emperor 5010

[tvrc18]

What would cause a 5010 to have the display dim on transmit. I have a 30 amp supply and my 2510 does not do this with the same supply. I was even using the same power cable for both so the cable is ok. It seems to work ok but ssb power is a little low maybe 20 watts. Must have a regulator going bad or a cap maybe.

 

[Se7en]

What would cause a 5010 to have the display dim on transmit. I have a 30 amp supply and my 2510 does not do this with the same supply. I was even using the same power cable for both so the cable is ok. It seems to work ok but ssb power is a little low maybe 20 watts. Must have a regulator going bad or a cap maybe.

is it the power supply or radio? if the radio is dimming sounds like your power supply is giving out on constant voltage.

 

[tvrc18]

Is does not dim when I hook my 2510 to the same supply only the emperor dims out. I looked at the amp draw on the supply and it is low only about 3 amps. It is a 25 amp supply.

 

[ElectronTubesRule]

Well assuming the power cable is large enough then it is more then likely the voltage regulator in the unit going bad. See about upgrading that when it is replaced. I would also suspect some of those caps are drying out and might need to be replaced. Any humming at all?

The 5010 are great little radio's but if memory is accurate they did not use as high end or high quality of parts when compared to the HR2510/President Lincoln radios. If replacing the voltage regulator does not fix the problem then might e a good idea to recap the unit.

On the 2950's the regulator will start making the display flicker a good 2 years before it fails totally......In fact my radio worked when I sent it off for it's yearly alignment when I was in college. I asked my friend to check the crystal filter and the voltage regulator. Both where bad but the radio still functioned. My only symptoms where drifting on SSB and flickering display as in it would dim on keydown. If I still owned that 2950 it would probably be getting close to needing new caps because it would be 20 years old now. While it is true caps can last 30+ years they do not usualy last that long in most export radio's. When it comes to caps it is one place where I think you do kind of get what you pay for with more expensive caps lasting longer then cheap Chi-Com caps.

 

[tvrc18]

I decided to send it to Mikes Electronics up in Ohio. He is a really good tech and made my 2510 sing. He warned me they are not a President 2510 but would do his best on it. I had a 5010 10 years ago and it worked really well and never had issues. I looked inside and they look pretty well made over all. I like some of the features it has and hope it is an easy fix. Were they made in China or Tiawan?

 

[IMD262]

Were they made in China or Tiawan?

If I remember correctly they were manufactured in Korea by Maxon.

 

[ElectronTubesRule]

Your tech is right they are not a Lincoln or HR2510 but they are really good radio's. They where produced specifically to meet a price point and to replace the HR2510 and Lincoln for Cooper Electronics...... Amateurs where being jerks about that particular radio why I have no clue since the RCI2950 was a bigger problem. I think it was one of those bigotry things. They saw it as a threat to their little world in the hands of the CB'ers because of the companies selling them to CB'ers at that time the only game in town for RCI-2950's was HRO and then went for just under $500. Now you have a 10,11,12 meter continuous coverage, dual VFO,Split.......radio for under $300 so the Amateurs chose the wrong battle to fight and win!LOL

Seriously recapping that thing makes good sense it is what 20 years old???? DO tell us what your tech finds. I am betting voltage regulator myself.

Did that unit have low level am modulation like the HR line and Lincoln???? If so have your tech install SP1-a Speech Processor it will work perfectly on AM and SSB. Just do not let him install anything like those CB like things being touted as modulators/speech compressor. THe SP1-a was designed for the AR3300 and AR3500 units.

 

[tvrc18]

The tech emailed me that he finished up my 5010. He found a bad cap that was causing low power out and some of the display dimming. He said the display dims out on all of them some what because of the design of the radio. I don't remember my other one doing that but maybe it did. He has nothing good to say about the Emperor and said they or ok but not a very well made radio. They break alot he said also. He makes me almost sorry I bought it now but I liked the one I had long ago.

 

[hotrod]

ok time to put my 2 cents in. ive owned both and still to this day perfer
the emperor. both the 2510 and 5010 worked closely to the same
but i like the emperor better has more features.i also have owned magnums
and rci which i like very well but i like my emperor much better.

 

[tvrc18]

Hot Rod does your display dim some on transmit? I think some people form an opinion on one experience some times and never give something another chance. I am sure all brands have sold a few radios that had issues but the majority may not have that issue. Like cars, some are good and others just like it same model etc have issues. I have heard people bad mouth 2510's but I think they are a great radio for what it is. It is not a $1000 Icom or Kenwood but they work ok for me.

 

[IMD262]

I own numerous Emperors and HR 2510/2600/Lincolns and also lean towards the Emperor due to it's larger VFO screen and the receiver seems to be slightly better in the Emperors.

 

[bob85]

i agree 100%,
display is larger with a wider viewing angle, receiver is livlier, the audio bandwidth is a little less narrow on tx and rx due to capacitor values in the audio stages,
i will concede that the factory soldering looks shittier in the emperor, id still take one over the lincoln/clone.

I own numerous Emperors and HR 2510/2600/Lincolns and also lean towards the Emperor due to it's larger VFO screen and the receiver seems to be slightly better in the Emperors.

 

[Shockwave]

Did that unit have low level am modulation like the HR line and Lincoln???? If so have your tech install SP1-a Speech Processor it will work perfectly on AM and SSB. Just do not let him install anything like those CB like things being touted as modulators/speech compressor. THe SP1-a was designed for the AR3300 and AR3500 units.

It seems like many of those radios that ran the MRF-477 final also used low level AM modulation. I think this is due in part to the fact that most audio chips would fall short of the power requirements to hi level modulate the 40 watt final to full capacity on AM.

 

[jazzsinger]

It seems like many of those radios that ran the MRF-477 final also used low level AM modulation. I think this is due in part to the fact that most audio chips would fall short of the power requirements to hi level modulate the 40 watt final to full capacity on AM.

no doubt whatsoever,

in most the regulator/modulator transistor/s would struggle too, as would many of the parts around the final. which is why despite having a 40w power transistor every single one of the mrf 477 radios was sold as a 10w am/fm 20w ssb radio.

no surprise the most common fault in them here is burnt out mrf 477's due to maniacs trying to get outrageous amount of watts out them on fm. run at 10w am/fm 20w ssb they will just about run for ever, as the mrf 477 will easily tolerate 10.0:1 swr.

 

[tvrc18]

I watched a few videos on Utube with people talking on there Emperor and all had the display dimming like mine. My tech said they fold back the display power a small amount during transmit to feed more power to the transmit circuit. I thought that was odd but after watching Utube videos I guess it was made to do that. After getting it aligned and repaired it does work really good and has nice receive. I am going to put on a Ranger mic like on the 2950 radios and go with it. These mics work good on my 2510 also and you keep the up down buttons on the mic.