Galaxy Saturn Turbo doing a strange thing

#376666

I have a Saturn Turbo, the volume suddenly goes way up on receiving stations. The tx is fine. To turn it down to a reasonable level I have to use the rf gain. I was thinkin the volume pot to keep things simple. Turned all the way down the radio is still pretty loud then all of a sudden will go back to normal. Just wondering if there is an obvious thing someone else knew about. Thanks in advance Tinman

#376670

The increase in volume says to me there is an increase in voltage happening, could be the regulator going bad. Do things like the meter read higher and lights get brighter? Goes back to normal after transmitting? How old is the radio?

3's

Greg

#376672

MD may be on to something here. unplug the internal power supply and hook it to a external power supply and see if it still does that. you should have an external 3 pin plug on the back of the radio for 12 volts.

#376673

I believe that radio has the same board as the 2995, don't think it has a 13.8v jack on the back to power the radio (the 12v RCA jack is to power a fan). The PS inside is a linear type and the regulator is on a small board attached to the back. Some tech's jack up the voltage to increase the radio's wattage, doing this causes a world of problems, check the voltage there and set it back to 13.6 to 13.8 volts, hopefully it hasn't fried the regulating transistor.

3's

Greg

#376674

I forgot that the saturn brands did not have the power plug for 12 volts on them. I remember I had to bypass the main power supply to see if the problem was in the power supply. sorry about that.

#376676

It would be nice if they did, think the reason is the amplifier needing 30a to power it and I am wrong about it being a 2950 board, (I said 2995) but it is a ranger board. I'm totally not sure if the later Galaxy model has a switching supply in it or not, I think the Turbo's were discontinued in 2006 before the switching supplies started being used.

3's

Greg

#376677

i have seen one over the years doing what you are talking about. the power supply would go way above 12.8 volts and cause the thing to act up and volume to get loud. so that is a good possibility. will just have to watch it and see what the voltage is doing. he could just hook a volt meter to it for a while to see if the voltage goes way up when it acts up.

#376692

Thanks for the replies men. The volume seems to be the only thing affected. Radio talks great and receives great. I would say the radio is 15 years old plus. I bought it second hand for my step dad to talk on. Any more info on what to check out would be awesome. Also where to adjust voltage. Voltage does sound like a culprit though

#376694

it should show it in the service manual.

#376695

I had one do that and it was a dirty relay in the 100watt amp board on back of radio try tapping back there when is goes low see if it brings it back up high or try keying the mic see if that makes it change some times.

#376701

Will do redlight thanks. The audio gets really loud instead of low. It comes and goes, maybe an hour to 5 days before it acts up. I love radios

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