first TUG-8 questions

[RBR762]

hello all-i recently got my first tug-8 D104,my question is should it drive a radio like a silver eagle which i have had in the past and as anyone who has had one knows that usually you can turn a silver eagle about 1/2-3/4 in the mic and about 12-1 o'clock on the radio and get full PEP from the radio.Anymore mic gain and it will overdrive and sometimes squeal,also a SG will pick up your voice from across the room. Now with this tug-8 i have to turn the gain on both the mic and radio all the way up to get full PEP from the radio and i also need to be 2 - 3 inches from the mic. I get good audio reports and it seems to work but just doesnt have that umph. I changed mic heads with a known good one,changed out both 2sc945 transistors on the pre-amp board and double checked the internal wiring with both a schematic and pics found on this site.The only mod done was one i did myself and it was i had to disconnect the wire that grounds out the audio when you un-key because it made my roger beep not work in my 29ltd. I've read and been told that the pre-amp board was added in the 70s not to make this mic a power mic but to match up the mic's impedance to the newer solid state rigs,so am i looking for a problem when there isn't one.
Robert

[TheCBDoctor]

hello all-i recently got my first tug-8 D104,my question is should it drive a radio like a silver eagle which i have had in the past and as anyone who has had one knows that usually you can turn a silver eagle about 1/2-3/4 in the mic and about 12-1 o'clock on the radio and get full PEP from the radio.Anymore mic gain and it will overdrive and sometimes squeal,also a SG will pick up your voice from across the room. Now with this tug-8 i have to turn the gain on both the mic and radio all the way up to get full PEP from the radio and i also need to be 2 - 3 inches from the mic. I get good audio reports and it seems to work but just doesnt have that umph. I changed mic heads with a known good one,changed out both 2sc945 transistors on the pre-amp board and double checked the internal wiring with both a schematic and pics found on this site.The only mod done was one i did myself and it was i had to disconnect the wire that grounds out the audio when you un-key because it made my roger beep not work in my 29ltd. I've read and been told that the pre-amp board was added in the 70s not to make this mic a power mic but to match up the mic's impedance to the newer solid state rigs,so am i looking for a problem when there isn't one.
Robert

Hi Robert,

Both the TUG-8 and the TUG-9 have more than enough audio gain to drive a radio beyond what is needed. The biggest difference is the TUG-8 uses bi-polar transistors and the Tug-9 uses J-FETs as audio amplifiers. Are you sure you have wired the Mic correctly? The power board was added to the original non-amplified Astatic to make it a power mic. The simple 3 wire relay was replaced with a 6 wire to accommodate the newer non-relay radios.

I would double check the wiring and check the electrolytic capacitors.

Respectfully,

[RBR762]

Doc-i am sure you do not get thanked enough for all the help and advice you give out,but you just fixed my mic for me and i want to say thanks!
I replaced the only electrolytic on the board and now she screams!!!
Robert

[TheCBDoctor]

Doc-i am sure you do not get thanked enough for all the help and advice you give out,but you just fixed my mic for me and i want to say thanks!
I replaced the only electrolytic on the board and now she screams!!!
Robert

Hi Robert,

You are welcome. If I had a dollar for every electrolytic capacitor that went bad on every radio or Mic that failed I would have retired 30 years ago . Age and not using an electronic device is the worst thing that you could do to it. Electrolytic caps dry up when not used over time.

Thanks for the thank you................


Rick