[Kenwood] TH-79a Woes

[Rick Bates]

Hello all,

 

I have a friends TH-79a (one of the nicest portable radios ever made) here
for repairs.

 

I found four issues:

 

*	The solid wire from the tiny elevated board had a bad solder
connection
*	the display does not show the elements properly
*	the hold down on the display/control board is broken
*	the PLL appears to be out of lock, both bands

 

I resoldered the solid wire to the tiny elevated board.

 

I was able to repair the display, (cleaned the ribbon cable, which is where
I found a broken clip making contacts intermittent); I found that all the
controls also worked appropriately.  

 

When the radio is turned on, single band, either band or dual band, the
display comes up properly, then there is a single beep.  There is no open
(no PL) noise and if transmit is attempted, it beeps.  To me that indicates
unlocked PLL.  My hope is that the bad solder connection didn't let a puff
of magic smoke out.

 

Anyone ever get into one of these?  At the least, I need info on the beep
and a new ribbon clamp.  Does someone have one that can be parted out?  Is
there a repair shop that works on these (East and West and Clif won't).  The
parts and controls are too tiny for me to muck with.

 

She's ticked because it broke while sitting unused while mine happily plays
along.  I gave her my Baofang (won it) in the meantime but that's one REALLY
odd radio.

 

Thanks in advance es 73,

Rick wa6nhc