On Apr 30, 11:53 am, "Dave Holford" wrote:
wrote in message

...



On Apr 28, 4:56 am, "Rob Cullen" wrote:
I suspect you've hit the nail on the head Sarah. Operator error springs
to
mind.

"Sarah Czepiel" wrote in message

. ..

On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:55:00 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

:Hi - I've gone through five scanners and was wondering if someone can
:recommendone before I run out of money. On all of these scanners, I
:try and set thesquelchso that it skips unused frequencies. However,
:when a used frequency is found, thesquelchchops out most of the
:audio. If I turn thesquelchall the way down, I can hear all of the
:audio. I try and use the least amount ofsquelchpossible, but it
:still chops the audio so you can't understand anything. Needles to
:say, I'm ticked off that devices could be designed so poorly.
:
:Thanks in advance.

Can you tell us what scanners you've used? I use the Pro 96, Pro97,
and
PSR 500. Also have used several different Bearcat, Uniden, and Radio
Shack
models and haven't found thesquelchtoo difficult to regulate.

I assume you've turned thesquelchall the way up and then backed it
slowly
down until it just allows the radio to scan thru the frequencies?
That's
how I fine tune mine. If I have an additional freq. or two that
overloads
and stops on that setting I back off thesquelchjust slightly to get
those
freqs/channels to scan. So far I don't feel I'm missing anything and
everything seems to come in loud and clear.

Am I missing anything? Is this what you've done so far without
success?

You assume correctly. As I mentioned... I try to use as little
squelchas possible.
I did have one scanner that worked not too bad (a Pro 92) that died.
I'm looking for another one with no success.
I've since bought several on Ebay that are total crap. A pro 2051, a
pro 2055, and a few others that I don't recall.
I suppose that it could be just bad luck that I got duds.

I've designed a lot of digital and microprocessor electronics in my
day, and what kills me is that it would be so simple and inexpensive
to digitally process the audio signal to see if there is a signal
present. The computer could then just cut-out thesquelchat that
point. Rather it seems that they just use some old crappy analogue
squelchcircuit that chops out the audio (especially on weak
signals). I'm seriously considering making my own scanner unless
somebody knows of a good one that doesn't use WWII technology.

Sounds like you are trying to use a carrier(AM) or noise(FM) operatedsquelchas an audiosquelch- different animals.

Google "audiosquelch" for details - it is indeed a simple digital device;
and when done properly will ignore all except human voice (or some signal
which approximates the syllabic rate of human voice).

Carrier and noisesquelchhave been around for generations - I have used
them in scanners, ham transceivers and professional equipment for over 50
years without the problems you are having. Aviation, public safety, Ham
radio and other mass users ofsquelchdon't have the problems you are
encountering.

Audiosquelchhas been used for a quarter century or so, especially for SSB,
in professional equipment and has started to become more common in consumer
level stuff in the last ten years or so.

If you really want a voicesquelchGoogle "SSBSquelch" the first hit will
give you a source, and there are others in the 53,000 Google hits.

Dave

Thanks I'll give that a shot.