Let's talk Radios .. Hey Stickfish

Pilar · 10-18-2006, 12:42 PM

I have only a few projects to work on this winter. Motor is good :grin: , wiring is still good :grin: . The wood could use a little varnish and the bottom paint some work. Maybe I'll get the outriggers, Finally.

But what is bugging me most of all is the radios. Icom 402 is a good radio but both of mine are intermittant. Other guys have described me on the radio as loud and clear one minute and barely audible the next. Also I can get out but not hear anyone responding to me that is more than 5 miles away. This seems to be happening to both the bridge and cabin radios.

What are some common things to check? Is there any way to figure this out short of using an SWR meter?

Help us out Stickfish, please? At least give a place to start looking.

StickFish · 10-18-2006, 01:44 PM

No problem Pilar - we can chat some more about this Friday at the TA meeting, but I've got a meter if we need that or I can borrow an analyzer.

Before we really dig into this the 402 is a great radio, but what model antenna are you using? I only ask cause several dogs have had really bad luck with Shakespeare 5206 series of antennas, Mr. Fisherman, Moldy45 and Tackelbuster all had the same problems you are describing. Simple cure is to replace that antenna with either a Digital Antenna 500 Series, or a Shakespeare Galaxy Series.

Zoom in on the feed point (Middle where the lousy solder joint is) of the 5206 and you will see Shakespeare quality at its best

You mention, Cabin and Bridge radios. Are they seperate radio and antenna installations or do you use a coax switch to switch radios to one antenna? If you use seperate everything how far away are the antennas from each other? Too close and they will interact with each other and cause mucho grief. If they are seperate do you shut one down when using the other? I'm not sure how good it would be for radio not being used to be subject to 25 watts RF in close proximity. With the height of Kismet's Bridge you should make lots more than 5 miles.

I'm willing to bet you have used heavy enough wire to supply at least 7 amps to each radio so that shouldn't be a problem.

If the antennas are good, next thing to look at is the coax connector(s) - if they are not soldered on lets fix that. Very easy for crimped connectors to get loose and become intermitant which leads to fluxuating high SWR which causes your radio to shut power off to the final amplifier stage.

Is Kismet on dry land for the season, or are you setting out again this weekend? If this weekend, I could swing buy and take a looksie sometime tomorrow and see what were up against - if your into winterizing we can do it whenever. I'm in Tigard, I think your in Beaverberg - I'm over that way about every night of the week (well almost)

More later and at least a barley pop Friday

Herring Problem · 10-18-2006, 01:45 PM

Pilar, had a simular problem, had rado and ant. checked. This iswhat I was tol, the micrphone head had a short in the wiring to the mics speaker. The second problem was the antenna wire somehow had a crempt wire and one of the wires inside the harness was not broken but was cracked to the point of breaking. This causes an intermittent signal or an all out blank out when transmitting.

May I suggest this, chase down the antenna wire from radio to antenna, check for any kind of kinks or visual damage. 2nd. check the mic for loose wires or a crack in the head, the mic key switch may have a broken wire connection or a damged one. 3rd. Check the antenna itself, is there a crack in the glass anywhere that may have caused the internal brass parts to get sea water inside and damage the antenna?

If you by chance have an extra antenna cable, r/r it and give her a try with someone.

Hope this help!

hot wire · 10-18-2006, 04:25 PM

Poor range but good functionality, usually means antenna. Most of the time, a good radio seeing too much VSWR, will shut down to protect itself---so, your radio might not be that bad. Poor wiring would mean low current level durring xmit only. Rcv will hardly use any power. Make sure the hot wire is big enough, and there is a great connection at It's source. Likely the radio end is OK. So, check where that connects to. (distribution pannel or crimp on)

In the likely order of problem...

1. Wire for power first
2. Antenna wire poor connection
3. Antenna wire damaged
4. Bad antenna--(not a very usual problem)
5. Mic condensor damaged, mic wiring damaged (also unusual)

Sounds like others have given great advice too.

KillerBeee · 10-18-2006, 04:37 PM

While we're talking radios,
A friend and marine electronics guy talks about "Morad" brand antennae.
StickFish, would you care to chime in on these. I currently have an Icom 402 with a Galaxy 525 and it works just fine. I'm thinking about mounting a 2nd radio and perhaps using a Morad antenna on it. What do you think?
Beeeeeeeeee

StickFish · 10-18-2006, 06:18 PM

Beeee,

Morad is a great antenna, I believe that is the antenna used by the USCG and other commercial boats. Here is a link to their catelog from a avionics web site

http://avionics.rell.com/pdfs/Moradcatalog.pdf

Yep on the coasties boats they have one that survives surf school

No prices listed, but I bet they don't give those away.

Pilar · 10-19-2006, 10:29 AM

Stickfish .. she is in Garibaldi on the trailer. I have not winterized yet but I will as soon as I can buy the antifreeze and oil changes. We can launch anytime you are available and we can miss the Salmon boat ramp rodeo.

The two radios have separate antennas. These are mounted on the bridge to get the best horizon. About 6 feet apart and the bridge VHF is mounted about 4 feet from it's antenna. All wiring is correctly (over) sized to prevent voltage drop and about a year and a half old now.

I have had some issues with the bridge radio and the GPS antenna. Basically if I talk too much the GPS antenna faults and drops out. But soon recovers when I stop using the radio.

All connections are soldered and with the exception of the PL259 are also heat shrinked and sealed. The power wires use bullet connectors which are needed to remove the radios from the boat to prevent theft. I might consider a permanent dash mount and replacing the bullet connectors with soldered connections. The antennas are shakespeare cheapos which I will replace this winter.

Thanks for the tips and lets go on with it tomorrow at the party.

StickFish · 10-19-2006, 11:26 AM

See ya Friday