.


Also - see what the RSSI value is on the site(s) you monitor.
 

werinshades

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Two things I can think of...when I first received the SDS100, I tried the stubby antenna I was using...reception was awful. Second....when I imported some of my simulcast systems over, I was still using the atteunator from my 436/536hp programming. The atteunator is so strong it was resembling what you were seeing...flickering signal strength bars. I immediately checked my Sentinel file, removed the atteunator, used the stock antenna and it has been receiving great.

Then of course you could have an issue with the antenna connector too.
 

PCTEK

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Issues with my SDS100

My SDS100 arrived to my office yesterday. I am next to a window on the 10th floor. I had ScannerMaster pre-install my county Police / Fire / Med. I also purchased all 3 protocol options, so my unit cost close to $1000. With that said, the first thing I noticed was the background "hiss" as a channel was active (conventional or Digital). This got worse the further from the source I was.

After I got home, I turned on my 396XT and set it to the same conventional frequency as on my SDS100. The 396xt gave a louder and clearer sound with very little "hiss". Running both radio's, the SDS100 had a delay in receiving the channel. As with my 396XT, I was unable to receive any digital signal while indoors. The SDS100 also missed transmissions that the 396XT caught without issue.

I really like the SDS100 and am trying to justify keeping the unit, but at $1,000 I really need a reason. I know that I am an early adopter, what plans does Uniden has to improve the performance and sensitivity? Are issues that I have described known to Uniden?

Please, no flaming.

Steve
 

werinshades

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My SDS100 arrived to my office yesterday. I am next to a window on the 10th floor. I had ScannerMaster pre-install my county Police / Fire / Med. I also purchased all 3 protocol options, so my unit cost close to $1000. With that said, the first thing I noticed was the background "hiss" as a channel was active (conventional or Digital). This got worse the further from the source I was.

After I got home, I turned on my 396XT and set it to the same conventional frequency as on my SDS100. The 396xt gave a louder and clearer sound with very little "hiss". Running both radio's, the SDS100 had a delay in receiving the channel. As with my 396XT, I was unable to receive any digital signal while indoors. The SDS100 also missed transmissions that the 396XT caught without issue.

I really like the SDS100 and am trying to justify keeping the unit, but at $1,000 I really need a reason. I know that I am an early adopter, what plans does Uniden has to improve the performance and sensitivity? Are issues that I have described known to Uniden?

Please, no flaming.

Steve

Send it back...keep the 396XT...it sounds like you like it better already. Should have done more research before buying.
 

jonwienke

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Why pay someone else to cut & paste from the database already in the scanner to a Favorite List? You can do it yourself with a few mouse clicks. And the upgrades are $50-60 if you buy them direct from Uniden.
 

werinshades

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I really like the SDS100 and am trying to justify keeping the unit, but at $1,000 I really need a reason. I know that I am an early adopter, what plans does Uniden has to improve the performance and sensitivity? Are issues that I have described known to Uniden?
Steve

As of about an hour ago, their were 50+ threads on the SDS100 on 4 different forums and you might have found an answer. Many are quite happy, a few aren't. Some don't like this, some don't like that. Some are pissed they paid for a scanner that they claim didn't know about certain features, others knew everything and made a wise purchase. Some of us are sitting/walking/driving around and not having any issues, others are having what they describe as "issues" when UPMan explained how he's handling this in another thread...which was lost in the 50+ threads. Yes...I'm laughing...not just at you, but all the naysayers...I watched beta tester videos, read and reread the on line manual, and knew exactly what I was getting myself into.

So...to sum it up....I'm keeping my SDS100, look forward to a desktop model whenever that will be introduced/released. In the meantime, I'm happy to report my SDS100 is working as expected and a little more. I'm keeping mine, and hope to have my 436 sold by the weekend for more than I paid for it..lol. Return it...you're not happy...you don't need us to tell you that. Is this a flame post? I don't know, but after reading all these threads I think we can all make an adult decision.
 

PCTEK

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Since this is your second nonconstructive reply to my post, yes, you're flaming me. I've seen this same type of reply from you in the many other threads. I'm happy to read that you're unit is working great, but please don't assume you know what research I did prior to my purchase. As with any new device, the first batch will have issues unique to a specific or multiple units. Especially with SDR equipment.
 

wise871

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Why pay someone else to cut & paste from the database already in the scanner to a Favorite List? You can do it yourself with a few mouse clicks. And the upgrades are $50-60 if you buy them direct from Uniden.



I agree, why pay extra $$$ to have someone else cut and paste what is already in the scanner. It’s great that the service is available but to use it might indicate that the scanner is to complicated for some.
Members here are always helpful in assisting other in learning how to program it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

jasonk

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I own just about every model from the past 20 years and just received my SDS100 - and yes - I watched the Pre launch Videos - and read the hype. I have an 8 Site P25 System with major multi path issues- where the 436 wouldnt even receive without a yagi. So I have it programmed - and will be testing it over the next week.

Plugged into my Discone - seems to capture the signal great - and audio is being captured and sounds pretty good.

On the stock antenna - as well as the Radio Shack 800mhz Antenna - I seem to have some reception issues.

So it does seem to do great with the Simulcast Issues - but capturing the signal might be a challenge. Will advise. Hopefully tweaks and antennas will fix this.

And I would just ignore the trolls ...Im not sure why they even participate in the forum - other than to tell people how much they know or how great they are. The main reason I rarely post ...

Good Luck and report back if you find anything to improve the performance.

Jason
 

jonwienke

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The fact that you paid $15-$20 per upgrade just for someone to enter a key code for you indicates you didn't do a whole lot of research. Uniden charges $50-60 each.

The same goes for paying someone to pre-program a scanner that is already pre-programmed.

SDR radios inherently have more latency than analog units, so the delay is normal.

Not sure about the hiss you describe, I have never experienced that with mine, beyond normal analog static. What squelch setting are you using? Did you update the firmware?
 

55engine

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I see you can’t lock the radio like you can with the 436 MDC 1200 works good on digital for conventional channels but not on analog conventional channels and how do you change the color displays besides black and white
 

jonwienke

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Set the target model to sds100, and that will enable the screen editor.
 

jonwienke

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Changes options in profile editor, and in the favorite list editor as well.
 
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