VHF Problems still

[OrangeBarrel]

OK, I tried everything. One thing I noticed is that when I don't hook up the Shakespear Antenna It does not bug out the Lowrance or the AM/FM. But when I hook the Antenna up and key the mic, WHAM, I lose the radio and Lowrance until I un-key the mic. What am I missing here. Where do I look from here. please help.
Lance

[Bob]

Did you try moving the antennae elsewhere? It may be too close to the other electronics.

[Kaz]

Orange: You say you lose the radio and the graph when you key the mic. What happens? Does the graph go blank? Do you get a squeal in the radio? Sometimes my graph recycles when I start my boat motor because the voltage drops at it cranks. Maybe the same happens when you key the radio. Check the voltage when keying. If it's below 11 vdc then your battery is to low to support everything. Charge it or replace it. Maybe you need a heavy wire feeding the distrubution fuse bar from where you tap for the graph and am/fm. Also it helps to feed the marine radio on a seperate line, number 12, directly to the battery. Good luck FISHING.....Kaz

[Eyez]

Check your end that plugs into the radio on the antenna cable. Make sure that it's good, not corroded, causing a short. You can buy cheap clamp on ends for an antenna cable that work fine. I went through a similar situation this spring, new and fixed it, even though the old one looked fine.


Eyez

[OrangeBarrel]

What happens is, when I key the mic, I lose the hotspots map only on my X-15(makes the same sound as when you open the mmc reader cover when the unit is on) and also I lose the speaker sound only on my AM/FM radio but the power is still on. I hope I didn't lose you on that one. Thanks
Lance

[Eyez]

I follow you. What happened in my situation is that the radio would flip back to channel 16 and the am/fm radio would flick off when the mic was keyed. Only when the antenna was plugged in. I didn't think it was the end either, but that was all we hadn't replaced.

If nothing else works, clip off the old end and put on a new one, they're not too expensive if I recall correctly.


Eyez

[Robertp]

I do not profess any technical knowledge on the subject, but I have read about it numerous times. B&WB Mag. did an article on it about a year ago. Although all suggestions here perhaps have merit, the one most commonly repeated is too close of proximity of the antenna to the gps. There have been a few horror stories of damaging the GPS as a result. It always happens when mic is keyed. Recommended seperation is 4 ft. When this problem was noticed on the 350A, Lowrance had a tech bulletin on their website recommending the antenna and GPS be seperated, If I remember correctly, by 3 ft. If you can, reposition your antenna, do not permanently mount it and test it in a new position with the recommended seperation.

[Kaz]

Lance: It sounds like a low voltage problum to me, or RF is getting into the GPS and am/fm causing a desense of both recivers, GPS is a radio reciver. As mentioned before, check all conectors, and postive and ground connections too, making sure they are clean and tight. Also check the voltage at the GPS and am/fm while keying the mic. I too have a X 15 MT and have no problems other than when I start my engine. Then the GPS re-cycles for a second or two, but comes right back to where it was, maps and all. Good luck FISHING...Kaz

[OrangeBarrel]

A huge thanks to everyone who helped. The problem was two things. 1st, the connection at the plug was not the best soldering job so I re-did that and it worked. 2nd, was when I laid the antenna back down in its travel position, I realized that (Not only am I a DumbA$$) but the antenna tip is about 1.5 feet from the GPS receiver module and when I keyed the mic while the antenna was down I was getting the interference and cutting everything out. Again, thanks alot you guys.
Lance

[Robertp]

Glad you resolved it. Probably all of us have had as perplexing of a problem of one sort or another.