On Friday, January 29, 2016 at 7:43:01 PM UTC-5, Blake Seese 3Y wrote:
On Sunday, October 18, 2015 at 3:05:51 PM UTC-6, Blake Seese 3Y wrote:
Hello all,

My Becker 4201 just started acting up. Specifically, it has a cyclic regular dead spot when transmitting, so the person listening to you gets about half of each word. It receives just fine, and all functions work as they should. Same thing happens with a fully charged battery or one that has been used for several hours. Has anyone ever run in to this?

Thanks,

3Y

Well, I finally pulled the panel and started checking connections. I found many loose connections and one case of the insulation being clamped in the contacts. I tinned all wire ends and torqued down all connections. The result is a properly functioning system. There is still a voltage drop at the radio when transmitting but it is now down to less than one volt which seems normal? Also the battery does not discharge as fast as it did before. I left all the instruments on for about six hours and still showed 12.0 volts on the radio display and no cutting out on the radio.

I have to say, the previous owner actually did a very nice job of rewiring the ship, wire size is plenty big, and are clearly labeled, and fused. Seems like the loose connections were just age/vibration, most wire ends were tinned already, I just did the ones that weren't.

Decided to leave it set up just the way it is and run everything off one battery at a time. The ship has two batteries and a switch to select which battery you want. It also has a master switch.

I want to thank everyone for your assistance and advice, this is such a great forum!

Now we just need some lift...

Excellent, thanks for the follow-up. Glad you found obvious issues & resolved them. Sounds like you will have a nice working electrical system from now on.
Yes, your voltage drop (at the radio) sounds much more reasonable although maybe a little high.

PS, did you meter your way through the wiring to find the issues, or did you just "wiggle test" connections? Obviously whatever you did worked, just curious.