Newbie here and I originally posted this in the wrong place.
Reception been going in and out for a spell. Checked the board and found a couple of cold joints. Resoldiered and it worked great for a bit but now the reception is completely gone. Checked it on another antenna that I know is good and still no reception. Can't identify any other cold joints on the board. Nothing looks overheated. Looking for a good repair shop around the Tri-Cities Tenn. area. There used to be one at the White Pine exit (4) on I-81 but it's no longer there. Thought it moved up toward Greeneville but not sure. Any ideas about a good shop local to Tri-Cities Tn appreciated.
Lost reception
Discussion in 'CB Radio Forum' started by Harley34, Mar 4, 2011.
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What kind of radio is it? And does it have SMD components or regular leaded ones?
Any chance you left a solder "column" that's standing up tall enough to occasionally ground out against the cover? Try running it without the top cover (the cover that goes over the solder side of the board) and if that fixes it, look from the side for anything that sticks up a bit high from the board.
Just a thought before you go hunting for a shop.
-- Handlebar in NC --Harley34 Thanks this. -
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Ah, OK. SMDs are Surface Mount Devices, little chip-type components with no wires, just silvered ends that solder directly to the circuit board. By "lead", I meant it with a "long E" sound, to denote wires sticking out of them, to distinguish them from SMDs.
Some of the latest radios out are largely populated by SMDs, partly because the components themselves can be less costly, and because they're easier to program a machine to install in a robotic factory.
Sounds like you've already done a good job of looking for intermittents. Do you have a wattmeter to see if the radio is still putting out full power? I'm wondering if whatever killed your RX also killed your TX. If they're both weak, and if it's not external to the radio, there are only a few parts common to both halves of the radio. One is the disk capacitor that usually connects the center pin of the antenna connector to the circuit board. If only the RX is bad, you may very well have a coupling capacitor or transistor that has changed value enough (or just outright died) to have weakened the RX. There are usually 3 diodes by the RF amplifier stage at the beginning of the receiver: two to protect the transistor (often an FET) from very strong local signals, and a third "PIN" diode that turns off the antenna signal to the receiver when you're transmitting. An open PIN diode, or either protection diode at the front end, could all cause the history you've described. And as the two protection diodes are usually germanium instead of silicon, they're more sensitive to heat, like from soldering irons.
Might be worth taking to a shop at this point after all.
Sorry,
-- Handlebar --Harley34 Thanks this. -
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Something else I have noticed in the past is that if my RX falls off, I can do just a quick key on the mike and it's back to strong as ever and probably will not have to do it again for a while. Does the RX go through the mike? Is this possibly a mike problem? Or maybe a squelch problem?
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TedHarley34 Thanks this. -
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