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President Zachary T Recieve

Cajun Invader

Membership Moderator
Oct 13, 2008
360
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I have a President Zachary T base radio. I have notice that the receive in this radio is not up to par with my other radios. It seems like there is a lot of static in the receive. When I get a contact, even local, the static is carried in with their transmission. I can hear them but I can also still hear the static. Without a doubt I know it's effecting my receive on distant stations. I first noticed the recieve issue when I was in my mobile in the driveway. The receive in the mobile was much better. That makes no sense. A Wilson 1000 with better receive than a 24' Imax 30' up in the air?

At first I thought that it might be the antenna, coax or even some electrical interference in the house. I checked jumpers and coax and even used a homemade sniffer to try and find any electrical interference. Nothing.

I then hooked up a Connex 4300HP and the recieve was 100 times better. Then I hooked up a Uniden Grant XL and I had the same results.

I thought maybe the speaker was the culprit so I hooked up an external speaker. Nope, that's not it either.

I am assuming that it's some sort of an issue with the radio itself. I love the transmit on the President Zachary, it performs great with excellent audio and the limiter is intact but this receive is killing me. I know I live in the BYU with alligators but I don't want my radio to be one too. All mouth and no ears.

Anyone have any suggestions?
 

I'm no tech. This is basically a Uniden radio; it should have GREAT recieve. I looked it up and couldn't find any known issues with the recieve. Doesn't mean that there isn't a problem. But I doubt it; these radios are all known as being at the top of the heap - just like the Grants and so on.

I gonna go out on a limb and say that this radio needs to find a decent tech to test for alignment - and/or perhaps a failed filter cap or circuit. You didn't say if the NB/ANL switch/filters did any good or even worked at all. Most likely that it need to be adjusted and aligned.
Just two cents...
 
The NB and Tone Hi and Low seem to be filtering.

Can anyone recommend a tech that would have the proper equipment to troubleshoot and align if necessary? I've come to realize just how important REAL techs with REAL training are.

Just Say No To Hacks
 
I'm pretty sure that Uniden didn't make the early President radios.

It's possible / likely that someone messed up all the receiver section cans. Do you have a signal generator? According to Defpom's site, L1-L8 are the receive tuning coils. It also mentions VR1. After looking at the schematic, I can verify that is the chain you would start with and, it looks to me like VR1 adjusts the SQL. Having the SAMS Fotofact on this radio would be some help and they're available online if you want to pay for it.

I'm guessing that someone just messed with the receive cans thinking that it was an adjustment for transmit. If you have a signal generator, you could attempt to test this yourself. If not, send it to someone.
 
Was two versions of the Zachary T, Both made by Uniden, the early version is the UPD858 Chassis, the later version is pretty much a clone of the older 29GTL, also Early Zach = Cobra 89 XLR, Late Zach = 89GTL, except for cosmetics.

If you decide to try and tackle it yourself, just confirm early or late chassis, and I'll copy alignment procedures out of the Sams for you.
 
MisterFatty,

Would you mind going ahead and posting both procedures? Others searching for the information will find this thread and will thank you later for it.

Besides, I'm pretty sure one or two locals around here have that radio so I would like to be able to help them out, if/when the need arises.
 
CAJUN -

One thing you didn't mention trying was to use an external 12v power supply instead of the onboard one. Maybe the noise is being generated there. Better yet, hook it to a 12v battery.


- 399
 
CAJUN -

One thing you didn't mention trying was to use an external 12v power supply instead of the onboard one. Maybe the noise is being generated there. Better yet, hook it to a 12v battery.


- 399


I forgot to post that. I did try it on a Maco 20 amp power supply. Same results.
 
adding to what was posted .sometimes if radios recieve is OVERTUNED it will
make the recieve have a higher floor noise level.i dont know were ya live
but i recommend bobscb.com or customcbradios.com
 
adding to what was posted .sometimes if radios recieve is OVERTUNED it will
make the recieve have a higher floor noise level.i dont know were ya live
but i recommend bobscb.com or customcbradios.com

The floor level is normal compared to the other radios. It's just that I can't hear throught the noise.

A friend of mine in NC has an RF Signal Generator he is going to send me so I can get my learn on. I'll either fix it or destroy it. That seems to be what I do.

Threw an SB220 out of the shack in the pouring rain last week. I'm still regretting that one. However at the time it made me feel better. Wife got scared that the dogs and kids would get electrocuted so she called my brother while I was at work to get it out of the yard. He actually put on rubber boots and gloves to handle it. He disposed of it in the dumpster behind Home Depot.

I asked my wife why she threw my stuff away. She replied, "Well you didn't seem to want it anymore or you wouldn't have thrown that ugly green thing out the back door."

Anyway........I'll try not to do the same with the President. President Zachary that is. Obama is a different story.

RIP SB220.......Insert taps here.


2e1eww4.jpg
 
Those 4 pages represent the entire Alignment procedure for both radios

the 858 chassis is of course the older, original President Zachary T,
And the 2816 Chassis is the Later Uniden Zachary T.

They would also be correct for the Cobra 89XLR, and the 89GTL respectively.
 

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