The first 2547 I went through, is now...

[Hawkeye351]

It never ceases to amaze me, lol...

A couple years ago I went completely through a practically brand new Galaxy DX 2547 for an old friend. That radio was flipping amazing on all aspects. Drive his amps better than ever before. He always had excellent compliments on how loud but clean it was. And the receive was no joke neither, lol. That radio would talk farther than any other radio he had and without even trying.

Well, another close friend of his and mine wanted it badly, so he gave him 450 bucks for it. He knew I went in it when he bought it, so he never took the covers off (I trust this guy). Not long after, a friend of his (whom I did not know) borrowed it from him.

Did you notice all the "was" statements when I was pondering on how well it USED TO BE above?

That's right, it's now been gone through by someone on his side (the borrowers side without the owners permission).

Issues:
Receive sounds way off frequency.
No output.
All four coils in rear are spread wide open.
Several traces have been overheated and lifted off the board.

Why, why, why do we techs go through the trouble?

Now I have to go completely through it again. I know I can't control what happens to radios once they leave my hands, but when you put so much time and effort into something that turns out to be amazing, only to learn later that someone destroyed it, it kinda snaps you off. Makes you wanna just give up, like what's the point in it all. Why go into a perfectly aligned, perfectly tuned, perfectly fine radio, I just don't get it.

 

[nomadradio]

Back in the bad old 23-channel days there were multiple CB shops in town. One of them got so tired of this that he would put a dab of RTV silicone on each adjustment in the radio, coils and trimpots alike. He would scrawl "good luck" in Sharpie on the underside of the top cover.

If only he had aligned a radio right, this wouldn't have become a problem, but no such luck. No idea who that guy was, its' been too long.

73

 

[whiteastro]

A couple years ago I went completely through a practically brand new Galaxy DX 2547 for an old friend. That radio was flipping amazing on all aspects. Drive his amps better than ever before. He always had excellent compliments on how loud but clean it was. And the receive was no joke neither, lol. That radio would talk farther than any other radio he had and without even trying.

Aww you gotta cut it out telling stories like this cause it's got me drooling ! LOL I have a 2547 I bought new a few years back and would love to have it modded and tuned because I figure it would last me as long as I have left. But I have to take it some where in driving distance because why pay someone for their fine skills and talent only to have FedEx or UPS bounce it around. I do understand your frustration !

 

[Pez]

On the flip side, the satisfaction you get from undoing these golden screwdriver disasters can be very rewarding. (Although, doing it all a second time doesn't sound as much fun!)

I picked up a DX 979 recently that looked as-new in the box, but "wasn't working". I have never seen such a mess, and it sounds like it was treated similar to how your 2547 was. Cut wires, broken and even some completely missing slugs, spread coils, the works. On a brand new radio! No TX at all, no RX audio and RX freq around 25KHz off.

I guess they destroyed it after watching a few 'all the way' YT videos and smoking some crack lol. Thankfully they put it back in the box without damaging the cases or front panel. I spent some time on it and now it's working great. It's rewarding when you can save one that was so messed up.

I will never understand what goes through some peoples heads.

 

[whiteastro]

I picked up a DX 979 recently that looked as-new in the box, but "wasn't working". I have never seen such a mess, and it sounds like it was treated similar to how your 2547 was. Cut wires, broken and even some completely missing slugs, spread coils, the works. On a brand new radio! No TX at all, no RX audio and RX freq around 25KHz off.

I also bought 2 of those DX 979s new with the external freq counter and they are fine sounding radios when dialed in on frequency. I sometimes wonder what they could become in the hands of a skilled radio repairman ?

 

[Cable Guy]

Why, why, why do we techs go through the trouble?

Because we want and strive for perfection, in an imperfect place, appreciating order and flawless function. But we aren't alone, and an imbalance must exist to necessitate our existence. It hurts sometimes and it can make you or break you, you decide.

 

[Hawkeye351]

Man, it never ends, lol...

I got a video text from another local that bought a cobra 29 from another local around here. He claimed he bought it because the seller said I was the one that set it all up and he liked how it sounded.

Well, the video text showed the radio hooked to a cheapo watt meter (average reading) and doing only a half a watt forward swing and the covers were off.

After that, I told him to take a pic of the inside with radio upside down so I could see if my trademark was located where I placed it. Sure enough it was my work, still looked brand new. I asked him what the issue is with it and all he said was that it's not doing much wattage on his meter. I told him to put the covers back on that radio and just talk on the thang, there's nothing wrong with that radio, it's just his cheapo meter.

Again, another perfectly fine, aligned and tuned, practically brand new radio with the covers off by someone whom I know myself doesn't know anything about electronics.

He did put the covers back on it and tried it out, he's happy with it.

I keep telling these locals to stop putting so much faith in these cheapo watt meters, and that it's not about the watts anyway, it's all about the gain of those watts. A watt meter will not show the gain of the watts it indicates, a watt meter (dumb device) is only an observation tool, not a precision piece of equipment.

 

[AudioShockwav]

Some of them don't deserve to be called watt meters, approximate relative power is more accurate.......

73
Jeff

 

[w9cll]

Why, why, why do we techs go through the trouble?

Some feel 5 watts is tons better than 4 but unfortunately, simple minds just don't get it.

 

[Blackcat630]

Need some tamper proof stickers for the case. "Warranty void if cut or removed"

When trying to remove they separate into a checker board pattern. The really good shop we had around this area 25-30 yrs ago used them. Cut back on all the bullshit

 

[nomadradio]

tamper proof stickers

The tweaknicians figured out where we were buying them and just put a new sticker where our old one had been. Had some stickers custom made, but they were too thin and would fracture across the gap between top and bottom cover even if the radio was never taken apart.

Best way to see if a radio we worked on was tampered with was to make sure we send a radio out with each and every screw in the covers. Seems inevitable that if someone tampers with a radio's insides at least one screw gets lost. Been a while since a customer claimed that a tweaked radio had not been disturbed. A missing screw or two guaranteed that it had been.

73