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Reviews For: The Radiosmith

Category: Amateur Radio Equipment Repair

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Review Summary For : The Radiosmith
Reviews: 86MSRP:
Description:
Expert repairs and restoration for all brands (Collins, Drake, Icom, Kenwood, Ten-Tec, Yaesu, and Others) of vintage and modern ham radio equipment including linear amplifiers, station accessories, OEM power supplies and Astron power supplies by a degreed Electrical Engineer who has been a licensed ham (20 WPM Extra Class) for over 38 years. For more information, contact The Radiosmith via email at: radiosmith@tampabay.rr.com
Product is in production
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# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
55865
KA4NGW Rating: 2016-02-25
Outstanding Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Found Steve on Ebay. He first overhaul my Paragon II and it works great. So I thought I would send Steve my Triton IV analog for Dial string and alignment. When I opened the return box, I thought Steve sent back the wrong one. It looks brand new and of course, it works as it should.
Steve keeps you up to date and warranty his work.
Thank you Radiosmith.
W9KX Rating: 2016-02-23
Very highly recommended Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Last month while making arrangements with Ten-Tec to have some work done on my Omni 6 Opt 3, they closed their doors! I started to search for another option. Shortly thereafter, I saw the posting by Bruce, N9WKE on eham under Product Review. Thanks to Bruce, I was able to get my Omni 6 Opt 3 repaired by Steve, The Radiosmith. I’m back on the air with a just-like-new Omni.
The bottom line is, if you need work to be done on your Ten-Tec… this is the place to go! His services were very timely and his price very reasonable!
Dean, W9KX
N9WKE Rating: 2016-01-27
Very Highly recommended! Time Owned: N.A.
I have a Corsair II that was needing some attention and since the new TenTec wasn't setup to accept new repair work yet I looked around for another place I could get my Corsair II worked on. I came across 'The Radiosmith' on eBay. I did a little checking and decided to try him out.

The Radiosmith's name is Steve Yudell, he has a degree in electrical engineering, a complete repair shop/lab and has been an Extra class ham for 43+ years. He charges $50 plus shipping charges for the initial evaluation and $45/hour for any repair work needing to be done. I found his rates to be extremely reasonable.

After emailing Steve a couple questions, I sent my Corsair II to him for an evaluation. I can tell you Steve's communication throughout the whole process was excellent. His replies to my questions were timely, he let me know when my radio arrived, the results of the evaluation, what was going on while repairs were being made as well as the return shipping info.

The Radiosmith gave my rig a thorough going through. The attenuator didn't work, the VFO was off significantly, the display was acting up and the dial skirt wasn't sitting properly on the shaft. He repaired all of these problems, checked all the circuit boards and connections, cleaned all the switches, did a full realignment and did a complete QC on all bands and modes before sending it back to me. One thing I especially appreciated is once a radio goes on his bench, it's the only radio he works on until the job is complete. It took around a week to send my radio to Steve, get the repair work done and get it back.

After getting the radio back and getting on the air all I can say is... WOW!

This is not the same radio I sent to Steve. It's like getting a new radio and is a joy to use again.

If you have a TenTec radio in need of repair, I very highly recommend Steve Yudell, The Radiosmith, for the job.

73,
Bruce, N9WKE
K6OAT Rating: 2015-12-08
Knowledgeable and reliable Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Steve did a great job getting my old Ten Tec Corsair II back on the air. He was able to diagnose the issues quickly and provide options. He is not only very knowledgable about these older radios but also how they are used, which helps you to make good decisions about what is most important to repair, and how. He has been happy to provide plenty of good advice.
KF7PSQ Rating: 2015-07-27
Great customer service and technical support Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I sent The Radiosmith two transceivers and a scanner to work on. Steve kept me up to date on the progress of my equipment and actually called on the phone when the diagnostics revealed that the issues I was having would be expensive to repair, allowing me to decide how much I was willing to spend. In the long run I ended up repairing two items and foregoing the third as it would have cost more to replace it than a new transceiver would cost. Steve provided excellent service, and great communications. His prices were very reasonable. I would not hesitate to recommend his services to anyone. It has been between 0-3 months since he worked on my equipment and I am quite satisfied.
W7ACO Rating: 2015-04-24
Excellent Service Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I sent Steve a Yaesu FT7900R which was silent. I spent 47 years in computerized telephone systems. I was responsible for troubleshooting to component level and repairing motherboards, circuit boards up to and including surface mount components. I retired 6 years ago partly due to neuropathy in my hands.

Steve's instincts were right on the mark. I explained the symptoms and he guessed at the component which proved to be correct. The radio was repaired the very day the parts arrived. Steve then checked out the rest of the radio and shipped it back to me. 10 days from the day I shipped until the day I received it back working perfectly. Steve is a pleasure to do business with, honest, informative, excellent communications, and intelligent. What more could you ask for.

Thanks Steve you are the best.
KJ6MC Rating: 2015-04-13
My highest recommendation Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My prized Drake R8 suffered from a mysterious breakdown. Steve patiently was able to troubleshoot the exact components and quickly affected the repair. That’s just the beginning of the story.

What really stood out to me was Steve's sixth sense.

Something wasn't quite right with the radio, and while I had got used to the radio's idiosyncrasies, Steve would not let go and kept doggedly putting the radio through its paces. Sure enough, after testing in various environments (the problem was temperature sensitive) there were some weak electrolytics in the audio chain, hidden from view.

Steve diagnosed and quickly fixed the problem before letting it out of the shop.

He is the only person I know who cares more about my radio than I do (and that is saying a lot).

Competent, expert repair at a fair price. If only my auto mechanic were this exacting and proficient, it would be a perfect world.

Radiosmith has earned my highest recommendation.
HARDEDGE Rating: 2014-11-13
Heaven on Earth Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Swan 350 came back working as good as new, Once again a reward was required. Hope Steve liked the broken Swan 400 and 410 VFO. ;-)

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Earlier 5-star review posted by HARDEDGE on 2014-05-11

Just got back what was a "silver screwdriver" FT-747sx (QRP version from Japan)and the workmanship was flawless. This is the fifth radio Steve has repaired for me and to show my gratitude I'm sending a Swan 250 and Swan 350 for his once over as a reward. :-)Best all-around repair service I've found.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by HARDEDGE on 2013-07-11

Don't let that "Degreed Electrical Engineer" stuff fool you. Steve works for a living. I've insulted him enough times already by calling him a master radio mechanic so I might as well do it again.

He's obnoxiously obsessive about problem solving and incredibly good at what he does. He's resurrected both an FT-301 and an FT-707 to better-than-new condition and he did them both for a reasonable price.

I've just sent him an FT-77 and I have absolute confidence in his ability.
WA4NJY Rating: 2013-12-21
Excellant work on OMNI V Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Steve did an outstanding job with my Ten-Tec OMNI V.
It had a few nagging issues. He corrected the obvious ones and put some extra effort and time into an intermittent problem.
I think he treated it like it was his own. Having a good repair facility close by (Tampa Bay area) is great!
KB4QQJ Rating: 2013-11-26
First Class on Ten Tec 405 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I had and old Ten Tec 405 amp that needed a new set of finals. Ten Tec no longer carries them and I couldn't find anything to make it happy. It requires a matched pair. Steve took on the little beast and did a fantastic job.
The little amp now has it's previous 50 watts on all bands and managed about 190 Q's this past weekend. Great job, Great communication, fast shipping and a pleasure to do business with. Professional all the way.