PSR-500 won't receive anything!

[W2SJW]

Guys,

I had to return my first 500 because I discovered it was 'returned goods'. I got a brand-new one out of a freshly-opened carton today, and it had a much higher firmware & DSP than the first (C-1.3/D-1.2).

I loaded the file that I've been working on since Thursday to give me something to listen to while I continue to add the systems from my old scanner.

I turn the thing off for about 20 minutes to start the laundry. When I come back & see a 'weather alert' for my county on Firefox, I turn on the scanner to see if there's any action on the north side of the county - and nothing. The scanner will not respond to any RF signal!

I gave a bunch of TX tests on my amateur HT's, and the 500 didn't even acknowledge a signal being there at all. I even tried re-doing the firmware & DSP upgrades.

Any ideas of what to check before I package this thing up for a second time to go back to HRO???

 

[ChuckinSC]

With all due respect, I think it may be something you're not doing quite right. Does it power up ok, and do you have anything at all programed in (trunk or conventional)?

 

[W2SJW]

Yep - loaded the first v-folder so far with all the local TRS's here in North Jersey. The unit was working just fine until I turned it off to do the laundry (and I did not leave it attached to the PC/IF cable either while I was away)...

 

[ChuckinSC]

Do you have a known "conventional" frequency that you can test with? Perhaps something in the 460mhz range? Why not attempt to program that in, and see. You have a lot of equipment / experience, so I won't ask about the antenna being secure. Once the unit powers up, does the screen show as it should from pg. 34 of the manual?

 

[W2SJW]

Yes. I put the scanner in tune mode & tried VHF simplex & UHF simplex from my IC-92. The scanner doesn't even notice that I'm transmitting.

I manually put in the known CC for my county TRS in as a conventional, expecting to hear the raw data, nothing. I turn the squelch down to 0, and instead of hearing a loud rush of static equal to where I had the volume at, I get 'weak' static at about half the volume...

 

[ChuckinSC]

Well, I'm not sure about putting the CC in as coventional - I'm still learning myself. I've got to go out for the evening, but may I suggest you program a true conventional frequency as suggested on pg. 34. I suggest that only because it would seem the likelihood of getting 2 bad units is quite remote. I've read many posts on this forum, and haven't found anyone having "quality" issues. This is a GREAT scanner, but takes some quality time to fully understand - for me atleast !! . I'm sure someone else will be along to help. Good luck.

 

[troymail]

Assuming you're not worried about losing anything - I'd try a complete factory reset....

Power on - hit "1" then '2'....

Then start over..

(sorry if you've already tried this).

Afterwards - power it on and just hit the WX key a few times and see if you can pick up a WX broadcast.

 

[W2SJW]

Update:

I opened up the unit & did the 'screw-check' mentioned here quite a while ago. Put it back together & viola! The thing started to receive.

Dumped my programming back into the unit & rebooted. Deaf as a slug....

Did a full re-initialize - no change...

 

[firemanoh]

I had the same problem. I sent mine back to the factory and am waiting to get it back. The company said they did not find anyting wrong, but that they did change out the RF (card or chip, I forget).

I am waiting to get it back and see if it works now.

They were very nice about the entire issue. I just hope their fix did the trick.

 

[firemanoh]

Got my scanner back and its working fine. Very friendly service.

I would get ahold of GRE and work with them, you may need to send your unit back.

 

[W2SJW]

Got my third one from HRO yesterday. The new one seems to be working just peachy...

Now, I'm just waiting for my Likase...

 

[captaincraig44]

Just a thought, but testing the scanner with an HT at close range probably didn't help your situation. Even at 1/2 a watt, being in the same room could potentially fry the innards of the radio. IT certainly won't help with improving sensitivity at any rate.
I had my first 500 begin acting like the attenuator was on all the time. I sent it back to GRE and had a new unit in less than a week. They sure do have the customer service thing down!