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Reviews For: Mizuho Communications Factory Service

Category: Amateur Radio Equipment Repair

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Review Summary For : Mizuho Communications Factory Service
Reviews: 1MSRP:
Description:
Factory repair service at Mizuho Communications Co. in Tokyo, Japan.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mizuhoradio.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0015
KU4QD Rating: 2003-06-12
Quick turn around, reasonable prices, good service Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just had my first experience with Mizuho factory service. First of all, Mizuho will not ship internationally. I did ship two rigs, an MX-606D 6m base rig and an MX-14S 20m handheld, back directly to the factory. However, I had to make arrangements with a ham in Japan to pay for the radio in yen and ship it back to me. Rodney Tom, KH7L, (http://www.qsl.net/kh7l/rigs.html) handled it for me this time.

Turn around time at Mizuho was about two weeks, which is pretty good compared to other factory service I've dealt with. Only Ten Tec has
been faster for me. Add transit time to and from Japan and I was without the rigs for about five weeks.

The problems with the rigs that I was aware of were:

The MX-14S RIT did not work. Output was down to about 1.7W. Mine was a bit beat up, so I wanted a new case as well.

The MX-606D worked very well indeed when I got it, but after a short while there was no mic. audio, only a hum, and very little output on SSB. CW continued to work just fine.

The service reports I received, dated 5/23/2003, are in English. It seems Mr. Takada, JA1AMH, the owner of the company, worked on the rigs himself since the reports are signed T. Takada. He does NOT do all the repair work :)

On the MX-14S he replaced the RIT POT, the band switch, replaced the case and case screws, and performed a transmitter alignment and adjusted the ALC level. Total cost was 5,190 yen, or about $46 at current exchange rates. What a bargain! If I had sent just the handheld shipping would have exceeded repair costs.

On the MX-606D Takada-san replaced the mic. jack. That was the whole problem. I thought the receiver was pretty good on the MX-606D, but apparantly Takada-san didn't think so. He did a full alignment and callibration. This rig cost more to fix at 12,250 yen, or about $108. Considering the value of the radio this is money well spent IMHO.

Oh, and yes, everything works perfectly. My MX-14S, manufactured in May, 1989, looks brand new and works like new. My MX-606D, built in September, 1986, is in equally nice shape.

In case you can't guess, I'm just thrilled. For most Mizuho gear it is probably worth a trip back to the factory if something is seriously wrong.