1) try substituting a different mic or two. The second problem a radio runs into is a broken mic wire down by the plug. The first is an antenna that is not tuned. 2) what is the voltage that is feeding the radio. It should be between 12 and 14 V. If the power is too low for some reason it won’t key-up. 3) ground will be coming from the power wire. Disconnect the coax from the radio to make sure that is the case. Fix the ground wire if necessary. The complaint states that the meter and Tx light are not working. They should work if there was no antenna connected to the radio.
This problem can occur when the antenna wire is corroded away from the brass fitting that is screwed into the antenna mount nut. With a Firestik type antenna that has the wire covered by the plastic coating you must expose the wire by cutting away the plastic. Check for a broken wire. Emergency repair; pull wire down, fasten down with small hose clamp onto brass fitting. Check for a bad microphone. Substitute a good working Mic to see if the problem goes away. Wires break close to the plug that goes into the radio. Working over a clean white towel remove the two screws from the clamp, remove the one screw from the body, separate the chrome body from the end of the plug by giving it a small twist and pulling. On a standard four pin microphone you will have four wires that should all be connected to the plug. If one wire is broken the radio will Not work properly. Map out what color wires go where. Cut back to good wire, strip the plastic 1/4 inch, (tin, (solder) the ends of the wire) resolder the...
Usually cause the power surge protect diode has been destroyed. That's it's job. Sometimes the reverse power problem will travel beyond the diode and burn up a trace on the solder side of the board. Solder a bit of wire to bridge the burnt spot. Rosin core solder. Replace the diode using a suitable size / make of diode. Make a drawing of the location of the silver band on the diode. Called the cathode side. Usually on the board drawn as line, l next to a triangle -l< Scrap electronics should have some you can use. Diode is close to where the power is entering the radio by a largish capicator.
RF gain, Dynamike clockwise? Radio in CB mode? A good working microphone? Dissasemble mic's plug. Inspect wires. Any broken wires? Note (write it down) how it's wired. And the color coding. Pin 1 shield 2 audio/white 3 transmit red 4 receive black. Cut and strip if needed. Resolder. May need to cut back the wire to find good stuff. Does the needle move to the left when transmitting? Blown final transistor.
Starting over. What type of antenna system do you have? Type A, coax/cable has a PL259 plug on the end that screws onto the studs base. The stud requires metal to metal contact on the bottom with a nylon washer on the top side, little shoulder down into a 1/2 inch hole. Flat metal washer on it. Then the lock washer. Type B uses two eye rings to make a connection. This will have two nylon washes, one for the top, one for the bottom side. Center of coax is to make contact with the bolt. Bare copper wire gets twisted together and a terminal soldered on. Soldering is preferred over crimping. Or crimp then solder. This should eliminate those issues. ANTENNAS: what do you have? Old new? Old K40 sticks are guaranteed 5 years. 5 years and one day, toss it. Old Firestik, look for crack in the vynal at the base. Cut plastic away, inspect for broken wire at the base. Does radio get any sound at all? Check for broken speaker with an external speaker. Knobs set properly? Squelch counterclockwise? Continued
I dislike that kind of antenna plug. To easy to put together wrong. Better to find a pl259 plug that gets soldered. YouTube must have a video on it somewhere.
This should eliminate those issues. Meaning, by soldering the rings onto the coax you eliminate the copper wire corroding.
When taking apart a microphone plug; do it on a towel. Helps to keep the small screws from getting lost.
On an older radio the external speaker jack can become loose, breaking the solder connection. Resoldering will fix that problem of no noise.
A speaker may die. Test for ohms across the leads/ wires. A reading means the speaker is good.
RF gain, Dynamike clockwise? Radio in CB mode? A good working microphone? Dissasemble mic's plug. Inspect wires. Any broken wires? Note (write it down) how it's wired. And the color coding. Pin 1 shield 2 audio/white 3 transmit red 4 receive black. Cut and strip if needed. Resolder. May need to cut back the wire to find good stuff. Does the needle move to the left when transmitting? Blown final transistor.
Starting over. What type of antenna system do you have? Type A, coax/cable has a PL259 plug on the end that screws onto the studs base. The stud requires metal to metal contact on the bottom with a nylon washer on the top side, little shoulder down into a 1/2 inch hole. Flat metal washer on it. Then the lock washer. Type B uses two eye rings to make a connection. This will have two nylon washes, one for the top, one for the bottom side. Center of coax is to make contact with the bolt. Bare copper wire gets twisted together and a terminal soldered on. Soldering is preferred over crimping. Or crimp then solder. This should eliminate those issues. ANTENNAS: what do you have? Old new? Old K40 sticks are guaranteed 5 years. 5 years and one day, toss it. Old Firestik, look for crack in the vynal at the base. Cut plastic away, inspect for broken wire at the base. Does radio get any sound at all? Check for broken speaker with an external speaker. Knobs set properly? Squelch counterclockwise? Continued
If the radio is not transmitting, it is a rare thing, this wire could be broken. Solid wire on Galaxy radios, lots of vibration in the vehicle.
Don't bother with the solder wick. Heat the metal tip, pull the wire away with needle nose pliers. This is a rare repair.
I dislike that kind of antenna plug. To easy to put together wrong. Better to find a pl259 plug that gets soldered. YouTube must have a video on it somewhere.