[1000mp] Original MP dies on SSB

[Rod Elliott]

I have a 1996-vintage FT-1000MP, which has performed flawlessly in daily 
service since bought new in May 1997. Today it gave me a problem for the 
first time... something I've not seen discussed on this reflector. Hope the 
assembled wisdom can help diagnose it.

I was ragchewing on 40m SSB when the other guy said "your 
normally-excellent audio sounds kinda weird and somewhat hard to copy... 
sorta breaking up but not really"

Hmmm... I had the monitor on, and it sounded pretty good to me, except for 
occasional faint static-like sounds I had not heard before. Tried a few 
things... turned the amp off, turned the processor off, checked the mic 
audio level on the meter... it was just reaching maximum on occasional 
voice peaks. Then turned RF output down so I was only hitting 40 watts PO 
on peaks. SWR was 1:1 according to the meter. My antenna is far away, I 
have no RF feedback issues. The cooling fan was not on, and there were no 
bad smells.

After 10 minutes chatting back and forth while trying the above, my friend 
said the problem still there. We then tried CW, and everything was perfect.

Was back on SSB a few minutes later when suddenly, as I was talking, the 
mic level meter reading and power output both tapered off to zero over 
about one second. I then lifted my foot off the PTT foot-switch, but the 
rig STAYED IN TRANSMIT for about 5 seconds. Then it dropped back to receive 
all by itself. It NEVER does that! I could hear my friend asking what was 
going on. I hit the foot switch to tell him (stupid me), but surprisingly, 
the rig was working again!

Damn I hate screwy intermittent stuff like this! My inclination is to look 
for an intermittent bad connection inside the rig. Wiggle all the pc-board 
connectors etc., specially around the audio and if boards.

Anybody think of something else to try?  BTW, sending it back to Yaesu is 
not a practical alternative... it gets tricky at the border. If I can't fix 
it, it's time to buy a new Field and move all the INRAD stuff into it... hi!

Any help will be appreciated.

73
Rod Elliott VE3UW