How to transmit further

It sounds like you have a shorted RF output transistor.

There are any number of reasons for no sound. I will assume you're using new batteries or fully charged batteries. The simplest reason is that a wire has become disconnected from the speaker. This would make the radio sound the same on as off. To test this see if the radio has a way of turning the squelch off, sometimes a simple push button, sometimes a menu setting, sometimes a dial to adjust the squelch setting. If there is no hissing, sometime very loud so turn your volume down first, then either the audio output amp is dead or a wire to the speaker is broken or disconnected. I today's radios the audio amp is most likely a simple small IC but, it could be inside an all-in-one chip and if it's proprietary getting the chip could be a problem. If it's a simple audio chip you'll have to find a replacement or rig up another audio amp IC to work as a replacement. Let's hope for the simple broken or disconnected wire which should be easy enough to fix.

Now, if when you remove the squelch you hear the hissing but you still cannot hear transmitting from your other radio, it could be that the one transmitting is in fact NOT transmitting an not that the other radio cannot hear. You have checked that both radios can or can not hear someone else's radio right?

Assuming you do know that one radio cannot hear what the other can and make no sound other than hissing when the squelch is off the problem is either in the RF or IF sections of the radio's receiver. In general this used to be a more complex repair so let's go another easy fix by going to the very first place the RF comes in, the antenna.

Just like the audio section when a speaker wire is disconnected sometimes the wire or trace going to the bottom of the antenna can become disconnected or broken. To check this bring a good transmitting radio very close to the one that hisses but does not hear the transmitting radio and see if any place as close as you can get the two radios causes the non-hearing radio to hear the transmitting radio. If so, then look for a problem with the antenna connection.

If none of these easy things bring the problem to heel then there's probably something amiss in the RF or IF receiver sections. If the radio has one or two chips that do all the work here then see if you can get both and replace them. I haven't even taken apart my own small FRS radios to see how complex the receivers are in these so I won't go any further than that since I simply don't know your radio.

I hope that helps.

There are a variety of reasons for your Spectra to fail to transmit. A few items to check would be:
1) Power to the radio. If enough power is not present, transmit is the first thing to usually fail.
2) Check your hand mic. This is a common failure part on a mobile radio.
3) Check your antenna and connections. Coax ages over time, and is not forgiving of creases or bends. Also, if your antenna stinger has become loose over time, it will effect your transmit.

Beyond the above mentioned items, most anything further would require repair of the component board of the radio.

Best regards.

Hi,
Great radio when it works.
If you have your settings on CB - not PA - -be sure that your Cobra has that setting selected.
If CB -is selected and still nothing - be sure you have a working mic. These wires are fragile and can break internally. One easy way to check is to borrow a cobra mic or even drop by a CB repair shop and ask them to do a mic check with the mic - it is free.

If you have a bad mic replace it and all should be well.
If your mic is good and it still doesn't transmit you will need to replace the finals in the unit. It is common that these burn out of you got too close to someone with too powerful a radio. The CB shop will need to look at it further and repairs should not be over about 40.00.

Good luck with your Cobra.

Sounds like byou blew the transmiter diode. Take it to a good CB shop and they can replace it. Most reliable ones will bench check for free.

What happens if you "key up" and "let off" and the transmitter "hangs", you remove the microphone plug from the Cobra ?
Will it still be transmitting or will it stop ?
If it stops, the problem is in the microphone with a "hanging" switch which you can easily clean or replace.
Iif it keeps transmitting while the mike is disconnected, there is a problem with the Rx/Tx switching circuit. This needs further investigation by use of a circuit diagram.

THAT IS A VERY GOOD SIGN THAT YOUR SWR MATCH IS OFF....I DONT KNOW IF YOU MATCHED UP YOUR RADIO WITH YOUR ANT.IF NOT YOU CAN BUY A CHEAP SWR METER @ RADIO SHACK...CHECK THAT YOUR COAX CABLE IS OK TRY TO REPLACE THE COAX......GOOD LUCK

Hi and welcome to FixYa,

Initially, pls check the final and pre-final (TR15 & 15) and that it gets modulated TX+12 through D8 from T1 which in turn is the output of IC4 through C48.

Perhaps a schematic diagram may be of further help.

Good luck and Thank you for using FixYa. Happy Holidays.

Here are some troubleshooting thoughts:

1. Is your battery indicator showing at least 2-3 bars? (Battery Note: Your rechargeable batteries may fail due to setting without use for a long period of time. They need replaced every 12-14 months usually. A good tip is to charge them once a month to keep the chemical in the battery active.)

2. Check to see your Qt noise filter is shut off. Refer to page 22 of the owners manual. It is possible you have some radios set to Y and others to N. To assure good communications you should set all of them to N.

3. With your radios set to interference code zero, place your radios one at a time in scan mode, while you transmit/talk on one individual radio. See if any of the radios receive. Do this with each radio individually to see if you are transmitting at all. NOTE: This test will determine if you have any ability to transmit. If you do not receive any sound on the 3 radios setting in scan mode, the individual radio you are testing will not transmit.

check your squelch make sure its not set too high you should adjust it to just where the static fades out no further hope this helps