[Milsurplus] Way OT -- Rice Boxes

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

On 25 Jan 2018 at 11:36, k2cby at optonline.net wrote:

>     As a dyed in the wool hollow state guy I have yet to buy a "modern" transceiver.
>     I do regularly watch the eBay lists to see what comes up.
>     I am intrigued by the number of Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu, etc. that are offered with the notation 
>     "no transmit," "won´t receive," "works only above 14 MHz," and similar comments.
>     I thought solid state gear was supposed to have a high reliability factor. What gives?

I've noticed the same thing, and can't quite figure it out either.

>     Are these rigs impossible to repair?

No. In fact, there are several hams who make a small business of repairing, or refurbishing 
them. They ARE quite complex compared to our much simpler older rigs, but they are most 
certainly NOT impossible to repair.

I have a couple of those more modern rigs here. A Yaesu FT-890, a TS-940SAT, and a 
TS-820S. 

I don't bother trying to repair the FT-890, sending it to John Klewer N6AX in California when 
it needs any "tweaks". I sent that to him, once, some time ago and when I got it back, it was 
perfect. The reason I don't want to work on it is because it is so very small that it is very 
hard for these old eyes and shaky hands to get into it. It opens like a book, for one thing.

I have repaired the TS-940SAT and the TS-820. I can get my hands into those, and they are 
relatively easy to work on. Circuits are simple although there are so many of them, the rigs 
SEEM more complex than they actually are. Parts are common.

> Proprietary or unavailable parts?

In some cases the output transistors are either unobtainium or are dreadfully expensive 
now. In addition, some of the Chinese versions of those output transistors are simply fakes, 
like a 2N2222 installed in a TO-3 case. All the other parts, except for a proprietory IC in 
some very rare cases, are easily obtainable.

Even so, by very dilligent looking, correct transistors can often be found.

The circuits are not "special" and there are very detailed service manuals available, usually 
in PDF format and available for free.

>     The other thing is that they never seem to be offered for sale with microphones, although I 
>     assume that mics were included in the original package. Is there something like a sock drawer for 
>     microphones out there somewhere?

Ha ha! Yes. I think much as you do. I DO see the mics offered for sale on eBay at times, but 
only about 10% of those which were sold, in my opinion. 

I use Turner +3 mics for all of my "modern" and vintage rigs, changing the mic connector as 
needed. The Turner +3 shows up on eBay regularly at low prices and is a most excellent 
microphone. I don't use "mobile" mics in the shack.

Ken W7EKB

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