[Kenwood] Perking up old fluorescent displays

[Philip, KO6BB]

Hi All,
Here is a little trick that users of older radios having fluorescent 
displays (Kenwood, JRC etc.) might be interested in.

Having just completed the 10Hz digit mod to my Kenwood 430 I was left 
staring at a display that had some digits that were dimmer than others. 
This set apparently hadn't been used for a long time as it had a number of 
problems when it arrived (worst was the bad solder connections on Voltage 
Regulator).  Anyway, the display looked "funky".  JRC Radios typically 
suffer from this malady even more than the Kenwood radios do.  Unused 
digits/segments gradually turn dim, and may be most apparent on the Tens of 
MHz digit if the owner is primarily a low band operator!

I've seen this on other radios in the past, so I did the usual "trick" that 
I do in such cases.  I tuned the radio to 28.88888 MHz and left it turned on 
continuously.  After being on for about 24 hours the display is brighter and 
COMPLETELY EVEN in brightness across all digits.  I will leave it on for at 
least another day just to be sure.

Results?  The display now looks very nice indeed.

73 de Phil,  KO6BB
DX begins at the noise floor!

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