Strange McKinley issue

[superstar]

This might sound a silly question as I am not up on technical stuff inside of a radio, but dose it do this if you took the radio say mobile or to another place (QTH), just wondering if its actully somthing within your home thats causing it

Hi, not tried it out mobile, just on the the imax, but none of my other rigs do this.

[superstar]

Im not at all familiar with this radio. But looking at your pic of the solder side of the radio i dont see any caps between the chassis & ground

I wonder if the problem could be the audio amp itself

Hi, yeah maybe there's some caps missing, or some other fault, the rig performs well though,but not knowing what I'm really doing in there I'll leave it to the experts, the rig in question is on its way to Wales for a thorough health check and a few mods

[superstar]

McKinley all sorted now after it's short break over in Wales , no radio 5 live coming in, bang on frequency, UK 40 and alphas fitted, and it's even armed with a hygain 5 bleep, thanks Nick, superb job done

[Buick Mackane]

McKinley all sorted now after it's short break over in Wales , no radio 5 live coming in, bang on frequency, UK 40 and alphas fitted, and it's even armed with a hygain 5 bleep, thanks Nick, superb job done

So what was causing the problem?

[superstar]

McKinley all sorted now after it's short break over in Wales , no radio 5 live coming in, bang on frequency, UK 40 and alphas fitted, and it's even armed with a hygain 5 bleep, thanks Nick, superb job done

So what was causing the problem?

Faulty cap on mic socket to chassis

[Buick Mackane]

McKinley all sorted now after it's short break over in Wales , no radio 5 live coming in, bang on frequency, UK 40 and alphas fitted, and it's even armed with a hygain 5 bleep, thanks Nick, superb job done

So what was causing the problem?

Faulty cap on mic socket to chassis

Thought it would be something along those lines. Good to know for future reference I must admitt nick is sh1t hot. Never heard a bad word said about him, And he has a lightning quick turn-around. Dunno how he does it

Hes a real credit to the forum

[superstar]

He sure is

[Mudslinger]

I am digging this thread up, as my Current Mckinley has this exact same issue, with occasion radio stations being heard through the speaker.

Considering I haven't had this issue on any other radio, only a couple of McKinleys (Never on a Jack) I am assuming it is due to a peculiarity with the board.

Also on my one when you change bands the s-meter drops right back to zero, then when you put your finger on part of the radios chassis the s-meter comes back up again as well.

Which mic socket capacitor was causing the issue? It does seem like a poor ground to me.

Radio works fine otherwise.

[cb4ever104]

It does seem like a poor ground to me.

Not so much a poor ground Simon . Think the problem was a shorted cap between chassis and ground . Normally there are various decoupling ceramic capacitors around the main board . You generally see them on the power socket (between -Ve and chassis) , or mic socket . Check with a meter to see if you have any resistance between chassis and ground . There shouldn't be any . If there is then chances are that you have a shorted , or faulty cap . Then you'll need to find it .

Sammy

[Mudslinger]

Cheers Sammy,

The mic socket has been rotated in the past, and the decoupling cap was missing altogether, so I found one and fitted one.

The signal dropping was down to a dry solder joint between the centre of the antenna socket and the PCB.

All appears fine now.

[cb4ever104]

The mic socket has been rotated in the past, and the decoupling cap was missing altogether

Yeah . That'll do it

Glad to hear you got it sorted

[The Collector]

I've mentioned on here before how I had a similar...but completely different thing happen to me in the mid-80's.

Lightning had hit my Thunderpole Mk1 aerial on top of the house and must have melted the coil a touch. I could suddenly hear 4 or 5 radio channels all at the same time quietly in the background that night. My radio was always unplugged when not used and the co-ax hung out of the small top window incidently. I thought my trusty Fidelity homebase was on its way out. I didn't know for a while until a neighbour across the road told me. When it got hit again a few weeks later (same neighbour saw it again spookily enough, as that's where they sat watching the TV all the time) it went back to normal. You could see the blown-outwards hole the strikes had made when me and my dad took it down very shortly afterwards. It looked like a bullet had been shot through it from the inside outwards with the bent aluminium shards sticking out.