No SWR

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Maybe you could clarify a bit.... No SWR is a good thing. Do you mean you have no power out? Also your voice is your modulation. To re-cap a radio means too replace all Electrolytic capacitors in the radio. This can become necessary in older radios. Electrolytic capacitors are the tubular shaped parts with a pvc sleeve on them soldered to the board. The sleeve is often blue or black depending on manufacturer. They contain a bit of oil that can leak or dry out on older units. This would require you to re-cap the radio.

 

no swr isn't a good thing, there should be some movement in the meter but because we don't know which radio you have, what you have hooked up to it (antenna or dummy load) or what you mean by no sound in the headset, it is rather difficult to answer your question.

Just an fyi speaking about caps, unless your radio was build in the 50's, there is no need for a recap. Most capacitors today won't go bad unless they have been abused (reverse polarity or a high over voltage applied to them or if they got very hot). Most of these "new" aluminium heat shrinked caps have rubber seals don't dry out not like the older ones which used paper disc as a seal, so it is not needed.

If you mean modulation cap, that's a different thing but we need more info.

 

That actually isn't true. Problem was, due to some industrial espionage the formula for the electrolyte was made incorrectly in the low end manufacturing companies that attempted to steal the formula. This mismade electrolyte bubbles and expands blowing out the top and shorting the insides. Mainly mid to late 90's and early 2000's are affected.

Just look at the top of an electrolytic capacitor (the soda can looking ones) and see if any goo is seeping out the bottom or if the top is bulging in any way. Not sure what to look for? Just google "bad capacitor" and take a look at a few images.

I just finished re-capping 4 2004 Samsung monitors with this problem. These bad caps can be found in any electronic device with electrolytic capacitors.

 

Yep you are right about the cap plague but I think that most of the CB manufacturers didn't use those caps from that company. Computer manufacturers did and it is still a problem but still I stand by my statement - unless it was abused, then it should be alright.

 

Again, No movement on the SWE may be a good thing. I have a 4 watt CB on a 102" whip. Can't see the SWR move. Genuine 1:1 SWself R or less. However this is rare. The way to confirm is to check watts on transmit. If you are getting acceptable watts out you either have perfect SWR or there is a problem with the meter/hookup.

As far as not hearing yourself on the speaker/headset, that will only happen if you have talkback on the radio.

If I were you I would:

1. Make sure the SWR meter you are using is good and correctly hooked up. Is the jumper cable from the radio hooked up to the right port on the meter? Usually this should be marked in one of the following ways:

XMIT, XMTR, RADIO, XCVR, TRANS or Something similar

The other port almost always marked antenna or ANT should be connected to your antenna. **If you have any other inline accessories such as an amp, pre-amp, monitor. etc. leave them out of the line for initial testing.

2. Borrow a watt meter if you don't have one, Check transmit output of your radio. If little or no watts you probably have a blown final transistor. Easy enough to get replaced.


3. Determine if your radio has talkback. Is it turned on and working? Again if you don't have talkback you will not hear yourself when transmitting.

As for recapping. I am an electronics tech. Caps do fail under certain conditions. They can be faulty. Improper storage that subjects the radio yo temperature extremes will do it. More importantly, why do you think the radio needs re-capping? If you are not getting any watts on transmit it is much more likely your finals need replacing.

if you had the SWR meter hooked up in reverse, I have seen some meters that will swing backwards on transmit. If the meter is otherwise tight, it might give the appearance of no SWR reading.

A quick thought... Are the markings for transmitter and antenna missing from your meter. Have they worn off or were they on labels that are now gone? Try reversing the hookup to see if you get a reading.

 

Ok no watts... Sounds like a fried final(s). Some radios, especially the higher powered sets, have more than one. You may habve a dead audio IC as well but if you have acceptable receive the audio chip might be OK. The audio chip s a cheap fix anyway.

Depending on what radio you have, you may be able to do an inexpensive MOSFET final replacement, This has the advantage of being less expensive than replacing original finals and MOSFET's in a properly tuned radio can give you up to 40 watts out instead of the standard 4. In my neck of the woods repair shops are getting $35 to $40 for a MOSFET upgrade and tune. The parts cost 6-7 bucks. Only takes about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to do, if you know what you are doing.

I am guessing the audio is OK you just don't have enough power to get it out there.