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Kenwood TK-7180 poor receive

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westcoaster

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There I am driving along listening to weather radio.

Scratchy receive, choppy... Stop at a light, everything comes in great! start driving, choppy, staticy receive.

After my experience with the TK7360 a while ago where the antenna connector had a cold solder joint I figured I would pull apart the TK 7180 to check things out.

The antenna connector is soldered just fine but there is a diode? that is suspect.

What is it? is this a "common" issue? what's involved in replacing it?

Right beside the stenciled R3 with the component in question partly obscuring the 3
https://forums.radioreference.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=65480&stc=1&d=1534729301
 

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kd4efm

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Clue is you stop and all sounds fine, you start moving and it goes south.....

Check all your grounds.



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westcoaster

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While I'm at it, what's the battery on the motherboard of the TK-7180 for, and when should it be replaced?
 

westcoaster

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Clue is you stop and all sounds fine, you start moving and it goes south.....

Check all your grounds.



Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk


Radio is grounded directly to the battery terminals (black fused power lead). I do have a braided strap (1 foot) connected to the chassis of the radio as an RF ground that goes to a ground point in the cab.

Am I looking at antenna ground?
Chassis ground?

What are your thoughts on the component pictured? looks burned to me?
 

kd4efm

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Radio is grounded directly to the battery terminals (black fused power lead). I do have a braided strap (1 foot) connected to the chassis of the radio as an RF ground that goes to a ground point in the cab.

Am I looking at antenna ground?
Chassis ground?

What are your thoughts on the component pictured? looks burned to me?
That's a sleeve if I remember but like mentioned, its 0 ohm. You should read a short on it with an ohm meter

Check the ground fuse. (If it has one)
When the is blown, the radio grounds out through the antenna.

I get that alot on heavy equipment.

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westcoaster

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negative fuse is good, The "component" is a rubber sleeve as I can slide it back and forth on the wire using my thumbnail.
Both check out as resistance wise...

I'll try swapping in a magmount to see if the problem continues (or not)
 

mmckenna

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What kind of antenna are you using?

If the antenna has an issue, it can flex back and break contact while driving, essentially disconnecting it. When you stop, it makes connection again and works. Some 1/4 wave antennas don't get along well with some NMO mounts and won't make very good contact. You can often troubleshoot these by holding the whip and moving it up and down. You might feel it making contact. You can set up a channel for a NOAA channel and see if it comes and goes as you do it.
 

westcoaster

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Larsen WB VHF with an nmo mount. Located on the fender of the truck (not the best but I'm stuck with that because of the truck camper)

If this sounds familiar, it's because it is... This has been an ongoing issue for some time.

I think I'll put the 7180 back together for now. I need to think a bit more as to what to swap to see if the problem follows. swap radio, swap antenna....
 

mmckenna

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Could be a number of issues.

I'd check the NMO mount, especially the underside. Unless you sealed it well, water can get in and corrode the copper.

Check the whip. Loosen the set screws and pull the whip out, make sure it's not corroded.

Check the base. Not sure if you have the wide band 1/2 wave or the wide band 1/4 wave. Make sure the center pin of the coil is touching the center pin of the NMO mount.

Remove the coil from the base and make sure it's clean, no corrosion.

Check continuity from the NMO base to the radio end of the coax.
 

AD0TY

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Could be any number of things. I'd start with the suggestions from mmckenna, I've seen problems with nmo mounts a lot. If the problem persists I'd consider looking for an electrical problem in the truck. Sometimes AC getting into the radio from an alternator problem can cause weird problems. It may get significantly worse when you accelerate. One way to check that is to tune to AM on your truck radio and see if you hear a whine that changes pitch with your engine rpms.
 
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