Uniden HR 2510 inop after 20+ years in storage - worth repairing?

[RenoHuskerDu]

I dug into all my hold ham/CB boxes and found a Uniden HR 2510 that I bought and ran in 2002 after I got my first ticket. It was working when I put it in the box, still in the factory packaging. I was as excited as a kid at Christmas to find it. I think it may have been jailbroke to run on CB also. Not sure.

So when I got it on the bench, it was sad to see that she powers up, but has no receive or trx at all. I hear these rigs are still popular. Would you recommend I send it off for repair? If so, where?

 

[trentbob]

It's always worth taking a look see, first thing that comes to mind is oxidation and corrosion of wires resulting in short circuits.. as far as sending it for repair, crunch the numbers, your choice. Good luck to you.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I dug into all my hold ham/CB boxes and found a Uniden HR 2510 that I bought and ran in 2002 after I got my first ticket. It was working when I put it in the box, still in the factory packaging. I was as excited as a kid at Christmas to find it. I think it may have been jailbroke to run on CB also. Not sure.

So when I got it on the bench, it was sad to see that she powers up, but has no receive or trx at all. I hear these rigs are still popular. Would you recommend I send it off for repair? If so, where?

Check all the internal voltages. Not sure how that radio did TX/RX switching but in some radios of the era, a bad mike cord could cause that problem because the RX power logic came through the mike. Otherwise corrosion on a T/R relay could cause no RX.

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

Check all the internal voltages. Not sure how that radio did TX/RX switching but in some radios of the era, a bad mike cord could cause that problem because the RX power logic came through the mike. Otherwise corrosion on a T/R relay could cause no RX.

I see suggestions elsewhere too that the mic might be the cause of the failure to rx/trx. My rig still has the original President 5-pin mic with up/down buttons on top. I figured swapping in a mic to debug is a good first step, as well as looking for oxidation on various conx inside the case.

I didn't find a Uniden mic with the up/down buttons for sale, so far. And a PTT-only Uniden mic is expensive. I did find a 4-pin to 5-pin adapter that lets a Cobra mic be used, and they are much less expensive. I'm planning to go that route with this Cobra mic: HG-M84W 4Pin CB Microphone For Cobra 25 LTD CLASSIC,29 LTD CLASSIC,148 GTL Radio

Anybody have thoughts on my plans? A buddy and I bought these as matching rigs when we and a couple other hams all did rough desert camping 20 years ago. So I have an attachment to this old 2510.

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

This 2510 had the same problem, and the cause was old capacitors

 

[trentbob]

I see suggestions elsewhere too that the mic might be the cause of the failure to rx/trx. My rig still has the original President 5-pin mic with up/down buttons on top. I figured swapping in a mic to debug is a good first step, as well as looking for oxidation on various conx inside the case.

I didn't find a Uniden mic with the up/down buttons for sale, so far. And a PTT-only Uniden mic is expensive. I did find a 4-pin to 5-pin adapter that lets a Cobra mic be used, and they are much less expensive. I'm planning to go that route with this Cobra mic: HG-M84W 4Pin CB Microphone For Cobra 25 LTD CLASSIC,29 LTD CLASSIC,148 GTL Radio

Anybody have thoughts on my plans? A buddy and I bought these as matching rigs when we and a couple other hams all did rough desert camping 20 years ago. So I have an attachment to this old 2510.

If you hire someone to repair it, and it might have multiple issues secondary to old age including bad capacitors, it may not be worth the cost of the repair, I wouldn't throw it out either.

I remember the microphone causing issues with the comstat.

I just researched this radio on YouTube and there are a few videos that are very well done that actually go step by step through troubleshooting the radio, top and bottom of the board...

I would research everything you can find and have some fun!

 

[ratboy]

I fixed a friend's 2510 a few years back. He bought it new, barely used it as it had problems with truckers desensitizing it, as I warned him the would. We both lived next to the Ohio Turnpike for 35 years and the cheap 10 meter rigs and CBs were nearly useless. You almost had to have a mid level ham HF rig to be able to hear almost anything except for roger beeping guys who had strange drawly accents. Anyway, it was almost totally deaf. It had 3 obvious cracked solder joints, and I found 2 more with my special glasses that have different lenses for old geezers to work close in on stuff. If you are old, get a set of them! Even if you are young, they can really help you out. They sell them under a ton of weird brand names. Mine don't have any brand on them, and cost $12 a couple of years ago.

A can of Freeze-it made the cracks more obvious. A minute with the soldering iron and the 2510 was alive. He has it in his truck now, he got it to fit into the glovebox with a little dremel work on the back of the glovebox.

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

Update: I found a gentleman who goes by RogerBird on the WorldwideDX Radio Forum. He does repairs for very reasonable prices, and has many satisfied customers on that forum.

He has it now for capacitor replacement and any other needed work.

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

I fixed a friend's 2510 a few years back. He bought it new, barely used it as it had problems with truckers desensitizing it, as I warned him the would. We both lived next to the Ohio Turnpike for 35 years and the cheap 10 meter rigs and CBs were nearly useless. You almost had to have a mid level ham HF rig to be able to hear almost anything except for roger beeping guys who had strange drawly accents. Anyway, it was almost totally deaf. It had 3 obvious cracked solder joints, and I found 2 more with my special glasses that have different lenses for old geezers to work close in on stuff. If you are old, get a set of them! Even if you are young, they can really help you out. They sell them under a ton of weird brand names. Mine don't have any brand on them, and cost $12 a couple of years ago.

A can of Freeze-it made the cracks more obvious. A minute with the soldering iron and the 2510 was alive. He has it in his truck now, he got it to fit into the glovebox with a little dremel work on the back of the glovebox.

I don't plan to use it in a vehicle, so trucker overload shouldn't be an issue. I have a few serviceable old CB radios from my big strap days that I can throw in my pickups. This HR2150 is going in my shack, rural. But thanks for that tip !