396 Audio Problem...

[philkoz]

Sent in my 396 3 weeks ago with the following problem:
-Intermittent audio problems with both analog & digital signals, as well as with the keypad.

Hitting any of the keypad buttons, there is no audible 'beep', probably 20% of the time. The button function works fine, just no 'beep'. I have also had it locked on a constant analog signal, such as a NOAA broadcast, as well as a digital trunked TG, both with a full-scale signal. The audio will 'pop' in and out. If I hit a keypad button or volume button, it does the same thing. I'm hoping some of the P25 digital issues will be resolved with the upcoming update, but that doesn't explain the analog audio or keybeep problem. This all occurs regardless of AGC on/off, ATT on/off, different antennas, battery power or AC. I've tried every scenario I can think of.

The Service Dept replaced the speaker & from the minute I opened the box...no change. Before I send it back a second time, does anyone know of any audio circuit issues that may be to blame ? It seems the original speaker wasn't the problem.

I've always been a huge Uniden fan, so I was a bit disappointed with the repair results after 3 weeks of waiting...

Thanks so much for any help !!!

 

[yaesumofo]

Take your radio to another place and try to use it.
You may be suffering from a local interference generator.
Try going mobile or hand held away from home and see if there is any improvement
Yaesumofo

 

[cpuerror]

It sounds like a classic case of a bad speaker to me. I'd say change it again.

 

[philkoz]

Thanks guys. Sorry, I failed to mention that I've tried it throughout 2 different counties, from home & car, even went from yagi in attic to 1/4 wave duck & everything in between !!

It would be nice if it was just the speaker, but I wonder what the odds are of 2 in a row being bad. At least it'll be covered under warranty.

Thanks again !!

 

[rhutch]

Have you tried it with head phones, if you get audio throught he headphones, and nothing on the speaker then it could be a bad speaker, but no audio on headphones or speaker then you got another problem.

 

[philkoz]

Thats a very good point I also forgot to mention. I have tried it with and w/o an external speaker. Thats why I was asking about a potential issue other than the speaker....????

 

[a29zuk]

It could also be the headphone jack itself. When you pull out your headphone plug it is supposed to reconnect the speaker connection so you can hear the audio out of the speaker again. If the jack does not reconnect you will not hear the audio out of the speaker.

 

[philkoz]

Another very good point I overlooked. The headphone jack, since it does occur with and w/o an ext. speaker. Anyway you look at it, I guess I'm going to be sending it back again anyway.

Thanks again all....

 

[Dave520]

I just had the same problem! I sent my 396 in for service in February to have the lettering on the front and have it checked for poor audio. I got it back in about 3 weeks. They replaced the speaker for me. It was working fine then all of a sudden the speaker stopped working again. It had very low audio and sounded very staticy. So I am sending it back again! May be they got a bad batch of speakers. UPman please take note for your repair department.

David

 

[dxr]

I bought my 396T 13 months ago and have used it mainly for fire tone-out with 5 second reset. So not much actual throughput to the speaker. Decided yesterday to listen to an adjoining county on 800 MHz digital and all of the sudden the audio became very distorted and intermittent. The audio through headphones is fine and as someone suggested in another thread I tried blowing on the speaker and it would work as long as I was blowing on it, but still with distorted audio. Very disappointing. Since the warranty is up I decided to replace the speaker myself, but Uniden has them on back-order. Anyone know of another source for the speaker? Thanks.

 

[philkoz]

Well, the day after they received my 396 I checked the repair status online. I saw the following:
03/27/2008 UNIT HAS BEEN RECEIVED
03/27/2008 Pending automatic MAC/PAC order for model: BCD396T
03/27/2008 MAC/PAC Order# H73894 Entered 03/27/2008 Entered By AAUSER
03/28/2008 1 Units Invoiced 03/28/2008 By PSRU225
03/28/2008 Unit BCD396T Ship'd 03/28/2008 Mac-Pac Order# H73894
03/28/2008 Tracking# 75595900494 DHL
03/28/2008 UNIT HAS BEEN SHIPPED

No idea what the MAC/PAC meant, but USPS dropped off my radio today. They exchaged it with a factory serviced unit. Looks brand new. Also gave me all the original accessories. I have had no audio problems so far. I'm kind of curious what the problem actually was, but I appreciate the quick response/replacement by Uniden !!