rci 69ffc2 ssb audio

[ranger6900f]

dioRadio Make and Model: rci-69ffc2
PCB Number: ept990014b
PLL Number:
Test gear available: test meter
Symptoms: cant understand what iam saying

What is working: fm/am

What has been tried: adjusting ssb power

Did it suddenly happen ?: it came like this
Anything else that may be of help?: my beloved had brought me a brand spanking rci 69ffc2,first off i noticed on fm it would only key upto 5 on the signal meter and down to 3 on low power ,but audio was spot on ,then i got a mate who lives about 5-6 miles to give me a check ssb and to my horror he says he cant lock me in and he cant understand a word iam saying,so i tried backing of the mic but no difference at all , so i tried backing of the power and no difference , i cant send it back for two reasons 1 the seal is broke and 2 import duty is a swine and she got stung already once for it ,so if anyone can help me out they is a good drink init for you
thanks
shaun

[zodiac]

Shaun,
You've got yourself a dilemma there as to what to do. I think your first option is to get in touch with the supplier and explain the situation and see what they have to say, having said that they should have checked it before they posted it especial being as it's gone overseas.
What internal adjustments did you make to the radio as you haven't said.

[ranger6900f]

Hi Dave , I have adjusted ssb to see if it was peaking to hard but no joy ,also I have heard it another radio you can't understand anything I say at all no matter what you do to try n lock on to it ,also I have noticed the needle seems to stick over unless you turn the mic gain right down . I have sent email to the supplier but no joy as off yet, also it is killin my psu it goes from 14 volts down to around 8-9 volts
Thanks for your help

[zodiac]

Yes I can understand that happening to the PSU, that radio has eight MOSFETS as the finals.
I get the same thing happen when I've repaired 797 burners if I try to run one on setting 5 or 6 in FM mode, that's because my PSU is only a 25Amp so I have to bring the 50Amp PSU in from the shed and use that to do any testing with a big burner.
If you use a meter other than one built into the PSU you are more likely to see voltage drop as the RF will affect the meter, I used the ferrite tubes from the transformers out of a scrap burner and wrapped the meters leads through then a couple of times to prevent that happening, it worked for me.
If you are getting voltage dropping that much then that's your problem I'd say. What type of PSU do you have, is it a switch mode or a heavy transformer type, the reason I ask is that the transformer type PSUs don't always have a RF filter at the output terminals.
Dave.

[ranger6900f]

Thanks for this Dave , the power supply is a home bru one it will cope upto 40 amps I've been told , bit I have got another one coming a proper 65 amp psu , I thought it could be psu but wasn't 100% sure because of the low voltage I thought it might not be enough for the radio as the mosfets are hungry little fellas , fingers crossed it's that if not god knows what I will do with it .

[ranger6900f]

Hi Dave , just to let you know I got psu today ( god dam slow post) and it works spot on now no issues at all, thanks for your time and help
Shaun