Receiving issues

[jonwienke]

Have you ruled out intermittent connections in the coax, e.g. swapping the connections between the 536 and the other scanner?

How powerful is the 2-meter radio, and how close has its antenna been to the 536 antenna during keyup? Keying a transmitter too close to the scanner antenna can feed enough RF into the scanner receiver to damage it.

Is there any looseness to the BNC connector on the 536? Is it possible the connector isn't connecting to the scanner main board properly?

 

[falcondr]

Yes I have swapped the Coax and the only 2 meter that has been used around it was my handheld at 5watts. That was just when I was testing the receive. Otherwise I used the ham radios mobile only. The plan was to buy another 536hp to use mobile but I put them plans on hold because of these issues. I have been having issues for over a year now but only recently started to try and solve them.

 

[ofd8001]

Wonder if something may have damaged the receiver circuit? Transmitters too close can do that, or even a static electricity spark on the antenna or cable when connecting cable to scanner.

If you can take the scanner mobile, try getting close to a transmitting site (couple of football fields) and see what happens.

 

[falcondr]

I can try that. But what I don't understand is I'm about a 1/2 mile or less away from the conventional repeater here in town and it only picks up randomly yet I'm also receiving conventional stations more than 20 miles away. I have a good quality mag mount tuned to he 800 band. Ill try and go on a road trip this week and sit underneath a couple of different towers.

 

[UPMan]

When it randomly picks it up, is it a clear, solid reception? That would indicate something being intermittent (either in the antenna, the antenna cable, or in the scanner).

Or, is it weak? That would indicate a continually bad signal (due to antenna, cable, or the scanner).

Based on what you posted earlier, it seemed to say you were receiving distant stations 5x5 reliably (indicating against a hardware issue). But, your more recent posts sound more like there might be a hardware issue. Difficult to say based on the mixed information provided.

 

[falcondr]

It is clear solid reception but the signal may not show or it may show full bars. It picked up a Miami EMS channel (roughly 20 miles away) with no bars on the signal then picked up an Arkansas conventional, which is more than twice to 3 times the distance and had 4 bars on the signal. It is definitely not consistent.

 

[Bill1426]

I just starting noticing the same issue.. Here is my scenario.
I don't use the Database, I use the Fav. Lists.
If I scan I have no issues that I know of. If I hit Channel to hold the channel, within a few minutes, I see the WiFi icon disappears, and then I don't receive anything. If I then release the hold, it will start the scan, but it still will not receive anything. If I turn it off, and then back on, it's still will not receive anything, but I noticed the scan is slower than normal.
But If I hit Menu, and go to WiFi, and have the unit reconnect, I then start receiving again. All Firmware is up to date. This seems to have started after the Database update of 03/18/18.

 

[derevs]

A suggestion is that you might have a poor solder joint on the antenna input of the scanner.
Several people have reported this over the years on different scanners. I even had one myself.
That would account for the intermittent reception.

 

[n2pqq]

Have you adjusted the range ?
Maybe increase it .

 

[jonwienke]

None of these explain why the WiFi reception cuts out. Database updates, or any favorite list settings, would not cause that. The most likely cause is an intermittent power supply problem on the scanner mainboard that powers the Wi-Fi USB jack and receiver components.

Send the unit to Uniden.

 

[Bill1426]

I would agree with a power supply issue, but it only happens when I put a channel on hold.
When it's in scan mode, there is no issue.

 

[jonwienke]

Probably because pressing the button flexes the board in just the right way to trigger the problem.

Uniden needs to fix it.

 

[Bill1426]

The issue I had is solved..
I could not tell you which of the things I did fixed it. But it looks like it's fixed.
1) Reset unit back to defaults
2) Formatted SD Card
3) Installed the new Firmware (1.14.00)
4) A complete power down.
It's been about 5 hours, and so far so good.