BCD536HP External Audio Very Weak

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WaveJam

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Hi All...

I have my BCD536HP online now and everything seemed to go well. I did the firmware and sentinel updates as Upman prescribed.... Two questions though...

1. I'm using Scannercast to broadcast the stream, I have an audio cable going from the BCD536HP external audio port to the PC. It works... but... its very quiet. I have to crank the volume up on the scanner to hear anything through the scannercast feed. If I unplug the cable, the internal speaker is nice and loud. Also, if I plug the audio cable into my 996XT the sound is strong through scannercast. It seems the external jack is simply weak. I tried the headphone jack and its better. What gives?

2. Also, in the beginning of some transmissions. Not sure if this is related to the fact that I have the volume up high for the scanner feed. Please listen: Frederick County Airport, Highway, Police, Fire and EMS

Thanks...
 

safetyobc

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I connected an external speaker to mine and it pushes out great audio through the speaker. Not sure what would cause it to be weaker going through the PC? Do you have an external speaker your could connect and see if it is the PC or the speaker jack?
 

WaveJam

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Do you have an external speaker your could connect and see if it is the PC or the speaker jack?

Thanks... Like I said, if I use that same audio cable and hook up my 996XT to the PC, it pushes great sound. I think that rules out the PC and audio cable. I'll still dig up a speaker and see what happens.
 

RF23

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Thanks... Like I said, if I use that same audio cable and hook up my 996XT to the PC, it pushes great sound. I think that rules out the PC and audio cable. I'll still dig up a speaker and see what happens.

I read somewhere on RR that Scannercast will soon be optimized for the x36BC radios. I do not know if they would have anything to do with it or not but I kind of doubt it.

Are you using a stereo plug or a mono plug with your audio cable? I think the speaker out needs a mono plug and the headphone out jack requires a stereo plug, other wise you run the risk (if like the other Unidens of the past) of shorting the left channel out to ground.

Have you tried the Record out jack on the 996 or was it too weak?

Of course you could have a bad speaker out jack as well since your cable works with the 996.
 

w2xq

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I wonder if the line impedance changed with the 536? HTH.
 

WaveJam

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If I use an amplified external speaker, it works great.. But the second I plug it back into the PC, the scannercast feed is too quiet. Then I plug my 996 into that same cable, its nice and loud via scannercast. Theres something fishy about this ext spkr jack. I'm agreeing withtrsundstrom.

Upman? Anything you can add?
 

RF23

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If I use an amplified external speaker, it works great.. But the second I plug it back into the PC, the scannercast feed is too quiet. Then I plug my 996 into that same cable, its nice and loud via scannercast. Theres something fishy about this ext spkr jack. I'm agreeing withtrsundstrom.

Upman? Anything you can add?

I checked the owners manual for both the 536 and 996xt and this is what I found.

536BC - 5 watts output to an 8 ohm speaker
996xt - 5 watts output to an 8 ohm speaker
external speaker jack = Mono
Headphone & Record out Jacks = Stereo
Headphone out 30mW at 30 ohms
536BC - no headphone out given.
 

WaveJam

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I checked the owners manual for both the 536 and 996xt and this is what I found.

536BC - 5 watts output to an 8 ohm speaker
996xt - 5 watts output to an 8 ohm speaker
external speaker jack = Mono
Headphone & Record out Jacks = Stereo
Headphone out 30mW at 30 ohms
536BC - no headphone out given.

Hmmm... This doesn't help my theory. Thanks for digging that up N0UDG.
 

WaveJam

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Is anyone around here running the BCD536HP with Scannercast right now? I assume yes and I assume your audio levels are ok? Would love some feedback.

I'm stumped.... Do I need an in-line amp then?
 

Skypilot007

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If the 536 had a line out this wouldn't be an issue.

You have to be kidding me right? No line level audio output. What the heck is Uniden thinking? Hello....is anyone home at Uniden. All these on line streams usually use that.:roll:
 

BigEvil

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I've noticed another problem with the audio. When using it in Serial Mode(with the USB connect) the speaker out on the back is significantly quieter than when not connected that way.

I set it up tonight with the Uniden Driver/Serial Mode to broadcast Alpha Tags via Scannercast. While the alpha do work, unfortunately I've noticed that for some reason the audio output got a lot quieter and required me to turn the volume knob from where it was (at 9) to where it is now (18).

Anyone else seeing this?
 
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WaveJam

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I've noticed another problem with the audio. When using it in Serial Mode(with the USB connect) the speaker out on the back is significantly quieter than when not connected that way.
Wow.. Thats interesting... I Will try that.

to broadcast Alpha Tags via Scannercast. While the alpha do work,

So wait... You have alphatags working? Do you have it set for Uniden 396/996 and it works? It didn't for me. Did you do anything special? My understanding is that alphatags would not work with the current scannercast.
 

BigEvil

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Yup. I downloaded the driver from the 536 wiki and then manually updated the driver via the device manager page. After that I restarted and when I opened scannercast (not the RR edition) a COM port was available finally and it works (I used the 396/996 tab). All that aside. the sound thing scares/bothers me.
 

RF23

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Yup. I downloaded the driver from the 536 wiki and then manually updated the driver via the device manager page. After that I restarted and when I opened scannercast (not the RR edition) a COM port was available finally and it works (I used the 396/996 tab). All that aside. the sound thing scares/bothers me.

I agree!

UPMan has stated that the component problem with the headphone issue in the 536HP is in a separate circuit from the speaker out or the internal speaker amp.. So fixing the headphone issue will apparently provide no help for the problem you have described.

Having to go from 9 to 18 on a audio taper volume control is way more than doubling the output.
 

BigEvil

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I agree!

UPMan has stated that the component problem with the headphone issue in the 536HP is in a separate circuit from the speaker out or the internal speaker amp.. So fixing the headphone issue will apparently provide no help for the problem you have described.

Having to go from 9 to 18 on a audio taper volume control is way more than doubling the output.

I'll start a new thread for this.
Thanks
 

SCPD

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pc

I connected an external speaker to mine and it pushes out great audio through the speaker. Not sure what would cause it to be weaker going through the PC? Do you have an external speaker your could connect and see if it is the PC or the speaker jack?

The cable is wrong somehow either its mono when it needs stereo or vice versa.if the audio on the scanner is set too loud,the sound card can "clip" or sound low.
 

NYRHKY94

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BigEvil:

Please do start another thread for this issue. I can confirm what the other guys are saying here as I tested my BCD536HP with the newlly released RadioFeed from Bob at Proscan as it now supports text tags for these new models. When using the speaker out for the streaming audio, the sound is so low that you can't even hear it. Even after cranking it up, it is still way too low IMO to be useful for an RR feed. When using the preferred headphone jack for streaming the audio, you obviously have the white noise/hissing issue broadcast as part of the stream, so that's no solution either (until the new replacement units are distributed by Uniden).
 

WaveJam

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I set it up tonight with the Uniden Driver/Serial Mode to broadcast Alpha Tags via Scannercast. While the alpha do work, unfortunately I've noticed that for some reason the audio output got a lot quieter and required me to turn the volume knob from where it was (at 9) to where it is now (18).

Confirmed... I have the exact same issue. Without the USB plugged in, my audio is as loud as it should be. I plugged the USB back in and the audio went quiet again.
 
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