UV-5R Flakey PPT Button

[Tom Line]

Any experiencing with less than excellent push-to-talk button on the UV-5R ? Got one that feels mushy and result in having to press it very hard. Sometime the display lights up but it doesn't transmit. I think there's a clickey button involved. Maybe the switch itself cracked to the board or the big plastic button is teeter-tottering ?

 

[w9cll]

Its a $20 radio, you can try fixing or by another. I have a 9r that has a mushy pot

 

[Tom Line]

I fixed it.
I worked on the black plastic PPT button a bit, and I removed the "clickey" which is held down with adhesive tape, cleaned with alcohol, and scratched it up, button and board, to make better contact. The speaker wire was just hanging on by one strand of stranded steel wire, so I had to touch that up with a solder fix. The squelch drop button didn't work right when I was done, and I ended up rerouting the speaker wire and the issue went away. Not sure what that was about but it's 100% operational now and the PPT feels a lot better. Not the best. But doesn't require crush level effort for sure.

 

[Tom Line]

Here's the pictures including one of me getting my first rf burn after decades in electronics. The blue square shows where the speaker wire wasn't soldered very well at the factory. The "clickey"s on the board are held down with adhesive sheets that can be peeled back with some careful effort. I cleaned a couple with alcohol and scuffed them up a bit too.