Northstar 990v frequency jumping.

[Caveman195]

Just got ahold of a Northstar 990v from a truck driver. Hooked it up and have low to no receive and the frequency counter continuously runs up a few mhz and down a few mhz. On channel 19 its showing I'm in the 30.xxxmhz range so I know that's incorrect. I have found that there's possibly an issue at the microphone plug on the radio. Any idea if this is my issue or if I have something else causing this issue?

 

[WSAC829]

That radio was supposed to be a clone of the Galaxy DX99v. However, Northstar cheaped out and used a PIC IC and rotary encoder to generate the PLL codes which tended to wear out and fail. Some guys used to replace the failed 8 Mhz PIC clock crystal with a 7.8 Mhz crystal from a Cobra 148 GTL to fix it. You’ll need to have a good radio shop or local tech look at it. Otherwise you purchased a 25 year old shiny paperweight unfortunately.

 

[Caveman195]

That radio was supposed to be a clone of the Galaxy DX99v. However, Northstar cheaped out and used a PIC IC and rotary encoder to generate the PLL codes which tended to wear out and fail. Some guys used to replace the failed 8 Mhz PIC clock crystal with a 7.8 Mhz crystal from a Cobra 148 GTL to fix it. You’ll need to have a good radio shop or local tech look at it. Otherwise you purchased a 25 year old shiny paperweight unfortunately.

Well luckily it was given to me by a truck driver at work. Wonder what the cost will be for repairs?

 

[WSAC829]

Free is good, but you can buy far better radios with all the same features and more new for roughly $175-$300, i wouldn’t put more than $75 in to that radio. The parts wouldn't cost much, but the shops labor rate is where it might get expensive. It’s old dated technology, and was already a cheap “knock off” to begin with.

 

[slowmover]

Anyone Know about this radio Northstar DX990V

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It’s a nice intro having been given a radio. An old radio is itself not a bad thing where a minor repair gets it going.

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