[Boatanchors] WJ-8716 newbie questions

[shoppa_boatanchors at trailing-edge.com]

OK, since Duane gave the go-ahead, some questions:

I've got my eyes on a WJ-8716 that's somewhat local (within driving
distance). It powers on and seems to work just fine, with just a wire
dangling out the back it gets the powerhouse SW broadcasters and
lot of ham CW/SSB stuff just like I'd expect it to.

My concerns are with, well, maintainability of this radio. I'd
like to keep it going for a couple of decades. It isn't as
mechanically as complex or as regular-maintenance-requring as
say a military boatanchor with 25 or 30 tubes and a bunch of
leaky capacitors, but at the same time I don't know what I'd
need to work on a radio like a WJ-8716. I don't have any spare
modules, but that's OK if I can get to the component level to
repair things. A quick look-see turns up a fair amount of SSI and
MSI TTL chips in the digital parts, and a few chips that I did
not recognize the markings on. On the RF and audio side, there
are some chips and modules that I don't really know my way around
either, but it's likely that these aren't ridiculously rare.
(I'm assuming that in principle the RF/IF sections are something
like I have in my Ten-Tec Triton etc., those are really easy to
work on.)

Use-wise, I'd expect the radio to get a fair amount of use listening
to SWL broadcasts and I'd like to begin tuning around USB/LSB/RTTY
utility frequencies too (something my R-390A's can do, but they aren't
real hot at it because they don't have product detectors just BFO's.)
I've got a couple of ham rigs that I like already so utility on the
ham bands isn't a huge concern (I'm sure it'd do just fine.)

Am I barking up the right tree in asking these questions, or
should I just buy the radio and not worry about maintaining it
because it'll work for the next 20 years without a hitch, or
do my questions indicate that this is not the right radio for me?
I actually like getting in and tinkering around with the insides
of radios, but it's possible that the WJ-8716 isn't the right
choice if there's nothing that ever needs tinkering with!

Tim.