Have BCD396XT seems to me i have to run volume up high to have a comfortable listening level . I set it at 11 . Is this normal ? Is around 1 month old , This is inside house i use it . never been out in car . Thx. for any info .
BCD396XT Question Low Volume
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mikemsu1
Member
I run 9 on the 396T...
BCT15 runs volume a click or two past half, and it's got a big ole underside speaker. Think it's par for the course. Varies with what you are listening to as well.
BCT15 runs volume a click or two past half, and it's got a big ole underside speaker. Think it's par for the course. Varies with what you are listening to as well.
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Seems kind of high to me- mine usually stays from 6-8 and I never even went past 10 with mine. Is your analog and digital AGC gain set to 0?
I also never go past 8 and thats even in the car....
sjlamb
Member
Doesn't sound right to me either. 6-8 in the house provides me plenty of volume. On mine, a setting of "11" would have me able to listen two rooms away.
rmiller818
Member
I usually have mine in the 6-8 range as well. However, I was monitoring one P25 system and had to turn the volume all the way up in order to hear them. Then everyone else I was listening to at the same time was extremely loud.
Does not sound right
I run mine on 6 - 8 like the others. Someone suggested checking several settings. This radio can make the volume higher or lower besides the actual volume setting. Maybe you need to play around with the menu and work with the settings to see if this is the problem. Do you have another scanner, are the systems in your area not very loud? The State Police channel in my area is a lot lower than the others. Maybe all of yours are that way.
This is one of those radios that you cannot just turn on and always have it work the way you like. Sometimes you need to personalize the various settings. GOOD LUCK!
I run mine on 6 - 8 like the others. Someone suggested checking several settings. This radio can make the volume higher or lower besides the actual volume setting. Maybe you need to play around with the menu and work with the settings to see if this is the problem. Do you have another scanner, are the systems in your area not very loud? The State Police channel in my area is a lot lower than the others. Maybe all of yours are that way.
This is one of those radios that you cannot just turn on and always have it work the way you like. Sometimes you need to personalize the various settings. GOOD LUCK!
BC_Scan
Member
Uniden has dropped the ball!
Have just spent the weekend with the new 396XT, programming it up for a major news broadcaster hear in Canada, and post mobile test run driving around for a couple of hours yesterday testing all the systems out what a HUGE dissapointment the audio is (via headphone jack to a Undien 12watt extension speaker). man oh man, I have my own personal 396T to judge against and I would say conservatively that they have dropped the audio bye 10-15 % on the headphone jack WTF ?? Internal speaker sound (lousy at best) is comparable to 396T but out of headphone in mobile mode which is most of my listening , no comparison. Now don't get me wrong, I support Uniden big time , but this one really dropped the ball, Uniden consistently delivers awesome scanner products, but handheld audio blows. It is a shame that they don't appear to listen to what we are saying about handheld audio (espescially with people used to pro-audio sound form various pro handhelds Moto,Kenwood , Icom etc)
comeon Undien give us some decent audio circa 200 xlt days
What do you think ??
Have just spent the weekend with the new 396XT, programming it up for a major news broadcaster hear in Canada, and post mobile test run driving around for a couple of hours yesterday testing all the systems out what a HUGE dissapointment the audio is (via headphone jack to a Undien 12watt extension speaker). man oh man, I have my own personal 396T to judge against and I would say conservatively that they have dropped the audio bye 10-15 % on the headphone jack WTF ?? Internal speaker sound (lousy at best) is comparable to 396T but out of headphone in mobile mode which is most of my listening , no comparison. Now don't get me wrong, I support Uniden big time , but this one really dropped the ball, Uniden consistently delivers awesome scanner products, but handheld audio blows. It is a shame that they don't appear to listen to what we are saying about handheld audio (espescially with people used to pro-audio sound form various pro handhelds Moto,Kenwood , Icom etc)
comeon Undien give us some decent audio circa 200 xlt days
What do you think ??
sjlamb
Member
I think you're ambushing yourself by trying to drive an unamplified speaker off of what is clearly designed to be a HEADPHONE jack.... NOT an external speaker jack. If you want to hook up an external speaker to a headphone jack, make it an amplified one for a couple more bucks and your issue will disappear.
Bucko
Member
I don't know about the ear phone jack for I never use and don't have a 396T to compare but the audio on my 396XT is super to me. I use it beside my other scanners, hand units ( BC & GRE ) and base units and never have a problem hearing it. Maybe I am easy to satisfy.
Common Complaint
I have my 396XT set a 6-8 indoors.
As for the low volume from the earphone jack, that is a common complaint with the 396XT. Uniden made a couple of changes from the 396T to the XT. The impedance of the earphone jack on the 396XT is 22 Ohms, yet all of the external shoulder speakers or shadow earpiece are 8 ohms. So uniden has introduced an impedance mis-match. They also changed the earphone jack type from mono to stereo. Many have suggested buying the Stereo to Mono adapter from RS, but that doesnt solve the impedance issue. When using the headphone jack, many have to crank the volume almost to max. This means over driving the audio circuit which isnt good for the scanner at all. I have posted this issue hoping that the Uniden product manager (Upman) would pass this onto uniden, but so far nothing. Unfortunately, this issue cant be solved by a firmware update.
I can only hope that Uniden would offer a free hardware fix to those of us that trusted them over the competition and spent $500 for this scanner.... but some how, I doubt that will happen.
I have my 396XT set a 6-8 indoors.
As for the low volume from the earphone jack, that is a common complaint with the 396XT. Uniden made a couple of changes from the 396T to the XT. The impedance of the earphone jack on the 396XT is 22 Ohms, yet all of the external shoulder speakers or shadow earpiece are 8 ohms. So uniden has introduced an impedance mis-match. They also changed the earphone jack type from mono to stereo. Many have suggested buying the Stereo to Mono adapter from RS, but that doesnt solve the impedance issue. When using the headphone jack, many have to crank the volume almost to max. This means over driving the audio circuit which isnt good for the scanner at all. I have posted this issue hoping that the Uniden product manager (Upman) would pass this onto uniden, but so far nothing. Unfortunately, this issue cant be solved by a firmware update.
I can only hope that Uniden would offer a free hardware fix to those of us that trusted them over the competition and spent $500 for this scanner.... but some how, I doubt that will happen.
K7CAR
Member
I recently acquired a 346xt and noticed the volume isn't real loud, but better than the 107 it replaced. Fine indoors at 10-11. I believe the 346 is the same radio as the 396xt less the digital. I picked up an amplifier/speaker at Radio Shack to run in my vehicle as the output wasn't loud enough. (part 277-1008C) $15.00 Mini Audio Amplifier - RadioShack.com It has a speaker bypass to run an external speaker with 1/8th plug.
I have a Nokia mobile speaker hooked up to it and it blows off the doors it's so loud. The only thing I don't like is it runs off of a 9v battery. I see in the RS reviews that some one is running it off 12v, so if it's eating up 9v batteries I'll hardwire a 12v plug and try it on that. There is an external DC plug input, so if you have a converter you're good to go.
I have a Nokia mobile speaker hooked up to it and it blows off the doors it's so loud. The only thing I don't like is it runs off of a 9v battery. I see in the RS reviews that some one is running it off 12v, so if it's eating up 9v batteries I'll hardwire a 12v plug and try it on that. There is an external DC plug input, so if you have a converter you're good to go.
ButchGone
Member
If you are listening to stuff you have programmed as FM, change it to NFM (narrow FM). You will hear a "louder" signal. It makes a big difference when listening to 800Mhz trunking analog. Digital is all the same.
BG..
BG..
Markinsac
Member
I have a low profile earphone (like some officers wear). When I'm using my 396XT on the normal speaker, I have the volume near the mid-point. For the earpiece, I have to turn it up almost all the way.
I've used the same earphone on a Motorola MTS2000, and I can usually keep the volume at about the same place whether using it or a speaker microphone.
I'm guessing that the resistance on the output of commercial radios may be different from what is expected from a small radio or CD player.
I've used the same earphone on a Motorola MTS2000, and I can usually keep the volume at about the same place whether using it or a speaker microphone.
I'm guessing that the resistance on the output of commercial radios may be different from what is expected from a small radio or CD player.
11 seems high for indoors. I use about 6. Audio is good in my opinion. Small speaker keeps lower voice freqs attenuated so it is clearer and there is tons of volume for mobile too. Have it on 2 for driving cheapo amplified computer speakers at work where it is noisy. Speaker volume is at about 25%.
Gcom
Member
***********
There is a setting in your 396 scanner that will allow you to increase audio on a per channel basis just like the Pro 106. Sorry I do not know the menu settings to direct you there as I do not own a Uniden 396 but this is from a aquaintance who is quite familiar with these radios.As far as external speakers & earphones , Uniden like GRE, has in the past utilized a internal resistor to purposefully attenuate ext. sound so persons would not damage their hearing .If the ground connection of the speaker jack & ground of antenna jack of these radios are shorted together in past models, this would bypass the resistor giving you increased audio to a external only speaker device .You may want to consult mods for the 396 before doing so to make sure that is still the case & you do not cause harm . AND I am with everyone on the POOR AUDIO ISSUE. Uniden used to build handheld radios with great sound but not anymore .I term todays radios as IPODs . Only good through a earphone & that's probably strecthing it. This has kept me from buying 2 Unidens. Guess I will stick with my old Pro -96's & 106, not great audio but better that Uniden.
Gcom
Member
I have included a link for firmware upgrades that will
• Improve Audio AGC.
• Adjust the Volume Table for smaller increments at low volumes.
+ some other enhancements
http://www.uniden.com/files/BCD396T Firmware Revision Notes.pdf
• Improve Audio AGC.
• Adjust the Volume Table for smaller increments at low volumes.
+ some other enhancements
http://www.uniden.com/files/BCD396T Firmware Revision Notes.pdf
Global?
4Roger, your firmware link is for the 396T, we are discussing the 396XT. I personally would only apply a firmware update made for my specific model, in this case, 396XT. That said, thank you for the info on boosting the gain on individual frequencies. Do you know if there is global setting that would boost all channels at once as the level issue is not mode/frequency specific. Thanks again for your help.
If UPMan is watching this thread, does Uniden have any plans to address this common issue? Change the impendence to more closely match available the hardware that we have used in previous scanner models? Or some other fix? Thanks
4Roger, your firmware link is for the 396T, we are discussing the 396XT. I personally would only apply a firmware update made for my specific model, in this case, 396XT. That said, thank you for the info on boosting the gain on individual frequencies. Do you know if there is global setting that would boost all channels at once as the level issue is not mode/frequency specific. Thanks again for your help.
If UPMan is watching this thread, does Uniden have any plans to address this common issue? Change the impendence to more closely match available the hardware that we have used in previous scanner models? Or some other fix? Thanks
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