Radio Quality

[Rleshane]

Hi,

I've been providing a feed for many years, with reasonable quality. I notice, however, that if I have my computer or phone (depending on how I'm listening) volume turned all the way up, I hear a good amount of "white noise" in the background. I notice that many feeds have this at varying levels, but some do not, and are nearly silent when no one is talking, even with the volume cranked.

I'm running my feed on a fairly cheap $99 radio shack scanner. I found that when I power my scanner off, the background hiss (or white noise) goes away, so I don't think it's a problem with my PC. Might upgrading to a more expensive scanner provide less background white noise? If so, any recommendations?

Thanks,
Ron

 

[W8RMH]

I use the Uniden BCT15X for my feed. I especially like the "Record Out" function which has pre-set audio levels, instead of using the headphone jack, which seems to eliminate the white noise you describe. .

I am monitoring a Motorola Type II 800 MHz. trunked system and the site is a level 10 miles away.

A good antenna is a must too. I use the antenna setup pictured here with a Laird Tech B7603, mounted to a six foot unused torch light pole inside my apartment. With just a back of the set antenna I did get a little hiss.

Give my feed a listen and see what you think.

 

[zz0468]

It's probably more a matter of setting audio levels correctly.

 

[SCPD]

Agree with the levels; however, I found if I grounded the ring side of the 1/8" audio cable to house ground (on the outlet connected to the same circuit powering the scanner), 95% of the noise vanished. I modified a cable to do that, modified an old computer power cord and put them together. Radio Shack PRO-163 scanner. I have an exterior Yagi antenna that's grounded to the same ground and to earth outside.

 

[Bellingham_Scanner]

The sound card it's self has a lot to do with this. I have two feeds on one computer, my police feed is on a Soundblaster Live and my fire feed is using the on-board Realtek chip.

The police feed is dead silent between calls the fire feed has constant background noise. I can swap the scanners and the noise moves to the feed using the Realtek chip.

 

[kc2kth]

That's interesting Bell. I've often wondered if there was any difference between the onboard chipsets and what Creative is doing with the SB cards these days. It appears there is.

 

[TRNcommLLC]

I'm using my on board Realtek HD card for input from a BCD996T with an isolation transformer then to SteroTools processing then out the Realtek to a Sound Blaster PCI (tried VAC but no 22050 sample rate) using a 1/8" TRS to 1/8" TRS(stereo) cable.
Then I have RadioFeed get the audio from Sound Blaster PCI.

I had to play with the settings till I got it where I wanted it.
If I had one device a bit too loud then the noise was present.
With the gating on stereotools AGC helped.

My streams seems quiet when nothing is going on.
been happy with the setting.

Mon Valley Area Police, Fire and EMS


John