CP200 Erratic Volume Control

[pliSkiNAKE]

I have a few CP200 UHF 16ch walkies that have erratic volume control. When I turn the walkie on, the beep coming from it is not consistent to where the volume knob is at. Same with receiving a transmission. During the transmission, the volume will jump from the properly set volume to max volume. And there's no consistency of the change in volume.

To troubleshoot, I did try and change the mic/speaker combo chassis with a known working one. No fix. All my walkies are programmed to work together. But I did try to change settings inside (regardless of none of my other walkies having this issue).

This issue is with a new purchase of used walkies. It is not with stock I already owned. So I do not know what kind of abuse it received before it started doing this.

My only thought is water damage. I used to own a lot of GP300 walkies. One batch went out with friends and came back wet from being used in the rain. I cleaned everything off right then and there, then tested them all. Very few were damaged (thankfully). But a week later when I went to test them before they went out again, they had this same issue. Erratic volume.

I'm not sure if it's worth trying to fix it. But first I need to know if it's easily fixable and if it's something I have the skill to do.

When taking the walkie apart, everything looks to be fine. The board looks good upon inspection. Speaker and mic seem fine. I attached that speaker/mic kit to a known working walkie and it works fine (so that eliminated that). It's something to do with the walkie and that's where my knowledge is limited. I know where the volume and channel knobs are, where the buttons are, but what most of the other things do on the board, I do not know.

Thanks for your time and knowledge.

[wavetar]

Pretty much guaranteed it's a dirty/worn volume control. You can try & spray some contact cleaner in through the seams of the control, and where the shaft goes in, and fully spin the control completely one way & the other a number of times. Then resolder the volume connections. This will often fix things, at least enough to make it useable. Otherwise, you need to replace the volume control with a new one.

[com501]

1880619Z09 - new control. About a 20 minute job, including take it about and putting it back together. There is a REASON MOL sells these in a ten-pack.