Radio Shack Pro-2053 Recieve Problem... help?

[Caesar]

Ok, I have a Radio Shack 2053 trunk tracker radio, and it receives a static like sound with all received transmissions, i can even get my hand held and be beside it transmitting and i hear static in with my signal, i have tried this with a the antenna that screws into the top, a external antenna off the back from the bnc, and no antenna, i receive it on VHF, UHF, and 800mhz. the bnc connection is still connected just fine to the main board, so i am not sure what the problem may be, but more importantly, I am curious if there are any fixes! haha

thanks

 

[n0lqt]

Unless you have a signal generator and an o-scope looks like it is Repair Shop time. Are you even able to pick up the weather broadcast? Will it let you program in new frequencies and actually store them? Can you PC INterface it and read the data out of the memory? So many possible problems, some more expensive than others.... Maybe it's time to start asking Santa for a new 2096 to replace the poor old thing....

 

[Caesar]

Unless you have a signal generator and an o-scope looks like it is Repair Shop time. Are you even able to pick up the weather broadcast? Will it let you program in new frequencies and actually store them? Can you PC INterface it and read the data out of the memory? So many possible problems, some more expensive than others.... Maybe it's time to start asking Santa for a new 2096 to replace the poor old thing....

The radio is on freq, it is like a interference type sound, or like a loose speaker wire type static sound, b/c i am recieveing the signal strong i just have that sound with it. yea the radio works great, i programmed it via computer and by hand and also downloaded the data off the radio to the computer. but it is not the speaker, b/c i tried an external speaker from the ext spk jack on the back and also headphones from the headphoen jack in the front and i still hear the sound. i even plugged into the disc tap and i was hearing the sound...

 

[kwrxxx]

It sounds like a loose ground somewhere. It is impossible to tell you where to look to solve the problem. You can try Radio Shack repair, but I'm afraid that repair costs will be as much as the radio itself.

 

[Caesar]

It sounds like a loose ground somewhere. It is impossible to tell you where to look to solve the problem. You can try Radio Shack repair, but I'm afraid that repair costs will be as much as the radio itself.

hmmm, i reckon next task will be to try to find the 2053 schematic and find where all the grounds are! lol

 

[SCPD]

just an idea.. check the internal speaker connection

 

[Caesar]

just an idea.. check the internal speaker connection

well, i have tried receiving audio off both audio jacks with the same problem. I am not exactly sure where the internal audio begins at though that streams to the 3 ports...hmm, something to check thought, taking the top back off! lol

 

[Caesar]

the speaker points atleast seem grounded well...

 

[n0lqt]

Check your audio output from IC11. This is the audio amplifer section. You can trace back to it from the speaker leads on the circuit board. Using a high impedence probe, you may be able to pull unamplified audio off of the input, which is pin 8. Ground is pins 9-16. If you can amplify the audio clear from that pin, then the audio amp is bad. depending on how steady you are with a soldering/desoldering gun, you can replace it for a couple of bucks. This is a common chip used in most of the RS/GRE scanners for the last several years. RSU part# 11393402.

If the unamplified audio is still destorted prior to the audio amp, then it gets a bit more complicated to trace down.....

 

[Caesar]

Check your audio output from IC11. This is the audio amplifer section. You can trace back to it from the speaker leads on the circuit board. Using a high impedence probe, you may be able to pull unamplified audio off of the input, which is pin 8. Ground is pins 9-16. If you can amplify the audio clear from that pin, then the audio amp is bad. depending on how steady you are with a soldering/desoldering gun, you can replace it for a couple of bucks. This is a common chip used in most of the RS/GRE scanners for the last several years. RSU part# 11393402.

If the unamplified audio is still destorted prior to the audio amp, then it gets a bit more complicated to trace down.....

Thank you very very much, i will be testing that out tonight after my boy goes to bed! I will reply here with what i find.

thanks

matthew

 

[Caesar]

Check your audio output from IC11. This is the audio amplifer section. You can trace back to it from the speaker leads on the circuit board. Using a high impedence probe, you may be able to pull unamplified audio off of the input, which is pin 8. Ground is pins 9-16. If you can amplify the audio clear from that pin, then the audio amp is bad. depending on how steady you are with a soldering/desoldering gun, you can replace it for a couple of bucks. This is a common chip used in most of the RS/GRE scanners for the last several years. RSU part# 11393402.

If the unamplified audio is still destorted prior to the audio amp, then it gets a bit more complicated to trace down.....

ok, i have hooked an amplified speaker up to pin 8 on the top and bottom of side of the board and i do still get the static in with the audio, i even traced it back a little futher down the board and was still getting the static in with the audio., so i am guessing the IC11 board is not the problem, thought i am not sure i might have still been checking only post board instead of pre board... ??

 

[n0lqt]

Yep, If the audio sounded the same prior to the Audio Amp section, then it is coming from the discriminator/demodulator that way. Without a schematic, I wouldn't want to even point you at any one component. My SWAG (scientific wild arsed guess) would be one of the many op-amps in the final receiver stages. GRE kept most of their radio designs very similar, but sometimes the parts were juggled around just enough that if you don't know what you are looking at, it would be easy to get the wrong part. And some of them are static sensitive.... I have never owned a 2053, so I can't look at the board to tell you where to go next and I don't think RS will provide schematics of scanners any longer. Looks like Santa will just have to bring you that new Pro-2096 if they go on sale....