Tram Titan II...Carrier With No Audio?

[Eastside]

I got a titan ii....it keys up 3 watts with no audio....if you keep it keyed down...the audio fades in....but if you talk it goes back out...does anyone have idea what is wrong? I have checked all the tubes....sprayed the pots n tube sockets?

Edit....it has great receive.
And the radio has had no mods.

 

[loosecannon]

I got a titan ii....it keys up 3 watts with no audio....if you keep it keyed down...the audio fades in....but if you talk it goes back out...does anyone have idea what is wrong? I have checked all the tubes....sprayed the pots n tube sockets?

that radio is old enough to have kids that can vote.
you need to replace all the electrolytic capacitors in it.
this can be dangerous, so be sure you are taking every safety precaution you can.
LC

 

[357]

audio tube could be soft...

 

[Crazy_D]

First you need to make sure that V10, V11, and V12 tubes are all good and checked and remove that possibility right off the bat. Like 357 said, audio tube V12 could be done. It going to be either a 6GK6 (thin tube) or a 6GM5 (fatter tube) depending on the build of your tram titan 2 and its located next to the relay. FYI, Those tubes are NOT interchangeable, so don't even try, radio won't work, wrong pinouts, you need to do a complete socket rewire if someone is reading this who thinks they can swap tubes for more/better audio, nope. If you are not 100% sure about those those 3 tubes then just stop right here. If you are sure the tubes are not the case I would look next at all the circuit coupling capacitors (ceramic disc caps), in the audio circuit chain there are 3 total, (2) 0.001 (between tube circuits) and (1) 0.002uf (on the mic input pin 1). They are all easy to find, just use the sams photofact as your guide. Then if that's not the issue we will continue troubleshooting.

LooseCannon, There are very few electrolytic capacitors inside the tram titan 2 that compared to alot of other radios, he will need to be replacing a good number of ceramic disc capacitors for the most part here. I measured 35-40% out of tolerance on many of the disc caps inside my tram titan 2. I am in the middle of tallying up and placing a parts order for my own (like new, excellent condition) tram titan 2 this week.

My Tram Titan 2 keys 3.5 watts and goes to about 12 watts on whistle and talks about 8-10 watts. I have not done any internal peakings, only adjusted tune/load on back as my radio is very mint for its age. I use a D104 Gstand (had to mod the trams input circuit to take down gain) I run it into a Blackcat jb150a and then to larger amps and it is pure magic!

Incase anyone is wondering I will be doing a 6GM5 swap to my 6gk6 titan 2 soon and will post my audio results/impressions with the larger/fatter tube.

 

[Eastside]

I will recheck the tubes you mentioned.....I did replace 2 already that were showing strong on the tube tester meter...but the short light was blinking.
Its got all 6gk6 tubes...no 6gm5.
The xmit mod light strap was smashed when I got the titan ii....I cut the wires off it....would that stop it from transmitting?

 

[Eastside]

pics

 

[Eastside]

I double checked all the tubes....tubes are good.

 

[Eastside]

One thing....when the audio fades in you can hear a lot of background like the gain is real high...then when I speak into the mic the audio fades out.....I am using a tram non powered d104.

 

[Eastside]

First you need to make sure that V10, V11, and V12 tubes are all good and checked and remove that possibility right off the bat. Like 357 said, audio tube V12 could be done. It going to be either a 6GK6 (thin tube) or a 6GM5 (fatter tube) depending on the build of your tram titan 2 and its located next to the relay. FYI, Those tubes are NOT interchangeable, so don't even try, radio won't work, wrong pinouts, you need to do a complete socket rewire if someone is reading this who thinks they can swap tubes for more/better audio, nope. If you are not 100% sure about those those 3 tubes then just stop right here. If you are sure the tubes are not the case I would look next at all the circuit coupling capacitors (ceramic disc caps), in the audio circuit chain there are 3 total, (2) 0.001 (between tube circuits) and (1) 0.002uf (on the mic input pin 1). They are all easy to find, just use the sams photofact as your guide. Then if that's not the issue we will continue troubleshooting.

LooseCannon, There are very few electrolytic capacitors inside the tram titan 2 that compared to alot of other radios, he will need to be replacing a good number of ceramic disc capacitors for the most part here. I measured 35-40% out of tolerance on many of the disc caps inside my tram titan 2. I am in the middle of tallying up and placing a parts order for my own (like new, excellent condition) tram titan 2 this week.

My Tram Titan 2 keys 3.5 watts and goes to about 12 watts on whistle and talks about 8-10 watts. I have not done any internal peakings, only adjusted tune/load on back as my radio is very mint for its age. I use a D104 Gstand (had to mod the trams input circuit to take down gain) I run it into a Blackcat jb150a and then to larger amps and it is pure magic!

Incase anyone is wondering I will be doing a 6GM5 swap to my 6gk6 titan 2 soon and will post my audio results/impressions with the larger/fatter tube.

Can you point out those caps...and how do you check them?

 

[Eastside]

First you need to make sure that V10, V11, and V12 tubes are all good and checked and remove that possibility right off the bat. Like 357 said, audio tube V12 could be done. It going to be either a 6GK6 (thin tube) or a 6GM5 (fatter tube) depending on the build of your tram titan 2 and its located next to the relay. FYI, Those tubes are NOT interchangeable, so don't even try, radio won't work, wrong pinouts, you need to do a complete socket rewire if someone is reading this who thinks they can swap tubes for more/better audio, nope. If you are not 100% sure about those those 3 tubes then just stop right here. If you are sure the tubes are not the case I would look next at all the circuit coupling capacitors (ceramic disc caps), in the audio circuit chain there are 3 total, (2) 0.001 (between tube circuits) and (1) 0.002uf (on the mic input pin 1). They are all easy to find, just use the sams photofact as your guide. Then if that's not the issue we will continue troubleshooting.

LooseCannon, There are very few electrolytic capacitors inside the tram titan 2 that compared to alot of other radios, he will need to be replacing a good number of ceramic disc capacitors for the most part here. I measured 35-40% out of tolerance on many of the disc caps inside my tram titan 2. I am in the middle of tallying up and placing a parts order for my own (like new, excellent condition) tram titan 2 this week.

My Tram Titan 2 keys 3.5 watts and goes to about 12 watts on whistle and talks about 8-10 watts. I have not done any internal peakings, only adjusted tune/load on back as my radio is very mint for its age. I use a D104 Gstand (had to mod the trams input circuit to take down gain) I run it into a Blackcat jb150a and then to larger amps and it is pure magic!

Incase anyone is wondering I will be doing a 6GM5 swap to my 6gk6 titan 2 soon and will post my audio results/impressions with the larger/fatter tube.

Can you point out those caps...and how do you check them?

 

[Crazy_D]

Eastside,

There is a cap on pin 1 of the mic plug, that is a .002. It should read 2nf, or around that value. You have to clip one lead out of circuit or cut it out and test it and then solder it back in, as you need to replace every cap in there regardless. Then there are two more caps, .001uf's, one between the 6br8 and 6gk6 tube and one between the 6au6 tube and the 6br8 tube. It is easy to find if you can follow schematics. If you shoot some more close up circuit pics that would help, especially toward the middle rear of the unit under the audio tube general area as that is where those 0.001 coupling caps are located. This radio is near 50 years old and any Tram Titan 2 owner should be recapping these radios, mandatory, or chances it will not work correctly for as most of the values inside are between 35-50% out of tolerance and that will cause operational issues and quirks either now or later. If you favor using this radio and want to invest time and money into it then you should do a full recap to start. It is worth it if you have a good condition or better titan 2 because its a great radio and its loud and smooth.

I had the same problem with all the background noise on my unamped d104, it is too high gain for the d104, it was designed for a different impedance element in the tram desk mic (which I also have and doesnt sound as good as the d104, doesnt have as much bass and full sound. you need to install a 1 to 2.2 meg ohm resistor on the input circuit after the .002uf cap on the 6au6 input, clip that resistor out of circuit and replace it with a large value as explained and it will fix your radios mod totally. the other option is to make a L-pad in your microphone. You can also cut the audio compression limiter, which on my audio tests gave me more expansiveness, wider sound and more boom. I did not notice a major difference except with it back in my sound was more narrower.

You have the earlier model of the titan 2 with the 6gk6 audio tube, same radio as mine. The modulation and transmit indicators are ties back to the final output two 6gk6 input circuit, which is the output of the audio transformer and then it goes through the relay and a cap and a resistor, that 4mf capacitor needs to be checked as the signal flows through it. The mod/transmit indicators are just that and go to ground and do not complete any circuits so if you cut the wires, make sure that they are free and not touching anything as there is around 155volts in this line. I could run a test and disconnect my indicators but I completely doubt this would give the me same issue.

Also CLEAN YOUR RELAY, if you haven't, you have to pop off the cover with a flatblade screwdriver. spray it down good and use a dollar bill if you want between the contacts, I did it one mine. it sounds like your issue is most likely capacitor related at this point. remember radio is near 50 years old so anything and everything is potentially possible so best bet is to just recap/reresistor/retube the whole damn radio.

 

[Eastside]

Thanks for the help and all the info....will take more closer pictures and post them.

 

[Crazy_D]

Sounds good. I am in the middle of placing a capacitor order for my titan 2, I am going to replace every single capacitor inside. It would be best if you downloaded the sams photofact as it points out all these parts in a picture detailed overhead view diagram and I can just give you part numbers which is soooo much easier here to work with. You can download the sams for free from another forum, do a search, I found it, along with other schematics.

Your looking at audio circuit coupling capacitors and caps after the modulation transformer at this point since you are confident the 6au6, 6br8 and 6gk6 tubes are good The mod/xmit indicators have no bearing on this circuit, they are connected after the mod transformer, to the input of the final tube section as this is what modulates/drives it so the line that goes back to the circuit must not be grounded or such. You could have a bad 4mf capacitor on your mod transformer output. who knows given how how the radio is, but more than likely something I have said here that will fix the problem, if it doesn't, we will still figure it out as there is only a couple other things left to look into. Your audio signal goes through that relay before it hits the twin final tube output stage so make sure those contacts are clean.

 

[Eastside]

I sprayed the relay with contact cleaner....its got good receive.

 

[Eastside]

Weird thing is...when the audio fades in...it will stay if I talk real quietly.....if I talk normally it goes out?