| Author |
Message |
    
USA194
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 - 12:26 pm: | 
|
Recently, I pulled my favorite old Silver Eagle out of storage with intentions of trying it out on a HR2510. With a new battery, a new plug and a nice polishing, it was ready to go...I thought.
The first thing I noticed was what appeared to be lots of noise showing up on the mod meter when I keyed up. Plugged in a headphone and monitor and lo and behold, pure •••• coming out of the radio. Squeaks, squeals, no matter how steady I tried to hold down the key, intermittent crud mixed with tinny audio.
Testing the continuity between switch poles showed things to be working. I did notice that there appears to be no grounding between the mic body and the radio shield? Weird, since the mic element leads are just open wire down through the neck with no shielding. I disconnected the mic head and shorted across the hi/lo mic leads. Still noisy, even with no audio.....
That mic had been in storage for about 4 years. I figured, no big deal, I'll go in and give the contacts a shot of dry tuner cleaner and it'll be good. The cleaner seemed to help a bit, but there was still this annoying scratchy intermittent squeal on keydown and also while holding the mic keyed using the sidebar. I hoped the switch wasn't just worn out, considering I'd used that mic exclusively for about 6 years prior to storage.
OK, time to take a close look at the circuit board and switch...heck, why not take it ALL apart. Soon the D-104 was a pile of chrome parts, sticky nylon rod, circuit board and screws all over my workbench.
By manually keying the switch, I traced the squealing to the ground contact set. What was happening is that with just a little side to side movement of the base key, the switch was warping enough to cause the contacts to slide around. Not only that, but the squeal correlated with the sort of dry, hesitant, gritty feel I noticed when pushing the switch closed with my finger.
The nylon spacers in the switch were totally dry, so I stole a bit of grease from the nylon neck bar and applied to the spacers. Then, carefully inserted a small piece of newspaper between each contact, and "sanded" them a bit just for good measure. Another shot of denatured alcohol, blow dry and re-assembly.
Mic works fine now, killer audio (I have to run the radio on LO mic) and no squeaks, even using the sidebar. The real problem was the dry nylon spacers setting up a vibration on the contacts when depressing the switch. |
Taz
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 - 3:38 pm: |
|
hey bigbob whatch the red-dots. heh.
only in america! |
Alsworld
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 - 5:00 pm: |
|
I ain't saying nothing. Bigbob got mad the last time and I was just poking some fun. |
Bigbob
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 - 6:58 pm: |
|
I'm not mad at any body ,I know what's behind the red dots.I did a bunch of'em in a post and got called to the carpet,and I'll tell you what I got told.Watch the language,little kids read this forum and most of them are smart enough to figure it out,I'm not angry,just trying to save you some embarresment.They are right and I was wrong. |
Biged
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 - 8:54 pm: |
|
Bigbob,
I am glad you explained yourself. That topic could have went on for a long time...Eddie |
Bigbob
| | Posted on Thursday, June 27, 2002 - 11:11 pm: |
|
I got into astatic forum and asked why they're discontinuing their desk mics,no answer,not one peep.I'll tell you posting on another forum is like visiting another planet,Coppers is so straight forward and simple,don't worry I didn't mention Copper on the other forum,don't want to cause any trouble. |
Alsworld
| | Posted on Friday, June 28, 2002 - 8:30 am: |
|
Hey Bigbob,
awhile back a guy from Astatic came on here and said why. The machinery (tooling maybe?) they used to make the desktop D104's had broken. It was very old. To manufacture a new one like that would be outrageously expensive and not monetarily adventagous for the company. They were sad too.
It's amazing how so much of the tooling and machines the US created back in the 30's and 40's has been scrapped, Many unique items must now be shipped to Germany. |
Alsworld
| | Posted on Friday, June 28, 2002 - 8:36 am: |
|
Bigbob,
found it from Astaticman, here's the quote.
"No longer profitable to us. The machine used to make the bases was made in the 30s and is nolonger working well enough. A new machine would cost far too much. We are sorry that it has come to this but with declining sales we could do nothimg else, We will continue to offer any support we can at WWW.Astatic.com".
Is the new base mic on Coppers homepage, the Stopsign, actually made by Astatic? Does it have the D104 head? |
BIG FOOT
| | Posted on Friday, June 28, 2002 - 11:29 am: |
|
...no idea why ASTATIC is discontinuing the D_104 desk mics....ask 5 folks get 4 different answers.. ( #1 company that makes the base part is making INFERIOR equipment ) ( #2 lousy economy ) ( #3 company that supplies the mic cords is using cheap wire ) ( #4 astatic is being bought out by another mic company ) ( #5 is there are too many scattered around the world and sales are down ).... believe what you want to, but that is the statements I have heard over the past MONTH.... some one else give us the FACTS. please !! BIG FOOT |
Tech181
| | Posted on Saturday, June 29, 2002 - 10:26 pm: |
|
IMHO base station (radios) sales have dropped off considerably in the last decade. I would also be prone to believe that this drop off is one reason that the repair an upkeep of Astatics machinery is not worth their while. Just my .02.
Steve
Tech181
Tech181@copperelectronics.com |
Hoosier Cardinal
| | Posted on Sunday, June 30, 2002 - 1:06 am: |
|
I heard the tooling for the molds is getting too old and worn out to be of any use anymore to them so instead of getting new tooling (it can be ungodly exspensive!) for the molds they decided to just do away with the mikes.. IMHO it was a economic descion rather than anything else.. |
Bigbob
| | Posted on Sunday, June 30, 2002 - 7:20 am: |
|
I think this is going to be a big mistake for them in the long run cause they're going to lose out. |
Alsworld
| | Posted on Sunday, June 30, 2002 - 8:56 am: |
|
USA194,
good troubleshooting and explanation of what you found! |
Bigbob
| | Posted on Sunday, June 30, 2002 - 12:41 pm: |
|
I got 2 stands and 3 mic heads and I think they'll last me a lifetime(mine that is). |
Hoosier Cardinal
| | Posted on Sunday, June 30, 2002 - 11:10 pm: |
|
I think that in the long run Astatic will lose out. The D 104s were the mainstay of their production for as long as they have been a company. I think (and this is my opinion) that this chain of events will be the begining of the end for a great old company. Now we are stuck with this lower grade taiwan CB stuff (stop sign looking D-104s LOL!! give me a break!) that i wouldnt have given to me. |
Bigbob
| | Posted on Monday, July 01, 2002 - 5:45 pm: |
|
You go indiana red! |
Hoosier Cardinal
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 02, 2002 - 2:58 pm: |
|
But what gets me isd now they dont amke them anymoire all the darn retail CB shops are thinking "hey now they dont make them anymore we can gouge the customers and jack up the prices!" But there always is tomorrow. They still are around in abundace used and some NOS so i dont think anyone has to worry about them being rare. |
|
