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980 internal feedback?

O

OneTwenty

Member
Apr 5, 2014
25
0
11
Toronto, Canada
Hey all,
long time lurker and wanted to thank you all for the help that you've given me along the 'road'.
just a quick question that I couldn't find an answer to, not even sure if it's anything special but i figured i'd give it a shot.
Recently installed a Bearcat 980 with a wilson 1000 mag mount (tuned with internal meter -- swr meter on it's way) and did the beep mod etc. I've received good reports both on AM and lsb, though on lsb, the report was that there 'was no modulation'.
I'm noticing that while TX in AM, i can hear myself faintly (and scratchy) from the the inside of the radio.. not the speaker, but from somewhere inside (talkback isn't on)
Essentially just wanted to make sure this is normal and I'm not frying the radio somehow.
fyi using a road devil power mic.

any help is good help! thanks in advance(y)
 

Does it do this with the stock mic as well or just the road devil? Get reports from both mics and see if the problem is the same. One other thing, could you have bumped or touched something inside when you did the beep mod?
 
I just went to check the stock mic and it doesn't appear to have the same effect. I tried the road devil at various power levels and it seems to create the 'feedback' at all (except for 0 obviously) settings on AM. I plugged in an ext. speaker and the 'feedback' audio comes through it when plugged in. something to note also is that the output meter goes full or close to it when the road devil is keyed at any power level and mic gain full. normal?

pretty sure i didn't bump anything. I had heart surgeon hands while doing the mod.
 
I think the power mike may be over driving the audio circuit, JMO as you stated that the issue is not present with the stock mic. Some radios don't like power mic's. Have you tried a uniden bearcat mic on it, they are great stock mic's and aren't very expensive, may be an alternative. IMO, I would stop using the road devil mic for now and find a good non amplified mic. The uniden bearcat mic's are pretty good IMO. I tried using a 2018 extreme power mic on my PC122XL, it works and is loud, but puts a lot of extra pressure on the audio components IMO, so I don't use it very much, locally I have been told it sounds good but is very close to being too much. I only use it when I am dx'ing and can't get my names called. Seems like that little bit of extra audio helps but at the expense of making the radio get warm faster. Have you checked the driver and final and audio components while using the road devil? Do things get warm or hot when using the road devil. I know my final gets warm pretty fast when I am using my 2018 mic. I had to put a small fan on the back. Like I said, i don't use the mic much now as I believe it may end up damaging my radio, but who knows. I am surely not a radio expert. These are all just my experiences.
qa7urapa.jpg

This is the uniden mic I am speaking about. Not the new ones.
These seem to be favored by many and liked by many. They do aphid good for what they are. Maybe try one of these. They aren't very expensive, and you may like it, if not I am sure someone will buy it from you if you don't like it as it. Again all JMO. Good luck and hope you get your issue resolved. God bless.
 
I've tried turning the mic gain down, which helps a little.. but I'm beginning to think that the sound is some sort of interference with the audio output circuit. I can hear the feedback from the radio itself, but it's a lot more noticeable with an ext. speaker connected.
I cant recall the problem occurring before the beep mod. but then again I was using talkback for a while before turning it off. I'll open 'er back up and make sure all is well on the inside later today and see if I can try to isolate the sound a little bit more.
Thanks for mic the tips BFL, I'll check if the finals get warm quickly etc. good idea.
I'm still not sure why the output meter goes right to 30+db when the mic is keyed but i'll see if I can find a balance between mic volume and mic gain.
i'll be back, 73!
 
I noticed the same thing while using a Superstar pistol grip microphone. However, no issues were had using stock mic.

The stock mic feels good in my hand though. It just looks a little corny with the chrome bling. I've since sold my 980, but have been thinking of picking up another one. They are a decent little SSB rig. You can't beat the price.
 
Maybe picking up some background noise or feedback as far as the meter is concerned. Definitely check it out as you don't want to hurt the radio by over driving the audio section. JMO. God bless and hope you get it resolved
 
Yea duster, I've been thinking of using the stock mic but I like the weight/not-so-plasticy feeling of the RD.. Plus the potential benefits of a pwr mic. Not sure whats up, I've read of a lot of guys using the RD pwr mic and haven't heard of this issue before. It's only in AM and like I said, I have a feeling that it's something to do with the audio-out ext. speaker circuit. Regardless though, the mic keys at 30+ db so there may be some overdriving there. Not sure
Like BFL said, I don't want to risk over driving the audio section.


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I'm running the Ranger SRA-198 Noise Cancelling Mic on my 980. Gain maxed at 4. Reports are excellent all over the world. I was watching a YT video of some modding being done to a 980 a while back and he was using a cobra power mic on the 980. he said the gain at 4 had no benefit so adjusted to 3 and was good. I think it had something to do with the compression? IDK. Looked like setting the mic gain @ +4 on the 980 was useless with that particular power mic. 3 was good.
 
Alright, roger that. I'll turn the mic gain down and see how reports are at different settings and go from there. May just be a power mic quirk. It's odd though, even with mic gain @ 4 and pwr mic set at about 50% I still had good reports on AM. I'll try out different settings and get back to ya. Thanks for the mic suggestions


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