I have a Uniden BC760xlt I just installed in my vehicle and the sound was too quiet to hear while driving. I hooked up a cheap radioshack external speaker which helped a little but not much. Is there anything I can do to boost the sound enough to hear over normal driving conditions?
Scanner volume too low
- Thread starter codycat91
- Start date
Jarred J.
Lifetime VIP Donor
If you're listening to regular FM voice (analog, not digital), part of the reason it's quiet is narrowbanding. I don't know much about the 780's, so I apologize if there's a setting for wide and narrow and you have it set correctly. I do know on the BCT-15 and newer scanners, you set the modulation width per stored frequency. When narrowbanding happened locally, I had to go through my BCT15 and set all the FM frequencies to narrow to gain audio volume back.
I only have a couple frequencies programmed, they are 150 and 450 frequencies.
Would you be able to send me a link to an amplified speaker, and maybe also explain a little further about the narrow banding. I didn't quite follow you with that.
Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate it
Would you be able to send me a link to an amplified speaker, and maybe also explain a little further about the narrow banding. I didn't quite follow you with that.
Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate it
Jarred J.
Lifetime VIP Donor
Steve0625
Member
Nice sarcasm. I guess I shouldn't have expected a useful specific recommendation, as opposed to a generic "go help yourself" response.
Anywho, I was able to pick up a Motorola HSN4032B external speaker from my hall tonight. It has a different connection, but if I rewired it, would that give me any improvement over my non-amplified radioshack external speaker?
Anywho, I was able to pick up a Motorola HSN4032B external speaker from my hall tonight. It has a different connection, but if I rewired it, would that give me any improvement over my non-amplified radioshack external speaker?
Steve0625
Member
Some of your questions kind of invited our response. Lighten up, being advised to do some research yourself is to be expected since there is so much to be found these days without asking. (And it's forum policy...) Those who have helped themselves first will always get extra help at Hogwarts.codycat91 said:
You might be ok with that one. If there are three wires, one is ground, one is audio +, and one is 12vdc+. If it has four wires, the audio is floating and MUST NOT be grounded. If it has only two wires, it is not amplified and may or may not help your situation. That will depend on how much of an audio amp is in the scanner.codycat91 said:
The "modulation width per frequency" blah blah talk threw me off. That's a little beyond my comprehension. I understand that I could've googled a narrowband radio. And when I asked to send a link to a amplified speaker, I meant to recommend a specific one. Both my fault for not clarifying.
Thanks for the wiring tip, I'll get into that tomorrow!
Thanks for the wiring tip, I'll get into that tomorrow!
Prior to Jan 1 2013, most conventional analog radios ran in "wide-band", where when you spoke into the radio, your voice was 5 kilohertz "wide". Pretend that's a foot long ruler. After Jan 1 2013, as a general rule, public safety transmissions were required to be narrow, where the voice is only 2.5 kilohertz, so it's "narrow", or half of that ruler. Your scanner is listening for voice that is a foot wide, but only receiving 6" wide signals, so it's half as loud. Newer scanners have settings for narrowband so it KNOWS it's only going to receive half signal compared to wide-band, and compensates for that for the end user.
The reason for being narrow is you can fit more users within a range of frequencies, because they only take up half the space in the spectrum now.
The reason for being narrow is you can fit more users within a range of frequencies, because they only take up half the space in the spectrum now.
ful-vue
New Member
You might want to give the Motorola speaker a shot anyway. Even without amplification it might give you a boost compared to the internal speaker.
Jarred J.
Lifetime VIP Donor
that could be an operartor error... someone who doesn't have a microphone close enough to their mouths, or a lower volume set on the repeater itself
Get something like this Uniden 2 Way Radio BC20 Uniden 20 Watt Ext Speaker | eBay
Its what I have on my bct15 and it works great.
Its what I have on my bct15 and it works great.
this is the one i have for my 996xt
RadioShack Amplified Communication Speaker : Communication Speakers | RadioShack.com
RadioShack Amplified Communication Speaker : Communication Speakers | RadioShack.com
I just looked at what scanner you have........Talk about a blast from the past........Might be time to upgrade....
A 350 is going to sound the same. And I think they're even older than the 780's. And WAY less featured.
Weather channels are louder beause they are still wideband. The feds exempted themselves there, as they will never fit anybody else in the WX freq area.
Your fire stuff might still be wideband too. 2 reasons for that: A) Someone's gonna get a fine for not narrowbanding. B) They have a waiver from the FCC and havent narrowbanded yet.
Or like Jarred said, maybe the fire audio is just way hot.
Weather channels are louder beause they are still wideband. The feds exempted themselves there, as they will never fit anybody else in the WX freq area.
Your fire stuff might still be wideband too. 2 reasons for that: A) Someone's gonna get a fine for not narrowbanding. B) They have a waiver from the FCC and havent narrowbanded yet.
Or like Jarred said, maybe the fire audio is just way hot.
Ben E. said:
Did you experience this with a narrow analog or digital FM signal?
Just curious, as in my experience it's due to the user not accustomed to listening to a "cleaner digital signal" that has inherently a different frequency spectrum for the audio out, (not to mention a lower noise level).
PS. I prefer the narrow digital FM signal, as white noise fatigue, squelch tails are eliminated.
Rhinojoe said:Did you experience this with a narrow analog or digital FM signal?
Just curious, as in my experience it's due to the user not accustomed to listening to a "cleaner digital signal" that has inherently a different frequency spectrum for the audio out, (not to mention a lower noise level).
PS. I prefer the narrow digital FM signal, as white noise fatigue, squelch tails are eliminated.
Sorry, just saw this. It was the same as it's been. Nothing changed
Rhinojoe said:Did you experience this with a narrow analog or digital FM signal?
Just curious, as in my experience it's due to the user not accustomed to listening to a "cleaner digital signal" that has inherently a different frequency spectrum for the audio out, (not to mention a lower noise level).
PS. I prefer the narrow digital FM signal, as white noise fatigue, squelch tails are eliminated.
Narrow analog vs wide analog.