The Good and the Bad

[David Waits]

First, the good! The 2000GTL is here and trouble free!It's been tuned(Nothing cut), two-switch channelling, unlocked Clarifier. Everything was well-done and easily recognizable Wired a Turner +3 to it and ran some SSB today. Did very well. Nothing to do and nothing will be done on this radio.

Now, the Bad! The Grant XL mobile I bought came yesterday afternoon. First problem, the guy had a six-position switch put in it for channels. Totally screwed up. I thought I had the channels figured out and tried a radio-check on channel 19. turns out I was on Channel 34. I don't think whoever did this even tried to set the frequencies at L59,L22 and L23. I'm going to remove all and do a two-switch channel job. The Clarifier is a mess, no kc up and almost 10 down. There are RV on the bottom I cannot figure out and he did things with the front switches that don't make sense. I took some photos, wait til you guys see ll the junk around the 8719 for the channels.




Look at all the crap.


Here's my plan I'm gonna remove the six position switch, the wire, the resistor and the diodes and transister. Unhook the clarifier wiring, unhook whatever the bright/dim and Hi/Low wires, That VR that looks to be going to the AM power and try to start over. If you guys notice anything I need to be warned about I'd appreciate it. You all have been super helpful to date, you're a great bunch.

 

[David Waits]

I won't even get into the fact that the tech replaced the five-pin mic plug for a four-pin Cobra. Evidently, this was a 'Truckstop Tech'.

 

[David Waits]

Well, somewhat of a progress report. The six-position switch is gone, the cut trace(He cut the wrong trace) is repaired, A nice two switch channel job, using the Hi/Low and bright/dim switches on the front were modified and wired in, The Clarifier is corrected, guy didn't even remove R44 and jump R174, he did , however cut D53(?). The snag is what he did to the AM power pot,VR10. He removed the Blue/white pot, soldered three wires(You can see the three wire connection to the adjustable pot on one of the solder-side pics, wires were red,orange,yellow), mounted another pot on the solder side and butchered the RF gain control to try to make it variable I assume. I'm assuming also the smaall 1/8th watt resistor off of one leg of the abombinable pot has to go too. Now I have to figure out how to wire the RF gain control and, I assume, the SWR Cal back in. I'm gonna search for a parts list for the PB208AD board and see if I can get the pot. This keeps getting better and better!

 

[David Waits]

Is VR10, the AM power pot, a 1K, 10K, or 100Kohm pot?

 

[sonoma]

you can use the cobra 148 service manual for the grant XL.

http://www.cbtricks.com/radios/cobra/148gtl/index.htm

 

[Dipole]

I might be mistaken but IIRC using the VR on the solder sided is one way of doing a Mosfet install on that chassis to adj the gate V

 

[David Waits]

Thanks for the responses Sonoma. 2SC2166driver/ 2SC1969 Final. Like I said, it looks like they tried to make some BS Variable with that pot and the RF Gain Control!

 

[David Waits]

Well, I bought a 1K, 10K, and a 100K trimmer pot. I'm gonna shoot for the middle and use the 10K.

 

[David Waits]

Well, it's transmitting but, on channel 20 I can't get it to pop any higher than 27.185. I keep finding jumpers across stuff. One even jumps off of the Xtal. If somebody comes up with a solder-side photo, it'll be a life-saver. I don't think most of these jumps on the bottom are supposed to be there but, I don't know!

 

[ExitThirteen]

Can you take a good, clear picture of the area where all the jumpers are in question? I can help from there. Thanks!

(Edit) The jumper at the crystal needs to be removed. Remove all wiring at the PLL, and remove all the white wires that are clustered together near the PLL. Also, remove the variable pot, and the little resistor that is soldered to the pot. Looks like there's something that was removed right in front of the AM pass regulator, judging by the 2 desoldered holes.

What I do with hacked up radios like this is I remove all the extra wires and obvious stuff, and clean the PCB of all the excess solder flux and residue with a toothbrush and Simple Green cleaner. I do this before I do any mods, I like to get the radio back to as stock as possible.

There should technically only be two jumpers on the solder side of the PCB, the big grey one near the center of the board, and a small green one that's located by the audio IC.

Take the pics when you can and I'll do my best to help.


~Cheers~

 

[mb91w126]

I have a virgin grant xl I'll forward a pic of the solder side tomorrow if that would help. Camera is out at the shop right now

 

[David Waits]

GOD YES!!! Pics of the solder side would be a godsend!!

 

[David Waits]

I'll take some pics right now ET.

 

[David Waits]

Okay, here they come.

 

[David Waits]

I'll have to get some simple green ET, I tried cleaning with a toothbrush and Alcohol but it didn't do much.