[Lowfer] Help - Tool Advice?

[Richard Goodman]

WOW!  Thanks guys! While this thread was going on, the memory battery in my
trusty old Kenwood TM-221 failed. It's located right behind the display and
guess what ... I looked and saw that dreaded notched ring holding the mic
connector to the panel. I had a long pair of needele nose and managed to
remove it without damaging anything. I replaced the battery and put
everything back together. I programmed all the memories back in and
transmitted. This is a rig I use in a Go-Kit for Emcomm ... I was using a
J-Pole located about 10 feet from the radio, When I transmitted, I got such
bad RF FEEDBACK that it actually shut down the whole rig. When I turned it
back on I found that all of my memories were gone! An hours worth of work
wiped out!! I played around with the radio for another hour in the VFO mode.
With the antenna located 10 feet from the rig, Found that I could transmit
on low power and still got a little RF feedback but when I went to high
power, it still shut the rig down. It took about another 30 minutes to
realize that I had not tightened the notched mic nut down enough. I got
another two full turns on it and now everything is okay ... it is really
hard to tighten it adequately without that danged tool however and I ened up
putting a couple of small scratches near the mic connector.

3's on ya all
Dick, WA3USG
Mechanicsburg, PA.
fn10le

-----Original Message-----
From: lowfer-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:lowfer-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Peter Barick
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 10:36 PM
To: lowfer at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Lowfer] Help - Tool Advice?


Eureka - Fellows!

All saw the problem and were onto a solution. John and Andy were on target.
Here's Andy's:
"If not, try a pair of very small, long billed needle nose pliers,
each tip in a slot, and twist it loose. You can try 2 very small
bladed straight screwdrivers, hold them like chop sticks, one
screwdriver into a slot across from the other and try to twist it
loose that way. Don't know if this will help in any way, but I've
been "
---------------
I did the chop sticks first using two finishing nails filed to fit the
notches. No good as the torque bent them. Tried another pair, same. This was
done with the rig pointed up between my legs. Had the sticks in a cressant
wrench. That nut was "welded"!

Next I found a pair of bent needle nosed pliers in tool box that had notched
ends -- hardly ever used them before as I have snap ring pliers for that
use. These notches were just the size. After a few tries and slips I had the
rig on the kitchen floor face up and between my legs. Then with much
downward pressure, squeezing and turning the pliers it GAVE! DID IT! Had the
bugger off. Still the face plate felt as if glued on for good measure. Had a
struggle to actually remove the face plate. That done the battery was
exposed. It measured 0.05V, a tabbed 2032. Unsoldered it.

Now the NEXT PART: The indicator lights are out. But haven't found the
lamps. Does the frequency display unit need removing?? Are the 2 lamps
underneeth? So far the display won't give. I see 4 plastic tabs. What holds
it in place? Going carfully now.

WOW -- All in the name of experience, HUH? This is my last one!!

Thanks fellows -- Peter

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