Snake Radio Customs calls out Mike's Radio Repair LOL

[Sonar]

I agree with all of the above except the part about Mike's turnaround time. Lately Mike's turnaround time is terrible.

I think what happened was, Mike "blew up!"
Literally!!! Lol.

 

[unit_399]

Ballbreaker Tim <XXXXXXXXXXXX@yahoo.com>
Oct 19

So I had snake radios mod my 458 and he used cb/pa switch to get ch 41-44 problem is even know it keys up 41-44 with switch in it receives different freq so 41 tx and 38 rx on same channal? I'm stuck any ideas? He moded the cb pa switch so when u push in ch 31-34 become 41-44 he attached to pin 17 on pll then he cut trace but now those channels keyup on those frees but rx on different any ideas? He said before he cut trace channel display became real bright ? And ideas very much appreciate it
-Tim
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is an actual email I received on my 858 page addy. He copies my material, and now wants me to fix his fuck-ups. Unbelievable !!

- 399

 

[2RT307]

Ballbreaker Tim <XXXXXXXXXXXX@yahoo.com>
Oct 19

So I had snake radios mod my 458 and he used cb/pa switch to get ch 41-44 problem is even know it keys up 41-44 with switch in it receives different freq so 41 tx and 38 rx on same channal? I'm stuck any ideas? He moded the cb pa switch so when u push in ch 31-34 become 41-44 he attached to pin 17 on pll then he cut trace but now those channels keyup on those frees but rx on different any ideas? He said before he cut trace channel display became real bright ? And ideas very much appreciate it
-Tim
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is an actual email I received on my 858 page addy. He copies my material, and now wants me to fix his fuck-ups. Unbelievable !!

- 399

How much is shipping to Columbia from the US, anyway?

Your page is a great resource, btw... thanks for posting it up all this time.

73,
Brett

 

[2FB327]

Are his videos about radios or ranting? I wonder how much he pays in taxes? With all those high prices and work claims he probably writes a quarterly check to the IRS.
No wonder brick and motor shops are closing.
It seems facebook and Utube are used for commercial venues. I guess it's all about the money.
Sorry about the rant, but after hearing and seeing the radio and the garden hose I can say Mike forgot more than he will ever learn.

 

[LeapFrog]

It's usually all about the money unless you have an intense passion and like doing charity work.

I see a trend going towards more and more internet exposure Facebook and YouTube are logical venues for people to expand and gain notoriety. I am not defending anybody just saying times are changing.

Posted using speech-to-text app please forgive any punctuation and grammatical errors.

73

 

[Sonar]

It's usually all about the money unless you have an intense passion and like doing charity work.

I see a trend going towards more and more internet exposure Facebook and YouTube are logical venues for people to expand and gain notoriety. I am not defending anybody just saying times are changing.

Posted using speech-to-text app please forgive any punctuation and grammatical errors.

73

I've had qso's with people who have some knowledge but were having problems beyond their knowledge. I gave them Mike's contact information and the next time i spoke to those stations they couldn't thank me enough.
One told me Mike spend almost 2 hours walking him through evaluation and repair.
One guy had an issue with his dak X. He told me after spending 2 hours on the phone with Mike the dak was up and running correctly for the first time in years.
And this guy never sent Mike anything for repair. A total stranger. I gotta say one thing about Mike. He's very passionate about his hobby/craft and has no problem helping anyone out. Like many on this site it's not always about the cabbage.

 

[LeapFrog]

I've had qso's with people who have some knowledge but were having problems beyond their knowledge. I gave them Mike's contact information and the next time i spoke to those stations they couldn't thank me enough.
One told me Mike spend almost 2 hours walking him through evaluation and repair.
One guy had an issue with his dak X. He told me after spending 2 hours on the phone with Mike the dak was up and running correctly for the first time in years.
And this guy never sent Mike anything for repair. A total stranger. I gotta say one thing about Mike. He's very passionate about his hobby/craft and has no problem helping anyone out. Like many on this site it's not always about the cabbage.

Well, seeing as how I don't do repairs for money, I shouldn't talk about things I'm not experienced in.
As a generalization, when people go into business they want to make money. That's not to say they wouldn't be interested in helping another man.

I agree 100% with you on Mike's ethic, he's a very good man. I once emailed him a question about an old Robyn 123C mobile I bought with no mic, it was screaming/squealing on keyup, and I inquired about sending it to him, he spent his time to ask me if I was using Cobra style pinout on the mic, & I was!
He explained that I was using the wrong microphone wiring scheme for this radio, he even emailed me the correct pinout to use with my oldschool radio, he took the time to give me the information I needed to wire up the microphone correctly, he could have had me send the radio to him but he helped me make the radio work, knowing it wasn't going to be a sale. I can attest to this, & I've never called him yet, but I got the impression that he would be willing to help anyone out.



Some people, (no names mentioned) feel like taking the time to help someone for free is a waste.
This kind of person, that won't help you when no money is to be made, will show you who they really are on the inside (Greedy and not charitable/caring) through their actions.

Some people get taken advantage of during their lifetime, so much in fact that they then turn sour on the inside; & no longer will give the time of day to anyone. Some of those guys only are in it for the money, & would cut out limiters for a quick buck... sad really

That's what happens when you only learn how to hack technology and actually go backwards in real electronics theory.

I feel the real great technicians have the natural ability & sense to examine, and break-down a structure, to grasp the concept of what it is, and how it works, what pieces come together and how they fit, how they interact.
Later, they develop or learn/adapt the knowledge & technique needed to create such a structure in the 1st place!
Ultimately having the ability to modify/improve, patch/repair & maintain said structure/radios/antenna.

When they progress this far, they become Masterful In the Art
of communications, maintainability & repeatably.

Some dudes, like me can only do YouTube Videos; Poorly @ that too lol! My channel will stay unmonitized, I'm not trying to "be in it for the money".
That's not to say, that one day you wouldn't see a PDF tutorial posted to the forum, my original content
Some progress slower than others, some don't care enough to progress, some are too ignorant to understand how incorrect they are, in theory & in practice! 73
-LeapFrog

 

[kaos513]

Drama?

 

[Unit 194]

Drama?

Who is the Tech. he keeps bashing in the video?

 

[kaos513]

Dont really know who he is refering it to.

 

[kaos513]

ah he removed it

 

[Unit 194]

ah he removed it

What a wuss!

 

[nomadradio]

I must be getting old. Life just seems too short to watch an entire "Snake" video without remembering about two dozen things I'd rather be doing.

Mike is the real McCoy. I don't agree with every opinion of his, but he does know what he's doing.

As for the "lights dimming", the most-common cure is face-palm simple. A single 10uf 50 Volt electrolytic cap on the power-supply voltage-regulator board. Schematic shows it as C302. The only electrolytic on that board.

Never have quite figured out why this insignificant-looking little part will cause the regulation to fall on its face. Something about "damping factor", maybe?

Anyway, we adopted the policy of replacing C302 in EVERY Cobra 2000 that leaves this shop. Better than getting a call a month or three later with a complaint about lights dimming with modulation.

Oh, and lights dimming on SSB modulation ONLY? Put TR24 back. Removing it will disable the SSB limiter. Nothing good about doing that. An overmodulated SSB signal is like a 16-Watt carrier. Guaranteed to overload the power supply even if that part of the radio is in perfect condition.

If you want "wide open" AM audio, pull out TR26. Only affects AM transmit, allowing the SSB limiter to still function.

Pulling TR24 will overload the power supply on SSB transmit, even if the power supply is in perfect shape.

More than once, a Cobra 2000 comes in that has had the rectifier bridge, big filter, the big pass transistor all replaced because the lights would dim on modulation peaks. Then they bring it to me because the problem is still there. I change C302 and suggest that maybe all that other stuff was perfectly okay all along.

Maybe.

But C302 is cheaper to try first. Fixes the problem a surprisingly high percentage of the time.

73

 

[Unit 194]

I must be getting old. Life just seems too short to watch an entire "Snake" video without remembering about two dozen things I'd rather be doing.

Mike is the real McCoy. I don't agree with every opinion of his, but he does know what he's doing.

As for the "lights dimming", the most-common cure is face-palm simple. A single 10uf 50 Volt electrolytic cap on the power-supply voltage-regulator board. Schematic shows it as C302. The only electrolytic on that board.

Never have quite figured out why this insignificant-looking little part will cause the regulation to fall on its face. Something about "damping factor", maybe?

Anyway, we adopted the policy of replacing C302 in EVERY Cobra 2000 that leaves this shop. Better than getting a call a month or three later with a complaint about lights dimming with modulation.

Oh, and lights dimming on SSB modulation ONLY? Put TR24 back. Removing it will disable the SSB limiter. Nothing good about doing that. An overmodulated SSB signal is like a 16-Watt carrier. Guaranteed to overload the power supply even if that part of the radio is in perfect condition.

If you want "wide open" AM audio, pull out TR26. Only affects AM transmit, allowing the SSB limiter to still function.

Pulling TR24 will overload the power supply on SSB transmit, even if the power supply is in perfect shape.

More than once, a Cobra 2000 comes in that has had the rectifier bridge, big filter, the big pass transistor all replaced because the lights would dim on modulation peaks. Then they bring it to me because the problem is still there. I change C302 and suggest that maybe all that other stuff was perfectly okay all along.

Maybe.

But C302 is cheaper to try first. Fixes the problem a surprisingly high percentage of the time.

73

Do you accept mail-in repairs?

 

[nomadradio]

Mail-in repairs?

Not as a rule. I have in the past during the slow season, July through September some years.

But what seems to happen is that the customer keeps saying he'll send the unit in question, puts it off.

Puts it off.

Finally gets around to shipping the thing some time around October when the traffic gets heavy again. Of course, now he's in a hurry and the backlog has crept back up to a month or more. Murphy's Law, I guess.

Just don't have the space for it.

Gotta figure that the 'carry-in' trade will drop off sooner or later and I'll have to revise my policy. Maybe around the time I haul a few truckloads of junk out of the building and make room for all the shipping cartons that pile up while stuff gets fixed.

But for now, we don't solicit repair work shipped in.

Thanks for asking and 73.