Ham radio weird problem

[[email protected]]

I bought an ALinco DR 590 dual band amature radio at a hamfest. It is a
mobile. Got it home, hooked it up, everything on the display lit up. I
mean everything, even things that were not supposed to. The frequency
number has stange lines in it. It was not usable.

Came back later and it started working fine even made soem contacts
with it. Used it for about 20 minutes, no problem. Put the radio away
inside.

Hooked it up last night to try out some antennas and it did the same
thing. I played with it for an hour to no avail. Took it inside and
took it part way apart, did not see anything, maybe soem pinch wires to
the display but could not tell. Put it back togther. Hooked it up and
it worked fine. left it in the garage last night. Hooked it back up
this morning before going to work. It worked fine.
Am I crazy? What could this be?

 

[Guest]

[email protected] wrote:

: Hooked it up last night to try out some antennas and it did the same
: thing. I played with it for an hour to no avail. Took it inside and
: took it part way apart, did not see anything, maybe soem pinch wires to
: the display but could not tell. Put it back togther. Hooked it up and
: it worked fine. left it in the garage last night. Hooked it back up
: this morning before going to work. It worked fine.
: Am I crazy? What could this be?


Well, being a ham radio operator, I'd say that no one can tell you and
you'll probably have to do some troubleshooting to find out what it is.

b.

 

[Charles Schuler]

I bought an ALinco DR 590 dual band amature radio at a hamfest. It is a
mobile. Got it home, hooked it up, everything on the display lit up. I
mean everything, even things that were not supposed to. The frequency
number has stange lines in it. It was not usable.

Came back later and it started working fine even made soem contacts
with it. Used it for about 20 minutes, no problem. Put the radio away
inside.

Hooked it up last night to try out some antennas and it did the same
thing. I played with it for an hour to no avail. Took it inside and
took it part way apart, did not see anything, maybe soem pinch wires to
the display but could not tell. Put it back togther. Hooked it up and
it worked fine. left it in the garage last night. Hooked it back up
this morning before going to work. It worked fine.
Am I crazy? What could this be?

Naw, you are not crazy ... it's called an intermittent (a problem that shows
up when it feels like showing up). Flea market items and Ebay products are
rife with intermittent products. They are seldom worth fixing, unless you
have the skills to do it yourself. Track down the seller and ask him/her to
take it back.

 

[Phil Bowser]

Have you looked for a weakening 3V lithium backup battery? Before they
go completely dead, they can cause some pretty strange symptoms, usually at
initial power-up... Also look for the procedure to "reboot" or "reset" the
unit from the owner's manual or service literature, both you may find on
www.qrz.com , an amateur radio website. You'll need to do this for sure
after you replace the battery if you find it bad... Also note that you will
loose any programmed channels, offsets, etc. etc.....when you reset it.

 

[[email protected]]

Really, the battery can cause that? I have been leaving the radio
unplugged too. Does it then run off the battery?

The battery must be partially good, as when I plug it back in it is on
the same channel it was left on but I do not have nay memories or
anythign programmed back in.

I checked it again this morning and it was fine. I am wondering if
taking it appart fixed soemthing.

Can I test this battery with a voltmeter and should it just put out
three volts?

Can I get a replacement at Walmart or something?

 

[Frank S.]

Really! Mine would flake out on cold mornings. I would "reboot" the
radio and it would work ok even store memories...... until I shut it off

Frank

 

[Phil Bowser]

The unit doesn't really draw any significant current from the battery,
but it uses the battery to store memory information, and the last frequency
used, etc. since this rig doesn't have a non-volatile eeprom IC for
memories. It needs the voltage from this little lithium to sustain it's
memories, and "starting point" when you turn it on. This radio (Mine is a
DR-592, very similar...) kills this little lithium battery frequently... I
tired of replacing mine every 1-2 years (They say they last five, but not in
my experience)...I ran a shielded small cable back through from the front
panel (where the battery is...) and out the back, where I mounted a 2-cell
"AAA" battery holder to the outside of teh heatsink on the back. I simply
check the voltage once in awhile, and replace the batteries when necessary,
which is usually the shelf life of the batteries, 5 years or so - etc. - and
the AAAs are much cheaper than the 3V lithium! Also no soldering is
necessary once the initial installation of the battery holder... Also some
more hints, if you want to do what I did:

1.) Use a shielded wire, tying the shield conductor to the battery (-)
so stray RF doesn't get injected back to the front panel during xmit, etc.

2.) If you replace the cells while they measure no less than 2.5V
accross both, and do it with the radio turned on, you won't loose your
memories at all, and will not need to "reset" the unit.

3.) Use carbon zinc batteries here. There are no large current draw
demands, so alkalines are not necessary. Carbon Zinc's are cheaper, have
nearly the same shelf life, and most importantly, will not LEAK like
alkalines will when stored this long...

P..S. - you can check this battery with the radio off, etc. with just a
voltmeter, if you read more than 2.8V here, look elsewhere for the problems
you described, anything less, and I would start by replacing it...It
requires soldering (at least on my 592, which is nearly the same radio), and
you can't get this at walmart but probably at radio shack, and definitely at
mail order places like Digikey.

73's

 

[[email protected]]

What need sto be soldered, it looks liek it just pops out, does it? How
much are they?

 

[Phil Bowser]

The little lithium coin battery? You're lucky...mine had solder tabs,
had to be soldered to the pc board, but then again my radio was used and it
had been replaced before...may not have been original...probably $3.00 or
less - try RS.