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first off..cool site.
now that thats out the way.
i just got a saturn from an old friend that has 2 problems.first the freq counter is the opposite of blank.by that i mean all the elements are lit up on the led numbers but after a while it will start working.i have shematics and have slightly above basic electronic skills so if someone could point me in the right direction i should be golden.the other problem is no echo,at first if you turned it on(the echo) it would dim the whole radio.i traced it down to the power wire coming from the switch to be hooked to ground instead of hot.it dosnt dim like a dead short anymore but still no echo.if the board is bad ill just replace it with a universal since i know what basic wires are there to use.any suggestions(other than dont use echo...lol)

I use echo; I just keep the level low so it boosts modulation slightly. It is when it is too high that it sounds like garbage.

It may be as simple as a bad diode - as far as the echo is concerned. The freq counter problem sounds like a weak voltage supply. Just guesses...

Since you have the schematic for it, maybe you could just check it all out against the radio and see if someone didn't get in there and mess things up. If that doesn't work and you cannot trace the problem, I would send it off to a trusted tech. They could put a signal trace thru the whole thing and figure out where the buck stops.

A Galaxy Saturn is a very nice radio and one worth fixing - even if you may not be able to do it your self. Keep us posted of any new finds and questions. Seems that you are just getting off to a good start on fixing it...

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What gear do I use?
BASE: Icom IC-718 & GAP Titan DX, Yaesu FT-8800R & Diamond X50A, Magnum OmegaForce S45 & IMAX 2000 w/Astatic D104/TUP9.
MOBILE: Galaxy DX99V & Wilson 1000 w/Astatic D104-M2, Yaesu FT-8800R & Diamond NR-770.
"...The 444 in San Jose CA; the Central Gold Coast..."

the main concern i have about the radio is it looks like it got wet for quite some time.the chassis has corrosion on it but not near the mainboard theres a ribbon cable going to the display board that has corrosion on the solder joints.ill start there cleaning and resoldering if need be.my sadelta just showed up in the mail today so i get to work on that too(was told the roger beep didnt work)

ok on the freq counter its all 8s till i disconnect cn4 from the ept210014c board.i plug it in and the freq shows up,change the channel and the freq stays the same.does this sound like a bad ept2100 board? anybody got a spare laying around?