Ok, i can confirm that the dx979 service manual is for the dx86v as well. I just did a full alignment on my 86v and its like a whole new radio. I tell you what, ALOT of the adjustments were waaaay off. Talk about just get in in the ballpark, man. Factory did a horrible job. Anyway its a pretty good rig now.
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Galaxy DX86V mods
- Thread starter Jaws843
- Start date
And that is exactly what pisses me off!
. I understand doing some fine tuning, but there is no excuse for something way off from the factory: quality control=garbage. The sad thing is that nowadays it's this way for everything you buy new; gone are the days of being proud about having the best quality product on the market (now it's only about profits), just too bad!
Shadetree Mechanic
Delaware Base Station 808
It's good to know that the 979 alignment will work for the 86v, I have yet to do an alignment on anything. I think I have the equipment, I just need time to sit down and mess with it. Just curious, did the alignment help the sideband power?
Not by much. It does 30w pep ssb. Good enough i guess. I ordered another one, curious to see if its gonna be the same or if it will actually do the 45w as advertised. I have been investigating this (videos and such) and it looks like these newer ones all have alot lower ssb output than the advertised 45w. The older ones from awhile back does do the 45w ssb and am. I also was looking forward to changing the meter light back to the normal old school yellowish glow lamp, but its a full on circuit board mounted dual led thing with other components and connectors on it soldered to the back of the meter and than bolted down and sealed in a metal frame. My god, ridiculous. That just blew the whole deal. I just cant stand the blue meter light
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I have two thoughts on this. 1. We have third world country people from a village getting paid probably $4 an hour to put these things together. Most likely a 6th grade education at best so to think they would know how to operate electronic test equipment properly and put together and align a quality radio transceiver would be foolish. Im surprised its not worse than it is, They probably cant even say oscilloscope. Pshh, vietnam, really? Whats next, zimbabwe. 2. The american consumer is partly to blame for this, everyone wants cheap things and would rather throw it away and buy another one rather than pay a higher price for quality. Its everywhere, "we demand lower prices", "we want affordable goods" blah blah blah. American manufacturing got destroyed. (You can blame the government for that one) And of course the whole overseas dirt cheap crap parts and labor, so the company's make a huge profit. It makes my blood boil too. Hell, at least have the Japanese, Phillipinos or chinese make them again, at least they know what they are doing. American made quality? Nope, those days are over and wont return. Made in cambodia is the new norm. Sad daysAnd that is exactly what pisses me off!
You are absolutely right; I sure don't blame the people that actually put the stuff together in those Countries! The American consumer takes all the blame because of wanting everything cheap and now you get a lot of goods that are not meant to be repaired (some ceiling light fixtures are sealed, so when you need a new bulb you throw the all fixture out and buy a new one). The government has only minimal blame because, contrary to popular belief, it only does what the people allow it to do; look at what happened in the last two years: the most spread virus is IGNORANCE and the worst disease is TIRRANY (it gets worst and worst). Henry David Thoreau said "That government is best which governs not at all" and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. The essay was published in 1849 and he taught things were going downhill back then. I will be more than willing to pay for quality stuff that can be fixed instead of thrown out (how is that good for the environment?), and because of that I just keep buying everything from the 70's and 80's (durable,reliable and fixable). Like you said "sad days".
73
Shadetree Mechanic
Delaware Base Station 808
I just did the clarifier mod, works great! I removed R113 and D68 and took a piece of wire and made a little jumper with them. I used the hole that 113 was in and put the other end on the place that was shown in the video that I posted. I am going to fiddle with this some more before I put the covers back on. Thanks Andy!
I just got my DX86V and did the standard freq conversion. I watched a video on YT that showed a wire loop on the bottom of the main board, but mine didn't have that. Then I read about a red wire loop on the band board, but mine didn't have that either. But I did notice that J3 on the band board didn't have anything plugged into it, and I found the matching connector. Looking at the bottom of the band board, I saw that the +8V pin had a solder bridge to ground. A search for the board number of the band board led me to the freq expansion for a DX44V, which uses the same band board, and it mentioned the bridged pins. So I "un-bridged" those pins, plugged in the connector, and that worked.
So, my questions to you guys are: 1. will jumpering from the +8V pin to one of the unused J3 pins (F, G) give me extra band segments? And, will grounding the black wire from the +10K pin of J3 give me +10K? Or does it need to be pulled up? TIA.
So, my questions to you guys are: 1. will jumpering from the +8V pin to one of the unused J3 pins (F, G) give me extra band segments? And, will grounding the black wire from the +10K pin of J3 give me +10K? Or does it need to be pulled up? TIA.
Shadetree Mechanic
Delaware Base Station 808
Jumping the +8v to any of the band pins or 10k will give that function. I think one of the videos that I posted from youtube shows something about this.
Ok, that's what I thought except I was thinking the +10K pin needed to be grounded.
I just figured out that unplugging J3 altogether gives Band B, 25.615-26.055. Factory config is +8V jumpered to the H pin which gives Band G, 28.765-29.205. The two unused pins should give me the low end of 10M, which is what I was hoping for.
Like I said before; fun times! Just like the PLL hacks from the '80s.
Well, I just made the DX86V legal for Technicians! Jumped +8V to the G pin on J3, which puts it on 28.305 - 28.755 MHz. Galaxy is really dropping the ball by not jumpering it like that, thereby making it actually usable out of the box.
They were focused on 11 meters mostly.
Uniden started it with the pb 010 radios like the 360fm and everyone built from there.
Just 40 channel blocks built off the standard 40.
73
Jeff
Uniden started it with the pb 010 radios like the 360fm and everyone built from there.
Just 40 channel blocks built off the standard 40.
73
Jeff
True, but if they put a jumper from +8 to G instead of the solder bridge to H, it would take nothing from those who want it for 11M but would make it useful out of the box for all hams. I'm pretty sure that would make it more popular. The 28.765 - 29.205 spread out of the box and not knowing what it would take to put it in the SSB portion of 10 is why I was initially hesitant to buy one: https://www.worldwidedx.com/threads/galaxy-dx86v.252929/
Right now I have it at 28.300 - 28.760 via the G pin. Perfect for 10M SSB. I've decided to connect the bandset switch so that C= CB, D= 10M SSB subband (28.300 - 28.760), and E= 10M AM subband (28.765 - 29.205). Maximum utility with no need for any added switches, although I might add a rear panel switch for +10 kc as in the video Shadetree posted.
I'm going to try to push pins out of the connector and move them to different slots to accomplish that. That way I won't even have to fire up the soldering iron.
So, I did push the band selector pins out of the J3 connector and moved them around. Now I have CB on "C," 10M SSB on "D," and 10M AM on "E." Perfect.
I do think I'll add a +10 switch, but it's quite a useful radio as it is now.
I do think I'll add a +10 switch, but it's quite a useful radio as it is now.
Shadetree Mechanic
Delaware Base Station 808
I just did the roger beep and 10k mods, both on the same micro toggle on the back. Up for 10k, down for roger beep, and center off. The roger beep works without any other modification. I am not sure how it didn't work before when I tested it, must have been what I was using for a jumper. The +8v for the 10k is the same for the roger beep, I just got the +8v from the 10k location because it was easier. Now to swap this one for the one in my truck and do the mods to it.
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