[Premium-Rx] WJ8712-1 >> WJ8712P

[Terry G0EZY]

I am hoping WJ-8712 experts can help me with this.

Recently, I purchased on eBay (UK) a WJ-8712P front panel. It had been 
built as a sort of remote head unit with a custom-made box milled out of 
a solid resin block. It had been fitted with a 37 way connector. The 
mains on/off switch had been replaced with a green indicator. The eBay 
seller could not (or would not) reveal where this unit had come from.

I have a couple of WJ8712-1 and was hoping I could convert one of them 
into a WJ8712P by "simply" replacing the 8712-1 front panel with the 
8712P panel. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be a simple replacement.

The 8712P panel is the same size as the 8712-1 panel and has the same 
fixing holes. It looks like it would fit but the side-panel lips (which 
hold the captive nuts to secure the front panel) prevent the PC boards 
and the controls on the left hand side from going through. No matter how 
you angle or turn the front panel, those lips stop the front panel going 
in.

Is there a trick to fitting the front panel of a P, or are the chassis 
different for the two versions? The 8712-1 side panels are rivetted to 
the cross panels, so no chance to open them out temporarily just to get 
the PC boards through.

I have checked to see if the P Panel will work with the 8712-1 boards. I 
haven't got a /P manual but all the connections seem to be there and the 
Panel came with the original multiway cable to connect to the digital 
board. On power up the P panel displayed the last frequency I had used 
on the 8712-1 but there was no response to tuning or pressing buttons. 
This might be a fault, wrong connections, incorrect commands or the P 
panel isn't compatible with the 8712-1 boards or firmware....

I have returned the original front panel to the 8712-1 and checked the 
test hasn't wrecked anything...

Would appreciate knowing whether I am wasting my time with this project 
or any suggestions to obtain a successful conversion.


73 Terry G0EZY