Uniden USDS100

I am always looking for radios that can give me access to the communications I am trying to listen to and make it easy and flexible in the field.

I had been using Defined Radios like Hackrf and Bladerf in the field, and they work great for custom applications, which we can discuss another time. But I was really after something that I could switch on, and it would give me what I was after without too much mucking around.

So after looking around, I came across the Uniden USDS100 digital scanner. One thing that I liked is that it is water-resistant, which for me is a must. The other important consideration is the battery, which promised to give me five hours of operation, which it did, and when I needed it longer in the field, I can charge it with a USB battery, which is convenient.

The frequency coverage it covers is substantial enough for my needs in the field: 25-520 MHz, 758-960 MHz, and 1240-1300 MHz. I like the Recording playback and reply feature. The microSD card allows me to set up for each operation location I am going to beforehand. Uniden offers a scanner upgrade to PROVOICE, DMR and NXDN for $85, which I also got when I purchased the unit.

I had some comments asking for some examples of how we use this on red team operations. It was not my main idea with these posts as it was mostly just a brain dump, but I am happy to give some examples and, hopefully, my mindset behind why.

When we are on the job, communication is one of the most important tools we have, and for this reason, any communication that can give the team an upper hand or any operation is a win. One example of use is listening to the security company's communications, especially when they do their security rounds on the target facilities that we are currently targeting.

This year has not been so active, but from the small amount of time at the start of the year on jobs, it has performed perfectly fine I am looking forward to having it as one of my main pieces of gear for next year.