[Boatanchors] WJ-8716 newbie questions

[mikea]

On Sun, Jan 22, 2006 at 12:36:32PM -0500, shoppa_boatanchors at trailing-edge.com wrote:
> 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!

My reading of the Premium-RX list includes a fair number of folks with
W-J radios asking how to get current firmware without spending lots of
cash. Apparently this is a recurrent problem, and W-J wants two prices
for those little chips. 

Even so, I'd like to have one. *sigh*

-- 
Mike Andrews, W5EGO
mikea at mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin