Galaxy-II Freq counter reads 0

[carboncanyon]

new user, search helped a little, but still looking for answers.

Picked up a Galaxy-II at a yard sale for 5 bucks (Serial number 002639, Taiwan R.O.C., external heatsink). Got it home and powered it up and everything appeared to light up, but no audio. Not even static. Opened up the case and found the external speaker plug had come unsoldered. Fixed that and we have noise!

Second major obvious problem is the freq counter. It just reads 0. Not blank, but actually zero. If you cycle the mode switch or press the display on/off button quickly, you can get the freq counter to start counting up, but then slowly falls back to zero again.

My guess of course is that its zero, because its not getting anything to count. Bad xtal? bad pll?

Main board says its an EPT360010A, but most of the schematics and troubleshooting posts Ive found are for a different board. Close, but not quite the same. Freq counter board is an EPT210010A, and as best I can tell, Im getting the correct voltage at the zener and the electrolytic cap that my web searches say like to go bad, so I think the freq counter is working correctly, its just not getting anything to count.

Trying to decide if I want to put any effort into repairing it, or just throwing it on ebay as a parts rig. It also needs a new SIG/RF/SWR meter as this one is cracked and the needle doesnt move even when I key the mic into an antenna (briefly!) Voltages at the finals and regulators appear to be normal in Rx mode. Have not tried to measure in Tx mode yet. Work on the receive side first.

Tools available to me at the moment...a volt/ohm meter. I havnt touched a scope or signal generator in 2 decades. Not against buying one tho. I do like buying tools.

[cb4ever104]

Hi .

The 10A board was used in the 5 band version . There's a later 6 band version which uses the 13B (I think) . I wouldn't worry about the counter for now . Disconnect the cables from it and remove it . Is the radio TX and RX'ing OK on all bands ? Sounds to me as if it's not locked . The radio is the same as the Superstar 3900 , so download the service manual for that , or the Galaxy Saturn and go through it . Once you have the radio working then you can start to see what the problem with the counter is . Galaxy listed a few service issues with the counter for the home base version . They both have the same counter so that information is relevant to both models . Anyway . As I mentioned . Get the radio working first . The S meters aren't that expensive . You can get them new from the States , or Taiwan .

Sammy

[14CS06]

Hello

The service manual for PRESIDENT RONALD is here

EPT360010A is the same as RONALD 2

http://78roger.free.fr/president/manuel ... ronald.pdf

http://78roger.free.fr/president/ronald.htm

@+
Claude

[163TM847]

Those large counters are prone to dry joints on the regulator and the large white plastic clips on the front, If the radio is working without the counter connected check for dry joints.

TIP: Dont be tempted to secure the counter back to the chassis with a metal screw, Use a nylon type as it would originally.

[cb4ever104]

I was just about to add the comment about not using a metal screw as well, but Nick beat me to it. Also you should have a piece of card between the counter and chassis. From your photo I can see that yours is still in place.

[carboncanyon]

Thanks for the replies. Im in the states, so a little time lagged on my responses.

Found the SIG meter on ebay, so no problems there.

The insulator card and nylon screw are still in place between the chassis and counter. I've tried to really look the board over for any dry or cracked solder joints and other than the audio out jack, everything appears good. I may go over them with some heat and reflow them for good measure if nothing else pans out.

Not 100% sure the Rx side works yet either. I havnt picked up any local signals sitting here on the bench, and my other 10m rig is in my truck and its currently in winter storage in the barn. This was going to be an "in the house" rig if I could get it working.

I will take some time and go over the above links and if it ever stops raining (insert seattle washington joke here) go out to the barn and warm up the Icom and verify Rx.

[cb4ever104]

Hi .

As I already mentioned . There's no point even looking at the counter until you know the radio is working . By working I mean the Loop oscillator , PLL and VCO circuits , as that's where the counter gets it's reference from .

Sammy

[carboncanyon]

Rx works. Was finally able to pick up a conversation on the LSB CB frequencies. I had the channel selector on the wrong band for our CB frequencies. I also live way out in the woods in a radio dead zone in a canyon near Mt Rainier so the little whip antenna Im using on the bench isnt the best for getting out of the hole Im in.

The counter kinda works. Using the schematics from the web, it appears the problem may lie in the xtal circuit. I can induce the display to start counting by literally just touching the input pin of IC 605 with my finger and the display starts ramping up. But its literally using me as the input. So that makes me think everything upstream of IC605 is good. The schematic says the IC605 gets its input from T601, which is coupled to IC607 and the 2.67375 xtal and its associated circuits.

Just going to end up throwing parts at it without a scope. Could be a dead xtal or a dried out electrolytic (although they all appear good visually, and the couple I've pulled out and tested on my capacitance meter tested within range). Im looking on Ebay for a cheap used 2 channel 50mhz or 100mhz scope. Should have bought my own years ago, but my previous jobs always had one available to me.

[cb4ever104]

Ch1 . AM . C bnad . Connect a frequency counter to TP3 (halfway up on the LHS) . What reading do you get ?

S.

[carboncanyon]

Ch1 . AM . C bnad . Connect a frequency counter to TP3 (halfway up on the LHS) . What reading do you get ?

S.

Will get back to you in a week. Just ordered a frequency counter off flea-bay. Needed one eventually, so why not.

[carboncanyon]

Fixed!

Well, almost. I found the culprit but I need to dig through the junk box to find a replacement.

My desktop counter hasnt shown up yet, but I fell into a 40 dollar 100Mhz oscilloscope on craigslist that was close to the house, so grabbed that to poke around the crystal circuit I thought was bad, but it showed a nice 2.6-ish Mhz sinewave, so back to the schematic.

Double checking my power feeds, I had a good 8v out of the regulator, replaced all the electrolytics and the zener update just because I should, and started checking power inputs to the other ICs.

IC604 only had .5v into pin 1. Followed it back to the 100ohm resistor (R612) and had good power on the other side. The resistor tested good, so that just left the brand new electrolytic, the .047 ceramic next to it or the IC itself was going right to ground. Pulled the ceramic and we have a counter!

Once the ceramic was out, I could see some discoloration and magic smoke residue around one leg. I'll get it replaced and once my desktop counter gets here, go thru the alignment specs posted above and make sure everything looks good.

[cb4ever104]

Good on you !

Thanks for posting back with the results . Another rig saved from the scrap heap

Sammy

[tester272001]

I had the same symptom but a different component failure. EPT360010A on an export transceiver. Frequency counter reads .0 (zero on LED display) +8V off regulator was OK. VCC of the following were: IC601 +1.4V, IC602 +5.3V, IC603 +0V, IC604 +5.3V IC605 +4.5V, IC606 +2.6V, IC607+6.6V, IC608 +2.4V Some of these seemed low especially IC603. Found D604 Open, replaced with 1N4148 or equivalent. Replaced D603 zener for good measure. I also reflowed the solder on the 8V regulator.