Transmitting hot or just fine?

I'm a ham. Today I bought a CB radio at Goodwill in hopes that I could find a service manual, fix anything that might be wrong with it, and either hold onto it as an emergency radio for my truck or give it to my father in law, who would appreciate a good, working radio.

The make/model of it is Uniden PC 66A. I didn't find a manual for it and the schematic I got is too blurry to be useful. I haven't hooked it to an antenna yet but it gets static on all 40 channels and the needle moves when I key it.

I'm concerned because the output power measures 3w when I key the mic and 4w when I whistle into it. I'm not too familiar with CB radios but I know they are usually 4w output unless someone adjusted them for more power. I'm wondering if the 3w with no voice in the mic is normal. I'm afraid the final transistor will overheat and fail if I don't adjust it. Basically I'm trying to see if there is something wrong or if it's normal for this kind of rig to do that.

Ed

 

That's cool. I just mentioned I'm a ham in that I'm pretty knowledgeable about radios but I don't know much about CB radios. That's why I'm asking for help here. I appreciate the tip.

Ed

 

Great. Now to find or make an antenna.

No matter what qualifications I have (or think I have), it would have been fruitless to try and align it with no service manual. Would you not agree?

Ed

 

I've built some cw transmitters with outputs at or near 5w. If 10w of DC power is going into that transistor for only 3w output, I have a problem. I have blown up a couple of 2SC2078s while trying to get higher power at lower frequencies. What has me concerned is how the needle deflects much on key down (up to 3 on the built in meter) and only a little more when I put voice in the mic (about halfway in the red zone). I'd think an AM transmitter would behave differently.

Oh well. If I can get my hands on an alignment procedure for this rig, I may attempt to align it. Because I don't have a spectrum analyzer and other tools that would be really nice for doing that, I may just leave it alone. It might be easier to put a small fan in the rig if I really feel like dicking with it.

Ed

 

Yes. The radio I have is a cb. I bought it from goodwill, thought there might be an issue with it. The next step was to ask people who know more about cb radio than I do as it's not my field of expertise. Thank you for your help.