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Post by Night Ranger on Apr 1, 2009 19:52:14 GMT -5
A guy at work realized I could work on CB radios, and he asked me if I could fix the CB in his truck. I should have known what to expect. This is one of several reasons why I only repair CB radios for a few close friends. See the photo of his CB below. img4.imageshack.us/img4/5718/typicalcbrepair.jpgNight Ranger |
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Post by 238 on Apr 2, 2009 5:17:40 GMT -5
Take it to the carwash 1st, then open it up. 238
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Post by Tombstone (R.I.P.) on Apr 2, 2009 6:40:43 GMT -5
Yeah, that's a mess allright! People need to know that you have to clean radios up and spray the controls once in awhile. I've had them come in here like that too, some were so bad that my fingers would stick to them. I have another story but I don't want to make myself or anyone else sick talking about it. If anyone really wants to hear it I'll post about it??
Tombstone
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss 
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Post by Sandbagger on Apr 2, 2009 7:25:45 GMT -5
A guy at work realized I could work on CB radios, and he asked me if I could fix the CB in his truck. I should have known what to expect. This is one of several reasons why I only repair CB radios for a few close friends. See the photo of his CB below. img4.imageshack.us/img4/5718/typicalcbrepair.jpgNight Ranger No wonder it needed repair.......  |
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Post by BionicChicken on Apr 2, 2009 13:38:54 GMT -5
HMMMMM.....I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it until people starting commenting on cleaning it. I see so many radios out of log trucks, skidders, tree cutters, loaders, etc that have been exposed to all manner and description of elements, greasy hands, tree sap, hydraulic fluid that make that one look almost new. Sometime I leave the dirt on the outside but always clean all the controls and mostly the solder side of the circuit board. It is amazing how much dirt can accumulate there. What has always amazed me is how in the world the nuts holding the controls get loose? Usually every one of them. Never been able to figure that one out and they will be to the point of almost completely off.
BC
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Post by Night Ranger on Apr 2, 2009 17:37:04 GMT -5
HMMMMM.....I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it until people starting commenting on cleaning it. I see so many radios out of log trucks, skidders, tree cutters, loaders, etc that have been exposed to all manner and description of elements, greasy hands, tree sap, hydraulic fluid that make that one look almost new. Sometime I leave the dirt on the outside but always clean all the controls and mostly the solder side of the circuit board. It is amazing how much dirt can accumulate there. What has always amazed me is how in the world the nuts holding the controls get loose? Usually every one of them. Never been able to figure that one out and they will be to the point of almost completely off. BC That's a cheap radio to begin with. By the time I repair it, clean it, and add up the labor he could buy a new one for just a few bucks more. |
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Post by Night Ranger on Apr 2, 2009 17:43:20 GMT -5
Yeah, that's a mess allright! People need to know that you have to clean radios up and spray the controls once in awhile. I've had them come in here like that too, some were so bad that my fingers would stick to them. I have another story but I don't want to make myself or anyone else sick talking about it. If anyone really wants to hear it I'll post about it?? Tombstone I remember a late 1970s Sears Roadtalker 40 channel that came in. The repair was just a matter of the radio being a little off frequency. What made it stand out in my mind was the puff of pot smoke that came out of it when I took the cover off. I also remember an Ebay special that came in from New York with a piece of someone's dashboard still attached to the mounting bracket. |
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
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Post by Sandbagger on Apr 3, 2009 6:26:38 GMT -5
HMMMMM.....I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it until people starting commenting on cleaning it. I see so many radios out of log trucks, skidders, tree cutters, loaders, etc that have been exposed to all manner and description of elements, greasy hands, tree sap, hydraulic fluid that make that one look almost new. Sometime I leave the dirt on the outside but always clean all the controls and mostly the solder side of the circuit board. It is amazing how much dirt can accumulate there. What has always amazed me is how in the world the nuts holding the controls get loose? Usually every one of them. Never been able to figure that one out and they will be to the point of almost completely off. BC That's a cheap radio to begin with. By the time I repair it, clean it, and add up the labor he could buy a new one for just a few bucks more. That's why a lot of shops won't touch AM-only mobile rigs (other than Cobra 29's) with anything more than an obvious problem or for a "peak and tune". |
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,250
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Post by Sandbagger on Apr 3, 2009 6:29:17 GMT -5
HMMMMM.....I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it until people starting commenting on cleaning it. I see so many radios out of log trucks, skidders, tree cutters, loaders, etc that have been exposed to all manner and description of elements, greasy hands, tree sap, hydraulic fluid that make that one look almost new. Sometime I leave the dirt on the outside but always clean all the controls and mostly the solder side of the circuit board. It is amazing how much dirt can accumulate there. What has always amazed me is how in the world the nuts holding the controls get loose? Usually every one of them. Never been able to figure that one out and they will be to the point of almost completely off. BC One word: Vibration. |
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Post by BionicChicken on Apr 3, 2009 6:50:14 GMT -5
Pot Smoke!!!! LOL!! That made me remember one radio I worked on in the mid 80's. I opened it up and found a bag of weed and another of assorted pills inside. It seems this is where the guy put his stash and forgot about it before bringing the radio to me. Well, that was about 25 years ago and when he got the radio back it was cleaned up and out......................in more ways than one.  BC |
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Post by crazybob on Apr 3, 2009 7:01:25 GMT -5
I once bought a used Uniden Grant. I put it on the table & opened it up & immediately tossed it out the back door. ..It was full of ROACHES! I don't mean roaches from smoking pot.
Later when the guy that I bought radio from asked me "how I liked the radio?", I told him that I was still working the bugs out.
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
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Post by Sandbagger on Apr 3, 2009 9:56:45 GMT -5
Yeah, that's a mess allright! People need to know that you have to clean radios up and spray the controls once in awhile. I've had them come in here like that too, some were so bad that my fingers would stick to them. I have another story but I don't want to make myself or anyone else sick talking about it. If anyone really wants to hear it I'll post about it?? Tombstone I remember a late 1970s Sears Roadtalker 40 channel that came in. The repair was just a matter of the radio being a little off frequency. What made it stand out in my mind was the puff of pot smoke that came out of it when I took the cover off. I also remember an Ebay special that came in from New York with a piece of someone's dashboard still attached to the mounting bracket. I'm guessing that the frequency was a little "high"? ;D |
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Post by Sniper..Unit 305 on Apr 3, 2009 10:31:24 GMT -5
I talked to a fella last summer, a local around this area. Seems he took an old amp that he had stored inside a small storage room in their barn and brought it back into the house to use. He told us it worked fine when he put it out there so he figured since it was only put up 2 years prior, that it would still be ok. Well...he hooked it up after dusting it off and fired it up. As soon as he went to tune it, it immediately started smoking and actually caught on fire ! It took out his radio before he knew it and he hurried up to unplug it and throw it in his bathtub before it could catch anything else on fire. Well, when he opened it up, it seems as though a field mouse or some other critter got in there somehow and built a nest ! I just could not believe that he actually admitted to us that he did something that dumb. Sniper
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Post by BionicChicken on Apr 3, 2009 11:46:42 GMT -5
[/quote]
I'm guessing that the frequency was a little "high"? ;D[/quote]
Just a little bit......................along with the operator and the repairman. ;D
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Post by BionicChicken on Apr 3, 2009 11:51:48 GMT -5
The rats nest made me think about a JB 12 the shop I worked at sold years ago. We ordered it and when it came in the guy was there and picked it up unopened and carried it home since it was ready to use out of the box. He called and said the amp was keying normally, 2-8 watts but was swinging 60 on a Drake W4. I told him no way. He convinced me it was so I told him to run it and hopefully he would not have any problems out of it. A few days later he brought it in..........broke of course and said he had let the smoke out of it. A few components were bad but I found out what the problem was with the wattage being so high. He didn't remove the packing from around the 6BQ5 tube!!!! The glass envelope of the tube was drawn in tight around the plates, almost made it look like they were dipped in glass.
A few parts and a new tube and the JB worked like new..........not like it did but as it was supposed to.
BC
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Post by Tombstone (R.I.P.) on Apr 3, 2009 12:10:02 GMT -5
Mercy! This is all very entertaining, ha, ha! Crazy Bob, I had the same experience as you did with the vermin. Had an answering machine come in years ago and good thing that it was in a plastic bag with a twist tie because it sat on my bench for awhile until I could get to it. I took it out of the bag, started to take the cover off, and the miserable critters started crawling out from where the cord goes in. I hurried up and used the machine like a hammer and mashed the few that I saw and bagged it back up and it got tossed out the back door too. I told my customer about it and to come get the thing from my yard. No charge.
Tombstone
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Post by Night Ranger on Apr 3, 2009 12:31:30 GMT -5
I'm guessing that the frequency was a little "high"? ;D[/quote] Just a little bit......................along with the operator and the repairman. ;D[/quote] Apparently the radio was not the only thing that was blowing smoke. It was the first radio I ever worked on that smelled like maple pancake syrup and gave me the munchies. : ) |
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
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Post by Sandbagger on Apr 3, 2009 13:07:31 GMT -5
The rats nest made me think about a JB 12 the shop I worked at sold years ago. We ordered it and when it came in the guy was there and picked it up unopened and carried it home since it was ready to use out of the box. He called and said the amp was keying normally, 2-8 watts but was swinging 60 on a Drake W4. I told him no way. He convinced me it was so I told him to run it and hopefully he would not have any problems out of it. A few days later he brought it in..........broke of course and said he had let the smoke out of it. A few components were bad but I found out what the problem was with the wattage being so high. He didn't remove the packing from around the 6BQ5 tube!!!! The glass envelope of the tube was drawn in tight around the plates, almost made it look like they were dipped in glass. A few parts and a new tube and the JB worked like new..........not like it did but as it was supposed to. BC You'd better watch it. Some google-er will see this and spread it around the internet that if you want to get more "swing" from your tube amp, you should stuff packing around the tubes.......  |
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,250
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Post by Sandbagger on Apr 3, 2009 13:09:51 GMT -5
I once bought a used Uniden Grant. I put it on the table & opened it up & immediately tossed it out the back door. ..It was full of ROACHES! I don't mean roaches from smoking pot. Later when the guy that I bought radio from asked me "how I liked the radio?", I told him that I was still working the bugs out. Yea, roaches like warm dark places. I've opened up a few "roach motels" in my day. Fortunately most of them were already dead. I once worked with a guy who did repairs to cable TV boxes, and when they got in a suspected "roach motel" they'd put it in a plastic bag, and spray bug spray in it and leave it sit for a day before opening it...... |
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,250
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Post by Sandbagger on Apr 3, 2009 13:13:40 GMT -5
I talked to a fella last summer, a local around this area. Seems he took an old amp that he had stored inside a small storage room in their barn and brought it back into the house to use. He told us it worked fine when he put it out there so he figured since it was only put up 2 years prior, that it would still be ok. Well...he hooked it up after dusting it off and fired it up. As soon as he went to tune it, it immediately started smoking and actually caught on fire ! It took out his radio before he knew it and he hurried up to unplug it and throw it in his bathtub before it could catch anything else on fire. Well, when he opened it up, it seems as though a field mouse or some other critter got in there somehow and built a nest ! I just could not believe that he actually admitted to us that he did something that dumb. Sniper Been there seen that too. Only it was a 3-500z box that belonged to a ham friend. The fuses popped and he said it sizzled then a wisp of smoke came out. When I opened it up, I expected to see shorted HI-V rectifiers, but instead there was a toasted body of a small mouse (and shorted rectifiers)...... |
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Post by Night Ranger on Apr 3, 2009 15:01:18 GMT -5
I talked to a fella last summer, a local around this area. Seems he took an old amp that he had stored inside a small storage room in their barn and brought it back into the house to use. He told us it worked fine when he put it out there so he figured since it was only put up 2 years prior, that it would still be ok. Well...he hooked it up after dusting it off and fired it up. As soon as he went to tune it, it immediately started smoking and actually caught on fire ! It took out his radio before he knew it and he hurried up to unplug it and throw it in his bathtub before it could catch anything else on fire. Well, when he opened it up, it seems as though a field mouse or some other critter got in there somehow and built a nest ! I just could not believe that he actually admitted to us that he did something that dumb. Sniper Been there seen that too. Only it was a 3-500z box that belonged to a ham friend. The fuses popped and he said it sizzled then a wisp of smoke came out. When I opened it up, I expected to see shorted HI-V rectifiers, but instead there was a toasted body of a small mouse (and shorted rectifiers)...... I dug a little insect cocoon of some type out of a Midland 77-830 this week. It is the old green pll02a AM cybernet board with the metal boxes around the finals and the ta7205p audio chip. The little insect had made his cocoon in the corner of the final box. |
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Post by BladeRunner now OLD FLASH!!!!! on Apr 26, 2009 11:53:10 GMT -5
This is not about a CB Radio but similar to some of the posts here. ( I probably shouldn't tell this story..) She called in and said her console strereo quit working. I went in and parked my butt on a warm carpeted floor. (this stere was 6 months old) I opened the back. the paper cones on all the speaker shad ben eaten away. a lot of the wiring had missing insulation. I told th elady I needed to order some parts and would be back. About 2 days later I started itching. Upon inspection I ofund little creatures crawling. I went to the Drug store and got some personal insecticide. LMAO The only place I could have possibly picked the creatures up was out of her carpet. I called and told her the story and never heard from her again. between the rats, mice and whatever else she lived with I was much more careful in the future.
I've had many encounters with roaches repairing Curtis Mathis TV's (long ago). They use to have a board on the CRT that , on one corner had a test point that had 730 volts. About a quarter ince from that was a ground. One fall, when all the little roachies staarted looking for warmer quarters. I suddenly had an epidemic of these CRT board with the corners missing. Oon one I found what was left of a roach. Some of them (a lot) had crawled across the corner of the board and shorted the 730 volts to the ground and POP!!!!!!! burnt trace. Dont ever let anyone tell you a roach can't conduct electricity...... I hate roaches and most other bugs...LOL
BR
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Post by BionicChicken on Apr 26, 2009 20:10:29 GMT -5
Curtis Mathis.............the works in the drawer. Man I hated those board pin connectors. Of course 20 minutes of work could fix major problems but you never knew until you spent that amount of time whether the problem was bad or not.
Roaches have been around 100's of thousands of years and will most probably still be that long afterwards.
BC
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