Been a marine electronics tech for over 30 years. Very rare to find one done properly. Here's how I do them,

http://home.comcast.net/~fairbank56/solderpl.html

  Tinning the shield makes for a better connection as the solder will reflow and make an even better connection than just around the holes. Amphenol's installation instructions say to tin the shield.

Eric N3EF

  Probably the RF output transistor. Iv'e replaced a few of these. A common problem with this radio when people run it off an external power supply. It's a 2sk2974 $25 from rfparts.com

Eric N3EF

  This seems to be a fairly common thing with people using straight keys. I hear it alot myself but have no explanation for it.

Eric N3EF

  I use ebook2cw that converts any text file into mp3 files.

http://fkurz.net/ham/ebook2cw.html

Eric N3EF

  "You must remember too that if you modify a Certified radio in any way then it is no longer Certified"

  That is incorrect. There are three  classes  of permissive changes that may be made in certificated equipment  without  requiring  a  new  application  for  and  grant of certification. None of the classes of changes shall result in a change in identification. Only authorized dealers and/or commercially licensed technicians like myself can make these changes in marine SSB's. Iv'e modded some Icom M710's using cloning software so they can operate on the ham bands. This does give the rig a VFO function and makes it easy to change bands. Technically, this cannot be done by end user's. The Icom M802 is the most ham friendly of marine SSB's. Anyone can open it up for the ham bands via a key sequence at power up. Icom even provides the procedure on their web site knowledge base.

Eric N3EF

  The "rubber" connector strips between the LCD and circuit board are called elastomer connectors, but commonly called zebra strips. As a Marine Electronics Technician, Iv'e repaired many displays that had problems due to defective zebra strips. Age and heat eventually causes a substance called siloxane to leach out and cause a film to develop on the edges of the connector. I use a clip such as a potatoe chip bag clip to hold the connector with the edge just barely sticking up past the clip edge and then take a razor blade and drag it at an angle across the strip a couple times. You'll see the siloxane film pile up on the edge of the blade. This in combination with cleaning the contacts on the circuit board will fix the problem. Another problem with these strips is that they lose their elasticity. They are designed to be slightly compressed when first installed and after a long period of time will lose this compression. In this case, you either need to provide a very thin spacer on the opposite side of the LCD or replace the connector. It is very difficult to get replacement connectors as they are sold in bulk to the equipment manufacturers during production.

Eric N3EF

  For me, listening on the computer and my ipod at various times throughout the day made a HUGE difference in my progress as far as copying goes. Of course, this does nothing to improve your sending. I can copy way faster (40-45)than I can send (30-35)but I'm also on the air every evening so my sending is improving. When listening, I use a speed that is faster than I am comfortable copying and this method helps me improve better than anything else. I'm sure you've heard, practice practice practice, but if your only time for practice is on the air, then it's going to take longer, which may be just fine for you, but I'm the kind of person that goes a little overboard when learning something new.

Good luck and stick with it,
Eric N3EF

Each amateur station, except a space station or telecommand station,
   must transmit its assigned call sign on its transmitting channel at the end
   of each communication, and at least every 10 minutes during a communication

  There are many definitions for the word "end", and since the FCC rules don't provide a specific definition for it, as long as you give your call somewhere during your last transmission, you are within the rules. IMHO

Eric N3EF

  What's amazing about it is that a fellow ham has spent considerable time to provide another useful tool for learning cw...without cost...without pop-ups or other advertising...something that can be used wherever you can get an internet connection...allows you to create mp3's directly from text...etc. cw and morse code have been used interchangeably for years...who cares? Iv'e been using this new tool and find it useful along with many other tools available for learning cw. Many of us know that you (WB2WIK/6) are adamant in your belief that the only way to learn cw is to do it interactively with another person. That's obviously not the case for many of us. This web site has been up for just 3 months and has over 1500 users already.

Eric N3EF

"In my experience dealing with hundreds of students over about 20 years, they all learned much faster when they spent half their time sending, and half copying, and worked interactively, never passively just "listening." "

  Much faster than what??? If they can only work interactively with each other or on the air, how can you make a comparison? I 100% agree that you must make QSO's, either on the air, or two students working together sending and receiving without going over the air, but a combination of "real" QSO's AND passive listening gives better/faster results than just making "real" QSO's. It certainly has for me. There are plenty of times during the day when I can passively listen to code but generally only in the evening can I "get on the air"

Eric N3EF

  It's not just Icom. I have a Yaesu FT897 and a Kenwood TS480 that both use relays. The relay in the 480 is much quieter plus it uses a remote head so you can locate the xcvr away from your operating position.

Eric N3EF

  Some rigs switch from receive to transmit using solid state devices (quiet) and some use relays (noisy). Don't worry about relay damage. As far as break-in goes, I would recommend that you operate full break-in (QSK). This allows you to receive between your dits/dahs. You'll get used to the relay and background noise very quickly and have the advantage of QSK. Operating QSK is like talking on the telephone, you can hear the other person say something while your talking. With semi break-in, it's like talking via a repeater, you don't hear anything except between pauses in your sending. Working QSK during dx pileups is a must as far as I'm concerned, otherwise you can be the source of unwanted QRM.

Eric N3EF

  I worked 10m stations up/down east coast last night around 9pm EDT on cw. I'm in MD and one station in FL was S9.

Eric N3EF

 Doesn't make any sense to me. A guy calls "test", multiple ops answer including me (N3EF), if he comes back N3EF 599, then he's talking to me, everyone else should clam up and I give him his report. A lot of ops who don't use QSK end up being a pain in the rear because they don't know what the heck is going on and their just QRM. I always operate QSK, whether it be a contest, dx or ragchew and couldn't imagine operating otherwise. I don't know how you could be having a conversation with somone who has not acknowledged your call.

Eric N3EF

Huh??? His last was "RR 599" I don't think it's anything to worry about for such a short exchange as long as he got your callsign correct. I like the way WB2WIK does it and I think I will start doing it that way. BTW Steve, at 40 wpm that would take about 4.5 seconds, not 2 :-)

Eric N3EF