PSR-500 Intermittent Receive Problem

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RodStrong

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Hi, I was hoping someone could help me figure out a problem I've been having with my PSR-500. The scanner at times will not receive anything that I am scanning at all. Even though it shows to be scanning, it will simply not pick up anything. Other times it works perfectly. The problem just comes and goes. I have some p25 trunked stuff as well as some p25 simplex and analog. I believe it has all the latest updates.

The scanner will just stop picking up trunking data, and also won't receive conventional signals even if I hold a transmitter right up to it. Does not matter whether it is actually scanning or on manual mode. I use the same program in a couple of Pro 197s, which work fine, so I know it's not related to the programming.

Any ideas? Thanks.
 

SCPD

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I just bought a psr500.. , only had 1 week.. what the serial # n yours? mines xx5412 I hope I am not in for a repair?? :(
 

hoser147

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I would do as marauder6 and check out the receive end of it. Being how you cant monitor the control channel continuously. That screw was known for causing problems in the earlier models, there are other threads on that. Let us know........
 

RadioDaze

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Try tuning in a weather channel. If you can get it to come in, try tapping the back of the radio, at the top near the antenna, gently with your finger. If that affects the signal, maybe it is in fact the screw loose problem.
 

emscapt9816

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Sounds like the antenna connection may be broken. Every handheld scanner I have owned at one time or another has broken the solder point to the PC board. If it's under warranty, you may want to consider sending it in for repair. If not, and if you want to do it yourself, it's not too difficult a repair. The GRE/Radio Shack scanners have a shield over the antenna connection. Removing that shield is a PITA, between the solder points and epoxy. Once off, you can access the solder joint from the antenna to the PC board. I use a small piece of wire from the board to the post, in order to allow "flexing", since that's what usually causes the break. I have done this repair on several radios this way, including older Bearcats and newer Radio Shack radios, and have not had an issue after the repair.
 

mobile1

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My PSR500 has this problem too sometimes, but only when I use it with the AC adapter and NI-MH rechargables in the yellow holder.
 

RodStrong

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First of all, thanks very much for your repsonses. I did check out the screw thread, and took the scanner apart. I have a fairly early model I believe, s/n 10xx. The screw wasn't totally tight but not what I would say was loose. I did tighten it up a tad, and the problem did not go away.

Since I had it open, I poked around lightly at everything for some time, and no luck. After taking it apart and putting it back together about 10 times, trying various things including different power supplies, antennas, you name it, and tapping on it here and there, it somehow started working right again. Kind of a bittersweet ending because I have no clue what I did (if anything) that made it come back to life. And, since the problem was intermittent, who knows if it will continue to work. But it works for now. Prior to this, I opened a help ticket with GRE, and was strongly considering buying one of the Pro 106's on sale right now as I use my scanner for my job and cannot work without it.

But, again, thanks for the tips. If anything, it prompted me to take the radio apart and maybe I inadvertently bumped something and got it back on track. I dunno.
 

Bill1426

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I have a GRE-500 s/n: 13xx
And I am having a similar issue.. I scan the local PD (edacs std), and once in a while I do not receive a transmission..
I hear the dispatcher answer the call, but never heard the original call..
It also goes the other way,, I don't hear the dispatcher, but I then hear the car accept the call..

Another member of this site, that also lives in my area, has a RS 96 scanner (made by GRE),
and he is also having the same issue..

I have been in contact with GRE, and they sent me diag. firmware to find out what is going on.
 

TheBreeze

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I am having the same problem. I was going to start a thread on the problem and saw this one first fortunately.

I am scanning a trunked analog system, and it will be going along real good and then nothing. The scanner looks like it is scanning but it's not receiving anything. I will turn on the wx for a couple seconds and then back to scan and it seems to work for a while again. Favorites will not transmit either when it goes quiet. I have it plugged into AC power with NI-MH batteries.

I have tried all the tapping and other suggestions, but haven't opened the scanner up to check the screw. My scanner is less than a week old. This is a very annoying problem. Looks like our PSR-500 scanners all have a related problem. Has anyone with the 600 experienced anything similar?

I am using the latest Win500 software, and have updated the scanners firmware as well.
 

DaveIN

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Another idea would be to make sure the PC boards are making good connection between layers. There are solder-less connections that may be making intermittent connection between boards. I have read about this possible solution before.
 

cfr301

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Ok Folks..Heres one.. I have a Pro 106 and a Pro 197 (Same as GRE 500 & 600) Reading these threads I try things people suggest. The Other Day a suggestion was made about going to Prog/Func/glob and seleting the DG setting and putting it at 20. Don S rightly observed that might be to low and could cause water board, so to play around a bit I set mine at 40 the default is 60. I noticed a big difference in getting analog transmissions as the scanner moves off the Digital channels quicker.

The other thing I noticed is there is a setting in there for Canadian Format and USA Format, both my radios were set to Canadian I switched to USA seems to have improved things even a bit more. These things might not work for you but they have for me, I've sure learned a bunch from Don S, Hoser, Mulrich, K8tek, and others.
 

TheBreeze

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Ok Folks..Heres one.. I have a Pro 106 and a Pro 197 (Same as GRE 500 & 600) Reading these threads I try things people suggest. The Other Day a suggestion was made about going to Prog/Func/glob and seleting the DG setting and putting it at 20. Don S rightly observed that might be to low and could cause water board, so to play around a bit I set mine at 40 the default is 60. I noticed a big difference in getting analog transmissions as the scanner moves off the Digital channels quicker.

The other thing I noticed is there is a setting in there for Canadian Format and USA Format, both my radios were set to Canadian I switched to USA seems to have improved things even a bit more. These things might not work for you but they have for me, I've sure learned a bunch from Don S, Hoser, Mulrich, K8tek, and others.

Thanks for the advice!! I checked mine, and it was already set for USA, and it wouldn't let me change the setting on DG for some reason. It is at 60 like you said. All the frequencies around here are still analog, so the scanner doesn't have to switch back and forth.

I have noticed that the blinking battery icon is not going off at the specified voltage either. The radio is getting rather hot when plugged into AC. I set the charge time to 6 hours, hopefully that will help. I think it may be overcharging the batteries.
 
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cfr301

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Thanks for the advice!! I checked mine, and it was already set for USA, and it wouldn't let me change the setting on DG for some reason. It is at 60 like you said. All the frequencies around here are still analog, so the scanner doesn't have to switch back and forth.

I have noticed that the blinking battery icon is not going off at the specified voltage either. The radio is getting rather hot when plugged into AC. I set the charge time to 6 hours, hopefully that will help. I think it may be overcharging the batteries.

If your not Scanning Digital Channels that time change on DG will not do anything to your radio. I have my battery chg set at 9 hours which gives me 8+ hrs of battery use so far thats been working out well. There is also a setting for the battery alert time you might want to check that. Last what firmware version are you showing? To check power radio off hold PGM Button down turn radio on let go of PGM button latest I believe is Ver 1.7. Power the radio back off to clear the screen after you check your version.

I am still experimenting with the DG setting testing it at 30 right now, seems yet a bit quicker to bounce off DG to Analog CONV chans.

Rick
 

TheBreeze

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If your not Scanning Digital Channels that time change on DG will not do anything to your radio. I have my battery chg set at 9 hours which gives me 8+ hrs of battery use so far thats been working out well. There is also a setting for the battery alert time you might want to check that. Last what firmware version are you showing? To check power radio off hold PGM Button down turn radio on let go of PGM button latest I believe is Ver 1.7. Power the radio back off to clear the screen after you check your version.

I am still experimenting with the DG setting testing it at 30 right now, seems yet a bit quicker to bounce off DG to Analog CONV chans.

Rick


It is V 1.7. Updating the firmware was the first thing I did to the scanner. I also just checked.

The battery icon thresholds are set so that the blinking icon should be off by now. The battery voltage is well above the set thresholds. The battery voltage shows 5.4x and the threshold is set to 4.4, also, the icon should go completely off at 4.5x.

I opened it up and did the screw repair and for the last several hours the scanner has been operating properly, no silence. Changing the charge setting may have helped as well. The scanner does not feel so warm, so possibly it was getting to hot because of the constant charging.
 

cfr301

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It is V 1.7. Updating the firmware was the first thing I did to the scanner. I also just checked.

The battery icon thresholds are set so that the blinking icon should be off by now. The battery voltage is well above the set thresholds. The battery voltage shows 5.4x and the threshold is set to 4.4, also, the icon should go completely off at 4.5x.

I opened it up and did the screw repair and for the last several hours the scanner has been operating properly, no silence. Changing the charge setting may have helped as well. The scanner does not feel so warm, so possibly it was getting to hot because of the constant charging.


Is the Battery Flashing while your plugged into the wall wart? If so mine does that too, It stops when I unplug the radio and run it on batteries, its most likely suppose to do that to remind you its plugged into the wall wart
Rick
 

TheBreeze

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Is the Battery Flashing while your plugged into the wall wart? If so mine does that too, It stops when I unplug the radio and run it on batteries, its most likely suppose to do that to remind you its plugged into the wall wart
Rick

AHH, that makes sense! Yes, that is how this one works as well. I was kind of under the impression it would stop flashing when the batteries were fully charged. These radios have no indicator whether the batteries are fully charged or not then?
 

cfr301

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AHH, that makes sense! Yes, that is how this one works as well. I was kind of under the impression it would stop flashing when the batteries were fully charged. These radios have no indicator whether the batteries are fully charged or not then?


To be honest I never paid any attention to weither or not it goes out I charge my radio let it run for 8 hrs then chg it again I've noticed the battery flash before but figured it was just telling me it was running on the wall wart.

Rick
 
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