SDS100E Legal, Safety & Compliance Notes

Summary: The important legal, safety and compliance information from the Uniden SDS100E manual, in plain English.

Scanning Legally

It’s legal to listen to almost every transmission the scanner can receive under US rules, but never intentionally listen to:

• Telephone conversations (cellular, cordless or other private telephone transmissions)
• Pager transmissions
• Scrambled or encrypted transmissions

Under the US Electronic Communications Privacy Act, intentionally listening to, using or divulging such conversations without a party’s consent can bring fines and possible imprisonment. The scanner can’t receive cellular frequencies or decode scrambled transmissions, and it can’t receive agencies that encrypt their communications or some private proprietary systems. Don’t open the case to modify it: doing so, or using the scanner in ways the manual doesn’t describe, could invalidate your warranty and, in the US, your FCC authorisation. Mobile and portable use can be unlawful or need a permit in some places, so check local law. It’s also illegal in many places to interfere with public safety officials by going to an incident scene without authorisation. In Canada a radio licence must be obtained before possessing and using the scanner.

If you’re outside North America, check your own country’s rules, and remember the database, zip code selection and weather/SAME functions only work in North America.

Precautions

• Earphones: use only a 32-ohm stereo headset or earphone. The output is mono but you hear it in both ears. Set a comfortable volume from the speaker before plugging in earphones.
• Water: the SDS100E is water resistant to JIS level 4 (with all jack covers in place) but isn’t waterproof. Minimise exposure to rain or moisture. Uniden doesn’t warrant it against water damage.
• Power: always switch the scanner off before disconnecting external power, because some settings are saved only as it powers down.
• Charging: charge the battery between +10 and +35 C; the scanner turns itself off if it gets too hot while charging.

FCC, Industry Canada and EU Notes

The equipment complies with the limits for a Class B digital device under Part 15 of the FCC Rules and with Industry Canada licence-exempt RSS standards. If it interferes with radio or television, try reorienting or moving the antenna, increasing the separation, using a different outlet circuit, or asking a dealer or technician. Changes not approved by Uniden could void your authority to operate it.

The manual includes a simplified EU Declaration of Conformity: Uniden Holdings Corporation declares that the Uniden True I/Q Scanner SDS100E complies with Directive 2014/53/EU. It’s made by Uniden Japan Corporation, Tokyo.

Patent Notice

The AMBE+2 voice coding technology in the scanner is protected by intellectual property rights of Digital Voice Systems, Inc., and is licensed solely for use within this equipment; users may not attempt to extract, remove, decompile or reverse engineer it.

About the Source Manual

This section is a condensed, reorganised guide based on Uniden’s SDS100E owner’s manual (2018, copyright Uniden Japan Corporation). HomePatrol and Uniden are trademarks of their owners; microSD is a trademark of SanDisk Corporation. Your scanner’s display and menus may differ slightly with firmware version.