So, is it against the law to sell these from one ham to another?  I know eBay has rules against it; but, what about on eHam or QRZ?

Funny note: when I ran the spell check, eHam showed up wrong, QRZ was fine.

Thanks, I'll try to work on it this weekend.

73,  Scott

Sorry once again, I am working two jobs plus dealing with several personal matters and just have not had the time to reply.

I'm sure I will look stupid for asking this, but when looking at the schematic below just exactly which wires do I connect?  At the top of the schematic where RL1a and RL1b are, do I connect the two wires that are at the bottom (the two that are not connected at the present time?)  My understanding is that this is in the receive mode.  When you transmit RL1a and RL1b move from the contacts at the top and connect with the bottom contacts.  Or am I completely off and this is in the transmit mode?  If this is the case would I connect the two wires coming in from the sides (the two connected now?)  

I told you I knew very little about this stuff, but I do want to learn.  I even bought one of those 200 in 1 electronics project labs on eBay.  I haven't had time to go through many of the projects yet, but hope to soon.  I am the type that doesn't get a real understanding of something until I put it to use practically.  The electronics theory is one thing when I read about it, but I want a practical knowledge.  Something I can use to build things with.


http://www.repeater-builder.com/radio-shack/hta-20/hta-20-schematic.jpg


Thanks again for your help, I appreciate it more than you know!

Scott - KC4YJI

Sorry it took me so long to respond, I been working a lot the past few days.  Thanks for replying so fast.  To answer your question, no there are not any radio repair shops close by (that I know of.)  How do you check to see which one is bad.  If it is the relay, how could I bypass it?  The only test equipment I have is a multimeter.

I did find where someone had a similar problem, but the did not tell how it was done.

http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?t=65481&highlight=hta+20

http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?t=85399&highlight=hta+20

Thanks again
Scott, KC4YJI

I am cleaning out the shack and found a "Radio Shack" 2 meter amp ( HTA-20 ).  I hooked it up to try it out and it attenuates the signal about 20 dB's, it transmits fine but you can hear  only very strong signals.  How do I fix this correctly and also how can I bypass the preamp altogether.  I know very little about electronics and have no experience fixing my radios,  so please be very detailed in any answers.  I am trying to learn more of the electronics and I figured this would be a good project to learn on.  You can find some info about the HTA-20 at the following link…

http://www.repeater-builder.com/radio-shack/radio-shack-index.html


Thank you for your help,

Scott - KC4YJI

KE4DRN, thanks for the post.  I did talk to a few people on a local repeater.  They said there was no difference from my astron rs-20m, no hum or noise of any kind.

KC4YJI

   Does any one know if a Xbox 360 power supply can be used to power a 2 meter mobile radio?  I told my nephew if he would get his license I would buy him a 2 meter mobile radio.  He is only 11 and his brother is big into video games.   I want something that will get him and his brother interested in the electronics side of our hobby.  I thought it would be neat if I could give him this to power his radio.  It would be something to talk about to his friends.

   I found an Xbox 360 switching supply at a thrift store for $3.  Trying to learn myself, I figured it was time to do some tinkering.  I cut the plug off the end and wired some auto lights (8.93 amps) to it and left them on for over an hour with no problems overheating.  The voltage is 12.26v with no load, it drops to 12.2v with a 5 amp load on it.  I don't know if the voltage can be turned up or not.  The label on the supply says: 12v at 16.5 amps and 5vsb at 1 amp.  It is a 203 watt microsoft Xbox 360 video game console power brick.  I have read some about converting an ATX supply, but I don't know if this needs a constant load as a computer supply might need.  I have hooked this up to my 2 meter radio and run it (mostly on low power) for a couple days with no problems that I can see.

   I am looking for a job right now so I am trying to save as much money as I can yet I  want something that will not cause problems down the road.  He lives about 2 hours away so I can't just drop by and "fix it."  His father know nothing about electronics nor has any interest in ham radio so he can't help if his son has a problem.


Thanks for any help you can give.

Scott
KC4YJI