gre psr-600 volume control

[beejay]

Can anyone else relate to this or is my 600 unique. My scanner is located in a 35x22
room. I am not happy with the volume control. Most of the control seems to be 9:00 to
10:00 oclock. Soft to room filling. Plenty of volume but little control.

I have a feeling the pot has the wrong " taper " .

Any comments ?

I haven't contacted the factory yet, thought I'd query the group first.

Thanks for any input,

beejay

 

[thewenk]

I would agree. It's very touchy to adjust.

Dave

 

[beejay]

Thank's for the reply Dave. I'll try to reach the the Gre site today and will post any answer they give me.

If I had a circuit drawing I might consider changing it to a better "taper ".

later,

Beejay

 

[hoser147]

Beejay, I have an issue with mine, when you turn it up its like a flat spot in the pod about 3/4 of the way up. GRE told me to take the knobs off and check to see if there is a burr on the plastic i did that. It helped some but it still will catch in that one area. Sometimes its bad enuff that it seems like it is stuck and wont move at all. I turned in another trouble ticket for it and am currently waiting to see what the devil they are going to do. Good Scannin Hoser

 

[iMONITOR]

GRE scanners have always had that characteristic. Even the PRO-96/PRO-2096's do that.

 

[N8IAA]

Can anyone else relate to this or is my 600 unique. My scanner is located in a 35x22
room. I am not happy with the volume control. Most of the control seems to be 9:00 to
10:00 oclock. Soft to room filling. Plenty of volume but little control.

I have a feeling the pot has the wrong " taper " .

Any comments ?

I haven't contacted the factory yet, thought I'd query the group first.

Thanks for any input,

beejay

Are you using an external speaker? Try a motorola, GE, or similar commercial speaker. It will make a huge difference.
Larry

 

[thewenk]

Are you using an external speaker? Try a motorola, GE, or similar commercial speaker. It will make a huge difference.
Larry

My experience with the MFJ-281 Cleartone external speaker is that while it improves the quality of the sound, it does not do much of anything for the touchy volume control issue.

Dave

 

[qlajlu]

My 600 also has its most comfortable volume between 9 and 10 o'clock. Beyond that it is too hard to listen to unless you are in another part of the house. Something else I am not thrilled with is that compared to my Uniden 780, the 600 has a lousy speaker. It always has lots of static sound in the background regardless of the TG. I like the scanner except for these two aggravations.

 

[Nascar18]

I have to agree on the volume control, and you can't find the "happy medium". Maybe in the 1.7 upgrade they can put in a -6db adjustment.

 

[beejay]

Here is the quick reply I received from GRE on the volume control issue and my reply back to them.

Hi B.J.,

This is very interesting! The volume response on my 600 is very linear, so this may be an issue with your unit.

If you'd like, we can look at a replacement or a repair under warranty.

Best regards,

Jack
GRE Support Team
http://www.greamerica.com/support

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: 24536
Department: Scanner Receivers
Priority: Low
Status: Open

My reply,
Jack,

I 'm impressed with the fast reply to my question ! Thank you !

At this time I will put up with the small aggravation of the control,
rather than send it back .

I'm enjoying it to much to part with it !

I'll adjust my hearing aid to suit !

Keep up the good work !

beejay

 

[Highpockets]

Are you using an external speaker? Try a motorola, GE, or similar commercial speaker. It will make a huge difference.
Larry

I agree, I use a GE speaker, and the audio is much better.

 

[rcool101]

Speaker

Plug an old pair of powered computer speakers in. They work excellent

 

[WayneH]

GRE scanners have always had that characteristic. Even the PRO-96/PRO-2096's do that.

I agree with this too. I use an external Motorola speaker with my 2096 and find the volume to be very touchy for anything but "loud". Once I go below 9 o'clock it's like there's a quiet hole.

It seems like they always use the same type of volume control electronics on each radio.

 

[pro92b]

From the service manuals for the PRO-97 and PRO-2055 the volume control is type RG82BS-2A1-B103-0EC2, made by a Taiwanese company at http://www.hung-ta.com.tw/03-list-02_e.htm. The volume portion of the dual potentiometer assembly is 50K Ohms and it is audio taper.

The PRO-2055 uses a TDA1905 audio output chip and from the schematic it appears that GRE raised the circuit gain about 8 dB above normal. This could be the cause of the poor control of the audio volume in the radio and changing one resistor would restore the original default gain (40 dB).

I did own both a PRO-2055 and PRO-2096 at one time but sold both so I can't try this change out to see if it makes the volume easier to set. Presumably the PSR-600 uses the same potentiometer and audio chip.

 

[foxtail]

To bad Bill Cheek isn't still with us, I'm sure he would have found a fix and more for this scanner. (gre600)

 

[DaveIN]

Bill would have souped it up to be sure.

I think the GRE response to offer to repair or exchange it would be a good thing to do. Then if there is a real issue they can address it in future radios. You may want to rethink your reply to them.

 

[GTO_04]

Here is the quick reply I received from GRE on the volume control issue and my reply back to them.

Hi B.J.,

This is very interesting! The volume response on my 600 is very linear, so this may be an issue with your unit.

If you'd like, we can look at a replacement or a repair under warranty.

Best regards,

Jack
GRE Support Team
GRE America, Inc. - Powered By Kayako SupportSuite


Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: 24536
Department: Scanner Receivers
Priority: Low
Status: Open

My reply,
Jack,

I 'm impressed with the fast reply to my question ! Thank you !

At this time I will put up with the small aggravation of the control,
rather than send it back .

I'm enjoying it to much to part with it !

I'll adjust my hearing aid to suit !

Keep up the good work !

beejay

So has anyone successfully resolved this issue by sending their 600 in for service? I suspect not if it really is a design issue. I have a Pro-197 with a very touchy volume control. I do not have this issue with my 500.

GTO_04

 

[mobile1]

I covered my PSR600 speaker opening with black tarp tape so It can be turned up to about the 12:00 position and not be too loud. It also lost that tinny sound too. Try it.

 

[GTO_04]

I covered my PSR600 speaker opening with black tarp tape so It can be turned up to about the 12:00 position and not be too loud. It also lost that tinny sound too. Try it.

Very ingenious and certainly worth a try!

GTO_04

 

[Nascar18]

The external speaker does work. I just bought one at RS it was on sale for 9.99. It has a 10 foot cord so you can move it around if needed plus it's only 3" wide