Cobra 148

I bought a used Cobra 148 almost three years back. It has been a good radio but just recently I have lost most of the volume. I had to have the volume turned all the way up just to be able to hear someone. It was working great before at much lower volume setting. I thought perhaps the internal speaker had failed so I plugged in my amplified remote speaker, that made some difference but I still must use a very high volume setting and it picks up electrical interference, a constant high pitched whine and a little static.

Does anyone know of a simple problem that could be causing this or do I need to take it in to be repaired?

 

Funny that you mention using a hammer, well no hammer but the other day I did get tired of it and slammed my hand down on top of the radio a couple times and ....................................... IT WORKED! Now the volume is back to normal. I don't really recommend that treatment to others (but who hasn't tried that with other things) and I discovered the battery in my powered microphone had a broken terminal so I put a new battery in the mic and it seems to be fine again. I'll see how long it stays like that now.