[Yaesu] Repaired a Yaesu FTR-5410 440 repeater

[Karl Kaucher]

Nice job (and good detective work), Phil! Let us know how the burn-in goes.

73,

Karl Kaucher
KK4KRK

On Sun, Aug 14, 2016 at 1:16 AM, Phil <ko6bb1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> A couple weeks or so ago a gentleman brought a Yaesu FTR-5410 440 repeater
> by for repair.  He had taken it to several different folks and they
> couldn't do anything with it.  The ham who maintains our own club repeaters
> suggested he bring it to me.  It had receive and would switch to Transmit
> when it received a signal, but no RF power output.
>
> The owner was convinced (as were the others who'd worked on it) that the
> problem was in the DC switch-over board (switches between the internal
> 13.8V PS and external battery backup. A fairly simple switching circuit
> with a single relay and some additional circuitry to charge the external
> batteries when on AC.  They thought this because the PCB board had a couple
> burnt traces that had been repaired via jumper wires some time in the
> past.  He asked if I could make him a new relay board (repeaters are much
> more expensive than the usual 440 transceiver).
>
> I quickly determined that the repaired board was OK as everything had the
> required 13.8VDC, whether on external battery or internal PS. If the board
> was bad the repeater would have been completely dead!
>
> After further troubleshooting I deduced that the "output brick" (like a
> large IC) was the most likely culprit (ya can't test it like you can a
> transistor) as it had no RF output but I COULD hear the transmitted ID on
> an HT in close proximity to the transmitter module.
>
> A web search for the obsolete part showed that it is made of "unobtainium"
> as it's not been available for many years. Apparently it had a high failure
> rate and Yaesu and every other supplier of RF devices I could find was sold
> out of them.
>
> At that point I told the owner it was beyond my ability to repair as the
> only option was to redesign the transmitter module to use a different
> output brick (something suggested by the folks at RF-Parts).
>
> Well, yesterday I got a call from the owner and he'd located the part
> after putting a 'want' on eBay (didn't know you could do that).  It came to
> him from Canada, and today he brought the repeater over again.  A couple
> hours later I have the part installed (it was quite a chore) and testing
> shows that it's putting out 15 Watts. The output brick is rated at 13W so
> that's close enough to anticipated spec.  Especially as my inexpensive
> ($60) VHF/UHF power meter is most likely not "Lab Standard".
>
> Over the next couple days I'll clean up some of the internal wiring, some
> tech in the past was quite a slob in his workmanship.  Then I'll burn it in
> for a couple days by cycling it with my HT and tell the owner to come and
> get it.
>
>
> --
> 73 From "The Beaconeer's Lair"
> Specializing in DXing NDBs (Longwave Beacons)
> Phil, KO6BB
> http://www.qsl.net/ko6bb/
>
> HF/LF RADIOS:
> Grundigs: S-350 (~2006), G6 (2011) & S450DLX (2014).
> HOMEBREW: 7 Tube+Rect 1v3 Regenerative RX for LF (built 2015)
> Icom:     2x IC-735 Transceiver (~1990).
> Icom:     R-75, Cascaded 250/125Hz CW-Filt, Panadapter. (~2009)
> Icom:     IC-7200 Transceiver (~2015).
> Kenwood:  TS-450SAT Transceiver.
> R-Shack:  DX-380 digital portable (~1990).
> SDR:      Softrock Ensemble II LF (built from a kit 2015).
> Zenith:   Royal-7000 Transoceanic Portable (~1968).
>
> ACC:   HOMEBREW  LF-MF Pre-Amp, MFJ-993B HF Auto-Tuner.
>        HOMEBREW  4 Port Multicoupler, Feeds Antenna to 4 RX's.
>        HOMEBREW  8 Hz Audio Filter.
>        Timewave  DSP-599zx Audio Filter.
>
> ANTENNAS: 88 foot Long Ladder-line fed dipole, 35 feet AGL for MW/SW.
>           Active Mini-Whip, 36 Feet AGL for LF/MW/SW.
>           37 foot "Low Noise Vertical", 11 feet AGL for LF/MW/SW.
>
> Merced, Central California, 37, 18, 37N   120, 30, 6W CM97rh
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Yaesu mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/yaesu
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Yaesu at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>