[Boatanchors] SDR unit

[manualman at juno.com]

If you're not comfortable working on them, that's fine. I haven't got to
that point yet, and I'm "older then dirt", so I don't shy away from a
surface mounted repair project if it comes my way. But, I have to admit,
I try to shy away from any plumbing-type work. Me and plumbing work never
seem to co-exist comfortably.

Pete, wa2cwa

On Fri, 21 Mar 2014 18:18:09 -0500 "David Stinson" <arc5 at ix.netcom.com>
writes:
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <manualman at juno.com>
> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] SDR unit
> 
> 
> > ...Circuits are circuits; today's circuit components are 
> > a lot smaller and more dense, 
> > ***but if you have the right tools...***
> 
> That is the rub, Pete.
> Not many of us have hundreds of bucks we can spare
> to buy a hot air, surface-mount rework station and 
> all the other fiddle-dee-dee needed to work 
> on these surface-mount boards.
> I did the trouble-shooting on the filter board for my
> Icom 706 and knew exactly what was wrong with it.
> And got nowhere trying to change the bad transistor
> with "conventional" tools.  I finally gave up and bought
> a used filter board that needed a cap and a couple of
> relays (of NORMAL size and mounting). 
> *That* I could fix.
> 
> I don't volunteer for needless headaches.  
> I haven't got enough precious hours of life left
>  that I can waste them on silly throw-away crap 
> like surface mount boards and "proprietary" parts 
> that will be irreplaceable "dead bugs" 
> in a decade or two.
> I'll stick to my boatanchors.
> 
> 73 DE Dave AB5S
> 
> 
>