WS1040: WS1040 Strange noise problem

[amanaman1]

Ok, everything has been fine with my month old WS1040 until today. I have made no changes and it was working fine last night. I turned it on this morning and out of the blue I've got that constant tell tale control channel idling diesel engine sound on every scan list, every tsys, everything, along with static and a rythmic click like a key'd mic every two seconds. I am still picking up most of my talk groups but the weaker ones get drowned out by the noise but the stronger ones will come in clear with no noise, then it goes back to scanning with the noise on every list while still scanning. It doesn't matter if it's a digital tsys, analog or mixed.

Even when I disable all the scan lists and it says "nothing enabled" the noise is still there loud as ever.

Even with the antenna disconnected, it is there but with tons of static where there used to be none. Squelch control does nothing.

Is this thing hosed or is the alien mother-ship parked over my house?

Any ideas?

 

[ScannerSK]

I wonder if the rhythmic click every two seconds is the conventional priorities (or weather channel) being checked?

I have no idea. It almost sounds as if the speaker circuit is not opening entirely while scanning however your comment about the noise drowning out weaker sounds on active talkgroups would seem to rule this out. It sounds as if some type of noise is being added to the normal signal.

I would save everything to a V-Scanner and try re-loading the V-Scanner to see if that helps.

Is it only affecting digital signals (talkgroups) or conventional channels as well? If it is only affecting digital signals then you might want to try reloading the firmware or DSP into the scanner.

I would also try both AM and FM modes to see if it is affecting only one mode as that may help diagnose the issue.

Shawn

 

[Joseph11]

Can you take a video of the scanner making this noise and post it here?

 

[amanaman1]

I did a full reset on the scanner and reloaded from a V file I saved last week. Same thing, made no difference. It does it whether on digital or conventional. I even hear it in the static with the antenna disconnected. It's like all of a sudden there's a super strong signal that wasn't there before but I am out in the country somewhat. not much happening out here.

I did a search with the antenna disconnected and there are several frequencies I am still receiving pretty strong, some sound like control channels, others just random radio traffic. The closest one I know of is a P25 control channel based about a mile and a half away but it's never been an issue.

I made a video of what I am hearing. Please disregard my random loss of thoughts while speaking. I am easily distracted by shiny objects and bright lights!

https://youtu.be/FaPgLvy-Lto

 

[amanaman1]

(deleted duplicate)

 

[slicerwizard]

The speaker muting logic/circuitry isn't working. The audio amp is always on.

Disassemble and separate all boards/connectors. Then reassemble.

 

[amanaman1]

The speaker muting logic/circuitry isn't working. The audio amp is always on.

Disassemble and separate all boards/connectors. Then reassemble.

Well son of a biscuit.....that was it! Not sure how/why that happened but something wasn't making a connection. Working fine now. Scanner is only a few weeks old so if it does it again i'll return it but so far it's working again.

Thanks so much!!!!! I appreciate the help.

Brian

 

[slicerwizard]

Nicely done. You owe me a beer...

 

[amanaman1]

Fair enough!!

 

[amanaman1]

Just an update.....WS1040 kept having the same problem plus the display randomly going goofy too. Got to the point where I could just smack it and get it working again. Sending it back for replacement. Have since picked up a WS1065 base unit as well, so far it's working fine. Hopefully this is a fluke and not indicative of the build quality in general.

 

[DJ11DLN]

I hope they'll fix/replace it for you. That is a good scanner for P25 p.1. I have a Pro-651 (same basic scanner from RS) that I got a couple of years ago for a price I'm embarrassed to admit because it was "broken." It would turn on and appear to scan but never pick anything up, not even WX. Turns out the boards weren't properly seated together. One good squeeze and it's been perfect ever since.

 

[amanaman1]

Well I received the replacement WS1040 and this one won't receive anything at all in the 800mhz range. Boards are seated, everything's connected internally. It's going back too. Looks like I'm 0-2 in the Whistler handheld department!