First of all, I am not an electronic wizard. Far from it. I’ve soldered a few wires and added a speaker or headphone jack to analog TVs when I was a kid (we ran them to amplifiers and created our own home entertainment systems), but I never repaired a radio - until today.
I’ve been wanting a handheld CB and found one late morning at the Grand Rapids Hamfest last Saturday [2013-09-07]. I asked if it worked. He said “I don’t know, I didn’t test it,” which, as we all know, means “I turned it on and it didn’t work but I’m not going to tell you that.” Everyone selling a radio turns it on. If it’s a hopeless mess, they sell it for parts; but if it looks decent, they say they don’t know.
The antenna post was loose. Obviously it won’t work. He asked $3 and I figured for $3 I couldn’t go wrong. That’s a small coffee with a shot of espresso at Starbucks. A decent new handheld would run me $75-$100.
Opened it up, cleaned up the grime with Clorox wipes, and quickly identified two problems - a detached antenna lead and what looked like cracked solder that was securing the antenna to the radio frame. I did a little Googling and found another guy who fixed part of the same issue with the same radio, so I gave it a shot myself.
I got out my magnifying glass from my compact edition of the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) and soldered the antenna and base. I hooked it up to my TRAM scanner antenna just to test it, went for a drive, and was treated to a litany of trucker profanity. Success! (A G-Rated video clip is below.)
KD8OSB taking a hamfest TRC-232 for a spin after repairs
(Channel 19 Sep 14, 2013, Grand Rapids area; Rated G)
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Alas, the cracked connection to the frame loosened again. I’m guessing my soldering iron wasn’t hot enough to secure the solder fixing the antenna to the housing, OR, it wasn’t solder, so I re-melted my original solder and added some JB Weld over that and around remaining bare metal areas where the antenna nut meets the housing. The weld is curing now.
What I wish I could have bought was a nice $2,000 Icom and erected a home tower. Yeah, that’ll be the day.
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Next step, a mobile CB antenna for the car (which will make four: original FM, ham, scanner, and CB).
The coolest parts about the TRC-232 are the scan and dual watch features. Not too many budget handheld CBs have those.
The next vehicle I get, I’m going to order a 2m/70cm and CB radio installed by the dealer, if they do that anymore. Probably a strange request nowadays.
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BTW, the advice you typically get from old ham radio guys about starting out is to avoid handhelds. The problem is they look cool, but low power and limited range makes for an anticlimactic introduction and the new radio hobbyist loses interest.
That wasn’t the case for me. My latest radios are handheld and run in the car. I hear plenty enough traffic to enjoy the hobby on the cheap and get to take it with me wherever I go. Would I love to have a shack in the high desert with Art Bell? Sure, but this is the most fun I’ve had with $3 that I can remember.
73
KD8OSB
[2013-09-14]
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