I have a Courier Centurian PLL40 base it has lost its receive and transmit now. It started out first when I turned on radio it would take about 2 or 3 minutes before radio would receive all lights,clock would work just no receive transmit even worked but slowly took longer and longer for it to work now not working. When I key up transmit light come on and meter show power but no receive. Is it a final? And if so how to check it? I do have Sams book for this radio. Thanks Jimbo165
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Courier Centurian no receive.
- Thread starter Jimbo165
- Start date
Jimbo,
im making this post in the hopes that others will read it and gain some perspective, so dont take it as directed at you personally.
CB radio is an old hobby by electronics standards.
this means that most of the equipment made in the later 70's and early 80's was never meant to last this long.
This means that if you have a radio from this era that still works, its only a short matter of time before things start going south.
So asking questions about how to fix a single issue with a radio that is bound to have more than that is not going to yield a satisfactory response, because anyone that knows enough to fix your radio knows that he's opening up a huge can of worms by even suggesting something for you to look at.
its probably not going to happen.
i will use the "old car" analogy.
many people love old cars and want to own one, but they must have one of two requirements to make that work.
1. they must have more than enough money to throw at each and every problem that crops up during the restoration process.
or
2. they must have the knowledge and skills required to properly address and fix any problems that crop up during the restoration process.
if someone does not have at least one of those bases covered, they should not go out and purchase a '57 chevy bel air that has been sitting in a barn for 30 years.
i hope that doesnt come across as harsh. i dont mean it that way at all.
these days there are only a few particular chassis of older radios that are still worth owning, and these are very well known.
if your radio isnt on this list, you have to ask yourself what the point of owning it is.
Now, just so that i dont seem like i completely ignored your question;
it is not the final if you have transmitting power coming out of the radio.
also a bad final is not usually going to affect your receive.
you probably have one or more dried out electrolytic capacitors, and this is just the first symptom you are noticing.
your radio needs to be restored, not just repaired. dont waste your money on fixing only one part of a radio that is bound to have more problems in the future.
if you love the radio, restore it. if not, cut your losses and move on.
i sincerely hope this helps,
LC
im making this post in the hopes that others will read it and gain some perspective, so dont take it as directed at you personally.
CB radio is an old hobby by electronics standards.
this means that most of the equipment made in the later 70's and early 80's was never meant to last this long.
This means that if you have a radio from this era that still works, its only a short matter of time before things start going south.
So asking questions about how to fix a single issue with a radio that is bound to have more than that is not going to yield a satisfactory response, because anyone that knows enough to fix your radio knows that he's opening up a huge can of worms by even suggesting something for you to look at.
its probably not going to happen.
i will use the "old car" analogy.
many people love old cars and want to own one, but they must have one of two requirements to make that work.
1. they must have more than enough money to throw at each and every problem that crops up during the restoration process.
or
2. they must have the knowledge and skills required to properly address and fix any problems that crop up during the restoration process.
if someone does not have at least one of those bases covered, they should not go out and purchase a '57 chevy bel air that has been sitting in a barn for 30 years.
i hope that doesnt come across as harsh. i dont mean it that way at all.
these days there are only a few particular chassis of older radios that are still worth owning, and these are very well known.
if your radio isnt on this list, you have to ask yourself what the point of owning it is.
Now, just so that i dont seem like i completely ignored your question;
it is not the final if you have transmitting power coming out of the radio.
also a bad final is not usually going to affect your receive.
you probably have one or more dried out electrolytic capacitors, and this is just the first symptom you are noticing.
your radio needs to be restored, not just repaired. dont waste your money on fixing only one part of a radio that is bound to have more problems in the future.
if you love the radio, restore it. if not, cut your losses and move on.
i sincerely hope this helps,
LC
on the old radios like this as LC stated you have a lot of bad caps in it. on a old one like this the 1st thing I do is change all the electro caps out 1st before I try to see what else is wrong. in about 90% of the time the caps repair most of what is wrong in the radio. caps would be the 1st part of trying to trouble shoot it.
JIMBO -
After reading your post, I'm not sure if the both transmit and receive are out now, or only the receive.
If the radio still transmits, I would check the relay.
Carefully remove the relay cover retaining spring and then the cover. Using small needle-nosed pliers, remove the small spring on the top. then lift out the armature being careful not to stress the wires connected to it. Check the leaf springs on the armature for heat discoloration. If there is no discoloration, clean all of the contacts with a Q-tip dipped in lacquer thinner or acetone. Don't use any abrasives. Carefully reassemble and give it a try.
(NOTE If there is heat discoloration on the armature springs, the relay will have to be replaced. Unfortunately, that relay is no longer available.)
- 399
After reading your post, I'm not sure if the both transmit and receive are out now, or only the receive.
If the radio still transmits, I would check the relay.
Carefully remove the relay cover retaining spring and then the cover. Using small needle-nosed pliers, remove the small spring on the top. then lift out the armature being careful not to stress the wires connected to it. Check the leaf springs on the armature for heat discoloration. If there is no discoloration, clean all of the contacts with a Q-tip dipped in lacquer thinner or acetone. Don't use any abrasives. Carefully reassemble and give it a try.
(NOTE If there is heat discoloration on the armature springs, the relay will have to be replaced. Unfortunately, that relay is no longer available.)
- 399
Courier Centurion
Loosecannon and Sonoma can I agree to disagree? I know that some radios are not worth putting alot of money in them and this could be one of them but I donot think I need to rebuild the entire radio to fix a problem that could be as easy as a relay, diode or possibly one capacitor causing this problem. I am not a radio repairman but do have enough knowlege on how to check a cap, diode or transister but rather than checking everything in radio would like to be steered in the right direction I even have sams book on this radio. I wish this radio was a old car because that is in my line of experiance and would have been easily fixed. I do still welcome your comments Thank You for your time. Jimbo165
Loosecannon and Sonoma can I agree to disagree? I know that some radios are not worth putting alot of money in them and this could be one of them but I donot think I need to rebuild the entire radio to fix a problem that could be as easy as a relay, diode or possibly one capacitor causing this problem. I am not a radio repairman but do have enough knowlege on how to check a cap, diode or transister but rather than checking everything in radio would like to be steered in the right direction I even have sams book on this radio. I wish this radio was a old car because that is in my line of experiance and would have been easily fixed. I do still welcome your comments Thank You for your time. Jimbo165
Hi Jimbo.
Just a quick question or two.
Is the receiver and transmitter both not working?
I like to help you with this. And I will say it may not be worth it ot some but may be to you. I work on a lot of stuff that is not worth it in reallity. Also before I can answer much please define :I am not a radio repairman but do have enough knowlege on how to check a cap, diode or transister
Courier no receive
Radio Tech my definition is I have a transistor checker and know how to use it, I have a multimeter and know how to use it to check diodes and resistor values , I have a capacitor checker and know how to use it also but all this still does not make me a radio repairman for sure. There is more capacitors to buy than radio is worth if I was to recap it as suggested I was just looking for a place to start. Plugged in radio last night and it worked perfect but next time receive may not work and will not transmit. When that happens it shows keying up on radio but no watts out on meter and no receive another thing weird is that when this happens squelch does not work also. I guess I will just sell radio for parts to someone.
Radio Tech my definition is I have a transistor checker and know how to use it, I have a multimeter and know how to use it to check diodes and resistor values , I have a capacitor checker and know how to use it also but all this still does not make me a radio repairman for sure. There is more capacitors to buy than radio is worth if I was to recap it as suggested I was just looking for a place to start. Plugged in radio last night and it worked perfect but next time receive may not work and will not transmit. When that happens it shows keying up on radio but no watts out on meter and no receive another thing weird is that when this happens squelch does not work also. I guess I will just sell radio for parts to someone.
Jimbo , the old caps are drying out from age. more than likely it has a bunch of 10 volt caps in it. they dry out and start losing the capacitance to work properly. on you last post you said it works then does not work. you can check for a cold solder joint on the circuit board to see if one of them is bad. I would start around the PLL and vco area and crystals. you need to check if the PLL is going out of lock when it acts up also. this all pertains to the vco voltages that feed the PLL. you can recap this radio for about 10.00 worth of caps if you buy them as you need them. stay away from radioshack to buy your parts or it would cost 4 or 5 times as much buying from them.
Courier no receive
Thank you Sonoma I will try what you said and give it another look over. Jimbo165
Thank you Sonoma I will try what you said and give it another look over. Jimbo165