Improve Feed Quality?

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Nate1n22

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I've been trying to improve feed quality and not having much luck. I used to have a lot of background noise when no one was broadcasting now I have a lot of background noise when someone is transmitting. I've tried a ground loop isolator and using a USB soundcard instead of the PCs built in mic in and nothing has made it sound better. I've also tried another 3.5mm and a different scanner as well.
Any suggestions?

Link to feed: Muskegon County Police Dispatch Live Audio Feed
 

RaleighGuy

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Just a thought, but have you tried moving the scanner/computer to a different location? The problem may be some electrical device near the scanner.
 

Nate1n22

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Just a thought, but have you tried moving the scanner/computer to a different location? The problem may be some electrical device near the scanner.

I have tried moving it from the closet it was in closer to a window.

If you've tried a Ground Loop Isolator, I'm at a loss.

It's a matter of "Garbage in/Garbage out". What radio are you using?

How does the audio sound without it being connected to the feed?

There's some background noise without it being connected to the feed. I'm beginning to wonder if broadcasting it makes it sound worse than what it sounds like in person? Been thinking about an attic or roof mounted antenna but it's hard to pull the trigger on that since I can hear it fine listening to them myself
Using an old Pro 433 but I've also tried a Bearcat 15x
 

Nate1n22

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Are you using a headphone or speaker out on the scanner to send audio to the computer? How much is the scanner volume turned up?
The external speaker port on the back of the scanner. Right now the volume is right under the halfway point because I was trying to experiment turning the microphone volume really low in the "Microphone Properties" window on the computer. I've tried turning the scanner volume to about a 1/4 and leaving microphone volume at 20 and have the same issue
 

AB5ID

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The external speaker port on the back of the scanner. Right now the volume is right under the halfway point because I was trying to experiment turning the microphone volume really low in the "Microphone Properties" window on the computer. I've tried turning the scanner volume to about a 1/4 and leaving microphone volume at 20 and have the same issue
It's possible your microphone input is too sensitive and the scanner speaker out is too noisy with the hiss. Can you switch to a line input on the PC and mute or disable the microphone input? If that isn't a possibility get a inline headphone volume control or line level to microphone level audio attenuator from Amazon.
 

KD0TAZ

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The hum and the hiss are two different things. The constant background hum is definitely a voltage loop between the computer and scanner. It could be from using the mic (pink) input because computer mics are electret condenser and the pink jack sends out DC bias voltage to power the mic. Not only that, but the mic jack is going to be expecting a much lower level signal than line level. Always use the Line In (blue) jack. Cheapo USB cards with only a green and pink jack are just as bad.

The hiss during reception is from the signal being weak. Move your antenna.
 
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AB5ID

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Lee's Summit, MO (Kansas City)
I've been trying to improve feed quality and not having much luck. I used to have a lot of background noise when no one was broadcasting now I have a lot of background noise when someone is transmitting. I've tried a ground loop isolator and using a USB sound card instead of the PCs built in mic in and nothing has made it sound better. I've also tried another 3.5mm and a different scanner as well.
Any suggestions?

Link to feed: Muskegon County Police Dispatch Live Audio Feed
I have a cheap audio input that combines line in and microphone in on the same jack.
Another thing I discovered last night was when trying my audio input is there was a options in the properties to select called microphone "boost" make sure that option is not enabled. Right click your normal speaker icon to find your way to record devices or or sound sound options.
 
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