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full Alignment

Ryan Holter

New Member
Apr 30, 2017
31
6
8
46
northern MN
HI looking for the best place to get a full alignment on my TRC 458? any one had any experiences with SNAKE RADIO CUSTOMS he does a lot of videos on YouTube that look good!! not looking for a lot of power just a full alignment and clean rx and tx. and every thing checked over good.
THANKS FOR ANY HELP
 

HI looking for the best place to get a full alignment on my TRC 458? any one had any experiences with SNAKE RADIO CUSTOMS he does a lot of videos on YouTube that look good!! not looking for a lot of power just a full alignment and clean rx and tx. and every thing checked over good.
THANKS FOR ANY HELP

Haven't found the "best" place for radio work yet.

I can tell you that I live about a mile or so from "Snake Radio" and I won't walk my stuff over there. His recent SBE Console V "evaluation" video is a prime example of why.
 
service info for that radio is hard to come by, and very few techs have the full alignment info.

I did a write up a few years ago of a partial alignment i had to work out for myself since i don't have that service manual.

there is a tech with a youtube channel called mikesradiorepair and he has a video showing that service manual so i know he has it.
LC

BTW- my opinion is to stay far away from snake radios, but that's not news to anyone here on the forum LOL.
 
This radio has the same circuit board. It's a mobile version of your radio, more or less. Alignment should match it.

http://www.cbtricks.com/radios/realistic/trc_449/index.htm

Bear in mind that alignment may expose defects in a radio that's nearly 40 year old. If it has been stored in a humid environment for long you may see adjustments that just don't do what they're supposed to do any more. Trimmer capacitors will become "noisy" when you turn them, like a scratchy volume control. Tuning slugs may 'bottom', not at the physical lower end of the coil, but with the slug dead-flush with the rim of the hole. This suggests the built-in capacitor inside that can has gone bad.

This is why alignment is the first step to diagnose weak-receiver or weak transmit problems. An adjustment that won't respond correctly points to trouble in that stage of the radio.

73
 
This radio has the same circuit board. It's a mobile version of your radio, more or less. Alignment should match it.

http://www.cbtricks.com/radios/realistic/trc_449/index.htm

Bear in mind that alignment may expose defects in a radio that's nearly 40 year old. If it has been stored in a humid environment for long you may see adjustments that just don't do what they're supposed to do any more. Trimmer capacitors will become "noisy" when you turn them, like a scratchy volume control. Tuning slugs may 'bottom', not at the physical lower end of the coil, but with the slug dead-flush with the rim of the hole. This suggests the built-in capacitor inside that can has gone bad.

This is why alignment is the first step to diagnose weak-receiver or weak transmit problems. An adjustment that won't respond correctly points to trouble in that stage of the radio.

73
I did a recap and the radio is working pretty good but the final blew is short order so i found a nos one and again it blew in sort order now on the third one and would like to have a full alignment done radio is in great shape other than that looks great inside
 
Haven't found the "best" place for radio work yet.

I can tell you that I live about a mile or so from "Snake Radio" and I won't walk my stuff over there. His recent SBE Console V "evaluation" video is a prime example of why.
WOW I was thinking that would be a good place to send it? My first choice was mikesradio but he will not email me back he sent me an email one time and than I asked how long I could expect to get the radio back an I got no answer?
 
WOW I was thinking that would be a good place to send it?

Probably because he does showy videos trash talking and talking like they do on the air and has a bunch of impressive looking test gear (that he doesn't know how to use properly....) and sets rigs up like people think they should be which is actually the polar opposite of where you should be heading.

Compare his videos to the repair videos of this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClqWe58x9q6jx61gB16731A

and the repair/alignment videos of this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6w677p4ucVOw2VxqZk-UlA

Both of whom I would trust infinitely more than someone doing videos like that guy partly because they talk like normal people and mainly because they know how to use the equipment they've got. They're in the EU unfortunately so shipping would be a bit costly but
 
LC Robb posted the service manual a few years ago here for all members to have it. so not that hard to find now.

http://www.worldwidedx.com/threads/realistic-trc-457-458-service-manual.142228/

WOW tre' embarrassante'!
I read this as TRC-485.

please disregard my last post everyone. DOH!
thanks Sonoma.

Ryan,
your final could be blowing from a bad alignment, but more likely is that C179 has shorted.

It's a tiny blue tantalum cap near the driver and final.
remove it, and replace it with an electrolytic capacitor of the same value.
this is a common fault in this radio.
apologies if this has already been suggested.
LC
 

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