SDS100/SDS200: Headphone Jack

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Ghost4658

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When is someone going to have a fix to increase the output of the headphone jack on the sds100?
I tried the BC23A not loud enough for a noisy environment, I,m a heavy equipment operator so i need a amplified speaker with more output.
Tried a old radio shack amplified speaker its not as loud as the BC23A speaker.
 

n1chu

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There’s nothing wrong with the earphone jack. It’s a safety issue designed to save you from adversely affecting your hearing ...”dummied down” if you inadvertently have the volume set to max while wearing your earbuds or headset. (On older models they had no protection at all, then, later models provided two different ground potentials and if you used a jumper from one to the other, the scanner supplied max volume at the earphone jack, (I did this by jumping from the phone jack to the antenna ground), but newer models won’t let you do that anymore.) I have good results with the amplified speaker Uniden sells but notice even that speaker has me turning up the volume to max while traveling at highway speeds with the windows down.
You might try using a set of aviation headset speakers. Since you are operating noisy equipment (which I imagine require hearing protection be worn), a headset designed for hearing protection that has optional audio inputs might work with the radio’s existing earphone jack without modification.
 

Swipesy

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I had reported on the Whistler forums the issue with headphone jack output. The issue is the same for Uniden so I will repeat the solution.

To get louder volume out of a scanner headphone jack is not a simple matter of just using an amplified speaker. In order to get increased volume out of a scanner headphone jack to an external speaker you must match the Ohm range of the headphone jack to the ohm range of the external jack. A mismatch will produce low volume. Not all amplified speakers are created equal. In my particular case my Legacy 800 worked great with my car audio system and was worse with my AC Pro Sound 2000 amplified speakers. My solution for home amplification was to use my DC Amplified Speco speaker with a AC-DC plug and all was well.
 

n1chu

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While matching the ohmage is certainly important, even matching the ohmage is not enough to overcome the lower volume setting built into the scanner for hearing protection in most cases.
 

Swipesy

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n1chu have you tried your opinion on either a Uniden or Whistler or GRE scanner? I have, and properly matched Ohm worked on all three scanners I used them on with very loud sound on amplified speakers. I cannot attest to non amplified scanners.

If matching ohm is not enough why don't you post a solution?
 

n1chu

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“If matching ohm is not enough why don't you post a solution?”

I did post suggestions. And no, I have not tried anything other than using the Uniden amplified speaker. Because using the amplified speaker satisfied my needs. The amplified speaker was the second thing I thought of. Because my SDS200 is mounted in a console, much like you see in a police vehicle, the internal speaker was blocked. I knew I needed an external speaker. I first tried a non-amplified speaker which didn’t get the job done so my second choice was the amplified version, which gave me sufficient volume. But your application (noisy heavy equipment operator) probably requires hearing protection. There are hearing protective headsets that have audio inputs available. I just never researched them because my second try satisfied my needs and negated the need to do so.
 

hiegtx

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When is someone going to have a fix to increase the output of the headphone jack on the sds100?
I tried the BC23A not loud enough for a noisy environment, I,m a heavy equipment operator so i need a amplified speaker with more output.
Tried a old radio shack amplified speaker its not as loud as the BC23A speaker.

I don't have that scanner but can you use a Bluetooth transmitter and a Bluetooth ear bud?
If you can connect a Bluetooth transmitter to feed the audio of the scanner, then you might take a look at Bluetooth enabled noise reducing hearing protector such as this one:

It has a rechargeable battery, and can connect via Bluetooth to a Bluetooth transmitter attached to your scanner, or to your cellphone. It also has a built in mic for answering calls if connected to your phone. There are a number of other similar products available from Amazon as well as other sources.
 

Ghost4658

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Thanks for all the reply but I don't think could stand headphones for 10 hours. I will just keep looking for a speaker with more output then the BC23A.
 

n1chu

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Ok. But you should first measure the ambient noise levels. You say you can’t hear the scanner over the noise of the equipment... that means you need something that will produce louder noises than the noisy equipment. 10 hours a day? I believe OSHA has set limits on continuous noise levels. Maybe a hard hat that has hearing protection built in with audio inputs might work for you. But not wearing hearing protection to guard against continuous noise up to 10 hours a day is guaranteed to cause hearing loss. If the noise levels do not approach a level of concern and you don’t need hearing protection, I wish you luck in your quest to hear whatever is so important that it takes your attention away from a 10 hour a day job. If you can’t find a solution would you change jobs? That’s the question that needs to be addressed. It could come down to choosing between the two.
 

W0RS

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You could use a headphone amplifier, I found it on Amazon. I use it for my amplified speaker in the car because the line out Jack on my receiver does not put out enough drive. The amp is actually made for headphones.....
 

JoeBearcat

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When is someone going to have a fix to increase the output of the headphone jack on the sds100?
I tried the BC23A not loud enough for a noisy environment, I,m a heavy equipment operator so i need a amplified speaker with more output.
Tried a old radio shack amplified speaker its not as loud as the BC23A speaker.

As others have eluded to, you are plugging an external speaker into a headphone jack. The issue is not the jack - it's operator error. You have to use an amplified speaker with a headphone jack or use the external speaker on a speaker output which the SDS100 does not have. (or use headphones plugged into a headphone jack)
 

Ghost4658

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The issue is the jack! The headphone jack on the sds100 has the lowest output of any scanner I have ever had.
I have had lots of scanners in my time. The old scanners worked fine with a amplified speaker plugged in the headphone jack.
The jack the on the sds100 is dummied down so low a amplified speaker don't help much.
I have tried BC23A a Radio Shack amplified speaker and a Motorola amplified speaker.
 

JoeBearcat

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The issue is the jack! The headphone jack on the sds100 has the lowest output of any scanner I have ever had.
I have had lots of scanners in my time. The old scanners worked fine with a amplified speaker plugged in the headphone jack.
The jack the on the sds100 is dummied down so low a amplified speaker don't help much.
I have tried BC23A a Radio Shack amplified speaker and a Motorola amplified speaker.

I will look into this.
 

n1chu

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I run the Uniden amplified speaker from my SDS100’s earphone jack without issue. But I agree with all who expect to see acceptable audio output levels provided for external speakers, even on the SDS100 and BCD325P2. I suspect inadequate levels of audio are partly due to marketing ( maybe get us to buy the SDS200 in addition to the ‘100?) ...and not solely a hearing protection concern. And of course, there are the laws of physics that must be observed. Handhelds are designed to perform on a temporary basis (they run on batteries), where conserving power is a concern while it allows for the portability of the product. There seems to be an expectation we should be able to plug them into AC power, connect an external speaker and antenna and magically turn our portable into a base station listening post. While having the ability to do that is nice, it was never the intent of what a handheld should be... and there’s the rub, the expectation of the vast majority of consumers, (which should be the driving force for manufacturers) is that the handhelds should support the expectations. It’s not a case of this expectation being right or wrong, no one cares if it’s wrong, it’s what they want. Its a case of satisfying the customer.

A workaround would be nice. It would allow those who wanted to increase the audio gain to do so at their own risk. It would deplete your battery quicker, but it’s a trade-off.
 

Ghost4658

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I work around would be very nice have something like on my Galaxy phone If you try to turn the volume up to high it warned you then let you go ahead and turn it up they could have something like that would be great.
This old galaxy S7 I have has more volume output on the headphone jack then the sds100 scanner has.
 

pro92b

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Uniden reduces audio output power at the headphone jack to avoid legal liability for customer's possible hearing damage if the volume is set too high. There may also be regulations in places like California that bear on this issue. I would not expect Uniden to change their position on this.

The audio power reduction at the headphone jack has generally been done with a resistor network. If this method is also used in the SDS100 then firmware cannot reverse the power reduction.

The Uniden BC23A amplified speaker can be modified for higher gain and that may bring the SDS100 to full volume. There is a noise filter button on the speaker that rolls off frequencies above 5 kHz. We can use that switch as a gain selector with a small modification. Referring to the attached schematic, find the two resistors, 680K and 560K, in parallel. They are near the bottom of the page connected to switch S1. Connect a 47K resistor across (in parallel with) either resistor to increase the gain by about 16 dB.

Now when the noise filter button is pressed in the speaker is at low gain with 5 kHz roll off. With the switch pushbutton in the out position the gain is increased by 16 dB with no roll off.

I didn't take a picture of the board when I drew up the schematic. If someone posts a high resolution picture of the board, I can point out the location of the resistors.
 

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W4EMS

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Agree the BC23A works well. It does time out but if you search there is a mod to prevent that which is reasonably simple.
I also had some trouble with RF from my 2 M rig. Turns out with the button depressed the speaker gets RF into the amp circuit. when it is not depressed no issue. Perhaps unique, could not find any reproducible ground fault. But works great with the 100.
 
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