SDS200 Noise

[officer58]

I know this is probably an old issue, I've had my SDS 200 since March. After I first got it, I notice a hum/static at a low tone coming from the scanner while idle.
I never thought much about it, didn't seem to bother me. I always had noise around me, so I guess I didn't hear it. Well, I've been sitting in the quiet at night more, and now I'm hearing it pretty good. I know there is a fix for it. I contacted Uniden, they said they would fix it, turn around time 2 - 3 weeks.
Anybody have any experience with shipping to Uniden? Any advice would help. Thanks

 

[RandyKuff]

That might be the display board grounding issue...
Do you know how to read the serial number to find the year it was made?

SDS100/SDS200: - Manufacture date

How do you de code and find out when your sds100 was made?

forums.radioreference.com

 

[officer58]

That might be the display board grounding issue...
Do you know how to read the serial number to find the year it was made?

SDS100/SDS200: - Manufacture date

How do you de code and find out when your sds100 was made?

forums.radioreference.com

Yes it was made in 21.

 

[RandyKuff]

Uniden supposedly implemented a fix to the display board... But nobody knows when...
But being 2021 I would say it still has that problem...

If you bought this in March it's still under warranty...
I'd send it back with a note to check the display for a grounding issue...

Uniden - Online Repair Form

 

[dave3825]

Had to send mine back. In the front middle Uniden added a piece of copper board to eliminate the hum. When mine was humming, and I squeezed in that spot, the hum went away.

 

[RandyKuff]

Had to send mine back. In the front middle Uniden added a piece of copper board to eliminate the hum. When mine was humming, and I squeezed in that spot, the hum went away.

That was UPMan's fix... And it's not as good as the real grounding of the display board,,,
He came up with that so customers could install it...

But the hum can come back over time due to oxidation...


When I bought my scanner that was in it... Started humming over time... Did the grounding of the display board myself... No more hum...

 

[officer58]

Thanks for your replies, I think there are videos on grounding it, I may check out, if it's not too difficult.

 

[RandyKuff]

I had to tear the radio apart to remove the front board to fix it properly...
I seen a fix where sombody did it with a jumper wire though...

 

[officer58]

Had to send mine back. In the front middle Uniden added a piece of copper board to eliminate the hum. When mine was humming, and I squeezed in that spot, the hum went away.

You're right about pressing down on the center, I did and it seemed to quieten down some.

 

[RandyKuff]

Unauthorized modification to fix hum

For me I would rather take on a challenge and see how its done and take on a project and do it and WOW myself once I fixed it. This is all about learning and growing in-stead of being scared and worrying about some warranty issue. Plus the cost of shipping the radio and the time the radio is...

forums.radioreference.com

This was done with a jumper wire...
You can see. it's still pretty involved...

 

[RandyKuff]

Uniden would send the part for free...
This is UPMan's video for the customer on how to install it...
But this fix had it's issues...

 

[officer58]

Another question is, does this hurt the reception at all?

 

[RandyKuff]

If your talking about the Hum, No...
The fix, No...

 

[officer58]

Well, I'm sitting here with headphones on, and hearing the hum pretty good, not overbearing, but I hear it. Without headphones really not to much of an issue. I think I'll try to do the fix myself, as in taking the screws out and see if it needs scraped under them. Still thinking.

 

[MStep]

Well, I'm sitting here with headphones on, and hearing the hum pretty good, not overbearing, but I hear it. Without headphones really not to much of an issue. I think I'll try to do the fix myself, as in taking the screws out and see if it needs scraped under them. Still thinking.

When in doubt, follow the old adage---- leave well enough alone.

 

[Ubbe]

Well, I'm sitting here with headphones on, and hearing the hum pretty good, not overbearing, but I hear it.

That goes for pretty much all scanners if the headphones are too sensitive. I use an extension cable with a volume control on it and adjust it to lower the signal until background noises are gone and then adjust the scanners volume to a normal audio level.

I had the impression that the hum problem was only audible in the loudspeaker and it was a hum free audio from the headphone output? So perhaps the grounding fix might not solve it for you.

/Ubbe

 

[RandyKuff]

Internal speaker, external speaker or headphones it is still there...
The display board grounding takes care of it...

 

[crippledchicken]

Well, I'm sitting here with headphones on, and hearing the hum pretty good, not overbearing, but I hear it. Without headphones really not to much of an issue. I think I'll try to do the fix myself, as in taking the screws out and see if it needs scraped under them. Still thinking.

If you decide to do it, be sure to take photos before every step!