waterinthefuel
Commander
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2003
- Messages
- 2,726
I don't know why I got into this, but they are fun to tinker with. I bought an old Apelco Clipper 82 VHF on Ebay. This thing was so ugly I fell in love with it. I repainted the case, and then discovered it was dead. It would transmit, but only static. It didn't appear to receive anything at all. I stuck it in the box, put it in the closet, and left it there. For about 8 years. Fast forward to yesterday.
I got bored and decided to see if I could get this thing working. Well, I found an original owners manual for it online. This isn't just a "this button does this" manual. This manual had a diagram of every circuit board in the radio, part numbers, descriptions and if you were good, you could find the part on the page and then find it right away inside the radio. It even had a troubleshooting section, with things like "no sound out of speaker" and then instructions like "1. check Diode12r, 2. check IC2, 3. Check resistor 34, 36, etc" Cool stuff. You don't get that in manuals anymore, mostly because none of these radios can be worked on by an end user.
After several hours of studying, I got to work. I powered it up again to see what it would do. I did not have an antenna so I put it on low power (1 watt) turned on my scanner, and transmitted very briefly so as not to destroy the radio. Ok, just static. So I consulted the owners manual on the section about "no or low modulation" and the first thing was check the mic. Then check a few things on the board. I checked the board items first and they appeared just fine. Then it dawned on me.....if I'm getting a transmit light, transmitting, but no voice, that might be a mic issue. Well the mic was old but appeared ok. So I looked at the wires going from the back of the mic input jack on the front to the main board. I gave all 3 a light light light pull and one was disconnected!!
Oh that's a good sign, a REALLY good sign. But soldering these 35yo wires that were literally the diameter of a human hair proved almost impossible. It took me almost 2 hours to get the radio, soldering iron, myself and the solder into a position to make the connection. I ended up breaking a second wire but in doing so, I freed up the board and the wire so it actually made it easier.
I put everything back together and with much anticipation, tried it. Still, just static. Damn, how could that be?? I got mad at the mic and banged it on the floor (carpeted) and then all of a sudden I get feedback through the scanner!!!! That means the radio is hearing itself! That means the mic is picking up something now!! So I tried speaking and could hear myself but not clearly. I banged the mic on the floor again and it transmitted just about crystal clear!! It was a combination of a broken wire and a POS mic.
Ok, fast forward about 15 minutes after putting everything together. I found an old hand-held VHF tranceiver and managed to find all the parts to make it work. I tried transmitting and heard nothing on the old antique VHF, just static. I said no way, no no no!!! Consulting the manual again, the last thing it said to check was the antenna. I said well, it has no antenna hooked up right now but it should still work this close. But as a last resort, I brought it out to my truck and hooked it up to my HAM radio 2m antenna. I won't transmit with it, but I just want to receive the WX to see if it works. A few button punches and Viola! The local weather is coming in crystal clear. No distortion in the old speaker or anything!!!
My 1979 Apelco VHF is fully functional!!! :joyous:
[video]http://s79.photobucket.com/user/waterinthefuel/media/20140107_1647271_zps51c88904.mp4.html[/video]
I got bored and decided to see if I could get this thing working. Well, I found an original owners manual for it online. This isn't just a "this button does this" manual. This manual had a diagram of every circuit board in the radio, part numbers, descriptions and if you were good, you could find the part on the page and then find it right away inside the radio. It even had a troubleshooting section, with things like "no sound out of speaker" and then instructions like "1. check Diode12r, 2. check IC2, 3. Check resistor 34, 36, etc" Cool stuff. You don't get that in manuals anymore, mostly because none of these radios can be worked on by an end user.
After several hours of studying, I got to work. I powered it up again to see what it would do. I did not have an antenna so I put it on low power (1 watt) turned on my scanner, and transmitted very briefly so as not to destroy the radio. Ok, just static. So I consulted the owners manual on the section about "no or low modulation" and the first thing was check the mic. Then check a few things on the board. I checked the board items first and they appeared just fine. Then it dawned on me.....if I'm getting a transmit light, transmitting, but no voice, that might be a mic issue. Well the mic was old but appeared ok. So I looked at the wires going from the back of the mic input jack on the front to the main board. I gave all 3 a light light light pull and one was disconnected!!
Oh that's a good sign, a REALLY good sign. But soldering these 35yo wires that were literally the diameter of a human hair proved almost impossible. It took me almost 2 hours to get the radio, soldering iron, myself and the solder into a position to make the connection. I ended up breaking a second wire but in doing so, I freed up the board and the wire so it actually made it easier. I put everything back together and with much anticipation, tried it. Still, just static. Damn, how could that be?? I got mad at the mic and banged it on the floor (carpeted) and then all of a sudden I get feedback through the scanner!!!! That means the radio is hearing itself! That means the mic is picking up something now!! So I tried speaking and could hear myself but not clearly. I banged the mic on the floor again and it transmitted just about crystal clear!! It was a combination of a broken wire and a POS mic.
Ok, fast forward about 15 minutes after putting everything together. I found an old hand-held VHF tranceiver and managed to find all the parts to make it work. I tried transmitting and heard nothing on the old antique VHF, just static. I said no way, no no no!!! Consulting the manual again, the last thing it said to check was the antenna. I said well, it has no antenna hooked up right now but it should still work this close. But as a last resort, I brought it out to my truck and hooked it up to my HAM radio 2m antenna. I won't transmit with it, but I just want to receive the WX to see if it works. A few button punches and Viola! The local weather is coming in crystal clear. No distortion in the old speaker or anything!!!
My 1979 Apelco VHF is fully functional!!! :joyous:
[video]http://s79.photobucket.com/user/waterinthefuel/media/20140107_1647271_zps51c88904.mp4.html[/video]
