Bee on sterroids

[coondog]

on this galaxy 88 i run it works great 100% of the time but if i throw a couple of extra keydowns more then i usually do people say i got a bad buzz in the back ground.they say it sounds like the subject heading.this problem only happens maybe once or twice a year.

it started again yesterday.before i thought i had it controlled by turning down my dead key but it didn"t help this time.mic gain is at 3/4.with my other 88 i don"t have that problem or with the cobra that i sometimes use.

i"ll be putting this radio on the shelf soon because i have a general lee comming but i"d like to have the galaxy working good or know the problem before its shelved.thanks

 

[Beetle]

Mobile or home?

If it's at home, I'd take a look at the power supply. Could be a filter capacitor failing under stress (heat, duty cycle, age, etc).

 

[coondog]

i use it in my mobile Beetle.i got that certain 88 oh i say about 15 or so years ago.way last year i took both galaxy 88"s in to have dial a watts installed and talk back,(got rid of talk back later),and had the tech hook them up on his bench.

he showed how the audio and my dead key were working great but couldn"t understand why the one would buzz,didn"t buzz for him.this last time the buzz was worse then ever,before about a year earlier it was just a slight buzz.

this 88 has been used alot,(newest 88 is about a couple of years old),i don"t know maybe its time to be put out to pasture.my swr is perfect running barefoot or running my M800 2x8 and motor maul.all my grounding is good also.just seeems if something was wrong there the buzz would be with me all the time.

 

[Beetle]

From the first post, it sounds like everything starts out okay (no buzz), but if you transmit more than usual, the problem shows up. From that I'd believe it has something to do with a component or two that are heating up and breaking down.

You might get a can of spray coolant, put the 88 on the bench with a power supply and using a dummy load. Use a separate radio to listen to the signal from the 88 (you'll be able to hear it for quite a distance). If/when you start to hear the buzz, start hitting likely components with a short blast of cold, listening for a nearly instantaneous reduction of the buzz. When you locate the culprit, replace it.

Sounds like a lot of work, but tracking intermittent problems is the most troublesome part of electronic troubleshooting. One of the corollaries to Murphy's Law is that a circuit that's always behaving improperly will perform flawlessly in the presence of a good technician.

 

[coondog]

thanks Beetle,thats a great idea.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Sounds like a lot of work, but tracking intermittent problems is the most troublesome part of electronic troubleshooting. One of the corollaries to Murphy's Law is that a circuit that's always behaving improperly will perform flawlessly in the presence of a good technician.

I once spent two whole days working on a thermal intermittant problem in an $8000 floor model reel-reel recorder.It would work great out of the console but stop working about 15 minutes after it was put back in where you could not work on it. :evil: I eventually found a small switching transistor that was used to drive the motor control circuits.Typical repair situation where an $8000 piece of critical gear was out of commission for the need of an 89 cent part. :roll:

 

[coondog]

you know here"s something i just thought about,i remember a couple of years ago i took in this certain galaxy 88 because with the high and low button was kept on low like it was supposed to be when running a amp.the dead key needle for some reason wouldn"t go up to maxium when i turned up the dial a watt.

the cb tech here said run it on the high setting of the high and low button.sure it worked for where ever i wanted the dead key to be but now i remember from way back when i bought the radio the seller said to never use the high side for running amps.i got a gut feeling this might of been the problem and if it is how dumb of me, :roll: :roll: