my new flea market find a radio shack 447 still in box ten bucks

I wasn't sure from your post, but are you able to be heard at the local TS with your new Rat Shack?
If not (or even if so), I wouldn't be so quick to look for mods (most of which just tear up your signal) and get the radio tuned back to spec, THEN see about doing mumbo-jumbo to the innards.
Are you able to tell us the Rat Shack model number, if not from the front, then on the FCC label on the back? That will help us get a little better ideal of what failure modes are common to that model, or where to look if it doesn't seem up to snuff. EDIT: Sorry, I just noticed it's a model TRC-447, which is functionally much like a Cobra 29. The fact that it receives well is a good sign; it means that the receive switching at the antenna port is working (well, halfway -- to receive) and the receiver chain hasn't been butchered. A lot of manufacturers OEM'd radios for lotsa brands, so the innards will likely be immediately obvious to an experienced tech. Look at how many Cobra and Uniden radios were made at the same factory.
"Radio Shack -- you've got questions, we've got blank stares."

Since the receiver works fine, and unless the transmitter parts have been out of production since Christ was a corporal, a fix (if it needs more than just a competent alignment) shouldn't be prohibitively expensive -- but expect a competent tech to run through the entire radio. Otherwise, you're likely to end up with a radio that receives "just OK" but that has transmitter that goes great guns. "Real Technicians" check everything before they turn a radio loose so as to avoid endless "re-works" under service warranty.

HTH,
73

 

*cringes*...

 

As to spreading the coils, mostly what it does is increase the out-of-band signals that the transmitter puts out, where it A) does you no good, and B) interferes with other services, like commercial FM broadcast and aeronautical radio services. Clipping the limiter lets the radio splatter onto several (or many) other channels on the band, wasting the power that the "tech's" feel-good meter shows your radio is transmitting. If you've dialed up on Ch 19, it's completely possible that your noise is being heard from above Ch 40 to below Ch 1. Look up those frequencies and see who uses them -- a lot of them are U.S. military tactical channels, which you *won't* hear, even though they'll hear you.

Please allow me to add my cringes to those of Jamie. *Every* pot in there was designed to be adjusted while the radio is connected to either a signal generator or an transmitter analyzer, or the differences you make by random twisting will make so *something*, nearly all of which will be bad things.
There's a reason that those of us who align and repair two-way radio equipment (including CB) spend over $20,000 for equipment and years learning how to use it.
I'm also a gunsmith, and while I could tell you how to take the sideplate off a Smith & Wesson K-frame revolver, it would be foolhardy to tell you what springs can be trimmed (and how), how to polish the rebound slide, and what surfaces (like on the sear) to *not* touch. I *will* tell you that the sideplate is removed with a soft piece of wood, *not* a screwdriver.

There are lots of adjustments inside an engine, buy most people wouldn't go randomly fiddling with them. Even though a 12-volt radio can seldom be lethal, there's little to be gained by just twisting adjustments and seeing what happens, especially without the right diagnostic gear and training.

The problem gets multiplied to $4-5,000 with a new digital police radio.....

73

 

cbtricks.com has all the tuneup specs you need. The key is that you have to understand the theory and have the necessary test gear.
At the very least, please put a little sharpie mark or dot of nail polish at the point where each adjustment starts out, so that when you kill it, you can get it back close to where it started.