"MY FRIENDS STUPID RIG..."













I got off track on my last post writing about his printer, but I was over there to look at his rig, so here's the story:



His radio was getting hot. Not warm or slightly more than warm, but really HOT!! The fans would only kick on when it got to the hot stage and as we all know, heat, especially extraordinary heat, can damage the components, including the expensive finals. So after letting it warm up and placing my hand on it to see just how hot it would get, we turned it off and opened the case.



This radio in particular has known heat issues and there was a fix: Cut one of the black wires from one of the fans, solder a 51 Ohm resistor at that end, and then solder the other end of the resistor to a ground point. Seemed simple enough. Well, when we opened the case, it appeared that the fix had been done by a previous owner, but if so....why didn't it work? And, why did something look strange about it....






This is what I saw (picture BTW, taken with that 10 mega pixel camera of his). You can see the 2 fan connectors and on one of them there is a purple wire in the same slot that the black wire is in. I followed the purple wire to a resistor, and the other end of the resistor went to ground (chassis). My radio 'bud was freak'n out at this point -

"SEE!!! The mod IS done!! There is probably something else wrong that will cost big bucks"



If you put on your thinking cap, you'll imagine the mod "put resistor in line with black wire and ground" and realize that whoever did this, did it wrong. If both the black wire and the purple wire are plugged into ground, it won't make a bit of difference having the resistor tied to the other end of the purple wire and then to another ground. I checked the resistor and it was only a 10 Ohm resistor as well. I got rid of the purple wire and 10 Ohm resistor, cut the black wire, soldered the 51 Ohm resistor to the wire running to the fan, soldered the other end to ground and heat shrunk a protective layer around it.

It took less than 10 minutes, cost about .15 cents and my friend was forever grateful. This goes to show what happens when you buy a used rig - you never know what the fellow before you did to it, whether correct, or not.

'NUFF SAID

WOODY

"STANDARD DISCLAIMER"This is my standard disclaimer regarding the selling of my radio collection. While the ad reads CB GAZETTE, it has nothing to do with me, and the while the "WE are selling" implies I'm on board with it, I'm not. She has the legal right to sell my stuff, however I am not involved and any complaints should not be directed to me, or, damage my honest reputation in the selling of radios. I'm not upset by the legal selling, just the inference that I am involved. End of Disclaimer.