when the radio was purchased I knew the seller had lost the cable. What I DIDN'T know was that it appears to be a special cable you can only get from GRE. I figured I could pick one up locally somewhere.,.........gee what a surprise I was in for. $24.99 (+shipping) for a USB cable!!!!!!!!
WOW! I'm in the wrong business for sure..............
Well... The way to *possibly* `look' at the situation with the special cable is that it is part and parcel of GRE's bringing out a `new' type of scanner and trying to `cover all the bases' while also keeping things under `control'. That cable is, probably, an adaptation of the cable that is used with their other `programable' scanners. The, and I don't know if this is the correct designation or not, `MicroUSB' connector on the radio end probably comes from *both* and attempt to get the connection as small as possible and also make it proprietary. (Obligatory Disclaimer: While I *do not* condone that type of attitude after working in the heyday of the computer industry for companies along the likes of STC, ETC. I understand what they were doing.) Unfortunately the only way you are going to be able to apply any `upgrades' or supply external power to the radio is with the cable so you are going to just `grin and bear it' and buy a new one. The `good?' news is that it probably might actually end up outlast the radio itself and maybe become a collectors item for someone else who stumbles across a 700 W/O the cable and would willingly pay full MSRP, possibly MSRP+. (As a `Vintage Radio Collector', myself, I'll admit I have occasionally done that. {GRIMACE!}) *Maybe* some day someone will find as `source' of that connector and possibly start making *power only* cables. (Unless they also reverse engineer, or GRE lets go of those little `boxes' or their specs, because the radio needs that `box' to work properly with the USB connection as they didn't make it completely USB `compliant' a `regular' USB cable won't work. [Again it was another `compromise'/`making it proprietary' decision.] And something we just `have to live with' for getting something almost on `the bleeding edge'. {WAN GRIN!}) BTW, I actually have bought not just one but, 2, `extra' cables so that I have one in SWMBO's and my vehicles so that I can power my 700 from the vehicle and save the batteries for walking around. (And, *yes*, I *did* groan at the `freight' but still did it anyway.)
The other side of the question is about the audio? Just can't figure out why the level is a lot lower than any other scanner I have had........... hmmmmmmmmmm
The `low audio' is an artifact of `nannism' and `infects' a lot of consumer electronics. In an effort to keep people from blowing their hearing there is a resistor in the ear/headphone jack circuit that limits the volume. However, and you may have probably already guessed this, there is a way around this *without* going inside the radio. Find yourself a *small* paperclip that when it has been straightened and then rebent into a figure 8 with one loop just big enough to go around the BNC connector for the antenna and a second loop that just goes around the 1/8" ear/headphone/speaker plug. Install the large loop around the BNC connector and then plug the ear/headphone/speaker plug through the small loop and into the jack. What this basically does is bypass the limiting resistor and allow the jack to provide the same volume to whatever is plugged in as the speaker. (If I `disremembers prezactly, I think, I did this with my old PRO-34 and may have also done it with some other older HH scanners. {WAN GRIN!})