BC125AT Sensitivity Question

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DChavo

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Hello, hopefully you guys with more experience can shed some light for me. When I bought my BC125AT I loved it. This is my first scanner so I didn't know what to expect but the sensitivity seemed excellent and I was able to pick up all of my local pd/fd/ems channels along with the NOAA from just about anywhere. Recently however it seems like my sensitivity has drastically declined. I can no longer pick up NOAA from anywhere unless I'm sitting on top of the nearest mountain, and even at that I only get one bar. I can still pick up local PD but not as strong as I used to. I had purchased this to primarily scan FRS/GMRS channels but I can't receive FRS more than a couple hundred yards away. I'm not sure what happened but I have tried to reset back to factory settings and also re-installed the firmware but sensitivity seems the same. Is there any way to get it back to normal or am I going to have to send it back in for replacement? Thank you all in advance for your help.
 

DHAS12

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I used my bc125at everyday for 4 years, and the pins inside the antenna jack became loose and it became very hard to pick up anything, even nearby signals.
 

wtp

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it might sound funny

but with a BNC connector you could try the old paper clip antenna.
just straighten out a paper clip and insert it into the female portion of the antenna.
you could try the NOAA freqs first.
this is to see if it is the antenna.
however, it could still be a broken connection inside the radio at the antenna.
it could be that the pin broke off the antenna or a bad connection in the antenna.
as you can tell now, you can use anything to receive a signal.
to see if i am near a transmitter i take my antenna off. works for around 200 feet.
 

DChavo

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I also have a Larsen tri-band magnet mount for mobile use. My reception is the same whether I am using the duck or the Larsen so it seems like an internal thing as opposed to a problem with the antenna. I opened it up and checked the connections but I didn't see anything loose or broken. I'll try the paperclip trick and see if I get the same results. I had read about scanners being overloaded, could that be a possibility?

DHAS12 - were you able to get it working again or did you have to replace the antenna jack?
 

wtp

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birdie and close TX check.

you might be close to a transmitter.
and this is also the way to get a list of birdies in the radio.
set up a scan from the lowest to the highest frequencies.
set the squelch to the lowest setting.
take take antenna off. scan.
birdies have no sound to them
you might find a very local signal that is causing an overload.
 

DChavo

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Thank you guys for all your suggestions. Just wanted to post an update, turns out I was too close to a transmitter and fried the scanner. I didn't realize this could cause an issue until it was too late. I sent it back to Uniden and just got it back, it's working great again. Now my question is, how do I avoid overloading it again when near the same transmitter? My work vehicle uses a 150w transmitter. Do I have to turn the scanner off every time that I'm transmitting, can I just unplug the antenna or can I lock out that channel without damage?
 

Ubbe

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Did you get a list of what components had been replaced?
My experiance is that most times it is the soldering between antenna connector and circuit board that are faulty.

/Ubbe
 

jonwienke

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My work vehicle uses a 150w transmitter. Do I have to turn the scanner off every time that I'm transmitting, can I just unplug the antenna or can I lock out that channel without damage?

None of those options will protect your scanner. The scanner antenna sends the same RF power to the scanner's receiver, regardless of what channel the receiver is tuned to, or whether the receiver is powered on.

The only effective protections are to keep the scanner farther away from the 150W transmitter or remove the scanner antenna when you key it up.
 

DChavo

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Did you get a list of what components had been replaced?
My experiance is that most times it is the soldering between antenna connector and circuit board that are faulty.

/Ubbe

D4, D7, Q1 and Q2.
 

jonwienke

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Probably the input protection diodes and the first stage RF amplifier transistors.
 
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