Silva S15 DSC Radio problem

wicked

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1 Mar 2004
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Christchurch, UK
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Silva S15 DSC problem

Hi - anyone have any ideas:

I have a Silva S15 DSC radio with NAVTEX. Whenever a NAVTEX message is received the radio bleeps very loudly, which wakes people up at night. You cannot silence the bleeps by turning the volume right down - it makes no difference.

If you leave the boat unattended during the day with the radio on and a DSC Distress or other alarm goes off, then the alarm goes on for ever at high volume until someone eventually breaks into your boat to shut it up - but you have to leave the radio on if you want to get the NAVTEX!!.

I'm clearly not going to get anywhere by approaching Silva to get them to modify the firmware, and I realise now that a separete NAVTEX unit would have been preferable, but there may be an answer.

Has anyone managed to disable the internal speaker and rely just on the external speaker which could be disconnected at night or when the boat is left unatended ? If so do you need to substitute a resistor to replace the speaker load?

Thanks in anticipation for any advice.



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William_H

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Hello Wicked just idly thinking about your problem but not knowing the radio. Try pluging in an external speaker. i assume it is a socket for a miniature plug available from an electrical store or possibly the same type used on ear phones for radios. This most likely disables the internal speaker.
This may leave the warning tone coming from the external speaker. You could put a resistor(about 100 ohms) or even a variable resistor (potentiometer) in series with the external speaker to reduce the sound level or even a switch to cut out the sound. If pluging in the external speaker does not disable the internal speaker you will have to open up the box and cut the internal speaker wire. Do not worry about a substitute load resistor for the speaker as modern audio output amplifiers do not require a load, that was only so on transformer output stages especially with valves.
you may find that the warning tone is generated by a separate piezo buzzer device inside the set. If you can find it it's probably on the circuit board about 30mm indiameter 5mm high with holes to let the sound out, you may be able to diconnect however this is probably difficult. I would suggest some blue tack or putty type material to plug the sound holes, you may find you can cut the sound to a more reasonable level. good luck and don't be afraid to fiddle. regards will

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alisdair4

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wicked, thanks for exposing this drawback of the S15. I am looking for a replacement radio, and the chance to add a "one-box solution" of GPS/ NVATEX and DSC looks good in the blurb. So, although I have no solutions, may I ask " apart from the speaker problem, how good have you found the unit. Specifically, how good is the GPS?"

Alisdair

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Witchdoctor

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27 Feb 2004
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I have the same radio and the same problem. The one stop solution is not working! I however have taken to using the antenna with my laptop. The antenna comes with a PS323 9 pin connector and I leave it all running at home and have the latest 0520 local forcast ready for the days sailing. Could be downloaded anyway I hear you say and true there are other sources of Weather info

This solution may be too much hassle and too bulky / power hungry for on board use. However for a recent delivery trip on a yacht with no Navtex I relatively easily hot wired the Navtex antenna to my old Hewlet Packard Lx200 palmtop. (an old Dos based system of only 2mb) Not only does it recieve the navtex signals via it's Data Comm program but they can be automatically saved as word files for easy viewing /editing later. The best bit is the computer sits in off mode using no power but wakes up instantly a signal is received. Missing just the first character of the message code.

Otherwise the set is OK. The only other faults I have discovered is that on switch on it defaults to high power, does not restrict power on Ch15 and 17 automatically, so the first thing I have to do every power up is go into the menu and select low power! Also there is no volume control from the handset which I stow on a second mike holder in the companion way where it is all too easy to knock the channel up or down button. Oh yes while I'm at it I wish the Navtex channel select could be contolled from the unit or be automatic not from a flimsey swich on the cable. I also see no reason for using the unit for GPS waypoints as I don't know of any GPS receivers that don't already have this function. A phone book feature to show the true identity of any incomming MMSI numbers would be good to. ... OK, Rant Over Are you listening SILVA?

Overall a nice concept and version 3 or 4 might be OK but for now it is dissapointing.

Jules

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linz

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I bought an S15 and Navtex in June, and the software settings allowed me to do what you want - turn the beep off, and to silence the set completely by directing output to a nonexistent external speaker. However, I had to replace the S15 because it wouldn't communicate with the Navtex antenna, and the replacement did not have these settings options. It transpires that some sets are circulating with older firmware. Silva have now helpfully sent me a third S15 with the updated software. If you bought the S15 recently it's certainly worth asking Silva for the updated firmware - you need version 1.3.

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wicked

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That's comforting, I'll contact the Silva Service Centre and see if they will upgrade the firmware or replace the set. How do you know what version of firmware it's running ?

Dave

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linz

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I don't have the radio to hand, but as I remember the version number is on the back of the set beside the serial number. Good luck - I found Silva very helpful.

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