MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

 Hello & Welcome Back...

Just wanted to wish all my Readers / Owners of most excellent Radio Scanners, a Safe and Happy Christmas & New Year...

Cheers

Michael

 

 

POLICE NSW - NEW HELICOPTER

 Hello and Welcome Back... Swish New Bird

Police NSW will be receiving a new bird rumored to be replacing the Eurocopter AS350s (Squirrel) helicopters..

The new Polair 1 will be a Bell 429 (VH-PHW)

 

FREQUENCY

131.600

 

Photos - K H Media

SIZE IS EVERYTHING

 Hello and Welcome Back... Excellent photo found on Facebook

Would make a brill Wallpaper for your Computer..

 

This Antonov AN-124 was taken at Williamtown NSW while delivering F-35A training systems

What a Beast..

ANTENNAS

 Hello and Welcome Back... Found this on Facebook..

Wicked photo of a RAAF (Based on a Boeing 737-700) E-7A Wedgetail, check out all the antenna's...

 

These planes are based at Williamtown NSW and the RAAF own 6 of them...

LINK = https://www.airforce.gov.au/technology/aircraft/intelligence-surveillance-and-reconnaissance/e-7a-wedgetail

 
 

UNIDEN SDS100 RADIO SCANNER - A REVIEW (Updated 23/08/22)

Hello and Welcome Back... I Recently had the chance to play with a Uniden SDS100 Handheld Receiver..

Here are my Thoughts...

The SDS100 Scanner Receiver from Uniden is a Hybrid between Conventional Scanning Radio and a SDR (Software Defined Radio) in One..

Its currently the best you can get in Uniden's Scanner line Up.. (apart from its desktop brother, the SDS200)

Programming in done via Sentinal Software (American Version) and uses the same Micro SD card memory as the 436pt & 536pt Radios..

In your hand, the radio fits well with rubber grips on the sides giving excellent grip-ability in rainy weather being weatherproof, its also a decent size as well, where as the 325 is smaller and the 436 is larger its almost the perfect radio scanner.. Almost

Here, the radio shows it size to a 436PT and a well used 396XT (pic below)

As you can see from the Pic above, the SDS100 is quiet chunky, almost double the size of the 436pt but its not too much, its actually has a great secure feel to it where as the 436pt, i have almost dropped a few times (i will cry if that happens, there will be tears..)

So its the perfect radio??

Well, No...

A few things bugged me about this radio...

1. The Antenna Connection..  None of my Antennas fit this radio, sure its got a SMA connection but it also has a plastic ridge, which is the only way to put an antenna on this radio, is through an adapter. So to get a SMA antenna to fit to this radio, you need to get a SMA to BNC adaptor (comes with the radio) and then get another  BNC to SMA adapter just you can get an antenna to fit which is ok if you only have BNC antennas i suppose..(pic below)

 

2. The Speaker... For a sub $1000 radio, you would think that Uniden would put in a decent speaker, not so with this unit.. Its reeealy tinny.. Some people might say its ok but i wasn't impressed with the sound, not for a radio, that i'll never be able to afford. (pic below of biddy speaker)

3. Keypad... If has history has shown me anything, is that plastic pads eventually crack and break and guess which radio has a plastic button pad?.. At least other radios have a rubber keypad that can be replaced (pic below)

UPDATE (23/08/22)

Cold Solder Joint - I now have had 5 known cases of Cold Solder Joint problems with this radio.. What is Cold Solder Joint Problems i hear you ask?

The SDS100 is comprised of 2 circuit boards that are segued together with a connector. The problem is that the stress of heat (these radios get very warm) and movement can crack the tiny solder pots that hold this connector together and eventually end up cracking or dislodging causing failure of the radio.

The solution is to send the radio back to Uniden (takes around 2-3 weeks) or if your handy with a soldering iron, you could attempt to do it yourself.. (only if its out of warranty)

 

So is it Worth Buying?

I Think Yes,  Under the hood of this beast is an amazing radio, sensitivity is excellent and it looks and feels good...

To be honest, the first thing i would do, is take off the back cover and trim down the antenna surround, at least my antenna will fit... That's important Right?

Is it the Perfect Scanner Receiver?

I'll Let You Decide

** NOTE = Programming is Available for this Radio (Conditions Apply)   See HERE

 

 

#SDS100

#sds100review

#overview

#Uniden

#Scanner 

#radioreview

REPLACEMENT HANDHELD ANTENNA FOR YOUR NEW SCANNER

 Hello and Welcome Back.. Finding a good replacement antenna for you new radio is, sometimes, like getting teeth pulled.. 

Sometimes they work and sometimes they, well, just suck

So i have narrowed down a few excellent handheld antennas for my UBCD436PT radio and did a strength test on the type of signal.

The problem with the 435pt (and others that does GRN / DMR ) decoding, is that you need a strong signal for the decoder to work properly, so a good antenna is a wise investment.

 

LOCATION... I live in Springwood, NSW and while height is an advantage, trees, hills, strong wind (no comment from Mother in Law) and other obstructions can screw up a signal, even if that signal is only a few suburbs away.

 

*** ORIGINAL ANTENNA ***... The stock Uniden antenna is pretty basic and is recommended for 'Local' use, meaning, the signal has to be very close to pick up anything.

I used the stock antenna on GRN to start my test. (Below)

As you can see in the above photo, the stock antenna only managed a signal strength of 1 to 2. It struggled to lock to the control channel and when it did, dropped out repeatedly.. 

*** SECCFARXUG / NAGOYA NA701*** ... These excellent antennas are a VHF / UHF combination with added gain. (pic Below)

 

On VHF, gain is rated at 2.15db and on UHF, gain is rated at 3.0db.

They are not overly tall and are quiet cheap. 

On testing, picking up GRN was a breeze with a solid 2 to 3 (sometimes 4) and with little or no dropouts..

I brought this antenna from South Eastern Communications for $15 and its my go to antenna when traveling due to its size and strength

Highly Recommend

LINK = https://secomms.com.au/product/nl701-uniden-upgrade-antenna/

 

*** Mobile One BNCSCAN *** .... A good antenna, no gain.. 

On GRN, the Mobile One BNCSCAN with adapter (BNC to SMA) got 1 - 2 (sometimes 3) signal strength.. The antenna kept signal so i had no dropouts.

 Its not bad antenna but i've always found the Mobile One antenna better on VHF than on UHF.. 

 Highly Recommended for Aviation Lovers

Mobile one Antenna's (Company) are still going strong, as i got a conformation from the new owner (Greg Ackman) yesterday with manufacturing still being done in Australia

LINK =  https://www.mobileone.com.au/4d_scanner.html

 

*** DIAMOND  SRH771 *** ... This antenna is a beast, its quiet tall at 40cm and has a receiving gain of  2.15dbi.

As you can see from the pic above, GRN booms in at a solid 5 in signal strength, in fact, this is the only antenna that lets me receive GRN indoors, sitting on the lounge in the middle of the house (2 signal bars).. Impressive

I got the Diamond SRH771 (Genuine, not fake) from 'Stictly Ham' in Victoria and it costs around $39

Money well spent in my option as the antenna is well built, with a metal base and a rubber ring accessory to fill in the gap between the antenna and radio (you will find that fake Diamond antennas sold on Ebay and such, wont supply the rubber ring)

LINK = https://www.strictlyham.com.au/diamond-srh-771

 

Rubber ring with

Without..

 

OTHER ANTENNAS

Some other antennas that was tested...

Metal Retractable Antenna... Ive had this for years, it came with a 10ch Realistic scanner and is heavy, so heavy, that with the push - pull motion of the retractable part and the solid metal frame, it broke the weld on the Tandy antenna plug inside the scanner.. Not Recommended

 

I Forget where i got this antenna (pic below) (Maybe Seccoms?) but its long and veeeery thin, in fact, too thin.. it sways around too much and causes the signal to drop...

 

About the only thing this antenna is good for is maybe whipping the.. wife / girlfriend / boyfriend / sex buddy... If you're into that sort of thing :)

 

*** (NOTE) *** If you own a Uniden UBCD436PT and change antennas often, be very careful.. I managed to somehow miss the center pin in the scanner and pierced the soft foam surround with the center of the SMA Male Antenna leaving a small hole in the scanner

I have never had this happen to any other radios but.. it can happen and really easy, which was scary..

Hope you found this Helpful

 

*** ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS? ***

Email me at = mickyb1970@hotmail.com and let me know your favorite handheld antenna

#handheld

#Uniden

#radioscanner

#handheldantenna

#antenna

#scannerantenna

#weirdsextip

DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) - WORTH THE UPGRADE?

Hello and welcome Back... Is it Worth Upgrading your Scanner with DMR

I get asked alot about this question from various emails about the Uniden DMR upgrade and whether its worth paying the $89 for the unlock code.

I would say... Yes

Since unlocking the DMR function of my UBCD436PT, i would say, it has put the 'fun' back into scanning...

DMR unlocking is available on certain Uniden Radio Scanners inc UBCD436-PT, UBCD536-PT, USDS100 & UBCD325P2... Sadly no to UBCD396XT :(

To program DMR Frequencies, most radios will use Sentinel which is an excellent program, once you learn how its set-out.
On the 325P2, you can use Freescan software but Freescan does not support DMR programming, only the 'Digital' tab.
The Sentinel program allows colour code setting that DMR uses making it easier for the scanner to decode. (I use the 'Auto' tab in Sentinel and once i know what colour code the frequency uses, i then enter that into the program)
You can also use Proscan to program 325P2 but will set you back $50 U.S. but it has a good DMR setup

For those who don't know what DMR is, DMR stands for Digital Mobile Radio and just about everything from Bus Company's to Shopping Centers, even Surf Life Savers (Bondi Rescue Anyone?) uses DMR Radios.

Non DMR enabled radios can still pick up the frequency but will hear a strange 'Hammering' sound which is the encryption stream which is why my 436PT will decode but the 396XT wont.


FREQUENCIES (some of the ones i've picked up )

Busways - 507.4125  Col Code 1
Westmead Hospital - 412.975  Col Code 4
BTW Penrith - 464.0375  Col Code 8
VRA (Volunteer Rescue) - 465.925  Col Code 5
Westmead Hospital - 412.700  Col Code 7
Blackjack Security - 164.5375 & 164.300  Col Code 1
Westfields Mt Druitt - 471.150  Col Code 1
Westmead Childrens Hospital - 412.5375  Col Code 15
Westfields Penrith - 466.625  Col Code 7

The list above is just a snippet of whats available.

On September 26th 2020, is when Surf Lifesavers start their patrol season so hopefully should get some hits there as well...Being in mind, most DMR radios are only 5W, so you usually have to be in a close vicinity but with a good outdoor antenna up high, you never know..


What you scanner screen should look like if your decoding DMR properly.. (below)

#DMR
#Uniden
#DigitalMobileRadio
#Upgrade
#NSWRadio
#UBCD436PT
#UBCD536PT

NSW GRN - NSW WIDE FREQUENCIES (COWs)

Hello and Welcome Back... There's COWs in that field

During the 2019 Bushfires in NSW, Several GRN towers lost communication as fire damaged the wiring and control boxes... The solution was COWs

No silly, not the Mooo Type

COWs or "Cell On Wheels" (see pic below) are a portable GRN solution, able to be ushered anywhere around NSW in a Jiffy..

Currently, as i write this, my local tower 'Glenbrook' has been switched off  for upgrades and a COW is put in its place.
The problem was, i had entered all the frequencies for that tower into my scanner aaaand.. Nothing

The problem was, the replacement was a COW and not much was known about the frequencies that belonged to COWs.

Two things stood out...

1. The COW was currently being used (Glenbrook)
2. It is portable, so a search should hopefully show an Ambulatory (Portable) system or NSW Wide.

Turns out i was right with the second thought, the 'NSW Wide' stands out like the proverbial, with all the other 45 or so pages of Government frequencies assigned to various long sounding sites.

Just to be sure on my theory, i ran the frequency that is active at Glenbrook into the search, sure enough, it came back as a 'NSW Wide' frequency...

And that is todays lesson on COWs

I set up my findings under 'COWs - Portable Sites' in my scanner and entered all the frequencies below and got several hits...

Happy with my findings, which i will now share with you.


FREQUENCIES

414.4750 - Station 1
414.4875 - Station 2
414.5000 - Station 3
414.5125 - Station 4
414.5250 - Station 5
414.5375 - Station 6
414.5500 - Station 7
414.5625 - Station 8
414.5750 - Station 9
414.5875 - Station 10
414.6000 - Station 11
414.6125 - Station 12
414.6625 - Station 13
414.8625 - Station 14
415.3875 - Station 15
415.4000 - Station 16
415.4125 - Station 17
415.4250 - Station 18
414.95625 - Notional Station - HGSA Band 2
420.40000 - Notional Station - HGSA Band 5
423.90000 - Notional Station - HGS Band 5
423.1125 - Station 1
423.2375 - Station 2
423.3625 - Station 3
423.4875 - Station 4
423.6125 - Station 5
423.7375 - Station 6
423.8625 - Station 7
423.9875 - Station 8

#COW
#CellonWheels
#Cell
#GRN
#Frequencies

UNIDEN UBCD436PT RADIO SCANNER (A Review)

Hello and Welcome Back... A Complicated but Worthy Radio?

The Uniden UBCD436PT (pic below) is a middle of the range Scanner Receiver from Uniden Australia and sits between the budget UBCD325P2 and the latest offering (and most expensive) the USDS100, which is a cross hybrid of 436PT & a SDR (Software Defined Radio) radio.

WHAT TO BUY
I had a choice to buy a new radio just recently.

I still have my trusty UBCD369XT, (pic below) which is a beast of a radio & i will keep for now but i decided to buy something that would give me access to DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) and Phase 2 GRN, something the 396XT wont do..

For those who don't know what DMR is,
DMR stands for Digital Mobile Radio, and just about everybody seems to catching the DMR Bus, from various bus company's (see what i did there), shopping centers, Surf Life Savers, Taxi Company's, Transport, etc, etc... and its available on certain scanner radios as a paid upgrade from Uniden.

So i sold my entire Minidisc collection (Minidisc is like a CD & Cassette Tape in one) and set about doing my homework on which radio to buy.

The two choices were the UBCD325P2 and the UBCD436PT.

The Uniden 325PT (pic below) is a basically a remake of the UBCD73XLT but redesigned.
The main problem i encountered with the 325PT was the battery life.
From the forums i read and the various comments, they all said the same thing, the battery life sucked, like it lasted 3 hours on a set of AA battery's kind of suck...

*** HINT***
BTW, if you do own a 325PT, get yourself a set of Panasonic Enloop Pro batterys (2450mah), From what i read, they last about 8 hours in the 325PT and are made in Japan (also a scanner firmware upgrade that's available seems to help)


The other option was the UBCD436PT (pic below)

The first thing that gets you is the large screen and better battery usage but it was a bit steep in price.

In two days, the price changed from $550 / $600 to $700 / $750 in one week (new on ebay) due to demand i suppose.

Thankfully, a quick ebay bid for a second hand one got me in the market. Turns out the bloke who owned the one i bought had tried to get it to work and gave up after a few days...

There was a reason for that...

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
First of all, i will say, for a radio scanner, it bloody complicated... Veeery Compilated.

It took me at least a week to get my head around the various buttons and what they meant...
Avoid = Lockout (why not just write lockout??)... Its like they got together a bunch of engineers and said "lets make a scanner that is so bloody complicated that no one will ever be able to manually program it".
In America, they just download the Radio Reference database and put in where you live, the scanner does the rest.. sounds great but this doesn't work in Australia.

Read on..

First thing i noticed when i finally got my new radio (thanks for the 'no tracking' on my postage :( ) is the lack of a 'Scan' button.. This has to be the first scanner i have ever owned without an actual 'Scan' button..
Second thing i noticed was how big the screen is..excellent, right?.. actually, No.
What a waste of screen space.. There are 3 layers of screen space to tell you, you are using this bank, its accessing also in this bank and its also in this bank too..

The three main things i look for in a scanner is signal strength meter which is kinda there but its almost minut, the the bank numbers which are also tiny. Admittedly, i wear reading glasses and really struggled to see what bank im using and what the signal is like..

Third thing is programming... turns out, you can only program this radio using Uniden Sentinal Software.
Freescan wont touch it and Pro-Scan supports its American Brother but not the Australian Version. I tried to see if would run on Pro-Scan but i had no luck..

This radio also uses a MicroSD card for memory & storage, which is fun...

**Tip** I found that if i put the MircoSD card into a full size SD adapter, plug that into my computer using the inbuilt card reader and access the Sentinal software,  the computer thinks the SD card is actually a radio scanner...
Handy if you plug the scanner into your computer, select 'PC Control" on the scanner and the computer fails to read the scanner...
It only needs to access the card and put the info onto the card, then just put the card into your scanner and boom, it works...
I was using several MicroSD cards and trying different settings to see what worked and what didn't, each time using the SD adapter instead of plugging in the scanner over & over..

Apart from that, its a meaty radio... quiet a large piece of plastic with a big screen. I like large radios, it feels like its worth more..
I own a Alinco DJ-X3 that i spend several hundred dollars on and its like, credit card size.. sure its a good radio but it reminds me of a toy, its tiny..

But not the Uniden UBCD436PT.

The button layout on the 436PT is ok.
Its a shame you cant relabel the buttons to your liking..

Once again, no 'Scan' Button and no 'Lockout' button, there's not even a 'Hold' button, that the CHAN/MOD button (confused yet??)

Programming this beast is done via Australian Uniden Sentinal Software (its a free download) and is typical for a excel type software layout.

When you first open the software, forget about the U.S / Canadian database list. It has no use in the Australian layout...Sadly, you cant delete this bit either.

Main list of Sentinal is "Favorites" part, its exactly the same function as "Systems" in Freescan.
The setout is the same, Main folder with small sub folders.. (see pic below)

There are 2 types of editing...
1. Edit Profile (Background settings)
2. Edit Favorites List (all Frequency's, TGIDs & everything else)

*** TIP*** One thing i found while writing my data-bank was that when i finished and uploaded into the radio, half the banks would scan and the other banks were not...I kid you not, for a week, i was swearing and cursing as to why some banks were active and some seemed to just disappear, even know all the frequency's were in the file...
The first thing to check was that (see pick above) that all banks are set to Monitor 'ON' and Download 'ON'.. this is done through the 'Edit Profile' tabs, but that was not what the problem was.

Turns out when your programming your frequency's, you have to set a 'Service Type' (see below)

As you can see, i used 'Fire-Talk' as my service type for this part. It doesn't really matter which one you use BUT it does matter that you have all service types ticked in the 'Edit Profile' section... (see pic below) Meaning, THESE TWO PARTS OF THE SOFTWARE ARE LINKED...if you don't have the service types ticked (as i did) then that bank wont scan..
I had all the services unticked as i usually don't use service searches... MAKE SURE THEY ARE ALL TICKED :)

This radio also has the function to use DMR, once again this is done via the Sentinal software.

The DMR part is done through Uniden and costs around $85 (uses paypal..yay) and in return for your money, they send you a very long key code.. took me 3 goes to get the code into the radio but it now works..

To program DMR into your DMR activated radio, you create a new 'Favorites' bank and when asked what type of system choose 'Conventional'.. Once you have all your frequency s set out, choose Audio Option to 'Search', even if you already know the Digital code, i find letting the radio do all the work seems to work... I have been listening to Busways on the DMR Orion Network, frequency 507.4125mhz

But i still had one more problem with my new radio...

On GRN (P25 Government Radio Network), the receive function was horrid, while my Uniden UBCD396XT was receiving flawlessly.

I had full signal strength on the 436PT but no audio... check out the video below..

As you can see, i used the same basic antenna on both units. It wasn't a setting problem because when i connected to my outdoor antenna, the 436pt worked as it should.. see video below



*** TIP*** after alot of messing around and me almost about to resell the unit thinking it was crap, i played around with the 'Digital Threshold' Mode & 'Digital Threshold' level, it is adjustable in the Edits Favorites List Setup part of the P25 Trunking section when setting up GRN Trunking.

SOLUTION
I set the Digital Threshold level to 6 instead of 8 and set the Digital Threshold mode to 'Manual' and this was the result... see video below



As you can see, My UBCD436PT is now running as it should and i'm very happy with it.

I am still setting up my Sentinal Frequency base as you cant cut and copy from Freescan to Sentinal so its all got to be done by hand..Sigh

FINAL THOUGHT

I would highly recommend this 'Future Proof' radio with the DMR upgrade... I have managed to set my radio up the same as my UBCD396XT using banks 1 - 0 to turn things on and off..

MY SETUP

BANK
0 - Rural Fire (Aviation, NPWS, PMR, Fireground)
1 - Surfcom DMR
2 - GRN
3 - Medical / Rescue (Various Air, Land, SES, Fire & Rescue P25)
4 - Local Comms (Bus Company's, Rail, Hotels, Westfields)
5 - Sydney Airport (inc Companys)
6 - Local Air (Bankstown, Camden)
7 - Military (Richmond, Williamtown)
8 - Marine Radio (Inc Marine Rescue)
9 - FM Radio (good for checking antenna range from various stations)
10 - CB Radio (80ch UHF, CB & Amateur Radio)

I Hope to have available to sell, this file on a Micro SD card so all you have to do is put in your radio and everything works... No Hair pulling and No grey hair (like me)

WATCH THIS SPACE...


#Uniden
#ubcd436pt
#ubcd396xt
#436pt
#scanner
#scannerradio
#bcd436pt
#ubcd325pt

VARIOUS FREQUENCIES (NSW)

Hello and Welcome Back... Some Various Frequencies

Media (Camera - Camera) 466.2875 (DCS116) (NFM)
Media (Camera Setup) 486.375 (DCS116) (NFM)
Media (Sound Checks) 486.950 (DCS116) (NFM)
Media (Director) 507.475 (DCS116) (NFM)

ADVANT Couriers (Sydney Tower / MLC) (50w)
507.575
507.600 (Ch1 Dispatch)
507.725
507.875
508.175
508.575

PACIFIC NATIONAL (Rail)
418.100
418.250
454.000
465.575
469.650

ALLIANCE AIRLINES
491.8375
485.100
129.750

4KZ (Queensland) Shortwave service
5055khz (1 kilowatt)

RFDS (Royal Flying Doctors Service) (NSW)
2020khz (2.020mhz)
4055khz (4.055mhz)
6920khz (6.920mhz)

RAAF (NSW)
301.500 (Air - Air Refuel)
282.800 (Search & Rescue)

SYDNEY AIRPORT
120.800 (Helecopter ch)

RFS AIR TANKER "THOR' HAS CRASHED - 3 DEAD

Hello and Welcome Back... Sad News

This afternoon, the RFS C130 Hercules Air Tanker owned by Canadian company 'Coulson', commonly known as "Thor" has sadly crashed while doing fire fighting duties near Cooma in the Snowy Mountains NSW.

Its been confirmed, the aircraft's 3 occupants have sadly died.

RIP

#Thor
#RFS