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Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
Gordon (WX1F)
on
May 20, 2006
View comments about this article!
Fix it yourself, revisited!
A week or so ago, I saw my “dream” desktop scanner receiver for sale on an online auction site. I read through the description twice (In case I missed something the first time around) and discovered that it had a bad speaker and missing manual. No big deal, I could install a new speaker and download a copy of the manual from the Internet, so I bought it! Then, later that day, I found a pdf file download of the manual on the Internet and printed it out. The instructions were fairly simple and I figured out how to operate it after a 30-minute read.
The scanner arrived safely yesterday. (The carrier the seller chose is not my favorite but that's another story) and I hastily unpacked it, throwing white peanuts everywhere, like a kid on Christmas morning!
After a quick inventory to make sure that the antenna and wall wart were present, I plugged them in, pressed all the right buttons and the watched it search for my favorite repeater. It locked on and I was instantly assailed with the most awful raspy screeching from the speaker. The seller was right; it was bad but not completely dead.
I removed the top and bottom covers to see what size speaker was needed, and found out why the speaker screeched! Held to the center of the speaker's permanent magnet was a little tiny 1/16 length of jewelry chain! How it got into the scanner is anyone's guess but after I removed it and fired up the scanner again, a clear sounding speaker rewarded me. No screeching or raspy sounds!
So…sometimes I get lucky! My point to this story is to take time and go an extra step before you write off anything you sell because it's not working right. Take off the covers. Look around for broken or pinched wiring, loose or missing screws. Anything that's out of the ordinary. You may be able to repair your rig and get more money on a sale or better still, keep it for another 5 or 10 years!
By the way…the dime in the photo is for size reference. Only the chain was in the speaker.
This article has expired. No more comments may be added.
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Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by KB3MKD on May 20, 2006
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I repair electronic stuff for a living, as many hams do.
This seems to me to be common sense, but many people, hams included, don't have a clue how simple some repairs really are.
then again, many people don't have a clue how complicated some repairs are either. (This means they want to argue with the bill! :-)
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Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by G8UBJ on May 20, 2006
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I pick up my best bargains as faulty. It shocks me how few hams seem to posses basic fault finding/technical skills (Guess that's why these new rigs are so popular?).
http://g-eight-ubj.blogspot.com/
I must say though judging the results of some of their work maybe its better they don't open anything. Please sell it off cheap for real hams to fix?
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RE: Fix it yourself, revisited!
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by KA5N on May 20, 2006
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"A man has to know his limitations." There are three kinds of responses when faced with repairs. One is exhibited by the man who is too timid to try any repair. Then there is the man who has no fear and will attempt anything. The result is usually the same, the sick equipment stays sick (or gets worse). The man who knows his limitations knows when to dive in and when to stay out (he also studies to gain more knowledge).
Allen
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RE: Fix it yourself, revisited!
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by AA4PB on May 20, 2006
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Same goes for computers. Some people won't touch anything. Others are fearless and jump right in and start messing with all the registry settings. They only call for help after they have it so that it won't boot anymore.
I had someone bring a TV set to the shop saying he had a fuzy picture and found that all those little screw things on the top of the metal cans were loose so he tightened them all down all the way. Now the set doesn't work at all. Talk about needing a complete realignment!
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Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by K1CJS on May 20, 2006
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So true, so true.......
Once I picked up a fairly new 2 meter rig for a song--the owner told me it was intermittant, it would be fine till it picked up a loud signal then would go out. It came back on about 20 to 30 minutes later and stayed on till it received another loud signal. He didn't want to get inside it and look and it was just out of warrantee.
About a half hour examination and work got it to like new condition. It had several cold solder joints and a couple with hardly any solder at all. Got it for $50, sold it for $100. Oh yeah, the rig was a Radio Shack mobile rig. Figures, doesn't it?
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RE: Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by KG4RUL on May 20, 2006
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Many years ago, I took a course in TV repair at the local high school. The first day the instructor told us that 20% of our service calls could be eliminated by asking the following questions of the customer, before we made a trip there:
1) Is the TV turned ON?
2) If it is turned ON is it plugged into an outlet?
3) If it is plugged in, is there any power at the outlet?
It turned out that was great advice!
Dennis KG4RUL
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Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by KC2WI on May 20, 2006
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The thing is, when many people are encouraged to get their licenses by essentially memorizing the questions and answers, rather than by actually learning/being taught even basic electrical/electronics/radio theory, why would you expect them to know how, or even try to fix anything?
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Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by K3TJ on May 20, 2006
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When I first got my ticket in the early '70's, there was no such thing as a BASH Book or a question pool. The FCC examiners had no sense of humor.
I had to learn Ohms law (e=mc2) and the theory of relativity (never insult you mother in law in front of your wife) all on my own.
I always check over a rig when I get it, as long as my electric screw driver is charged.
OK, OK, bad sense of humor. Seriously, this was good advice. As for the chain, I personally would put a bit of fishing line through an end link and make it a christmas tree ornament. It would serve as a reminder, each and every year of what is sometimes the obvious.
Take a look, it won't hurt.
Respectfully, Ed k3tj
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RE: Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by KE4ZHN on May 21, 2006
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KC2WI:
The thing is, when many people are encouraged to get their licenses by essentially memorizing the questions and answers, rather than by actually learning/being taught even basic electrical/electronics/radio theory, why would you expect them to know how, or even try to fix anything?
Bingo! Right on target.
Rich KE4ZHN
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RE: Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by KF4VGX on May 21, 2006
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Absolutely! I have fixed quite a few "Non" broken radios etc.
One was the Alinco which had been sitting at one of the local Amateur guru home for a few weeks. Listening to the conversation on the local two meter repeater sure sounded like the man did the homework on the rig . Long story short it wound up in my hands . Surely I could not find anything that this other fine amateur could not .
No audio led me to beleve that the speaker had problems, nope just with a mere push of a button on the rig started working fine . Never botherd to explain that to anyone :). Would have made the other amateur look the idiot and myself look as if to be bragging ;->.
And there was the time this CB guy had major problems with his six hundred dollar base rig .
Er , the PA was switched on. I explained what it was and the man grinned and slapped me a twenty anyways . Something about he had his rig in the shop for months and he was glad to have it back .
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Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by AF4O on May 21, 2006
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My Gosh. I dont know how hams get by without knowing some of the basics of repair!
Just looking around here: TV, fixed bad solder joints. Astron RS-50A, fixed bad solder joints and loose screws on cap's. tr-7950, fixed bad display connections (pressure fit). RF Concepts amp, fixed bad solder joints. 2 CDE control box's, fixed bad dial lamps (repl with LED's) and bad capacitors. MFJ TNC bad solder joints. TS-830s (to many fix's to go into detail, see www.qsl.net/af4o). I could keep going on and on and on.
Maybe I run a bunch of junk but Im not mentioning the stuff that has gone without repair (so far!). Latest victory: Maytag Clothes Washer, bad electro mechanical controls (round dial type).
Maybe the non repair types are wealthy enough to replace every time? Must be nice.
Unfortunately, Alot of this stuff nowadays is built cheap to where you either have to know how to repair yourself (this unfortunately is even is getting to be often not an option due to micro circuitry or cost/existence of reasonably priced replacement parts) or replace. Paying to repair is not often an option except on expensive gear because of the cost/benefit ratio. Very unfortunate filling of the landfills.
But repair is still an option in certain cases and can be fun!
73
Chuck
AF4O
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RE: Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by AG4RQ on May 21, 2006
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"I had someone bring a TV set to the shop saying he had a fuzy picture and found that all those little screw things on the top of the metal cans were loose so he tightened them all down all the way."
I hope he remembered to put a drop of Liquid Screw in each can so they wouldn't come loose anymore. ;-)
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RE: Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by KC8VWM on May 21, 2006
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..My favorite bargains are the guys selling radio's because they don't power up anymore.
The funny part is usually that it has nothing to do with the radio itself.
Other times it's a simple matter of a blown fuse or that small diode protection circuit inside the radio.
I bought a radio listed for parts only on Ebay. It turned out to power up just fine. Talk about a bargain.
73
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RE: Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by K8MHZ on May 21, 2006
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"I had to learn Ohms law (e=mc2)"
???
Sounds like Cole's Law to me :)
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RE: Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by K3AN on May 21, 2006
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The TS-130 I bought a while back was listed as "Some bands don't work." It had a correspondingly low price, and did not come with a manual. I emailed the seller and learned it had no transmit output on 10, 18 and 24 MHz. He could hear signals on 10 and 18, but just noise on 24.
I got it, and sure enough the WARC band transmit had never been enabled. Now this is a pretty old radio that probably has had several owners. Probably only the first owner had the manual, and maybe he bought it before the WARC bands were officially opened to hams. I wonder if each subsequent ham thought he had bought a lemon.
I found the service manual on the web, downloaded it for free, learned which jumper to remove, and voila! After cleaning the exterior with a cloth, and an occasional squirt of 409 (onto the cloth) to remove sticky stuff, the radio looks almost new.
Those older radios, especially ones intended for mobile service, were built like tanks. This one survived shipment just sitting on the bottom of a cardboard box, with crumpled newspaper pages filling the remaining space. When I opened the box and saw how it had been packed, my heart sank. But it survived.
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RE: Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by K0MXL on May 21, 2006
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>>"I had to learn Ohms law (e=mc2)"
>
>???
>
>Sounds like Cole's Law to me :)
I thought "Cole's Law" was finely shredded cabbage and dressing!
John K0MXL
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RE: Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by G4GOY on May 21, 2006
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>It shocks me how few hams seem to posses basic fault >finding/technical skills
Maybe this is to do with the current licence requirements (in the UK). I believe that the technical knowledge required to gain a licence these days is not sufficient to carry out these tasks.
Best 73 John, G4GOY (licenced in 1977)
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RE: Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by RobertKoernerExAE7G on May 21, 2006
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You are yanking our chain, right?
Here is what I do.
I buy 2 lbs of $2.99 ground beef at Albertsons. I've tried hamburger meat at other places, more expensive and less expensive. But, so far Albertsons tastes the best.
I separate it into 4 equal portions, compress them into 1 inch thick oblong shapes, to match the shape of rye bread I used. Next, I make an indentation in the middle of each patty. I wrap three of them in Syran wrap, and freeze them.
Out comes my 6 inch cast iron skillet. Onto the front electric burner of my stove it goes, with the heat set at number 6. When the skillet starts to smoke a little, I place the patty in the middle of the skillet. When the the the red edge of the patty cooks half way up, I set the heat to5, flip the patty, and cook it until there is just a thin band of pink in the middle of the patty rim.
Mustard goes on one slice of rye bread, ketchup on the other. I place the patty (E-layer) on the slice with mustard (D-layer), cover the patty with the Heinz ketchup slice (F-layer), cut the hamburger sandwich diagonally from one corner to there other. Heinz Baby Kosher Dill pickles and Lays potato chips go nicely with the hamburger sandwich.
When I eat it, I lightly salt either side of the diagonal cut.
Many times, I eat my hamburger while I wait for my C-Line to warm up and stabilize.
The point is, for about the same amount we'd spend at a fast food joint, we can make much better hamburgers to eat while we wait for our rigs to warm up. Plus, unlike fast food hamburgers, we can make them either red or pink in the middle, instead of over cooked.
I call my creation, the ionospheric pounder. Goes well with "Cole's Law also.
;-)
73
Bob
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RE: Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by KC8VWM on May 21, 2006
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What I like about the ionospheric pounder is that you don't need any cheese.
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Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by WG4RAY on May 22, 2006
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There is much to be said for knowing how to give a piece of gear a good inspection, and fix the easy stuff...fuses, tubes, switches, and so forth.
But those who say that amateurs starting out today don't repair their gear because of the multiple choice questions are seriously missing the point. It's not the test.
I'm a fairly new ham, but I've been around electronics in one form or another for, well, decades and I'm NOT getting into how many. Let's just say that as a kid, one of my earliest memories is replacing tubes and such in the TV and the radio. And every so often, you'd take the box of tubes down to the 7-11 and check 'em all in the tube tester, and buy new ones. My whole family could change a tube. And if there weren't little kids around...there was a tempation to leave the back off, and use a "cheater cord" - because a tube might go bad during Ed Sullivan, or the ball game. (It's a wonder we lived through those days...)
And you didn't run the coffee pot AND the waffle iron at the same time or you'd have to make the trip down to the basement to change a fuse.
And those were the days of sophisticated test and repair gear. You had a neon bulb with two probes, for testing a socket, maybe a continuity tester, a soldering iron or maybe a gun, and a roll of BIG solder. Something like a VOM, well, that was the big leagues, and a O-scope was the height of sophistication...only the VERY serious had those.
The point is, folks learned a lot of the basic skills in their daily lives.
But along came transistors, and, well, about all most folks could easily change out in their radio was a battery, or maybe replace a speaker - and how often did THAT happen? And the TV was sealed up as tightly as the service management and product liability lawyers could make it, complete with "No User Serviceable Parts Inside" signs in red. Folks didn't have that changing tubes and fuses experience. If you've got a fairly new home, you've probably never even tripped a circuit breaker, much less replaced a fuse.
Now, test gear has gotten cheaper...even a lot of folks who don't repair things much have a VOM around, courtesy of legions of Radio Shack and hardware store clerks explaining what a wonderful job of replacing the continuity tester and that little neon light tester. (And as often as not, after a few years they are dead from leaving batteries in them, or "testing" things at the wrong setting. But if you are serious, you can get very capable test gear, frequency counters, oscilloscopes, and so on.
But most of the electronics out there these days aren't MEANT to be repaired outside of a depot environment...if then. The tube tester at the 7-11? That's where they put the lottery desk. You don't even find them at Radio Shack. Heck, you don't find much in the way of PARTS at a Radio Shack anymore. And have you tried to find a repair manual or schematic for a TV these days without sending off for it? It may not even be available to the consumer.
The TV we first had came with a schematic, all the tube s, voltages at each pin, resisters and all the other components layed out. And the number of circuits, compared to modern TV, was miniscule. And all our other electronics are the same. Microprocessors are suddenly in everything. Human finger sized components are replaced with surface mount components...or multilayer circuit boards...or they've been potted in plastic.
I've designed, built, and repaired my share of electronics over the years. I built a special-purpose computer with RTL back before microprocessor chips were available. I've etched circuit boards, wire-wrapped, done a bit of point to point wiring. I've built more cables than I care to recall. And I understand the softare side - I earned a living as a programmer, and even managed a group of computer field service folks.
But consider simple things. Can I build an RS-232 cable? Sure, I've done it many times. But I don't build them anymore - I can pick up exactly what I need for less than the cost of the parts, with no time requried...and it does the job. And a USB cable? Please.
It's like a car...it used to be you could do just about anything on a car - tune it, replace a voltage regulator or generator, and so on. Rebuilding a carb just took a kit and a few tools...and you might not need the kit with a good toolbox. Today you can change the oil and maybe a headlight...but a lot of work is beyond the reach of someone without the service computer. (Not to mention lovely design decisions like having to put the car on a lift to change the oil filter...) So most never learn to do it.
If you enjoy working on old radios, and have the time, hey, it can be fun. But it's a choice.
And that's the crux of the whole thing - it's a choice as to how you want to spend your time and resources. With a lot of modern gear, it really is better to let those properly equipped handle the service. Just like on your car.
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RE: Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by W2RDD on May 22, 2006
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Have to agree with much of WG4RAYs observations. Car anology a good one. If I had one of those $2000+ rigs, I'd be pretty nervous about unbuttoning it for service. Never-the-less, there are still some inexpensive novice kits available out there to be assembled if only for the satisfaction of saying you put something together that worked...if only for a while and for no really useful purpose. MFJ still has a few of them, I think. 73
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RE: Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by W5ESE on May 22, 2006
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> Never-the-less, there are still some inexpensive
> novice kits available out there to be assembled if
> only for the satisfaction of saying you put something
> together that worked...if only for a while and for
> no really useful purpose. MFJ still has a few of
> them, I think. 73
Many of the "Novice kits" have quite alot to
recommend them. If you want a rig to take camping
and operate off batteries, almost all of your
best options are available as kits.
The Wilderness Radio Norcal 40, Small Wonder Labs
transceivers, Ten Tec TKIT 1300 series, Elecraft,
and Oak Hills Research rigs will last a long time
powered from a 7AH gel cell. All of them draw less
100 mA; many of them less than 30 mA. Last year,
I did my whole Field Day with a collection of
simple analog QRP rigs that I built as kits.
I powered the whole event off a single 7AH gel
cell.
Compare that to the 250-300 mA that commercially
manufactured rigs like the Icom 703 or FT817 draw
when squelched. When receiving a signal, the
current goes up to half an amp!
Something to think about with Field Day coming up.
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Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by KK4ZY on May 22, 2006
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Reading over the previous responses brought to mind a couple of my experiences, the most recent was a Delta Sierra stunt I pulled a few weeks ago when I finally got around to installing my Icom IC-2710 dual-band transceiver in my car, after a return from overseas move. I had the antenna installed, hooked up the power cable to the battery, then, without carefully checking the connector on the power cable (BIG mistake!), proceeded to plug it into the power pigtail on the rig. Result? Instant loud POP!, and consequent near heart failure. Seems that the cable I had soldered into the cable to the battery had a reverse arrangement, 180 degrees out from the radio! Well, I know what happened here. Just pull all the covers and check out the circuit board for the damage. Just a fuse and possibly a sacrificial diode to change and it'll all be OK. Wrong. Ever looked carefully at those late model circuit boards? Whew! Surface-mount city! Not only can you not buy surface mount components at Radio Schlock, you need a microscope to deal with them when you use your expensive teeny tiny soldering tool. I shipped it off to Icom and got it back fairly quickly and working fine. Well worth the fairly reasonable expense, too.
The comments on auto repair brings to mind a company car I had a few years ago. One head lamp burned out, so I thought, hey, no problemo! Stopped by an auto parts store, picked up a replacement, and when I got to the office, grabbed a screwdriver and went back to the car to quickly solve that problem. Whoops! Looks like GM doesn't want anyone to change a headlight! They used Torx screws to mount the trim ring and the headlight! Well, another trip to the store! I've still got the two Torx screwdrivers I bought for that job, don't think I've used them again since, either!
Our modern world! It's a constant challenge, right?
Cheers,
Ed
KK4ZY
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RE: Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by W5HTW on May 22, 2006
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We have all had our less than perfect moments. And sometimes others have them, and it benefits us. A fellow I know gave me a Kenwood TS-520. Made noise, he said, but won't receive or transmit. Just white noise. He also gave me the manual. I put the rig on the bench and he was right - just white noise. Darn. Glanced at the manual to see what I was up against. Uh, is that a missing plug in the rear? Checked. Yep, no VFO plug. Now I could have told this fellow what happened, and returned the radio to him. But he felt he owed me something anyway, for helping him with his computers. So I made a plug out of a miniature tube base, and the radio is a frequenty companion.
A guy brought me a very, very nice component stereo receiver one time, to my shop. I did two way radio, but I also did some consumer product repair. I agreed to look at it. He said there was no sound. It lights up, but zero output. This was a high-end model, probably worth 700 bucks. I put it on the bench after he left the shop. Yep. No sound. Uh, wait. Isn't there supposed to be a pair of jumpers from the PRE-AMP OUT to the AMP IN? Hmmmm.
Turned the volume completely down, plugged in a set of phono jumpers. Turned it back up. Slightly. Wonderful sound. I called him and told him to come pick it up. He asked how much. I felt good that day. I told him, just come get it. Nothing wrong with it. One happy dude. I even gave him my nearly worn out jumpers! Needed a new pair anyway.
I'm a fairly competent auto mechanic. Even on eighties model computerized cars. Traced a problem on my 88 Cherokee that five professional shops with thousands of diagnostics tools couldn't find. I fixed it. None of them could.
But my old Bronco II was running kinda ragged. Didn't have any power. Had the V6 2.8 engine, and 5 speed OD. Should be doing pretty good. I adjusted the carb. No improvement. I poked around in it off and on for a week. No luck. Was suspecting bad valves or bad rings. Decided to check the plugs. As I reached for the first plug wire to pull it, (engine off) I save movement.
Huh? Movement? I tugged at the wire. The distributor rotated! The lock down bolt was loose. Still there, but loose! Reset the timing, locked the bolt down and the old horse was kicking once again.
Recently, during high winds and cold evenings and humidity figures around six percent (read: static electricity) I reached for a DVD that was in the computer's DVD recorder. There was a flash, and the DVD recorder went stone dead. Could not eject the disk. Tried rebooting. Computer says nope. that DVD record is plumg darned shot, ripped apart by static electricity. Next day I was in the city, so I bought a new one. Brought it home and installed it. Worked fine.
Wondering if I could figure out why the other one failed, I put it in a second computer. Huh? Worked beautifully! The static charged that locked it up had dissipated.
Around that period of time I grabbed a tape out of my combo DVD recorder and VCR. There was a flash, and the tape hung partway out. Nothing worked. Lights on, but nothing would work, not the VCR or the DVD deck. Nothing. Terribly upset, as this was not a cheapie, I pulled the cover. Got the tape out. Put the machine on my bench. Not dead, just would not load a tape or a DVD. No movement. Wouldn't run.
Turned it off and went to get the book. Came back and turned it on. It worked beautifully. Good old static done gone and done it again.
Then just a few days ago, one of the fellows told me my signal into the repeater was terribly noisy, hardly readable. Huh? This is my 50 watt Icom 2000H. I was only running 5 watts but that darned repeater has never had problems with this rig before. A glance at the meter showed a lot of intermittent action. I kicked it up to 50 watts. Wow, terrible. I shut it down and flipped on the IC706 and went to the same repeater. All was well.
What the heck? Then I spotted something. Was that a loose PL259? Yes, by gosh, it was!!
We all do it. But the big one in radio got me! I had a Collins S-Line. 75S3B receiver. For some reason I reached around behind it and unplugged the power cable. I guess I was going to pull the receiver out, I'm not sure. I changed my mind and plugged the 11 pin cable back in. There was a "blurp" and all was dead. Smelled pretty bad, too.
Pulled the 75S3B again and flipped it upside down on the bench. Several burned parts were quite visible. Disconnected the power cable and as I did, I saw something missing. Huh? The key on the plug! Yep, I had plugged it in wrong!
The repair wasn't expensive. An audio output tube, and maybe 5 resistors. Probably cost me ten bucks. And some labor. And some stupid head banging.
Was into the Drake line just last night. I was exceptionally careful! And it still works!
Ed
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Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by K7BAB on May 27, 2006
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This is a 100% God-honest true story that took place in my office many years ago in the era of IBM AT's, 286's, CGA monitors and before networks, backup and windows.
Hal was the office computer network administrator and a ivy league graduate. Jack's computer was used to store all the milestone charts and project tracking charts for the office went dead, no nothing.
Hal looked at the machine and said that it needed a new power supply. Back then there was one type of computer power supply but we needed to special order one anyway and have a vendor install it.
About three weeks after the new power supply was put in, Jack's computer went dead again. Jack went balistic and said that he did not want Hal to come near the machine or he would call security. He told the boss that he wanted me to fix the computer.
I asked Jack a couple of questions, went under his desk and pushed the power cord firmly into the wall. When I turned on the computer it lit up and booted.
Hal felt like a complete idiot.
Look for the obvious.
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RE: Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by KD8CZK on May 28, 2006
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Mark these words. Those landfills are the next "Mother Lode".
We pay to have recycleable materials hauled away and buried in "scrub land". Next step, use technology available today to mine that very same land for resources and then sell the land for habitation.
Any doubts? Look up "Thermal Conversion Process". It is coming online at Carthage, MO. It it isn't a radioactive isotope, it can be processed.
pasted quote from AF4O:
Unfortunately, Alot of this stuff nowadays is built cheap to where you either have to know how to repair yourself (this unfortunately is even is getting to be often not an option due to micro circuitry or cost/existence of reasonably priced replacement parts) or replace. Paying to repair is not often an option except on expensive gear because of the cost/benefit ratio. Very unfortunate filling of the landfills.
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RE: Fix it yourself, revisited!
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by K8LEA on May 29, 2006
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You never know when you'll get lucky....
I just posted a review of the VX-150 from Yaesu/Vertex. I won't bore you guys with the details of how I fixed mine a couple months back....
More than twenty years ago the wife and I visited a local hamfest, and I brought home the scanning transceiver of my dreams for $70. (Didn't tell the wife that I'd need at least that much in crystals to actually use the damn thing.) (Regency "Trans-Scan", 110VAC & 12VDC model.)
This little beauty had an eight channel scanning receiver identical to some of their popular "line of light bulbs" scanners and a six channel (fairly easily modded to 8) transmitter stolen from the HR2 or a similar commercial unit. You'd let it scan, and then if something came up, press the "transmit here" button and off you went. Six channel transmit because it was assumed you'd do the 34/76 & 34/94 tricks common at the time. (If you're not old enough to remember that, I don't think I can remember the explanation.)
25 watt transmitter that only delivered about a watt, and the receiver could barely hear a repeater that I could almost see from a window near the radio using a mag mount 19" spike or something like that.
I could see that the final tuning caps didn't look right, so I put a dummy load on the thing and diddled. Power came right back up. No idea why that had been done.
It didn't help the receiver (didn't think it would). I ordered up some manuals and put the covers back on. The receiver would have to wait.
A few days later I got itchy. Why not look? The receiever board had a transistor on it that's center lead was pointing out at an angle and not soldered to anything. Hm.... Usually when a manufacturer uses a transistor as a diode (not unusual then, at least) they cut off the extra lead so the assembly folks can't screw up that way. (You can still install it backwards....)
I couldn't resist.... I bent the transistor lead onto the board at what looked like the most likely (neary "only possible") solder pad. Fired the thing up and locked it on that "good" repeater. Bingo....
A little solder and all was well....
(It quit working four or so years later - Regency used a ton of "push in" connectors for internal jumpers - sort of like a tube socket about the size of a #22 wire. They get corroded and fail. Pulling them all looks like the only logical fix. By then I had some more modern crystal-less gear. It's still in the office someplace....)
I don't consider myself all that good at this. My view is that if _I_ can do it, anybody can.... The trick is to stick with Hippocrates: "First, do no harm."
Did I tell you guys how my daughter got her first phone for her bedroom? (She's now worn out an unknown number of wired phones and two and a half cellphones.)
More than ten years ago, I had an RS cordless in the family room that went back for service. It worked for a few months and quit again. I decided that a new one would be the safest choice. She saw me pull out the old one and asked if she could have it. WTH, sure....
A little later she asked me if I'd open it up so she could see what was inside it. OK, fine.... "Daddy? Isn't that yellow wire supposed to be connected to something?" It was.... I clip-leaded it and it worked. Some solder and it was fine.... My wife fumed for a week.... The kid's working towards a nursing degree right now. Couldn't get her interested in Ham Radio, but she does like to shoot. My wife doesn't like that either....
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RE: Fix it yourself, revisited!
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by WB2WIK on May 30, 2006
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Nice article!
I fix most of my stuff, and have built a lot of it.
But one thing I couldn't fix was my old Wilson 1402 handie-talkie, circa 1973. It finally gave up the ghost after having multiple intermittancies for months.
So, I took it outside, laid it on a concrete step and smashed it with an 8 lb hammer.
That made me feel so good, I smiled for at least a week.
WB2WIK/6
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RE: Fix it yourself, revisited!
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by K8MHZ on June 1, 2006
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The average person does not possess enough common sense to attempt to fix anything.
I fix stuff for a living, it's great fun. Seriously, I like it.
Last week I got a service call to go look at an electrical problem with a customer's motor home. The guy is real nice and has a well paying job somewhere. He told me the problem he was having was a circuit breaker tripping. The motor home was at a repair facility getting brakes done and the owner asked if I could come there and look at it, which I did.
He met me at the garage and said that he couldn't get the breaker to blow but he didn't turn everything on yet. We turned everything on, the air, the coffee pot, every light and let it run for a while. Still no blown breaker. I noticed that the cover was open to the breaker panel. Hoping I could use some logical deduction I asked if he would show me which breaker was tripping.
"Not right now", he said, "It's at my house."
I asked if he replaced one of the breakers.
"No, the motor home trips a breaker in the panel at my house when I plug it into my garage."
Seems he was trying to run his 30 amp motor home off an outlet in his garage at home and he was tripping a 15 or 20 amp breaker in his house panel.
Now to me, it was absolutely crazy that he had me come to a brake shop to look at a problem that was occurring at his home. But the customer, convinced that only a problem with the wiring in the motor home would trip a breaker, figured that the problem would follow him wherever he and his motor home went.
I could tell you many stories, even crazier ones, but this just happened so I decided to throw it in here.
There are some people on this planet that will never be able to fix things. They just don't have the problem solving skills needed to do it. Their skills are most likely in other areas. Some of these people are hams. And with today's gear, it's harder than it ever was. Smaller is not better to the repair person, either.
Glad to hear you brought one back to life, nice article.
73,
Mark K8MHZ
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RE: Fix it yourself, revisited!
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by K8LEA on June 1, 2006
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Mark:
Hilarious....
I do agree that SMD's are almost impossible for the non-tech, too.... Easy to remove one, but forget about soldering in a new one. (Something I gotta try....)
Reminded me of a story. The former day job brought in an IBM System/3 Model 10 computer. 'Bout all I need to say about that is that it was bigger than a breadbox and required three-phase power via some fast-blow fuses. Lots of power....
Some years later we put an S/34 into the same room, and I asked IBM how to wire for it. They provided a socket and said "just set it up like the S/3". I had the maintenance guys (I was the Data Processing Mangler) wire it up.
The S/34 came in and ran like a bandit (also bigger than a breadbox, three phase, etc., with a 50 Amp breaker in the computer's case itself). We had the thing fused at 30 amps, using the same (expensive) fast fuses.
Next morning my assistant came in and powered the machine up. It immediately popped a fuse. I got the fuse replaced and Charlie the Tech out to look at it. No problems....
After about four mornings of this, I noticed that 50 Amp breaker. The light went on.... No way that IBM would put a 50 Amp fuse in the box and then ask for 30 on the wall....
I called IBM again: "What, exactly, is the rating for those fuse I need here?" "30 Amp 'Industrial' fuses." Ooops....
(I'm not sure the exact nomenclature for that fuse, but instead of $8 apiece they were the cheap cartridge types with replaceable elements. I forget the price - maybe $8 for a box of the elements?)
SMD? We don't need no steenkin SMD's. Those cartridge fuses are about the size of a good cigar....
(Charlie was usually pretty on top of things like this - he, however, assumed that I'd had power provided the way IBM wanted it. "Just like the other one" covered the wiring and other specs, but not the fuses....)
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RE: Fix it yourself, revisited!
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by K8MHZ on June 2, 2006
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Fuses with replaceable elements?
I didn't even know they had computers back then!!
Sounds like your behemoth computer had some motors in it, for cooling fans or air conditioners perhaps? Motors usually require dual element time delay fuses due to the amount of in rush current they draw.
My grandpa used to make little flashlights out of the old cartridge fuses. They aren't even legal anymore! (The fuses, not the flashlights)
73,
Mark K8MHZ
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Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by W1RFI on June 3, 2006
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There are a number of good articles about repair and troubleshooting available for download:
http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/srvceqpt.html
Ed Hare, W1RFI
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Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by AB2MH on June 3, 2006
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I bought an old AM/FM tube radio (Zenith) off ebay for about $15 or so. The description was that there was a loud HUM in the speaker when turned on. Bad filter caps I thought.
So when I got the radio, turns out, sure enough, the radio had a HUM in the speaker. But before I changed the filter caps (which I did anyway... old electrolytic caps are a disaster waiting to happen!) I sprayed the volume and tone pots with deoxit. Turned them full CW and CCW a few times. Switched back on the variac and turned on the radio, hum gone!
I remember a letter to the editor in Compute! magazine back in 1985 or so where someone said that their broken commodore 64 was fixed for a quarter. Turns out the fuse had blown (but nothing else caused the fuse to blow) and they just replaced the fuse and good as new.
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RE: Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by K8MHZ on June 4, 2006
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"Turns out the fuse had blown (but nothing else caused the fuse to blow)"
???
Uh, fuses don't 'just blow'. SOMETHING caused the fuse to blow. Either there was an over current condition (based upon the rating of the fuse), a voltage surge or a poor connection creating enough heat to melt something inside the fuse.
Fuses don't 'just wear out' either.
The one exception would be the unlikey event of the introduction of homotrons into the circuit path.
73,
Mark K8MHZ
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Fix it Yourself, Revisited!
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by KK4ZY on June 5, 2006
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OK, I didn't realize I'd be adding another comment to this topic, but couldn't resist the last couple of discussions about the cartridge fuses -- years ago my office for work was in an old mobile home on a Navy base. (A continuing experience of various events, but this is about fuses!) We had good heat all winter long, but during the first few months or so of the summer heat (and down south, where we were, it can get pretty hot in the summer), our air conditioning unit would run for a few hours to a day, then suddenly quit. I started checking the fuses out in a box bolted to the side of the trailer next to the air conditioner unit and always found one of them blown. I'd call the maintenance guys and they'd come and put in a new fuse. Finally, after weeks and weeks of calling them I guess they were fed up with making the trek all the way down to the water front to replace a fuse in that house trailer located in what I always referred to as the "Tech Rep Ghetto". They made one last call, and after that the air con ran all summer long. I had wondered just what it was they did to fix it so it never blew fuses again. Some air conditioning secret that only maintenance guys have, I guessed. Later in the fall of that year I was cleaning up a little outside the trailer, and thought, "I'll just have a look in the fuse box and see what they did."
Boy was I surprised, and amused too. Did you know that a piece of copper water pipe of the proper size has the same outside diameter as a cartridge fuse? They had replaced the fuses with short lengths of copper pipe! Well, I never again had to worry about fuses getting blown! (And yes, this is absolutly a true story!)
73,
Ed, KK4ZY
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