SDS200E Discovery Mode

Summary: How Trunking Discovery and Conventional Discovery on the SDS200E find, log and record unknown channels.

What Discovery Does

• Trunking Discovery monitors a trunked system, logging activity and recording the audio to help you identify channels.
• Conventional Discovery monitors a range of frequencies, logging active ones and recording audio for those not already known in your area, including those used conventionally and in trunked systems.
• In both you can compare hits with the database and log all hits or only new ones.
• Auto Store creates a new Trunking System or Conventional System for each session.
• Each time you start a session you create a Run, which you can review on the scanner or in Sentinel.

Running a Session

Menu, Discovery, then Trunking Discovery or Conventional Discovery, then New Session (you’re prompted to name it) or an existing session. For a new trunking session, you also choose the system and site; the system and site must be available for scanning (in an active Favorites List or within the defined location of the main database).

Discovery Options

• Start Discovery – starts the session with the current parameters.
• Edit Session Name
• Set Limit Frequencies, Set Modulation (Auto default) and Set Step (Auto default) – conventional only.
• Set Delay – how long to pause after a transmission waiting for a reply.
• Set Logging – ALL hits or NEW only (not yet discovered in this session).
• Set Compare to Database – On ignores hits already in the database; Off records all hits.
• Set Record Duration – how much audio to record per hit; once met, the frequency or TGID counts as “discovered.”
• Set Time-Out Timer – how long to monitor a hit before resuming, so open carriers don’t lock up the session.
• System Information (trunking) – the list, system and site used and the system type.
• Set Auto Store – creates a Favorites List called Conventional Discovery or Trunking Discovery and saves all hits as channels.
• Delete Session

Reviewing a Session

Menu, Discovery, Review Discovery, choose Trunk or Conventional Discovery Results and scroll to the results:

• Review Run Results – Summary (by each frequency or TGID) or Detail (by each hit).
• Restart this Run – deletes the log files and starts a new run with the same settings.
• Resume this Run – keeps the log files and resumes.
• Delete this Run, and Run Information (the settings used).