Tips & Tricks

How to Boost Scanner Volume in Vehicles

If you want to take your scanner along and listen as you drive, you may find traffic noise makes it hard to hear. If so, you will want a little more volume. Here are three things you can do to boost the volume.

1. Get the RadioShack amplified speaker made for communication equipment (requires direct wiring to vehicle fuse block or accessory outlet), or any other amplified speaker, such as those made for portable CD players, cassettes etc. that run on batteries or 12v. These will plug right into the headphone jack of your scanner and give you a substantial boost in volume. If you choose to use stereo amplified speakers remember to get a stereo to mono adapter so that sound will come out both speakers.

2. Rather than getting an amplified speaker you could get a cassette adapter. These are little devices that look like a cassette and have a cord coming out that you plug into your scanner. To use this you need to have a cassette player in your vehicle. If so, you just insert the cassette adapter into your player then plug the cord into your scanner headphone connection, the sound comes out your vehicles stereo system like if you were playing a regular cassette. Also, the use of the stereo to mono adapter may be required here since your scanners headphone jack is likely mono. How do I know if I need the adapter? you ask. If you get sound out only one side of your stereo system, left or right, you need to use the adapter.

3. The third way to boost volume, is much like the cassette adapter described above. But, instead you use a FM modulator. These are tiny transmitters that plug into the headphone jack on your scanner and transmit to your vehicles FM radio. So, you will hear your scanner through your stereo system but no cassette player is required. As above, you will likely need a stereo to mono adapter for this to work correctly.

All of these ideas will work just as well on small TVs, MP3 players, Portable CD players etc. Anything that needs a volume boost and has a headphone or line out jack.