ANOTHER HYBRID KENWOOD RESTORER

[W9ZXT]

Has anybody heard of this person?  No reviews on E-Ham.  Just curious.  I need some work done on my 830 and ran across his Site.       


http://www.hybridrestore.com/

[N4NYY]

I do not think restoration is that hard. It is time consuming. Its the alignment and elusive repair that is hard. For something like this, I would restore it myself, then send it out for alignment, to someone like Kenwood Clif. The problem with sending stuff out for restoration, is that it is very expensive. It is labor intensive. And will likely cost more than the value of the finished product.

[K0OD]

Ask at the large and very active Yahoo Kenwood Hybrid group. 

I first noticed that new restorer website recently. The parts store portion of the site is a Paypal website that closely remembles the commerce portion of K4EAA's hybrid site.
http://www.k4eaa.com/parts.htm

The shipping rates are exactly the same. But there are slight differences between the offerings. One product in high demand is the remote VFO cable. K4EAA has been out of stock for several years. But TheHybridStore says they have them:
http://www.hybridrestore.com/parts/

K4EAA has been ill for several years, and inactive. I bought TS-820 parts from his site last winter. His wife handles parts sales and they arrived in days.

What's needed is a reliable souce for matching paint. I don't trust the eBay sellers. A member of the Yahoo Hybrid group had several dozen cans of spray paint custom matched by an auto paint company. I bought some to paint the rusting top of my 820. It matched the bottom perfectly. But that stock is probably gone now. Needed too is a perfect hobby shop size touch up paint for minor front panel scratches. (anybody have a brand/color?)

Full restoration info is on the web. You can do almost anything yourself but watch out for the 900 Volts!  N4NYY is correct that you don't want to invest much unless you're sentimentally attached to the radio. Like-new hybrids are easily obtainable in the $300 range, maybe $400 for a perfect 830.   
 

[K5HFG]

He is reputable. I have started using his store since K4EAA is under the weather. He has been in business for a long time. Works on other electronic equipment also. His sons work with him. Drop him a line and make his aquaintance. He is a ham and very friendly. Drop in to the Hybrid Yahoo Group. Lots of good info there. 73, Don K5HFG

[K5HFG]

As for the paint matching, I went to Sherwin Williams paint store with a cabinet top and they computer matched it. I was impressed with the color as identical as it can be. I use a 4" foam rubber roller to apply it to get the similar texture look. I think it looks just fine. Give it a try.

[W9ZXT]

Thanks for the input guys. I know Ken is having health issues, I talked to him a while back.  When I stumbled upon this other repair Site it was very similar to Kens, that is why I posted the question.  Thanks again for the feedback.

W9ZXT

[K5HFG]

What kind of work do you need done?

[W9ZXT]

I don't want to go into detail on the issues that my Rig has.  I just wanted to know if anyone has had good or bad experiences with this business.  Thank you all for the advice on paint and buying a perfect 830 for 400.00.  I appreciate the input, but that was not what I was asking. 

Merry Christmas

W9ZXT