[ICOM] IC 228a question

[Gary P. Fiber]

Its not too bad to do. The lamps are not grain of wheat nor LED's but 
incandescent lamps. Icom should have them. with any 12 volt lamp you 
need the current rating and Icom never provided that information when I 
was there, just the lamp. Others may have been successful using off the 
shelf parts though.

You will need to remove both the top and bottom covers.
Remove the entire front panel, 4 screws holding it to the main radio 
body. generally you can raise the radio body on a book and let the front 
panel gently dangle or be supported by a book that is not as thick as 
the one supporting the main body. Be careful if you remove any cables. 
Might be good to use a digital camera for some macro close ups or a 
quick pencil and paper sketch of the cable locations.
I generally sketch and mark out a wire color on one end of the connector.
Through the circuit board you will see a couple of holes with bare wires 
sticking out of them soldered onto the circuit board. Those will be the 
lamps. De solder the wires, pluck out the old lamps and reinstall the 
new ones soldering them back into place.

The battery only retains what is programmed into the memories. If you 
desire to replace it then you will need to remove the knobs and front 
face as the battery solders through the circuit board. Before I would do 
that measure the battery voltage, it should be 3 volts dc, if it is then 
I would not mess with it. To measure the battery you will likely have to 
remove the front panel as if you were going to install new lamps.

Gary K8IZ


Greenacres113 at aol.com wrote:
> The display back light quit on my 228a. Anyone  ever change one? Some radios 
> it's open the case and a few min.s work &  others it's major surgery. Don't 
> know if this is an LED,miniature bulb or 'grain  of wheat' bulb. Any advise? 
> Radio is 5 yr.s old. Wonder if getting a new  battery  would be in order too?
> bob k9il  
>
>
>
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