SDS200 Silent
- Thread starter firebal
- Start date
tvengr
Well Known Member
Do you see anything on the scanner display? I had a friend with a BCD536HP which appeared to be totally dead. A new SD card brought it back to life.
Do you work on other brands? Also, do you repair 436HPs?lots of good info here, if you can't figure it out ship it to me, i'll diagnose it. if i can fix it i'll make a youtube video and send it back. if it's toast, i'll give you $100, i need a parts sds200 donor
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2002
- Messages
- 214
It's either not receiving or not putting out audio, or both. maybe it was dropped or exposed to other elements, moisture, static discharge etc. Try this:
Turn the volume to 12 o'clock. stop it from scanning and manually enter any frequency, for example enter 162.400, now turn the squelch all the way down. do you hear static coming from the speaker? if not, plug in an external speaker to the back, still nothing? plug in headphones. if you hear audio thru the headphones and not the internal or external speaker then part of the audio circuit is bad, rare but happens. if nothing works, then tune to a known strong signal, whatever your local weather station is, you should see bars indicating signal strength. if you have audio but no signal, check to make sure the attenuator is not on, if the signal is strong enough this won't matter. if it has sound but not receiving then i'd start tracing from the antenna jack on the back to the IF board looking for a broken or shorted BNC, cold solder joint, pinched coax or connection that has come off of the board, etc. if it's deeper than that then you're looking at replacing PCB's and that's a job for uniden as they won't sell any spare parts over the counter, good luck. Disclaimer: tinker at your own risk, safety first, always disconnect and wait for caps to discharge completely, use ESD wristband, etc. i'm not responsible for injuries or damage, i.e. accidently tearing a ribbon cable under the hood, etc.
Turn the volume to 12 o'clock. stop it from scanning and manually enter any frequency, for example enter 162.400, now turn the squelch all the way down. do you hear static coming from the speaker? if not, plug in an external speaker to the back, still nothing? plug in headphones. if you hear audio thru the headphones and not the internal or external speaker then part of the audio circuit is bad, rare but happens. if nothing works, then tune to a known strong signal, whatever your local weather station is, you should see bars indicating signal strength. if you have audio but no signal, check to make sure the attenuator is not on, if the signal is strong enough this won't matter. if it has sound but not receiving then i'd start tracing from the antenna jack on the back to the IF board looking for a broken or shorted BNC, cold solder joint, pinched coax or connection that has come off of the board, etc. if it's deeper than that then you're looking at replacing PCB's and that's a job for uniden as they won't sell any spare parts over the counter, good luck. Disclaimer: tinker at your own risk, safety first, always disconnect and wait for caps to discharge completely, use ESD wristband, etc. i'm not responsible for injuries or damage, i.e. accidently tearing a ribbon cable under the hood, etc.
send me a PM.
tvengr
Well Known Member
Please ket us know what you are seeing on the display. Is the display blank? Does the display show scanning? Is the display stopping on frequencies or talkgroups? We can't help if you don't answer our questions.
Apologize I've been busy at work. Won't be able to test it until later this week.
tvengr
Well Known Member
I don't see any signal strength indication in either photo. The --- RSSI indicates no antenna attached.
Yeah I see that. There is very much an antenna attached and I even tired with a second antenna.
Can you post a picture of the connector? With nothing connected.
tvengr
Well Known Member
If you are using an antenna adapter, make sure that the center pin of the male BNC connector has not broken off.
Maybe I missed it, are the services all correct?
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2002
- Messages
- 214
with the unit unplugged and off for several minutes, press down on the gold connector and wiggle the coax side to side gently. try not to touch any of the circuit board components and try to ground yourself by touching a metal case of something nearby to discharge static electricity before you poke around in there. also inspect the BNC and make sure there are metal tab(s) that can pinch the center pin of the antenna. last resort, do you have an FRS radio or anything that transmits that you can enter the frequency in and key up to see if it will receive a strong nearby transmitter?
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tvengr
Well Known Member
The center of the connector looks OK. If you are using the same cable to connect to the second antenna, change cables. Ask if the other person keyed up a transmitter in close proximity to the scanner. A blown RF amp could cause the same symptoms as no antenna.
tvengr
Well Known Member
If it were a service type issue, you would get the dreaded Nothing to Scan message. Service types will not affect signal strength.
Last edited:
They stated they have not.
KV4PM
Member
I had a similar issue a while back but it seemed I was only losing trunked systems; the NOAA station across the bay came in fine. I would do "Clear User Data" from Sentinel and it would work again for a while. Just remember to back up your SD card before doing this. I ended up getting a higher-quality SD card and I have not had the issue since.
