Headphone Jack Feedback

[GeraldCondmach]

New to the forum, have no idea if this has been posted about before, here goes!

I just got a BCD536HP. I am not at all impressed with this device. It takes a genius with a Phd in HAM Radio communications to set the thing up - without the included Sentinel software and internet vids by people who have it already, this scanner would be a brick, in the box, being sent back to Amazon. However, due to narrow-banding and the move to digital trunking systems that my old scanners won't pick up, im stuck with this technological terror for now.

Among my other gripes, I have found a legitimate new one, though i'm not sure if this has to do with the scanner or the quality of the devices I am hooking it to. The front headphone jack is absolutely useless when I try to hook it to a computer sound-card for line-in broadcasting. The feedback-buzzing is so loud that it sounds as if i'm hooked to a residential power cable. I've tried different settings and different cables, but the buzzing is there, and very loud at any squelch or volume setting. It does not do this through regular headphones.

Yes, I have tried using the external speaker jack on the back. It does not have the feedback, but it is mono, which is also no good for my purposes. Odd that a scanner that costs this much would have a mono output to an external speaker.

 

[fog]

I've noticed the same thing. Plugging headphones into the front or rear jack, I get buzzing and noise on my 536. Overall it seems like it does some things very well, but also has some really surprising warts like this one.

 

[UPMan]

Noise on the headphone jack is either going to be impedance mismatch or ground loop.

 

[GeraldCondmach]

"Noise on the headphone jack is either going to be impedance mismatch or ground loop."

Ok, we have the diagnosis. What steps do I take to solve this? The new Uniden scanner is in the same setup as the RS Pro433 - same location, hooked to the same antenna and cable as the old Pro433, using the same audio patch cable from the scanner to the computer sound card. The difference here is that the Pro433 did not have this feedback. The only thing in this setup that is different is that i'm using the power cord that came with the 536.

 

[jonwienke]

You need a ground loop isolator for the connection to the computer.

 

[GeraldCondmach]

Well wouldn't you know that I need to pay MORE money for one more thing that I have to drive fifty miles to purchase, or pay shipping and handling and wait a week for.

This evening I hooked the scanner up to my old computer that has been mothballed, and I was able to get feedback free audio from it. However, every time a transmission came in, it would at first be loud, then drop to a level so low it was almost inaudible. After I found that it is my main computer that is causing the feedback loop, I hooked it back up but this time using the rear speaker output on the scanner, which is mono and does not cause the feedback loop. It is fun listening to static and hissing through one ear every time a transmission comes through.

This has basically been an all around bad experience with this scanner. This, and reading how many problems folks have had with this scanner and it's hand-held brother, make me wonder how Uniden can put out this cheap junk, charge a premium price for it, and stay in business? The REALLY cheap Radio Shack scanners i've had never game me one bit of trouble, and are actually still going after all these years.

Still, given my n00bness at having a more complicated radio, I'll give it another fourteen days to break in the scanner, get a ground loop isolator, and learn the system. I've got a bad feeling though that this thing will be going back to where it came from.

 

[GeraldCondmach]

Sorry for the second post about this back to back, but i'm spending a lot of time trying to figure this out because I really hate losing to a machine.

Came upon an accidental "fix" to the ground loop issue. I connected the USB cable from the front of the scanner to the motherboard and the buzzing completely went away. So now I am able to get buzz fee reception from the headphone jack. However, now I am running into another issue, one that I suspect may be a setting i'm missing. When using the headphone jack, only the first second or so of the transmission plays, then it goes silent even though the scanner is still on the channel. I have put close call on DND and turned it completely off, but it has not affected the issue. Anyone else seen this before?

 

[GeraldCondmach]

Seek and you shall find.

It's not the solution that I wanted, but it's good enough for now.

https://forums.radioreference.com/uniden-tech-support/286473-wifi-streaming.html

Just note if you do this and you have a network with a hidden ID, you have to un-hide it while connecting the scanner, then you can rehide. Also, make sure that you have the latest version of VLC media player. Mine put up an awful fuss when I tried to put the name of the scanner in the streaming server field, locking up Windows twice before I realized I was using a VLC from 2016. Updating to the newest version solved that issue.

I'm ordering a Ground Loop eliminator thingy, and also taking a hard look at ordering a new sound card. The on board audio on my main computer seems to be largely the contributing factor to the buzzing issue..

 

[phask]

I did not follow all your threadlinks - but I'll confirm the wifi link using Proscan works reliably (at least for me) .

I run one 24/7 and record 100%. Proscan also has all the "hooks" to online streaming as well.

It survives re-boots, cold starts and reconnnects well.

I do not use it for ptograming the 536, but do use it for all my other non Sentinel Unidens.

I did not buy it for the wireless - but works just fine.

 

[ProScan]

If you want to hear audio crystal clear through the computer speaks, the 536 Wi-Fi is the best solution, otherwise using any sound input device will produce noise not just from ground loops but because using copper wires that can pick up noise.

My free RadioFeed can pick up the 536 Wi-Fi audio and loop the audio to the computer speakers.