PRO-433 Issues

[W1JJP]

A friend of mine asked me to look at his Pro-433 that has suddenly started acting up. It turns on and the display works fine, but it seems to be not receiving any transmissions. I adjusted the squelch and can't even get noise out of that. Went to the WX channels and put it on the strongest in my area, and nothing comes through. The speaker is working fine, as I hear the beeps when I push buttons, and I also have tried an external speaker. I can't even get it to scan, just sits on the same frequency as if the squelch is turned too low. I think I have narrowed it down to the squelch knob itself, but wanted to see if anyone had any similar issues. Thanks!

 

[GTR8000]

I doubt it's the squelch knob. When you tuned to the strong local NOAA frequency and still got no audio, that would have nothing to do with the squelch. The squelch could be at the very minimum or very maximum and you should still get clear audio from such a strong local signal.

Sounds like something else is going on internally. Probably needs a trip back to RS for repair.

Have you tried using different antennas? What about trying to scan with no antenna? I don't recall if that scanner came with a DC cord, but if it did try connecting it to a 12V power source to rule out a problem with the AC adapter.

 

[W1JJP]

I tried a couple antennas that I use on a frequent basis and still got nothing. I cut the cord for the AC adapter and hooked it to my DC converter and still had the same issue. I tried cutting the wires that connect to the squelch control and tied them together. That got it to scan, but would still not pick up and transmissions (sat right next to it with a portable radio transmitting).

 

[GTR8000]

Don't sit TOO close to it transmitting, you could damage the front end from overload.

Have you tried the front headphone jack?

Have you tried performing a full reset of the scanner?

 

[W1JJP]

I did not try either of those, but will. Probably should have at least done the reset before I took the whole thing apart. Kind of like we say in the fire service, "Try before you pry!"