Help needed albrecht 2990

Hi all purchased a albrecht 2990 yesterday and not been able to hear anything on it its got a longer antenna on it but if you go near the antenna it hisses and crackles ive tried to use my ml145 on it still can't seem to get it to recieve anytjing it will on cb but nothing else thanks in advance 73's  
26-CT-4188

Is that a handheld ?.
You might find it don't pickup that well i never had any luck with them.
Might be better the newer ones but somebody will be along that has one with some better help.

Hi Gavin,

They're good handhelds and you hear very little about problems with them.


How are you testing the reception? Are you just listening on air to see what you can receive?

You say that you can receive on 'CB' so do you mean on FM? Are the crackles and hisses just heard on SSB?

(Not unusual on SSB and as you approach the antenna you may either introduce interference or even indeed improve the reception by becoming the handheld antenna's groundplane/counterpoise! )


A lot of questions fired back at you I know but you haven't given us a lot of information to go on.


I see you've only just obtained it so may not have been able to give it much of a test. If you have a mate or contact locally with a multimode CB, (AM/FM/SSB), you could have a chat with them whilst switching modes to check everything is in order. If you've been listening out for general or 'freeband' activity on sideband then I'm afraid there hasn't been a lot of activity around the last couple of days even running off a base station antenna let alone a handheld or mobile antenna.

Hopefully it's all just down to nerves from making a new purchase, they tend to kick in when we get a new radio and only alleviate once we start making contact on them.


Let us know how you get on.  


All the best,
Victor

Good advice there from Victor.
The bands are silent where i live at the moment.
Not sure if you have just come back to radio as a lot have only to find it's nothing like it was when they left the hobby.
It will get better as the cycle changes stick with it m8.

I myself have always found handhelds for HF pretty disappointing.

Bearing in mind that with stations being much further apart than they used to be a decent antenna is going to be essential and by decent I mean at least a half wave around 18 foot long.

The range on a handheld in urban areas can be as little as just a mile or two and unless there's somebody else within that range the result is usually what you are experiencing. I have seen some amazing contacts achieved on handhelds but usually from very high ground with good propagation conditions.

Handhelds usually use you the user as a ground plane so I would imagine that's why you're hearing a change in the received noise when you go near the antenna. Your mobile antenna will definitely be a step up from the one supplied with the radio so that's probably the way to go as long as it's properly grounded.

As Victor and Alan have already said we are pretty much at solar minimum at the moment so propagation on the 11 meter band is far from at its best. I haven't even bothered putting up an 11 meter antenna since I moved home last year.

I have got antennas up for the 20 and 40 meter "Ham" bands where it's still possible to work the world and Europe is open most of the time.

I would consider achieving your foundation "Ham" license this will give you much more of the radio spectrum to play on. If you already have I apologise for being presumptuous.

I do hope you have success with your new radio my advice to you would be to connect it to a really good antenna system and keep the batteries fully charged for best results. You may find the RF power is reduced unless it's connected to the mains I know some models did this.

All the best 73's Gary.

I don’t know if your 2990 is defective, but I’ve had good success with one on the 10m ham band. Best Dx so far is east coast of the USA when using it hand-held but with a better whip than the one supplied.

Regards,
Keith

Hi Gary thanks for that mate I'd love to do my ham licence but have learning difficulties and wouldn't be able to take the test and Keith what whip did you please

73's  to you both

It’s a base-loaded telescopic whip with BNC-male connector. I got it from - I think - Martin Lynch many years ago. Not sure of the manufacturer, it may have been MFJ. I just had a look but there’s no manufacturer’s label on it unfortunately.

Regards,
Keith

gavalar1980 wrote:

Hi Gary thanks for that mate I'd love to do my ham licence but have learning difficulties and wouldn't be able to take the test

It's not that hard, it's certainly worth having a go. The pass mark is set quite low for the foundation exam and it's a multiple choice test. There's a little maths for one section for a couple of questions, basic division or multiplication but you can cock that up and still pass. Most of the questions are based on health and safety and making sure you know the basics of operating and where you can transmit. You're even provided with the answers for some of the questions on an accompanying band plan sheet.

I have a friend who left school with no qualifications, can't spell anywhere near as good as you and struggles adding single digit numbers and he managed to get his foundation.