SDS100E Loading Frequencies From Squawker PC & Squawker Online

Summary: The ways to get frequencies onto an SDS100E without typing them in by hand: Squawker PC’s Scanner Programmer, Squawker Online’s export files (including the Uniden x36 HPE format), and the formats you can use in other software.

Why This Matters

The HomePatrol database that comes with the SDS100E covers the US and Canada only. Outside North America you’ll want your own Favorites Lists, and UKAFG’s tools are a fast way to build them from UK and other data.

Which Route Should I Use?

• Squawker PC Scanner Programmer – writes Favorites Lists straight to the scanner’s microSD card over USB. Best for building a full conventional set-up in a few clicks. Conventional (single-frequency) systems only.
• Squawker Online export (Uniden-x36 HPE) – download a file and import it with Sentinel, Proscan or Butel, as the site’s info popup says. Best if you already use one of those or want to review the lists first.
• Sentinel, or the scanner itself – the route for trunked systems, database updates, and settings the Programmer doesn’t cover. See SDS100E Understanding the Memory, Sentinel & Database Updates and SDS100E Programming Systems, Sites, Departments & Channels.

Squawker PC: The Scanner Programmer

Squawker PC is UKAFG’s Windows app. Its Scanner Programmer supports the SDS100/SDS100E, SDS200/SDS200E, UBCD3600XLT, BCD436HP and BCD536HP through one shared screen and a four-level hierarchy: Favorites List > System > Department > Channel.

1. Connect – create a profile in Connect Settings (Scanner System: Uniden, Scanner Type: SDS100E, the correct COM port, Enable Programming ticked), open the Programmer and click Open Editor. See SDS100/SDS200/UBCD3600XLT Programmer – Overview & Getting Connected and SDS100/SDS200/UBCD3600XLT Programmer Screen at a Glance.
2. Read the scanner and back it up – see Reading, Backing Up & Restoring – SDS100/SDS200/UBCD3600XLT.
3. Fill it – Quick Fill builds a set of Favorites Lists from your postcode, or use the Data dropdown with New Favorite and Add To. See Quick Fill – Auto-Populating a Full Set of Favorites Lists Near Your Location and Filling a Favorites List – The Data Dropdown, New Favorite & Add To.
4. Edit the result – see Editing, Sorting & Deleting – Favorites Lists, Systems, Departments & Channels.
5. Send to Scanner – see Writing to Your Scanner – Mass Storage Mode.

Before your first write, read Before You Start – Understanding the Risks, Backups – How Squawker PC Protects Your Existing Programming and The Programming Workflow.

What to Know Before You Write

• Trunked systems are not supported. The System Type column lists trunked types, but every system in the editor is really departments of single-frequency channels, written to the scanner as plain conventional systems whatever the Type says.
• Read leaves out trunked systems. If the scanner already has trunked systems, Read silently omits them, and a following Send to Scanner overwrites them and doesn’t recreate them. Use Sentinel for trunked systems.
• Auto backup before sending (on by default) copies the raw files off the microSD card just before a write, so it does preserve trunked systems. If it fails, programming stops. A manual Save only backs up what’s in the editor.
• How it writes: Squawker PC uses serial at a fixed 115200 baud only to tell the scanner to reboot into Mass Storage Mode, waits for the microSD card to appear as a drive (an error appears if it hasn’t mounted after about 30 seconds), writes the files, and the scanner reboots by itself.
• No cancel button once a write starts, and no partial-write report or automatic rollback. The completion message says how many Favorites Lists were written.
• Model check: before writing, Squawker PC checks the connected scanner matches your profile and warns you if not.
• Read replaces the editor with no warning about unsaved changes, so save first.
• Only what’s on the Programmer screen is written. Location control, most alerts, tone-outs, display customisation and Discovery are set on the scanner or in Sentinel afterwards.

Squawker Online: Exporting to a File

Squawker Online lets you search UKAFG’s frequency data and download it in the format your software needs (search tool: ukafg.co.uk/squawker-online-search). For the SDS100E use Uniden-x36 HPE, which the site describes as for the Uniden SDS100, SDS200, 3600, 436 and 536 (imported with Sentinel, Proscan or Butel).

The file contains a conventional-only Favorites List whose departments are created from the result’s User field, with each channel’s full name, frequency and mode. It has no trunked systems, quick keys or alert settings, so add those afterwards, and check the departments and channels before writing.

Other Squawker Online formats work with other radios and software: Uniden-BCT15X HPE, UBC125XLT (Scan125, capped at 500 rows), RadioScan (exactly 500 rows), Whistler, CHIRP, Icom IC-R6/R8600/R15, CSV, Excel, Copy, SDR# XML and SDRPlay S1B. Details are in Exporting to Scanner Software, Exporting to CSV, Excel & Clipboard and Exporting to SDR Software (SDR#, SDRPlay). Other UKAFG tools export too: Common Scanner Frequencies (how to export), WTR Business search (how to export) and Amateur Repeater search (how to export).

Exporting From Squawker PC

Squawker PC’s Export Panel offers Uniden HPE (the x36 format), CSV, Excel, SDR# XML, SDRPlay S1B, UBC125XLT/C, RadioScan, Whistler, Alinco, CHIRP and Copy. If your Multi-Select list has anything in it, every export uses the whole list and ignores the grid ticks (How Your Selection Feeds Exports & the Programmer). Most formats save to a fixed filename, so exporting twice overwrites the first unless you turn on Prompt for Rename (Exporting to Files – What Each Format Does, Export Settings – Configuring Where and How You Export, The Export Panel – Programmer & File Exports).

Tips for a Good Result

• Use Location Control carefully. Turn it off for lists you’ve loaded yourself unless their departments have locations.
• Enable the service types. Loaded channels default to Custom 1; check Func then Zip/Services if you hear nothing.
• Enable your list in Select Lists to Monitor and give it a quick key.
• Check modulation; airband should be AM.
• Keep a backup of a working set-up before every write.