• You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.

Cant find a radio repair person anywhere

groundwire

Sr. Member
Jul 19, 2014
1,370
1,827
173
I have a 148gtl new in the box that just needs a minor repair and i cant find a person to repair it anywhere. The few qualified people i found wont take any business because thay are backed up for months on end, pshh. I know a few ham techs but their dicks when it comes to cb and wont repair. If everyone is so backed up how are cb places going out of business? Anyway anybody know someone who fixes radios that isn't "backed up for months", and replies to communication? If not im just gonna buy another one and throw this one away. Im tired of searching aimlessly for such a simple solution.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Staybolt

I have a 148gtl new in the box that just needs a minor repair and i cant find a person to repair it anywhere. The few qualified people i found wont take any business because thay are backed up for months on end, pshh. I know a few ham techs but their dicks when it comes to cb and wont repair. If everyone is so backed up how are cb places going out of business? Anyway anybody know someone who fixes radios that isn't "backed up for months", and replies to communication? If not im just gonna buy another one and throw this one away. Im tired of searching aimlessly for such a simple solution.

What kind of repair? HandyAndy just walked me through a few "repairs" on my 148GTL.
 
  • Like
Reactions: walterjn
When you transmit the rx/tx light flashes back and forth really fast (green red green red green red etc) thus going in and out of transmit as well. Has good audio on pa, receive is great. It might be c95 cap? I got lied to though on ebay, no surprise. Its supposed to be new in the box and it is. It is minter than mint. But it has been recapped i think. All the caps are 16v, not 10v. Unless thats what some of them came with. Idk
 
What year is it? Mine is a '95 has 25vdc and 50vdc caps in it. Someone said in my post that mine had been recapped so I'm guessing 16v would be the norm... 10vdc caps would stress like crazy on a 14-15vdc system like was pretty much every vehicle back then because of the loose voltage regulators.
*edit*
Are you sure the mic is good? Had one on a 29LTD that did that. Replaced it and no more problems.
 
Is it a 148 GTL from Taiwan or Philippines. It may be over 30 years old. It may have a dried out cap. It just sat in the box, not being used and a cap went bad. Handy Andy caught me up on this about the caps.
 
Age is a big deal. The most-recently made "148GTL-D" has a poor reputation, even though this is the newest you can get.

This model was in production for nearly 40 years. The very-oldest version will probably have different problems than a radio that was made 4 years ago.

Country of origin can help pin this down, even if the serial-number plate does not list a production year.

And if extensive rework was done to it, that throws yet another wild card into the deck.

73
 
  • Like
Reactions: Slowmover
RCI made that model in Malaysia when they took it over around '94 or so. It's a pretty faithful copy of the radio Uniden made in the Philippines.

Do you have any tools to attempt troubleshooting? A wattmeter, dummy load, frequency counter, multimeter, 'scope or such?

The reason the repair shops are backed up is that their competition have closed in droves. The repair businesses that remain mostly don't have either the money or a good reason to expand and cope with the volume of requests they get. Most folks who learned this trade as adults are reaching, or well past retirement age. And the ones who got their start as teenagers aren't far behind them.

I'm technically past retirement age, but I have no plans to retire.

I also have no plans to spend $100,000 to expand the business and triple the repairs we can send out the door. Or, I should say "borrow" that money.

Not so different from finding an expert with experience on the fine points of a 50, 60 or 70 year-old vehicle. Time passes.

73
 
RCI made that model in Malaysia when they took it over around '94 or so. It's a pretty faithful copy of the radio Uniden made in the Philippines.

Do you have any tools to attempt troubleshooting? A wattmeter, dummy load, frequency counter, multimeter, 'scope or such?

The reason the repair shops are backed up is that their competition have closed in droves. The repair businesses that remain mostly don't have either the money or a good reason to expand and cope with the volume of requests they get. Most folks who learned this trade as adults are reaching, or well past retirement age. And the ones who got their start as teenagers aren't far behind them.

I'm technically past retirement age, but I have no plans to retire.

I also have no plans to spend $100,000 to expand the business and triple the repairs we can send out the door. Or, I should say "borrow" that money.

Not so different from finding an expert with experience on the fine points of a 50, 60 or 70 year-old vehicle. Time passes.

73
Yes i have all the equipment you mentioned
 
The pulsating transmit/receive light sounds like the PLL that sets the channel frequency is not locked properly.

Tech data for this radio is here: http://www.cbtricks.com/radios/cobra/148gtl/index.htm

First I'd set the 'scope to read 1 Volt/div, preferably with the probe set for "x10". Probe pin 17 of the MB8719 PLL chip IC1. You should see the "fuzz" of a RF waveform, around 1 Volt peak-to-peak. If L21 is not peaked, this signal will be weak and cause 'twitch' problems from the PLL. A non-metal tipped tool with a blade 1.5 mm across is what's needed to gently twist the core in L31, and make sure you see that it's set for peak amplitude at IC1 pin 17.

Next I'd have a look at the PLL tuning voltage. It's labeled test point (TP) 10. Usually the one resistor next to the VCO module that has a bare-metal lead wire visible. This will be a steady DC voltage that changes ever-so-slightly with the change of one channel at a time. If it's not close to 3 Volts DC on channel 1, this could be trouble.

An educated guess, mind you, but this is what it sounds like.

73
 
I have a 148gtl new in the box that just needs a minor repair and i cant find a person to repair it anywhere. The few qualified people i found wont take any business because thay are backed up for months on end, pshh. I know a few ham techs but their dicks when it comes to cb and wont repair. If everyone is so backed up how are cb places going out of business? Anyway anybody know someone who fixes radios that isn't "backed up for months", and replies to communication? If not im just gonna buy another one and throw this one away. Im tired of searching aimlessly for such a simple solution.
Or they are lazy asses and only want peak and tune bullshit and not actual troubleshooting.
 

dxChat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • dxBot:
    Tucker442 has left the room.
  • @ BJ radionut:
    LIVE 10:00 AM EST :cool:
  • @ Charles Edwards:
    I'm looking for factory settings 1 through 59 for a AT 5555 n2 or AT500 M2 I only wrote down half the values feel like a idiot I need help will be appreciated