Railfan Technology > BC125AT Question

I have 2 of these scanners; one stays in my car attached to an external antenna. The other is for out of the car, with an RH77CA antenna. The other day I noticed that one scanner wasn't talking at all. CSX trains went by me and I didn't hear any signals being called out. The next day, I turned both scanners on, and had a train sitting nearby getting its TA. Once scanner was talking, the other was silent. It didn't matter if the silent scanner was attached to the external antenna, or the rubber ducky.

I checked the obvious, that the channels were still programmed, no channels were locked out, and the volume was up. NOTHING. Any suggestions on how to make it talk? Thanks in advance.

Just a wild guess, but your "deaf" scanner may have a broken antenna connector.  These are a common failure point on many scanners and portable radios, especially if you're switching out antannas frequently.  It's pretty easy to physically break the antenna connector solder points in the radio when frequently twisting  the antenna on or off.  Best advice is to put the antenna on and leave it there.  I know--you can't do that if you're attaching your portable radio to an external antenna.  That makes a good argument for getting a permanently mounted mobile radio for your railfanning vehicle--I did that many years ago.  I've only had one portable radio antenna connector fail since (in over 20 years) on a radio that I carried daily on my belt for a number of years.

Does the problem scanner stop scanning when there is a transmission, but you don't hear anything?

I'm not familiar with that model in particular, but the Kenwood 2 metre mobile rig I used to have in the car would sometimes get switched to AM, rather than FM, and I wouldn't hear anything then.  It would stop scanning , but nothing was audible.

Do you hear static when you defeat the squelch?  If not, maybe the speaker itself is broken.  Try the headphone jack.

GTD

One method to troubleshoot this is to tune to the local Weather Broadcast, in the 162 MHz area, so that you have a constant signal to work with. Then swap antennas or look for a loose connection and so on.

Obvious things to look for: bad antenna; bad connection for antenna inside the housing; radio stops at a signal but doesn't have sound, quite different than bad antenna, possibly a simple loose wire or contact to speaker. The temperature extremes inside the car can be a problem for consumer radios. These radios go for about 100 bucks, might be time to buy a new one and move on but it's worth a few minutes to check the obvious and make sure the antennas and other cables are ok.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/21 10:14 by TCnR.

Could be a number of reasons, one test I would do, if all else fails, is do the "factory" reset, if you have one, to test and try again.  Depending on how old and cost of used replacement, may not be worth too much effort to trouble shoot.  Antenna in a good place to check, might be able to see through visual inspection.  

RayH:
 
From what you are describing, it sounds like a poor equipment issue.  There is a super amount of junk on the market.  Sensitivity is the key.  The lower the number, the better.  A then new standard of the past (I haven’t bought a scanner in nearly 30 years) was a sensitivity of .04.  But that didn’t cut it.  It was found that a sensitivity of .03 or better was a key.  Old Regency equipment was even better, at .015.
 
I become a super believer in sensitivity nearly thirty years ago.  I had purchased a new Uniden handheld with a sensitivity of .04.  I happened to meet several railbuffs in Cajon Pass and we talked, and one’s handheld was talking up a storm.  It was an old Regency, with a .015 sensitivity.  Mine was completely silent.  So, RayH, you may have poor equipment.  Make sure to use something with a sensitivity of .03 of better and you will usually be happy with what you hear!
 

For a scanner, the BC-125AT has pretty decent sensitivity and selectivity.  Read my post elsewhere describing as side-by-side test with other portable radios.  As several have stated, my suspicion is that the one "bad" BC-125AT that the OP has likely has a broken antenna connection.  It can be a common failure point, especially on scanners, where the antennas are switched out frequently.  That's why I swap antennas on portable radios as seldom as possible.  The other possibility is that the "bad" BC-125AT has other internal physical damage--maybe the radio was dropped onto a hard surface or similar "trauma."  The BC-125AT case is pretty flimsy and will likely not protect the radio well.  That is why I recommend getting a leather or similar case for the radio.

When I bought the scanner in 2018, I also purchased an extended warranty plan, something I normally don't do. I had some travel to do earlier this summer so didn't pursue a claim until a few weeks ago. I filed a claim in late August, and received a reimbursement check today, for almost the entire original cost.  

IF I get another scanner (this one was a backup), I'll try not to disconnect the antenna too often. 

The suggestion to test using the NOAA weather frequencies was also helpful and a very good idea. 

Thank you all for your help. I appreciate all the replies.

ABHoffmann Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> RayH:
>  
> From what you are describing, it sounds like a
> poor equipment issue.  There is a super amount of
> junk on the market.  Sensitivity is the key. 
> The lower the number, the better.  A then new
> standard of the past (I haven’t bought a scanner
> in nearly 30 years) was a sensitivity of .04. 
> But that didn’t cut it.  It was found that a
> sensitivity of .03 or better was a key.  Old
> Regency equipment was even better, at .015.
>  
> I become a super believer in sensitivity nearly
> thirty years ago.  I had purchased a new Uniden
> handheld with a sensitivity of .04.  I happened
> to meet several railbuffs in Cajon Pass and we
> talked, and one’s handheld was talking up a
> storm.  It was an old Regency, with a .015
> sensitivity.  Mine was completely silent.  So,
> RayH, you may have poor equipment.  Make sure to
> use something with a sensitivity of .03 of better
> and you will usually be happy with what you hear!

It really does help to read the entire original post, as well as what others have said. If you had done a little home work, you would have realized what WW posted before he did, that the BC125AT is NOT considered poor equipment. In fact, a search on TO (You do know TO has an excellent search function, don't you?) would have found many posts by WW and others stating that in actually, the BC125AT is a good choice for railfanning.

Once again, please stop trying to be a know it all and you might learn something.