Need help with a portable Antenna connection problem

[troymelina]

Hello, I was hoping someone hear could help me out with a problem I'm having with my Motorola radios SMA connector, the one that's inside of the radio. I bought a radio from a friend that over tightened the antenna and it messed up the treads on the inside of the SMA Male connector. So I ordered a new connector from a distributor and they send me a BRASS one rather than the nickel plated one. I soldered the pin onto the board and screwed down the connector to the chassis and put the radio back together and turned the radio on and the transmit and receive is terrible. I can't even get a quarter mile. Does it make a difference because of the brass connector they send to me rather than nickel plated one? My radio is VHF. Please help me with wondering what went wrong. thank you. Troy.

[Bill_G]

Brass versus nickel plate shouldn't make a difference. It's either a workmanship issue (happens to the best of us), or a part compatibility issue like a missing insulator, or the radio was broken before you started. Did you do a bench test before and after to verify the radio actually worked before the repair?

[troymelina]

I did do a bench test and the radio worked fine. The only thing I could think of is the brass verses the nickel.

[Jim202]

I did do a bench test and the radio worked fine. The only thing I could think of is the brass verses the nickel.

I would bet a close look with an eye loop will find a solder bridge grounding the antenna out. The other possibility is the board got cracked and you have not found the broken trace in the antenna section yet.

Jim

[spectragod]

Maybe I missed it, but what model is the radio?

[troymelina]

The radio I have is CP 110

[efc]

Hello,one trick I learned years ago,was to screw the board done first,then do your soldering,you may,and yes it does happpen to the best of us,torn the antenna jack off the board after soldering.