Uniden 980 SSB Channel Changing Problems

[DevilDog66]

It figures, right when your warranty is up something happens! I was talking locally on ch26 and when I keyed up, the radio beeped as if I was turning the channel knob and the channel jumped from 26 to 25. A few minutes later I was on 19 and it did the same thing and switched to 18, and yet again on 26 but this time it jumped down two to ch24. I'm running an Astatic Road Devil with the volume set at the letter "L" on the side with the radio gain set at 4 and also an RM Italy KL203P, the radios DK is set at 1.5 watts. The radio is mounted to the top of the vehicles dash since there is no other place to mount it(2014 Honda Accord). If anybody knows what could be causing this and the fix, it would be greatly appreciated.

[pabxone]

2 thoughts here.
Sticky buttons on the front panel - Give all 10 of the buttons a gentle push a few times to make sure that they are not sticking or binding 1/2 operated.

The amp could be flooding RF into the radio and confusing the microprocessor into thinking it needs to change channels, that makes sense as it beeped and changed on key down?

Check the antenna's SWR and make sure it's not too high, make sure the coax is not crushed / frayed or exposed anywhere between the radio and the aerial , do a visual inspection of the aerial and it's mount to make sure there is no corrosion and the grounding is all good.

If it all seems OK , try running the radio for a while with the amp powered down and see if the problem occurs then.

[DevilDog66]

Thank you for the swift reply pabxone. I had it on for the drive to work tonight with the amp off and keyed down a few times and it seemed to be acting normally. I also pushed on the buttons to make sure there weren't any sticking issues and everything seemed to be functioning properly. Soooooo...we'll wait and see before I push the "panic" button! I've been looking around the web and CBRT but haven't found any issues with that channel changing deal. I'm going to try and make contact with Uniden and see if they can help.

[MDYoungblood]

It could be a loose connector and stray RF but I think the 980 is pretty well shielded for that, still check the coax connectors. If you still have the stock microphone try it and see if the issue persists.
I too haven't heard any problems with the radios so far but it is about time they start.

3's

Greg

[DevilDog66]

Here is an update to the channel changing problem.......its still doing it, but I think it may be because of the Road Devil power mic I'm running. Even though I have the mic gain on 3 and the mic volume set at the "L" in volume on the side of the mic(approx 75% maybe a little less), its still doing the channel changing thing. However, when I switched to my Ranger SRA-198 noise cancelling mic, it stopped and I was transitting on 38lsb for a while, approx 10-15 minutes transmitting CQ every 30 seconds or so and no channel changing. Maybe because of the power the Road Devil is putting out?

[sonoma]

check to make sure you do not have any wires touching inside the plug on the road devil mic if a wire is touching say the ground or each other it can cause this problem.

[drdx]

Doesn't that radio have a stock up down mic? I may be wrong. Check the road devil mic connection or wiring. Sounds like it is triggering the up down button circuitry.

-drdx

[MDYoungblood]

Clip on a snap ferrite bead on the mic cord at the mic connector, think a 5mm or 7mm is what you need. The shielding in the cord is cheap (go figure), I'm surprised it wasn't happening sooner. Adjust the mic gain on the radio all the way up then adjust the gain in the mic for the best sound, shouldn't have to touch either again.

3's

Greg

[DevilDog66]

Thanks for the quick replies guys! I will try the ferrite bead deal MDY and see if that works, sounds like it will.

[pabxone]

Doesn't that radio have a stock up down mic? I may be wrong. Check the road devil mic connection or wiring. Sounds like it is triggering the up down button circuitry.

-drdx

I like your thought process but the 980SSB stock mike doesn't have channel Up / Down switching on the microphone.

That got me thinking as having a 6 pin plug on the radio and electronic channel selection on the 980SSB it was pretty likely that you could set up Up / Down channel selection from a microphone.

Seems you can - see this video :-

There's a pretty good chance that there is a stray wire or solder blob inside the mike plug of the Road Devil or the adaptor plug/lead causing your problems ?

[MDYoungblood]

There's a pretty good chance that there is a stray wire or solder blob inside the mike plug of the Road Devil or the adaptor plug/lead causing your problems ?

Oh I did forget that radio has a adapter pigtail that comes with the radio to use any 4 pin Cobra/Uniden mic, definitely could be the problem. I would rewire the Red Devil to the radio. With a little ingenuity you could wire it so you no longer need a battery for the mic by using the unused wires in the cord and the 8v pin on the jack.

3's

Greg

[DevilDog66]

Its definitely not the pig tail. I switched to plug in adapter and it did it on that as well as the pigtail. I think I'll have a look see at the wiring and soldering, just a process of elimination.

[sonoma]

does it change channels on you with the stock mic? if it does not do it with the stock mic it is not inside the radio. you just said something about the adapter, not sure what you were doing at that point as you wrote it the info down. here is what you said and to me a adapter and a pigtail for this radio would be the same thing. this radio comes with the little pigtail so you can use a 4 pin mic. since you stated a adapter did you buy a 6 pin to 4 pin as has been out for years. if so it is not made right for your radio and can cause problems.

Its definitely not the pig tail. I switched to plug in adapter and it did it on that as well as the pigtail. I think I'll have a look see at the wiring and soldering, just a process of elimination.

[DevilDog66]

does it change channels on you with the stock mic? if it does not do it with the stock mic it is not inside the radio. you just said something about the adapter, not sure what you were doing at that point as you wrote it the info down. here is what you said and to me a adapter and a pigtail for this radio would be the same thing. this radio comes with the little pigtail so you can use a 4 pin mic. since you stated a adapter did you buy a 6 pin to 4 pin as has been out for years. if so it is not made right for your radio and can cause problems.

Its definitely not the pig tail. I switched to plug in adapter and it did it on that as well as the pigtail. I think I'll have a look see at the wiring and soldering, just a process of elimination.

It does not change with the stock mic only the power mic. I have two adapters, the factory pigtail and one that is all one piece no cable like the pigtail and it is specifically made to convert a Cobra mike to be plugged into a Uniden radio. I have used this other adapter with other mics on the 980 and it worked flawlessly.