Contact cleaning on older Nav radio

[Mike Noel]

I'm pulling out my older RF gear 1 by 1 to use a little Radio Shack contact
cleaner on the interior switches. On my Nav radio I noticed a bank of
rotary resistors (guess they are resistors since they are labeled R1, R2
etc.) and I am tempted to treat them and turn the pots back and forth a bit
to make sure they're clean. Does anyone know if they are too position
sensitive to set back into their original positions by eyeball? Any other
comments about using or not using contact cleaner are also welcome. Thanks.

--
Regards,
Mike

[Sven]

"Mike Noel" > wrote in message
...
> I'm pulling out my older RF gear 1 by 1 to use a little Radio Shack
contact
> cleaner on the interior switches. On my Nav radio I noticed a bank of
> rotary resistors (guess they are resistors since they are labeled R1, R2
> etc.) and I am tempted to treat them and turn the pots back and forth a
bit
> to make sure they're clean. Does anyone know if they are too position
> sensitive to set back into their original positions by eyeball? Any other
> comments about using or not using contact cleaner are also welcome.
Thanks.

If these are trim-pots that are mounted inside the radio and aren't normally
adjusted during regular radio use, I'd recommend leaving them alone! They
shouldn't need cleaning if they aren't moved. The contact cleaner is for
cleaning the pots that you use such as the volume control.

Are there problems with the radio??? If it ain't broke, keep your f'ing
mitts off! Leave it for your avionics tech...

[Mike Noel]

I forgot to mention the radio types. They are a mix of Bendix and
Bendix/King. The Nav1 failed to register glide slope information at one
airport, but seemed to work fine a few minutes later at another. The Com1
started receiving fine after rotating the frequency selector knobs a few
times, but still has terrible audio quality during transmit. Not sure
wether it is the radio, the audio panel or something else. I wanted to take
my best shot at fixing these guys before resorting to an avionics shop. I'm
not entirely ingnorant in these matters since I was an avionics tech in the
army but have since moved on to other things.

--
Regards,
Mike

"Sven" > wrote in message
news:Hd79b.443485$YN5.299972@sccrnsc01...
> "Mike Noel" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I'm pulling out my older RF gear 1 by 1 to use a little Radio Shack
> contact
> > cleaner on the interior switches. On my Nav radio I noticed a bank of
> > rotary resistors (guess they are resistors since they are labeled R1, R2
> > etc.) and I am tempted to treat them and turn the pots back and forth a
> bit
> > to make sure they're clean. Does anyone know if they are too position
> > sensitive to set back into their original positions by eyeball? Any
other
> > comments about using or not using contact cleaner are also welcome.
> Thanks.
>
> If these are trim-pots that are mounted inside the radio and aren't
normally
> adjusted during regular radio use, I'd recommend leaving them alone! They
> shouldn't need cleaning if they aren't moved. The contact cleaner is for
> cleaning the pots that you use such as the volume control.
>
> Are there problems with the radio??? If it ain't broke, keep your f'ing
> mitts off! Leave it for your avionics tech...
>
>

[[email protected]]

On 14-Sep-2003, "Mike Noel" > wrote:

> I'm pulling out my older RF gear 1 by 1 to use a little Radio Shack
> contact
> cleaner on the interior switches. On my Nav radio I noticed a bank of
> rotary resistors (guess they are resistors since they are labeled R1, R2
> etc.) and I am tempted to treat them and turn the pots back and forth a
> bit
> to make sure they're clean. Does anyone know if they are too position
> sensitive to set back into their original positions by eyeball? Any other
> comments about using or not using contact cleaner are also welcome.
> Thanks.

PLEASE don't mess with ANY internal adjustments!!! Their operation may be
interdependent and, once moved, may be a bitch to properly realign. Don't
use contact cleaner on ANY internal components, or on any external plastic
components. About its only use by a lay person should be on contacts on the
slide-in connectors at the back of the unit.

--
-Elliott Drucker

[[email protected]]

It's usually the case that 80% of the time there's a problem, it's
in the wiring/connectors. Another 10% times it's a cold/cracked solder
joint. Unless it's something benign and independent like a sidetone
adjustment or dimmer pot, for Pete's sake don't twiddle it! Having
designed a whole slew of analog and digital circuits, I can assure you
that there is usually an interdependency between them and they can usually
be really twitchy. I screwed up the squelch adjustment on one of my
radios and had to borrow an RF generator and obtain required pages from
the adjustment manuals to fix it. Unless you've got the adjustment
procedure manual, don't touch.


Mike Noel > wrote:
: I forgot to mention the radio types. They are a mix of Bendix and
: Bendix/King. The Nav1 failed to register glide slope information at one
: airport, but seemed to work fine a few minutes later at another.
Check for loose wiring.

The Com1
: started receiving fine after rotating the frequency selector knobs a few
: times, but still has terrible audio quality during transmit.
Sidetone or actual transmission (from received radio)? Check
overmodulation on mic if it's actually bad transmission.

Not sure
: wether it is the radio, the audio panel or something else. I wanted to take
: my best shot at fixing these guys before resorting to an avionics shop. I'm
: not entirely ingnorant in these matters since I was an avionics tech in the
: army but have since moved on to other things.

: --
: Regards,
: Mike
:
: "Sven" > wrote in message
: news:Hd79b.443485$YN5.299972@sccrnsc01...
:> "Mike Noel" > wrote in message
:> ...
:> > I'm pulling out my older RF gear 1 by 1 to use a little Radio Shack
:> contact
:> > cleaner on the interior switches. On my Nav radio I noticed a bank of
:> > rotary resistors (guess they are resistors since they are labeled R1, R2
:> > etc.) and I am tempted to treat them and turn the pots back and forth a
:> bit
:> > to make sure they're clean. Does anyone know if they are too position
:> > sensitive to set back into their original positions by eyeball? Any
: other
:> > comments about using or not using contact cleaner are also welcome.
:> Thanks.
:>
:> If these are trim-pots that are mounted inside the radio and aren't
: normally
:> adjusted during regular radio use, I'd recommend leaving them alone! They
:> shouldn't need cleaning if they aren't moved. The contact cleaner is for
:> cleaning the pots that you use such as the volume control.
:>
:> Are there problems with the radio??? If it ain't broke, keep your f'ing
:> mitts off! Leave it for your avionics tech...
:>
:>



--
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