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Galaxy DX 959 Not Holding Dead Key

8113 Northern MN

Active Member
Aug 9, 2013
156
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Virginia,MN
Ive been trying to diagnose a strange problem with my DX 959. On AM when trying to check my SWRs I key the mic, it swings up to about 5 watts on the power meter and then instantly drops to zero. Ive tried using the AM Power VR-? to lower the wattage and no matter where I try to set it, when I key up it goes to a certain point but then instantly falls back to zero. Ive been told this means that something is wrong with the AM Carrier but am unsure how to diagnose which part of the radio is causing this issue or which components to start testing for failure.

Has anyone ever encountered this problem or know how to start diagnosing what is causing it. Thanks!
 

Does the Antenna Warning light come on? Some radios will shut down if the SWR is too high. I don't know if the 959 has that feature.
 
No it doesnt. I actually have my President Washington base normally hooked up to this antenna and have know that I have it set at a perfect 1:1. I was just using the not being able to test SWR as a way of showing what I mean by it not holding a carrier/dead key
 
Happens regardless of which microphone we use when testing. There is no dimming at all in the LED and the TX light does stay on when holding the mic even though the power meter shows the quick drop off. Have tested the power meter on my base station and it deadkeys just fine on AM.
 
do you have an external wattmeter to confirm that the radio is actually dropping out and not just the meter itself?
LC
 
I'd be checking for bad solder joints in the PA section before I went any further.

Yup.
To take it another step further, I would get a can of air, turn it upside down, key the radio, give the driver a blast and see if it doesn't come back on. Then, do the final the same way. Might be a thermal failure if the solder joints are OK. In the event that doesn't pan out a failure, you would have to begin troubleshooting further. Since the radio didn't lose the TX light, I would begin looking for poor solder joints in the PA section too.

Doubtful that the voltage regulator has a problem; but it wouldn't hurt to put a DMM on its output lead and test it under TX load for any unacceptable voltage drop - just to make sure.

IOW, it is easier to find a failure point by finding out what is still working right. Careful visual inspection of parts can sometimes find problems too, so you might want to get out your magnifying glass.

BTW - does the radio have any problem with output in SSB mode?
 
I use a plastic tuning tool or pencil and push down on the board to find cold soldering around the IC's and etc. Try that while keying the mic?
 
You have a trickle to gnd somewhere in your tx section. Recheck and make sure a solder joint hasn't leached on to a grounding joint.
 
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