Daphne + Dave wrote:
Ok, sorry but, I have to ask some radio experts. My sons 4x4 remote truck
is NOT working properly. Seems the RF distance from the remote to the truck
is only 2ft now, but was 10 blocks before. Yes, I installed NEW batteries
in the remote unit (9v) and truck batt 100% charged. I took the truck apart
and did a check on the wire antenna also. Continuity check was 100% no
breaks in the wire. I also scrubbed and cleaned all contacts on both units
too. Did a super cleaning with a blast of air. Still 2ft range to drive this
Hummer. Arrrghhhhhh. What am I missing? It's on 49mhz as a freq. It's a
shame that it only lasted less than 1 yr. Any other tips wud be
appreciated. thanks



Have you checked the antenna connection on the transmitter?

10 blocks for a 49mhz remote? That is pretty unbelievable but I will
take your word for it.

The fact that it works at 2 ft indicates the receiver and decoder and
encoder are all working.

My first place to look would be the antennas on both the receiver and
the transmitter. Be certain to closely check the circuit board traces
leading to the antenna, even to the point of using a strong magnifying
glass. It is not unusual to see an almost microscopic break in a
component solder joint and you may not see it without some sort of
magnification.

Second place I would look is the transmitter output power. Perhaps the
final transistor in the tranmitter gave out and you are just running off
the oscillator or a buffer stage.

The third place I would check is receive sensitivity. It is possible
you could have some sort of pre-amp transistor that has failed in the
receiver. This is going to be a bit more trouble to check since you are
not dealing with audio that you can hear and may need some test
equipment to evaluate the various stages of the receiver.

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