CB fades out

Go get a Galaxy or Connex.

 

Try to connect it to a different power source. If that doesn't help I'd try a new power cord.

 

Something you can try before looking for a new power cord: after it fades (or begins fading), put a DC voltmeter on the terminals where you get your power for the radio. If the voltage is ~13 volts, it's OK to that point. Then unplug your power cord from the back of the radio and check the voltage there. Even with no load (the radio) connected, if there's enough resistance in the wire because of a kink or a loose/dirty fuse clamp, if the voltage isn't as high as it was at the "source" end of the power cord, the problem is in the cord.
If the place where you're picking up power to run the radio already has too many other accessories (motors, lights, seat heaters, etc.) you may just be pulling the voltage down as more & more loads start to draw from that same source; and if it's already a pretty skinny wire feeding your DC tap point, the voltage drop will be worse.

You *could* have a leaky electrolytic capacitor in the radio that drains some of the incoming current to ground, but isn't close enough to a dead short that it doesn't blow the inline fuse. That'd be something for a "real tech" to find & fix.

Another quick check -- after the displays fade, turn the radio off and back on immediately. The cheesy little power switch on the volume control is built like a knife edge that touches a tiny dowel, as if it were trying to cut the dowel. As you can imagine, that's an awfully small point of contact, and it doesn't take much dirt, corrosion, or even burnt metal from the tiny arcs as it turns on to make that contact into a semiconductor, dropping the voltage through the switch. The ideal fix for that is a new switch, but a fiberglass parts brush or a little shot of Caig De-Oxit on the contact can do a world of good at restoring the nice low resistance that the switch has to provide to allow a couple of amps of DC to go through it.

Muleshoe has it right, just above -- my response just kinda adds a little background. The "suggestion" to "get a Galaxy or Connex" is pretty obviously useless, especially when you've already got an "industry standard" radio. And if your DC source is bad, then you'll have a Galaxy or Connex that doesn't work, either, and be out $$$ that could go into your fuel tank instead. And, FWIW, lots of folks maintain that Galaxy rigs are somehow genetically plagued with cold solder joints. (Any radio that's built quickly and has poor factory QC can.)

Hope that helps,
73

 

It may be a problem called a cold solder joint. It happens with many of these radios and the heat inside the radio can cause just enough expansion of the circuit board to cause the power to go down within the radio and turn off certain circuits. A good tech will know what to look for and how to find it, once it is found he/she can just hit it with a soldering iron and fix the problem. Sometimes it is one joint that caused the problem.