speakers, lights and whatnot

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jeffy

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I'm not very technical by any means but I know what i like and don't like when it comes to scanners and am/fm/shortwave radios. A biggie for me is speakers.... when I pay $100 or more for a scanner or radio I expect good sound. I have a pro 94 and while the speaker is not horrible it's not that good either. Any radio or scanner can have bells and whistles out the ying yang but if the sounds not too good ...well it kind of lessens the fun of having it.. I like the scanner though. Lights: I bought a Pro 92 for and older fella out the road.... what is up with the light not made to come on when the scanner picks up a freq.? Maybe I missed it in the book.... I'll have to go back over to the guys house and reread the book. Of course you can turn the light on manually. I think seeing and hearing what's on the scanner is a priority. The sound from my Pro -89 and Pro 2054 suit me.
 

kingpin

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I've seen the light option on some of the newer scanners but I never saw this as an option on the 92. You will just need to activate it manually. Of course, getting a newer scanner that does this is nice too. I recommend the BR330T. Has great LOUD sound and has a wide frequency range. Best handheld I've had.
 

DickH

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jeffy said:
I bought a Pro 92 for and older fella out the road.... what is up with the light not made to come on when the scanner picks up a freq.? ... The sound from my Pro -89 and Pro 2054 suit me.

And I'll bet your Pro-89 & PRO-2054 don't have the auto light feature, either. That's because it's a feature that Uniden has patented.
 

n3ncn

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DickH said:
And I'll bet your Pro-89 & PRO-2054 don't have the auto light feature, either. That's because it's a feature that Uniden has patented.

My Radio Shack Pro-95 did that. For the Pro-92 Jeffy, If you download Donn Starrs Win92 freeware and hookup the 92 to the computer, the software has a setting in it to allow the backlite to stay on.
 
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n3ncn

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WOW just found this in the owners manual for the RADIO SHACK PRO-89.

Using The Auto Backlight

This feature allows the scanner to automatically turn the backlight on or
off, depending on the setting of SQUELCH. When auto backlight is turned
on, the backlight automatically turns on when the squelch is open and
turns off when the squelch is closed.
 
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jeffy

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thanks

thanks for the replies. My 94 and 89 do light. I darn near bought the BR330T last week but I really couldn't justify getting it. I live in and area (Morgan co. OH.) where the police, fire, etc. are still on the old systems. AEP (electric co.) is trunked but that's it here. The 92 xlt i bought for an older fellow who couldn't afford a scanner. He saw/heard mine one day and said he wished he had one. I haven't seen him today but the last time I saw him two days ago he was happier than a pig in mud! He really liked it when i programmed three TV channels in it so he can hear TV when the powers off during storms.

Sound: I do think sound/speakers need top be a priority for the manufacturer.
 

DickH

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jeffy said:
My 94 and 89 do light.

Oh, that's right. They were made by Uniden for Radio Shack. That's why they have the Auto Light feature. Scanners made by GRE (the PRO-92, PRO-95 & others) do not have that proprietary feature.
Surprisingly, the PRO-83, also made by Uniden for RS, does NOT have the Auto Light feature. It's a nice little scanner, but low priced, so that may be the reason. And the volume is very good. Too bad it doesn't trunk.

Dick
 
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kb2vxa

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Hi Jeffy and all,

Now why would you want the back light on to run the battery down? It draws more current than anything else, that's why it's supposed to come on only on demand and shut off after a short time out.

As for the speaker, you can only put so much in a little box stuffed with electronics. That's why we use external speakers and earphones where appropriate. That's another thing about battery life, the audio output stage draws the most current of all the electronics and the louder it is the more current it draws. In the field where battery life is at a premium a small earphone is an advantage. One small point, the receiver draws the least current when squelched so the less talking it does the longer the battery lasts. Locking out frequencies of little importance is another advantage and that includes busy radio systems that talk much and say little.

OK, I'm a battery miser but being a ham familiarized with emergency communications techniques and procedures I have learned that a dead battery makes everything so much dog poop. You may go merrily on your way never finding yourself in a bad situation but knowing the ropes just may save your butt one day. You may be thinking of two way communications but you never know when a radio receiver may become your lifeline.

"He really liked it when i programmed three TV channels in it so he can hear TV when the powers off during storms."

And that's only the tip of the iceberg, maybe you should program the local NOAA weather channel too. For what it's worth to the "base station" scanners, I wired a 12V 7.5AH battery across the wall wart leads. The wart keeps the battery charged and when or if the AC mains go out the scanner doesn't even notice. With that much reserve capacity the average scanner drawing 700mA should remain powered for slightly more than 10 hours continuous, more when used intermittently.
 

n3ncn

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POSTED BY DICKH:Oh, that's right. They were made by Uniden for Radio Shack
That's right.

Kb2vxa, I used to love to run mine like that with the light on or squelch activated. BUT only with external power hooked up.
 

jeffy

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sound

I understand cramming only so much into a box but when I see scanners of comparable size with similar bells and whistles and one sounds good and the other not so good... that just doesn't seem right. By the way, I did program a couple of NOAA stations (our specific 162.425) in for him. Even though it's in a service bank he's more comfortable with it in a "regular" bank and locks it in and out as needed. Of course the scanner is rated for 200 channels... he'll never come close to filling it up here. He's completely happy to have the 36 freqs. (maybe a couple of more eventually) he has. I'm tickled for him. As for me and emergencies? Anyone who knows me knows I'm pretty well prepared for worst case scenario storms.
 

Halfpint

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DickH said:
And I'll bet your Pro-89 & PRO-2054 don't have the auto light feature, either. That's because it's a feature that Uniden has patented.

Huh!? Since when? I've got an RE-2000 that has that feature and I don't think that RELM was necessarily in any mood to pay `Uniheave' a royality for something they have used for years, before `Uniheave' bought out Bearcat, on their other radios. More likely it's more of a RS `bean counter' type of thing. GRE said that it would cost an extra 2¢ to add it to the radios and the `bean counters' `pitched a fit' over it.
 

jeffy

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Bean counters

Yeah, bean counters who have never listened to a scanner and could really care less what consumers want or like. This applies to lots of products.
 

kb2vxa

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Hi Jeffy and all,

Don't forget that YOU are the bean counter. Adding a "2c" part results in $20 production costs and $200 increase in consumer price. What you want isn't always what you need and you don't need what you don't want. If you don't understand maybe Yogi can explain, that is if he doesn't confuse the duck. (;->)
 

jeffy

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nope

If I want it I need it and if i didn't want it I wouldn't need it. Understand?
 
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