[aprssig] Old radio repair (OT)

[Stephen H. Smith]

On 2/2/2011 4:25 PM, Bob Bruninga wrote:
> Is there any value in trying to get an old TS-430S HF radio repaired?  I've never sent a radio in for repair in my life, and this one is so old, probably bought in 1980, that I doubt they even have parts.  Plus cost of repair would probably be more than the radio is worth.
>
> It works on AM, but on USB, LSB, CW and FM, the freq display is blank.  All other knobs seem to function.
>
> Sorry to ask here, but I donno any other group of tech-savy hams to ask.  After 18 years of APRS and PC's, im trying to dig-out and power-up the shack to get back to radio.
>
> Bob, WB4APR
>
> __

I still have a 430 cranking away as a guest rig at my mother's house in 
Michigan.   These radios were notorious for the synthesizer VCO aging after a 
decade or so, and failing to achieve lock.    Quite often you can revive them 
just by nudging the trimmer cap inside the shielded synthesizer box with a 
small straight-blade plastic tweaking tool.

Figure  a minimum of $100-$150 just to open the box at a service facility.   
Parts availability, ironically,  isn't as big a problem as with later 
generations.  The '430 used mostly discrete transistors and general-purpose 
small-scale ICs (op amps and CMOS 4000 logic)  rather than mostly custom 
model-specific ICs, available only from the mfr, that become unobtanium only a 
few years after the model is discontinued.


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Stephen H. Smith    wa8lmf (at) aol.com
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