In an attempt to improve audio quality (when volume is maxed out the audio takes on an irritating quality), I have plugged in an external speaker thinking the larger speaker will sound better than the tiny internal speaker. But because the earphone jack is “dummied down” in an effort to protect against injuring our ear drums when using head phones or ear buds, I loose maximum volume. Is there a work-around to allow for disabling the restriction placed on the earphone jack? I know I could use an amplified speaker but that adds a needed power supply, (a battery) to the mix, reducing the portability aspects of the handheld SDS100. Any suggestions?
SDS100 audio & external speaker
- Thread starter n1chu
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Buy an amplified speaker. I bought a 20 watt Bluetooth speaker that has dual use now if I want. They are cheap enough and you can find them in long battery life versions. Mine will go 34 hours before needing a recharge and it is plenty loud on the SDS100 when hooked up with the 3.5 in audio cable. I keep it plugged in almost all of the time at home so that it is using the AC power and stays fully charged for if I need it in a mobile environment or I just want to take it somewhere. Look on eBay or Amazon. I'd personally go with Amazon and get a new one. I think I paid $30 or $35 for mine and it has worked perfectly. Also, when you use a speaker like that, don't turn up the scanner 100%. Turn it up as loud as you want but use the speaker itself to increase the volume. Be sure the speaker has volume control built into it. That's what I've done and it has worked just fine...
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Brian (COMMSCAN)
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
Sent using Google Voice to Text. Please excuse any errors I could not see or catch.
Brian (COMMSCAN)
I assume your post is saying you know of no workarounds and suggest using the active speaker instead.
Thanks. But as the question was “Is there a workaround for the earphone jack’s deliberate degraded audio volume?”, your response is not what I was going for. I even went so far as to list an amplified speaker as NOT an option I care to use and listed my reason.
Since the reduced volume at the jack is a deliberate ear drum saving intention, I was hoping the manufacturer may have an unpublished method to restore the volume for those inclined to over ride this safety feature when using the jack to power my “loud speaker” application.
Thanks. But as the question was “Is there a workaround for the earphone jack’s deliberate degraded audio volume?”, your response is not what I was going for. I even went so far as to list an amplified speaker as NOT an option I care to use and listed my reason.
Since the reduced volume at the jack is a deliberate ear drum saving intention, I was hoping the manufacturer may have an unpublished method to restore the volume for those inclined to over ride this safety feature when using the jack to power my “loud speaker” application.
Well you scolded the last person that tried to help, so I doubt if you will be happy with my answer.
I think the only way to get higher volume would be to reroute the wires from the internal speaker to the earphone jack.
Good luck.
I have a BCD436 with the same issue at the speaker jack. I use a lapel speaker in a noisy warehouse and at times a surveillance earpiece when doing discreet work; different speaker in the vehicle; and a speaker on the radio desk. An amplified speaker was not a viable solution. I purchased a Radio Shack stereo speaker jack, #274-0246. I took the 436 apart to get at the speaker and soldered speaker wires to the internal speaker; drilled a small hole to the radio case and ran the speaker wires up along the side of the radio, using drops of super glue to keep the wires in place, and after soldering the wires to the speaker jack ( you have to make sure your connections allow for the internal speaker to mute when plugging in your other speaker in the jack); attach the stereo jack with a wire tie to the antenna jack (I have the bnc adapter attached); hold in place with a few drops of super glue; and voila! Full volume at the newly installed speaker jack. I've been using this on my 2 436's and even did the same with my 2 396XT's and they work great; no amplified speaker to deal with; took me about an hour on each 436 to do. In fact, on my 396XT's I was able to run the speaker wires through the inside of the radio to the inside top where I drilled a small hole for the speaker wires to go through. That method wasn't feasible on the 436 though. The external wires are not a problem as I use a radio case which help keep the speaker wires secure. Hope this helps; it's really not that hard to do; good luck.
Rich - N3VMY - KAG 0096
Rich - N3VMY - KAG 0096
If they did, they would never release the info. That would open them up to lawsuits when someone blows their eardrums out.
This is one where you will probably need to tackle it yourself. Who knows if the old short the jacks ground to the antenna jacks ground still works. I'd probably not try that not knowing how the audio amp is setup in these radios.
I believe they no longer use the floating ground method. So shorting out the chassis ground to the jack no longer restores full volume. My mention of an “unpublished method” is a deliberate understanding it would not put anyone at risk for a lawsuit. The reduction in volume was simply something that was done to provide protection, both to our eardrums and Uniden for selling an unsafe product. Uniden has done their due diligence by addressing the problem adequately. However, that’s not saying someone -not saying who - hasn’t learned of a workaround...
Wondering why you didn’t use the existing jack?
Any potential workaround would involve opening your 100 and mucking around with surface mount devices, any remaining warranty would be voided.
Older units I have owned required installing a zero ohm resistor between 2 pads to defeat the safety circuit. Do ya think Uniden learned anything when that mod came to light?
Good luck on your quest.
Older units I have owned required installing a zero ohm resistor between 2 pads to defeat the safety circuit. Do ya think Uniden learned anything when that mod came to light?
Good luck on your quest.
As wb4sqi replied; it would be too difficult to try and get at the existing jack to do any kind of soldering at that jack. My experience with using different speakers throughout the day in the original jack will eventually, in my case, wear out the jack after several years requiring a replacement of the jack. By putting an existing jack on the outside of the radio between the antenna jack and the volume makes for an easy change when it does reach its "end of life". I have just replaced my first jack after 5 yrs of heavy use on my one 436. The other one as well as my other 2 396xts sit on my desk most of the time using the same speaker; so I doubt if I'll ever have to change them. Just make sure you leave a little extra speaker wire at the jack for the purpose of changing of the jack if needed.
I forgot to mention you will have to disconnect one side of the speaker terminals inside the radio so you don't get audio coming out the internal speaker as well as at the external speaker jack when in use. My 436's were purchased in 2014.
As an added bonus in adding the extra speaker jack; my 436's were deaf more so on VHF than UHF. I could not pick up any weather channels on the 436's with the duck in the house while my 396xts had them booming in with the same duck antenna. I experimented using a .01mf capacitor between the bnc jack and the external speaker jack ground and to my suprise the weather channels came booming in just as with the 396xts. Fastening the caps in place on both 436's now has greatly improved my VHF reception using the 800MHz duck antennas as good if not better than the 396xts.
Rich
I forgot to mention you will have to disconnect one side of the speaker terminals inside the radio so you don't get audio coming out the internal speaker as well as at the external speaker jack when in use. My 436's were purchased in 2014.
As an added bonus in adding the extra speaker jack; my 436's were deaf more so on VHF than UHF. I could not pick up any weather channels on the 436's with the duck in the house while my 396xts had them booming in with the same duck antenna. I experimented using a .01mf capacitor between the bnc jack and the external speaker jack ground and to my suprise the weather channels came booming in just as with the 396xts. Fastening the caps in place on both 436's now has greatly improved my VHF reception using the 800MHz duck antennas as good if not better than the 396xts.
Rich
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