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So you want to learn more about radio repair

nat,
There are several good books out there from Lou Franklin. Those are very helpful. A bit out dated but still good.
Radio repair can be easy with the right tools and the knowledge to use them. I plan when time allows to put a whole article here in this thread on basic trouble shooting skills. Not just the simple stuff but more complex stuff that will make repair easier.
Time is my only problem.
 
I hope you find the time because that would be very helpful. I have the screwdriver experts guide, do it yourself cb repairs and modifications book. He also has another book understanding and repairing cb's. I hope to buy it soon.
 
Just wondering, what got you into repairing radios etc...

Not sure if you are asking Rob or myself.

But here is my story.
At the age of 11 I was really into short wave. I had got an old receiver (Hallicrafters). From time to time it would start acking up so I would take it apart and fiddle around with it. I had an uncle that was into tv repair. So he helped with the parts.

Most kids my age were out playing ball and getting into whatever. Not me. I stay after school reading books and at the public library. I started getting magazines from clippings at the barbor shop. Before long my older cousins were asking me to hook up their 8 tracks in the cars.

I later picked up a Johnson 9 channel mobile radio from a guy in town. I made my antenna and used a car battery to power the rig. Radio shack came out with a cheap 1/4 wave ground plane. So I got one. Oh, There used to be a super market in town called Big Star. It was at a strip mall in town. We lived on a farm so we only went to the grocery store 1 to 2 times a month. We grew and raised most of what we needed. There was a Radio Shack there. Can not tell you the amount of time I spent in that place. Some times Mom would be at the mall for 3 to 4 hours. The whole time I was in Radio Shack.

Fast forward to 1980. I opened a TV/Radio shop in a small town. Ran it for years. Then later I closed it and a friend and I opened a cb shop. He past away 7 years ago so I closed the shop. Spent the free time playing with ham radio. 2 years ago I started working on ham equipment for the public. The a few months later got back into cb repair.

So thats my story.
 
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That's really cool. I started makeing small repairs to radios because I live in the second poorest county in WV. Therefore we have no radio shop within 80 or 100 miles. I started talking on them as a way of cummunication from my farm to my house which is about 15 miles. Since then I have talked to many local operators up to around 60 miles. It has become one of my favorite things to do.:p:
 
Yeah; necessity is the mother of invention. I don't have any repair shops around here either; so repairing radios myself became a necessity. I can't fix any of the more complex problems; or even know how to troubleshoot major problems. I have fixed a few and haven't destroyed anything yet. Got some $5 radios that didn't work and managed to fix them - just because it presented a challenge...
 
Its been 1 yr. I was hoping to see Radio Tech's wright-up .
Hopefully nothing , bad happened ?
I've ended up here as a result of links or searches a few times , now with this thread I finally reg.
 
Thanks. I was wondering if there is a way to use the Galaxy DX-959'4 freq counter as a probe ?:confused:

Just because it is called a freq counter, it doesn't mean it is capable of making critical adjustments. That is where this comparison begins and ends. You wouldn't want to set your Rolex watch to a sun dial; would you? Those little freq counters are barely capable of being accurate with the five or six digits or the 1kHz/minimum resolution they have!

I use a Protek 9100 and a Hewlett/Packard 5316A when doing radio alignments. The Protek is accurate up to +/-10Hz and the HP is accurate up to +/-1Hz. But a decent freq counter needs to be accurate for +/-10Hz to do radio work - so long as it is calibrated.
 
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DIY kind of guy

Thanks! Just asking. I'm waiting for 8451 Electronics to get back with me to see if he'll do my alignment. He's sort of close to where I live. (y)
 
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