Uniden PC66XL meter no worky!

[Hurricane145]

I picked up a Uniden PC66XL at a swap meet for 5 bucks the day before yesterday. It has the mic with it but that's all. It looks almost like new. Upon powering it up, it appears that everything works except the meter doesn't read any power output nor does it seem to work as an S meter although the band is pretty quiet right now so maybe hard to be sure. I would expect it to come up a little just from the normal noise.

It does have output as viewed on an external wattmeter so that is a good thing. I am wondering if any of youse guise have any thoughts on what to look at or if it is a common problem or any thoughts on it at all for that matter.

I bought it to replace a Cobra 29 LTD that got stolen a couple months ago...along with my whole dang TRUCK! Fear not though I bought a new 2024 Colorado. Just trying to get things back close to the way they were.

 

[Cable Guy]

It happens, meters seize up from contaminants, humidity and shock. If the meter isn't seized, you can shake the radio some from side to side and the needle should move some. Replacements are available and a last ditch effort can possibly free the meter up, depending on why it seized, but I won't get into that. Just lightly shake it side to side, if no meter movement, it's probably a seized meter.

 

[brandon7861]

 

[Cable Guy]

That guy always has good content, I have learned much from him. Thanks for sharing that Brandon.

 

[Hurricane145]

Thanks you guys! It looks like that is the problem with it. I've not run into that before. If you take the meter out to replace it you may as well try to fix it as in that video first. Looks like a new meter is about $15 but then there is the shipping cost too so I'd figure $25 roughly for a total. Guess I'll soon find what a PITA taking the meter out is!!

 

[Cable Guy]

The new meters are sometimes real loose and the needles are kinda whippy. If you can free it, that's the way.

 

[loosecannon]

hurricane 145,

when you take the covers off the radio, unsolder the two wires that go to the meter.

now get your DMM and set it to the diode test function.
put the leads on the meter tabs and it should slam the meter over to the right side.

if it does, then the meter itself is probably ok. if it doesn't then the meter is stuck or just gone bad.

if you decide to try to unstick it, DO NOT turn the screws more than about 1/4 turn in either direction.
you'll know pretty quickly whether or not this process is going to work.
LC

 

[Hurricane145]

hurricane 145,

when you take the covers off the radio, unsolder the two wires that go to the meter.

now get your DMM and set it to the diode test function.
put the leads on the meter tabs and it should slam the meter over to the right side.

if it does, then the meter itself is probably ok. if it doesn't then the meter is stuck or just gone bad.

if you decide to try to unstick it, DO NOT turn the screws more than about 1/4 turn in either direction.
you'll know pretty quickly whether or not this process is going to work.
LC

Saw this post a little late as already have been messing with the meter. I did the acetone thing to both top and bottom screws. Used a couple Q tips to clean things up around the screws. It is working better than it was. Not much at all on the band when I have wanted to try it out to see how it reacts on receive, but if I turn the RF gain all the way clockwise the meter needle advances to about 3/4 scale. RF output shows up on the meter as well to that point. Just not sure how far the meter should advance with the RF gain all the way clockwise as I am not that familiar with how far the meter should go up in that condition. If anyone has any input on that I'd appreciate it.

I see the meters are easy to find new but they are $20 with another $10 for shipping so far. I haven't checked Ebay yet and sometimes shipping is free or more inexpensive there. Will look at Amazon as well.

 

[loosecannon]

theres a trimmer resistor back near that big audio transformer, i believe it is VR3, that sets where the meter sits when you deadkey the mic.
this is only ever a relative reading so you really can't mess it up.

just make a note of where that trimmer was so you can put it back at least close to where it was.

you want to turn that trimmer so that it maxes out the meter movement as a way of determining if you can actually achieve a pegged meter or if your meter is still somewhat stuck toward the right side of the meter scale.

so, max out the trimmer, and key the mic a few times to see if you can slam that meter against the right side.
you'll know whether its really free or if you need to try to loosen it more.
LC

 

[Hurricane145]

so, max out the trimmer, and key the mic a few times to see if you can slam that meter against the right side.
you'll know whether its really free or if you need to try to loosen it more.

I will back up a couple steps and try the diode tester on my DMM and see what happens as well as what you suggested. Thanks.

 

[Hurricane145]

Okay. Seem to have it all fixed now. I did the diode tester thing with my DMM and it went full scale no problem. Then I adjusted VR3 a little to get the indicated output to 4 watts. Maybe it's a bit high but that's okay.

Now in receive, the noise level reads close to the same as my IC-7600 does on the same frequency and AM on the same antenna. No one to listen to on CB right now, summer doldrums and all. But I will listen around and see if I hear much to see how the meter reacts on received signals.

Thanks for all the input on what to check out and adjust. Looks like I got a good clean $5 radio!

 

[loosecannon]

nice!

glad you got it working.

now it's time to start modding it until it doesn't work anymore LOL.
LC