[Boatanchors] clean radios

[Glen Zook]

Back in 1970, when I had first taken over the Motorola reconditioned equipment center for the south-central United States, we were still reconditioning "T" power mobiles and certain tube type base stations.  Because a lot of the equipment was pretty dirty, before even starting the tuning process, etc., my warehouse personnel cleaned the units with a high pressure steam cleaner using a generic detergent for cleaning followed by a clear water rinse.  The radios were then put in a specially constructed drying oven with forced air for between 48 and 72 hours.  There were baffles in the oven to create a circular airflow.  We had absolutely no problems with anything being harmed by the cleaning process.

After about a year we no longer reconditioned any tube type mobiles and only a limited number of tube type base stations.  We then went to a glass bead cleaning process which was employed for the next 8 years (Motorola went out of the reconditioned equipment business in 1979).  The only thing with using glass beads is that you do have to use a lot of air to "blow out" the beads and then have to clean and lubricate any potentiometers.  However, our warranty rate was less than 0.1% whereas new equipment had up to a 7% failure rate!

Of course all painted surfaces were repainted as part of the process.  We had no complaints on the physical condition of the equipment and, as I mentioned above, we had an excellent warranty rate where electrical performance was concerned.

Glen, K9STH

Website:  http://k9sth.com


--- On Mon, 12/8/08, BLIMPY <blimpboy at sonic.net> wrote:

From: BLIMPY <blimpboy at sonic.net>

--- Please no flaming e-mails about your dishwasher, garden hose, ultrasonic cleaner, Hotsy Steam Cleaner,  coca-cola dip tank, or Blue Tick Hound Dog...and the peanut butter gambit.   Heard those already. ---