Scanner: Repair or Replace?

[HowD]

Hi, all.

I have a BC250D that finally bit the dust (it had been ill for a while). I read that Uniden charges $50 to look at the radio. I know that at the very least, the charger jack needs to be replaced.

Certainly it would cost more than $50 or even $250 to replace it, but I'm thinking that if I have to spend money anyhow, maybe I'm just better off buying something new. (Maybe I should just spend the $50 and see what they say?)

I'd like to be able to receive Ozaukee TRS and Milwaukee TRS, as well as conventional frequencies (including aero).

Is it worth going with something digital-capable (as is the 250D)? Would my 250D be obsolete by the future rebanding anyhow?

Thanks for your input.

 

[OpSec]

According to the Wiki, rebanding is NOT supported in the 250D.

What "bit the dust"? Sometimes you can get the replacement parts and do it yourself if you are reasonable handy at soldering.

 

[LEH]

As always, the final decision has to be yours. Some things to consider.

Newer scanners don't require the battery pack the 250 does, so you can use better grade batteries and have spares handy all the time.

Rebanding, I am not sure the 250 will support the eventual rebanding (if you are affected by it in your area).

Software support. The newer scanners do have a better choice of how to load from the computer (or even the RR DB).

The biggy here, 9600 baud TRS systems. 250, is a sorry about that. Most new Motorla TRS systems that are going digital are P25 9600 baud systems.

Scanners like the PSR500 or BCD396T have dynamic memory (no 10 bank limit).

You may spend $50 to have the radio fixed only to have something else fail and you're back to repair or replace quandrum again. Only now you've already invested $50 in the first repair.

On the side to keep the 250, is you already know how to use it and the learning curve on the newer scanners is somewhat steep. Lots of little bells and whistles.

Lots of reasons to upgrade and lots of good choices out there. Shoot the decision on what to buy might be enough to make me keep what I have.

 

[Bentley]

LEH makes great points! (as usual!) lol

I always look at repairing an 'older' scanner as putting good money into bad money, who knows what else will break farther on down the road. But if that scanner works for you (when its fixed obviously) then by all means stick with it. If you have the extra cash to spend, then get new!

Is repairing it yourself an option? Possible to purchase the charger jack and give it a shot? With a little patience and a steady hand you would be suprised at what you can do with a solder iron (and a de-solder iron). .... just my 0.02 cents.

Good Luck

 

[nslt204]

Re-banding will be a problem with the Milwaukee TRS and at least some of the Milwaukee system will be P25 digital in the future. They have one P25 test site running now in the NE corner of the county.
My 250 that also needs a repair by the way was much more sensitive on the VHF and especially the UHF bands than the 396 I have now. The 396 is good all around but the 250 did out perform it on the conventional side of the house. the 396 blows it away on the 800 TRS scanning.
One of these days I'll fix the 250. 2 kids don't leave much uninterrupted time these days

Hi, all.

I have a BC250D that finally bit the dust (it had been ill for a while). I read that Uniden charges $50 to look at the radio. I know that at the very least, the charger jack needs to be replaced.

Certainly it would cost more than $50 or even $250 to replace it, but I'm thinking that if I have to spend money anyhow, maybe I'm just better off buying something new. (Maybe I should just spend the $50 and see what they say?)

I'd like to be able to receive Ozaukee TRS and Milwaukee TRS, as well as conventional frequencies (including aero).

Is it worth going with something digital-capable (as is the 250D)? Would my 250D be obsolete by the future rebanding anyhow?

Thanks for your input.

 

[HowD]

Thanks for the input and suggestions so far.

Specifically, the power jack broke away from the circuit board at some point, so I would need to de/re-solder a new jack. The solder itself didn't separate; the jack was broken. The battery symbol and beep kept coming on, even though the radio charged for plenty of time. The battery was about a year old; that seemed strange. I took the battery out and tried the radio without it and that's when I found that it wasn't the battery but the jack on the side. That itself seems like it wouldn't be such a terrible DIY repair.

There were times when the audio level would suddenly drop. I figured out (by accident) that if I press on the area just below the speaker grille, the sound would come back. I'm guessing something was loose in the speaker or on the circuit board. That could possibly be a relatively easy repair...then again, maybe not.

In general, reception was not great. It seems like it used to have better reception; I had noticed the difference for about a year. For about 6 months before the power jack was beyond use, indoor reception was awful. About 6 miles away from one of the OZTRS towers and I could barely receive on the rubber duckie antenna. (Perhaps I'm expecting too much, though.) I wonder if something went bad from the intermittent power.

I'll admit that I did not treat the scanner in the most gentle manner; I wish they'd make a scanner as tough as some of the regular handheld radios. I certainly didn't deliberately toss it around but sometimes gravity does its thing...

Is this whole rebanding thing really happening any time soon? If I understand correctly, would OZTRS not be affected, just Milwaukee County TRS?

Thanks again, folks.

 

[OpSec]

As far as I know, all the 800 MHz public safety users could/will be affected by rebanding...however, I live in a fantasy world of conventional VHF, so I'm not really sure about the whole rebanding thing.

 

[mas]

Milwaukee, Waukesha & Sheboygan counties wil reband. The only Ozaukee TRS frequencies that may be affected are 860.7125 and 860.7625.

 

[1268]

Buy a uniden BCD396-T, rebanding or digital your covered for a long time. Just my two cents worth.

 

[52to12]

The $50.00 charge from Radio Shack is for diagnosis/repair estimate only. In addition you have to pay the cost of round trip shipping from the store to the service center, atleast an additional $15. or so.

 

[w4esp]

BC-250 repair

The $50.00 charge from Radio Shack is for diagnosis/repair estimate only. In addition you have to pay the cost of round trip shipping from the store to the service center, atleast an additional $15. or so.

If you take your BC250 to any company Radio Shack, they will call you with and estimate for only $20.00 deposit, the normal labor is $49.00 and a DC jack for that model is $4.95, usually the antenna connection should be resolderes and it looks like you have an audio output issue, which you should discribe on a seperate peice of paper taped to the unit, with all the chatter about tunking systems as what they are...... there is plenty to listen to besides tunking which I see some day being banded from public safety, dont forget the marine band, air bands, business, frs, ham, ... to properly monitor it takes several scanners running at once, so keep your older scanners and have fun.

good luck
tom w4esp

 

[HowD]

Thanks for the RS advice--hadn't thought of that.

 

[cpd38]

Not that it matters, but I've had to send my Uniden 246 in twice to Uniden for repairs. I had some kind of issue where I got absolutely no reception with the scanner at all. I assume it was just a connection that broke inside. Either way, they were actually pretty good about it.

They repaired it and sent it back for the $50 and not a cent more.

I had a similar issue with the scanner a couple months later. Uniden paid for the postage though a Fed Ex store and didn't charge for the repair. They said if it the same thing happened again they would just replace the unit free of charge.



My 2 cents I guess